Mezzaluna Fine Catering

Bottom line at the top: if you want a caterer that will make things look fabulous, than this is the company for you. Me, I prefer a caterer that can actually provided tasty goodness.
This is one of those reviews I really don’t enjoy writing because I was expecting to write a 4 or 5 star review instead I am being generous in writing a 3 star review .
Mezzaluna catered our company holiday party this past weekend. The visual presentation was lovely. The food was lovely to gaze upon, served in small portions in eye tempting ways.
The staff were efficient. While passing trays they were quite nice. When filling in the table they did their best to be unobtrusive, which isn’t really something our company expects, we are company that is known for being friendly and we love creating connections with everyone. The bar and bartenders were satisfactory.
All of the above makes Mezzaluna average by Portland standards.
By now you may have noticed that I really haven’t said much about the food except to say it was appealing to the eye. Let me paint the picture. There were a few framed menus scattered around the white linen covered buffet tables. The menus were difficult to read while people were standing milling around. If they had been placed in taller stand frames or placed on pedestals I do believe I would not have heard most everyone asking one another what the food items were. You see, most of the items were visually appetizing yet mysterious, even unidentifiable.
The only truly recognizable item was the best tasting as well, the date wrapped with bacon, yummmmmm! They were served on mini plastic swords both passed by servers and as an offering on the buffet table.
The next tastiest item was the version of Ceasar Salad. Three green leaves served with two long slim breadsticks in a slim shot glass with a teaspoon or so of dressing in the bottom, it was both tasty and easy to eat. The funny thing about this item is that when I told my friends they should try it they had no idea what I was referring to, it might have been because they appeared to be for decoration at the very tip top of the glass serving pyramid, out of reach of many of my height challenged co-​workers.
I was excited to try the cute little square sided cup layered with what sounded like savory goodness, eggplant and something orange, sweet potato or butternut squash maybe, topped with a layer of something creamy looking, using the tiny spoon provided I dipped in to scoop a small bite, making sure to dip into all of the layers, slipping it between my lips and sliding it onto my tongue I was sorely disappointed, it was not good. Glancing around me I noticed that there were many of this item scattered around, they all looked like the one I held in my hand, hardly touched, a bite missing from each then discarded.
There were two offerings on skewers, nothing exactly show stopping or appealing, I think one was olives and the other appeared to be an antipasto.
Pea with mint soup shooters didn’t seem to be going over well so I skipped it even though it is an item I usually enjoy, seeing them discarded with most of the contents intact led me to this decision.
Little Chinese to-​go containers filled with a glass noodle salad and a mini fork caught my eye. I was ready, who has ever heard of this dish being bad? Ready, set, go! Bite, chew, taste, frown, look around for a place to put the salad down for the servers to trash.
I pretty much gave up at this point and popped another bacon wrapped date. Yum!
One item that did not look like the others was meat on a bun. The bun was shaped like a hotdog bun, only shorter. Visually this offering was out of place but if it tastes good who the heck cares? The reactions of those who partook were mixed. Most commented that they didn’t know what they were eating and that there was too much bread to filling ratio. Alas, like so many of the items already described many of these meat filled buns were discarded with only a bite missing.
The desserts looked yummy, I restricted myself to the chocolate pudding or mouse topped with crushed peppermint served in a narrow shot glass with a tiny spoon. It was very good. I would have been happy to imbibe in more but resisted the temptation as this was yummy, but nothing overwhelmingly amazing.
The other desserts received various reviews from those I asked, like the one I chose, they were good but not amazing. All agreed that they looked super cute.
I never made it over to the s’more table but some of my friends said that is where they had the most success if they were hungry, how can you go wrong with Hershey’s chocolate bars, marshmallows and fire?
The bartenders were fine, they moved quickly and kept the drinks flowing. The signature cocktail of the evening was pretty ordinary it sounded like a cosmo with the addition of grapefruit juice, being allergic to grapefruit I opted for a screwdriver with a splash of cranberry added for color.

I will preface this review by saying that the foodservice/​cocktail staff/​chef were wonderful and I would probably have given this company 5 stars were it were not for the Bartenders. None were particularly friendly (or busy at all when we approached) but one gentleman (Did not get name) was so unpleasant I actually dreaded going to the bar. We brought our 20 month old to the wedding and decided not to drink alcohol. First, the bartender offered to «educate me later,» on how the Ocean Spray cranberry cocktail was better than the Western Family cranberry juice even though I kept saying I just wanted the Western Family brand because it was 100% juice, the Ocean Spray cranberry cocktail was not. Ok, whatever, the customer WAS always right in this case but at this point I was just mildly annoyed and sort of amused by his ignorance and unabashed arrogance. I ended up opting for the 100% OJ to avoid any more inane debate and try to enjoy time with family and friends. Next, my Fiancé came back to our table and said «Wow, that bartender was not very friendly and seemed annoyed that I was ordering a 7-​up.» Finally, (and this was what compelled me to write this review) I went up to order a ginger ale. To my utter disbelief, that same bartender hemmed and hawed and then actually said aloud, «Oh, but we don’t have MUCH ginger ale left.» Ummmmmmm, ok. was it my responsibility to stock the bar? Why and how on earth was this my concern? Was I considered less worthy of ginger ale because I was not imbibing adult bevs??? WOW or UN– WOW rather! I was shocked and didn’t say anything but noticed at least 3 full bottles of ginger ale sitting on the bar. When he realized that I was not going to change my order he uttered another loud huff and an unhappy sigh then poured me maybe a half glass of ginger ale. I have spent 20+ years in the hospitality industry and am still floored and trying to figure out how this employee would ever think that this was ok. Considering the price tag of this wedding I would expect a semi-​exceptional bar staff or at the very least one that wasn’t argumentative, unfriendly and nearly refusing to serve a GUEST a ginger ale!!! :(