Savor...La Jolla

While this review is for Carriage Trade, it is more specifically about my and my husband’s experience with our AMAZING catering coordinator Samantha Reilly:
We used Carriage Trade as the caterer for our wedding at the Martin Johnson House on May 18, 2014. From our first phone conversation and, later, our first in-​person meeting, Samantha was a consummate professional. But she didn’t just do her job well, coordinating event rentals, menu and logistics; she went above and beyond by providing truly outstanding customer service. She was kind, friendly, patient and understanding, as well as genuine in her desire to give us the best and happiest day possible.
Due to planning issues, we were late in choosing our caterer, about three months out from the event. Despite this, Samantha never treated us like last-​minute clients. Instead, she assured us we had plenty of time to pull off a wonderful reception. She got the ball rolling immediately, made herself available to fit our schedule, was responsive in calls and emails – all of this enabled us to make necessary decisions quickly and easily, and start to feel like things really were under control (a great feeling when you are planning a wedding!).
Samantha never added to our mounting pressure and stress. In fact, she did everything in her power to minimize it, including creating several signs for the reception. When we told her our vision for signage and expressed concern that we didn’t have the time or materials to accomplish the projects, Samantha enthusiastically offered to help. The week before the wedding, she made us five chalkboard signs. The time and care she took in creating each one was evident in the finished product. They looked beautiful, and the mother-​of-​the-​bride actually thought her daughter had created them herself! Samantha saved the day on that project. Without her, that part of our wedding day vision likely wouldn’t have come to life.
We’d be remiss not to also mention the care and consideration Samantha took in making sure food and rental costs fit within our budget. We found Carriage Trade’s prices to be affordable compared to other caterers in the area that we considered, but we still had a tight budget, and Samantha never made us feel embarrassed when we tried to find ways to cut costs, nor did she get upset or offended when we triple-​checked the proposal (and subsequent updates) and asked lots of questions. She was always happy to answer any question and address any concern with a smile.
All in all, we are so pleased that we chose Carriage Trade to take part in our big day. The food and service received rave reviews from family and friends. But for us, it was our experience with Samantha that made the most significant impact. She is a bright light in the otherwise dreary memory of our stressful wedding planning process. She made that process start to feel a bit more fun. And she helped deliver a wedding day that was wonderful and memorable. For that we are incredibly grateful.
We would, without a doubt, recommend Carriage Trade to others looking for a caterer for any event – the sole reason being the hard working and dedicated Samantha Reilly!

We just got married in July and Carriage Trade catered our wedding. The venue we chose had a list of preferred vendors, we had originally picked Stone but they canceled on us. Honestly, I am so happy they did! I don’t think the quality of the service and food would have even matched Carriage Trade.
Samantha Reilly is absolutely amazing to work with! She was so responsive throughout the entire process, well organized and really went above and beyond. She took the time to get to k now us personally which we appreciated.
The staff working the event was on top of it! The manager checked in with us all night to make sure that everything was just how we wanted it. They were super quick with clean up at the end of the night and helped us get our personal belongings packed up as well.
I highly recommend choosing Carriage Trade for your wedding! All around great service, you will not be disappointed.

We used Carriage Trade Catering for our wedding last September. We were very happy with the planning at first and enjoyed working with Pamela and Chris. We chose the family style meal for our wedding. The food was decent, but there was not enough for many tables. The next day, our guests joked about how the caterer put them on a diet. Some tables did not get enough pieces of meat to go around even once. There were no seconds and service was sub par. The head server was more annoying than helpful. We were left with a trash disaster the next morning and found that the caterer did not bring their garbage out with them and it was just thrown in the dumpster area. Most of what we had originally discussed while planning the event was forgotten. Customer service was non existent to resolve any of our issues after the event. It was a huge mistake to chose Carriage Trade for our wedding!

We used Carriage Trade for our recent wedding reception and we could not be any happier! Let me just say that I knew we would be spending the majority of our money on food because I LOVE FOOD! And everyone was going to love our food at our wedding =)
Our wedding venue had a list of preferred vendors they wanted to work with (a list of about 25). Something I am somewhat grateful for because it narrowed my options down haha. I did my due diligence and looked up Unilocal reviews of all the vendors on the list (of course!) and emailed the ones with okay to spectacular reviews. There were a few I knew I wanted to work with only because of reputation and restaurants they also own… Carriage wasn’t on my radar at the time!
A few caterers later… (I can’t believe that there are caterers who lag in responding to emails or don’t respond at all!), we set up 5 tastings with caterers who fit our budget and didn’t require more than 10 emails back and forth to come up with a quote. Everyone was okay, but Carriage was the only one who blew us away. After we had agreed upon a preliminary menu and we were going to taste what was on that menu… Carriage went above and beyond and provided us with some of their «household» menu items that we had not requested at the tasting. It takes guts to present anyone with something they did not ask for, believing that it is the best! And it was. We changed up the main course, but the items we did request were divine as well.
The final menu was somewhat involved! Our cocktail hour was of food we had on our first date — sliders, monte cristo, soup, and potato puffs (in lieu of fries). We also had a beautiful display of meats and cheeses. For dinner, we did family style: ahi tuna salad, bread and cie bread with butter and olive oil/​balsamic, salmon and asparagus, tri-​tip and chimichurri sauce (everyone was raving about this sauce), and half/​half smashed potatoes and pesto rice.
Everyone loved the food. It’s the first question I wanted to ask everyone, but everyone volunteered that it was delicious! From cocktail hour to dinner!
We had a long engagement, so we actually worked with two coordinators after choosing Carriage. Both were fabulous. However, we ended up with Samantha. At first, I was nervous about changing points of contact since we had started off with someone else and we were already confident in her… But WOW — Samantha was fantastic. I will completely echo Eliska’s sentiments. Samantha is PROMPT to answer your questions, quick to reply, and quick to provide you with what you need. This is so important because your Type A comes out as a bride and you need answers quickly! She also helped me co-​manage the rentals as well! I rented a few things from different companies, and she double checked to make sure I was not double charged for anything. For example, she was quick to note that although they were not the company who would be providing the linen napkins (who were charging to fold them), that they would do this complimentary.
Hands down: love the food, love the service, love Samantha and love Carriage. Choose them for your wedding!

I recently used Carriage Trade Catering for my wedding in Oct and I can only speak positive things! The food exceeded my expectations and received many compliments from our guests. Everyone thought it was delicious and love the «family style» way it was presented.
Also, as most weddings have a 10% decrease in guests., we had the opposite… we had 10% more people show up! Once dinner was being served, Robin helped out and made it possible for every extra guest to have a seat and Chis made it possible for everyone to have plenty to eat!
I can’t thank Carriage Trade enough, you helped make our wedding day great!

Carriage Trade catered my Wedding reception at my home and everything was wonderful. They were prompt when returning any calls or emails with questions. The food was delicious and beautifully presented. The staff was extremely helpful and professional the day of the event taking care of everything.
I would not hesitate to contact them again for an event.
Tip: Do yourself and your guests a favor and go with the shortribs.