Rouge Fine Catering

Reviews 3

LI

Lindsay Fisher Gallagher

My husband and I were so very, very lucky to have Rouge Fine Catering host our wedding celebration in April 2016. We were original directed to Rouge by our reception venue along with 10+ other recommendations. We take eating very seriously in our house and your typical wedding menu was not going to cut it for us. After scouring all the potential caterers websites, Rouges menu stood out to us as the most diverse and modern. From the moment we reached out to the Rouge team, the experience was extremely professional, reliable, collaborative and fun. Before we committed to using Rouge, we had a full tasting and tour of their extremely impressive Hunt Valley facility. I had it in my head that they were a "smaller" company, which certainly isnt the case. They are a well a very sophisticated, well-oiled machine. And at the same time they always made us feel special and important. That first tasting sealed the deal and all subsequent tastings with other caterers didnt compare to Rouge. The food was absolutely outstanding and most of what we tried at our first tasting ended up on our wedding menu. What impressed me even more though was how much we felt like they wanted to work with us to make us happy. I knew we were going to be in great hands with Rouge and they did not disappoint. Leading up to the wedding we were in constant communication with our catering manager, Katie Canarr. Saying that Katie is fantastic,dedicated to executing flawless events, a true partner, and a thoughtful leader may just be the understatement of the year. Katie exercised a tremendous amount of patience with our multiple menu flips and flops. She helped me work out our very tricky seating plan, our linen selections, the events signature drink, last minute rental needs (hello space heaters in April!). Did I mention she dreamed up the worlds best donut bar?? Fresh mini donuts served in a martini glass for our guests to top with the fixings of their choice? It was absolutely amazing and such a hit. Also, I never had to track down Katie. She was always one step ahead of me guiding me through the process, which is saying a lot because I was one persistent bride with a vision for what I wanted. She made the process fun, enjoyable and easy for me and my husband. Katie is an absolute rock star and our special day would not have been the same without her. On our wedding day, everything was absolutely flawless. It was more than I ever expected with even a couple surprises for this very OCD, detail-oriented bride. The Rouge staff was top notch and we even had guests comment on the level of professionalism that their team displayed. They clearly take a lot of pride in what they do from start to finish. Did I mention the food??? IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. Its been almost six months since our wedding and I still have family and friends talking about how delicious the food at our wedding was (seriously, when does that actually happen??). And they are not just saying it....they are gushing talking about specific items that they ate. Our appetizer selections included: BLT bites, coconut shrimp with mango dipping sauce, mini chicken tacos, duck confit crepes with plum sauce, brie tartlets with raspberry coulis. We served cornbread (YUM!) along with a mesclun salad with pear, cranberries, and gorgonzola. Dinner choices were either beef shortrib with a demi glaze or seafood vol au vent (unreal!) along with grilled asparagus and roasted rosemary fingerling potatoes. Then we served delish wedding cake along with the donut bar. It was a dynamite menu and a total home run with our guests! I would recommend Rouge to anyone. I am already thinking of reasons that I may need to cater more events in the future just so I can work with them again. Seriously, I am very picky and they really, truly nailed it. Thank your Rouge team for making the most important day of our life so easy, memorable and delicious!!

KR

Kristin Brudy-Everett

Working with Rouge Catering was the highlight of my DC wedding (St Francis Hall). Why? Three things: the food is phenomenal, the price is astoundingly affordable, and event manager Sarah Kelley was the most outstanding person ever. First, the food was incredible - like, not just incredible-for-wedding-food, but actually incredible.* I am still blown away by the appetizers and how fancy they were – we had 5 types of passed appetizers (crab vol au vents, brie and pear canape, burger sliders, caprese crepe, chicken and waffle) and a sprawling antipasti bar. For the main meal: buffet with the strawberry salad, beef short ribs, mango salmon, tortellini rose, with fingerling potatoes and asparagus with red pepper sauce. They actually build a kitchen on site to cook everything. Open bar was unlimited all night and included all top shelf liquors imaginable, a variety of beers, and three wine choices (red, white, rose). Everything was amazing. Second, the price - the whole meal, with fully open bar, with a three-tier Charm City wedding cake and coffee service included, and full staffing and setup, was under $100 per person. Yes. In downtown DC. No hidden costs or “add-ons” that popped up later (I did rent linens for $300 because those werent included). The staff even followed us around outside on the vast venue grounds while we were taking photos to give us food and drinks. I need to expound a bit here: Rouge was by far the lowest price quoted for me, and yet it was by far the fanciest. To be honest, I actually encountered them first at a wedding expo and they were so fancy that I didn’t even call them in my initial search because I assumed that I could never afford them. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, event manager Sarah Kelley (and Rouge staff in general). Sarah was the most amazing person to work with; her excitement and professionalism made this the easiest and most enjoyable part of wedding planning. When we visited their site for our tasting, we got to meet the owners and see how small and close the staff is, and it just felt good to give my business to people who care passionately about where they work. The venue looked AMAZING, the staff that was there was adorably sweet and so efficient (and adept at handling tipsy and bossy family members!), and everything went off without a hitch without needing any attention from me. I cannot recommend this company enough for anything. They are truly outstanding and I cannot praise them enough. * Yes, everyone says, “man, my guests talked about the food all night and since then”…. but usually, we were lying to you – the filet and those three carrots were fine, they helped buffer the booze from the open bar. Rouge provided restaurant-quality food that I would actually have paid for.

AS

Ashley Gilbert

Our wedding was unlike most wedding’s youve likely ever heard of; 5 weeks to our wedding date our venue owner stole our money and cancelled our wedding. And even before that, the venue did not relay any of our payments to Rouge that I had sent, even though that was part of the contract. After many attempts to resolve the issue without worrying us, Rouge finally contacted us and the entire management team handled it so professionally (a complete 180 compared to the venue owner). Jeremy (the VP of Ops) gave me his cell and allowed me to call anytime, including after business hours, even if it was just for me to vent frantically. Once we booked a new venue, I was given a new coordinator (since my previous coordinator left), Sarah, and I can’t rave enough. As you can imagine, there are already concerns with a new coordinator who may not know the ins and outs, but there are so many logistical issues with a change in venue 5 weeks before the date and Sarah put me at ease every time and brought a sense of normalcy, like this had been the plan all along. She reached out to vendors herself to confirm details, took my multiple calls per day and ultimately, made our dream wedding come to light. There were even a few issues the few days before our wedding when Sarah was out of the office, and Gabrielle stepped in, knowing nothing about our wedding, and was able to answer every question and text me options so that I didn’t have to wait! Now to get into the day of, the food was INCREDIBLE! We were able to make tweaks to certain items we selected and the menu was so unique to our tastes. The staff is beyond efficient and so professional. People are still raving about the food a month later! My only regret is not being able to box up all the leftovers and take them home with me! I’ve had several people ask where we found such a well-trained staff of people. My husband and I were given an attendant (Tara) to be with us for the duration of the night and she made us feel like royalty. She was one step ahead of us at all times, bringing us drinks before ours were empty, bringing us food while we finished up pictures, anything we needed, she was there. If you’re reading this because you’re on the fence about Rouge Catering, do yourself a favor and book immediately, you won’t be sorry! FIVE STARS!!

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