Wildflour Catering in Boston

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  John Swiniarski

  :: 28 May 2013 10:56:45

  Not for a wedding! We had an awful experience with Wildflour Caterers of Charlestown MA at the Cambridge Multicultural Art Center. Three days before the wedding we received an email stating that the rental company was owed over 4300 dollars. Yet, this charge was not part of our signed contract. At the initial tasting, we were told that everything was included in the final quote. There was no mention of rental fees in the contract that we signed contract. It appears that this company needs to rent EVERYTHING to prepare your order. They do not own platters, ovens, bus stands, etc. This company needed to rent cooking equipment! They also rented a punch bowl and ice cream scoop but neither punch or ice cream was served! This caterer was grossly understaffed for the cocktail hour which resulted in hundreds of empty glasses, toothpicks, skewers, used cocktail napkins, bottles and glasses littering the reception/cocktail area for the duration of the reception. And, there were no trash receptacles for the guests to dispose of this trash. There were NO dinner plates!! Guests were faced with trying to fit their dinners on salad plates -yes, 8" salad plates. At the New England station guests tried to fit steamers, oysters, fritters, shrimp, and chowder on a salad plate. There were no soup spoons for the chowder - teaspoons had to be used. There were no chowder crackers either. Basics anyone? Not from this caterer. There was no salt, pepper or butter. The caterer also ran out of basic items such as potatoes, rolls and coffee. At another station, guests struggled to fit tenderloin, turkey, potatoes, vegetables, cranberry and rolls on a salad plates which resulted in spills and food scraps everywhere. The station looked grossly unappetizing and dirty. What a mess! And, the staff just ignored the mess. The food was tasty but not nearly as good as it was at the initial tasting. The presentation at the tasting was lovely - there was no presentation at the reception. The caterer/coordinator placed the wedding cake in a busy area while the staff was setting up and it was bumped. Hence, there was in a huge split down the side of the cake. The bride and groom where forced to cut the cake early before it fell apart. Again, presentation was terrible.The cake was backed up against a side wall to hide the damage so only a very few of the guests witnessed the cutting of the cake. This caterer was grossly understaffed and guests sat throughout the entire reception with dirty glasses and salad plates in front of them. The coordinator had to be told several times to use her staff to bus the tables. There was no staff to bus the tables whatsoever. This caterer diminished what should have been a gorgeous reception. All the other vendors that we chose were phenomenal. I have tried to contact the owner (not sure who owns the Wildflour group now since their cafe in Milton MA was seized due to non-payment of taxes. See the Wildflour Facebook page) of this catering service before writing this review to discuss the poor service. However, I cannot find contact information for the owners, Keith and Deanna Martin. I have tried all the numbers for RI ( they operate cafes in RI) but no one seems to know how to contact the owners of this catering company. A website for Wildflour is still maintained and it promises attention to detail with every need met. Not so. Their marketing promises are not congruent with what they deliver. They do not pay attention to detail and certainly do not meet your every need. If you want a beautiful reception choose another caterer and another venue. The Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center obviously does not maintain an updated list of approved caterers. This caterer appears to be in financial trouble (see Boston Restaurant Talk , February 2013) and should not be recommended until they can deliver what they promise.