California Rose Catering

My wife and I hired California Rose to cater our 150-​person wedding in October and couldn’t have been happier with the results. We even had 5 – 10 guests approach us to report that this was the «best wedding food I’ve ever had».
Dov and Angy were flexible with our food preferences and budget, and they worked well with the other vendors to provide a seamless experience. I am so so happy we came across California Rose before choosing our wedding caterer – they were an absolute highlight of the night!

Dove and Angie,
You guys were great! The wife and I were stoked at how classy you two were. Thank you for serving our 200+ guests at our wedding. The food was on point and super tasty… Our favorite was the Cesar Salad with Tomatillos and the Jamaican Jerk Chicken. Dove got down!
It all started when D and A invited us to come down for a tasting a few months out of our wedding date. They accommodated us well. Sitting at their place and being served felt like we were at home. They understood exactly where we were, what we were trying to do and they executed it well on the day…
You will not go wrong with California Rose Catering.
Con Mucho Respeto
E & C Rivera
06.21.14

Dov and Angy are absolutely the BEST in customer service, options, and quality!
We worked with them for our wedding in August and they provided the full package. We met on a number of occasions to discuss the venue, food, rentals, flow, overall aesthetic, and more!
Angy is a total pro when it comes to understanding the way a wedding works and what elements could be adjusted to meet our unique needs and personalities and still have the overall flow work. She was super supportive, positive, and calm, with great suggestions and lots of options for problem solving. Angy coordinated with all of the staff to set up all of our elements on the day of so we did not have to worry about it while we were getting ready.
Dov was also amazing in helping us create our specialized menu, which was completely up to us! He has a ton of experience with food and was flexible in allowing us to have our personalities and preferences come through. The food on the wedding day was incredible – our guests couldn’t believe how good it was. We opted for family style, which suited us and we had more than enough food – they even left us all the leftovers, which our guests grubbed on late night!
Angy and Dov and the rest of the California Rose staff are like a family and you can tell that they genuinely care about their clients. It’s not all about money for them, they want you to have what works for you and help make that happen within your budget. They are very upfront and clear about pricing and you can easily see ways that you might be able to adjust things to fit within a budget.
Through planning a wedding, we realized how important it was to trust the vendors you work with and we never worried when working with California Rose – not to mention that they are super sweet and cool folks to chat with ;)
Thank YOU Angy, Dov, Paula, and all the other amazing people who made our planning and day THE BEST!
Kyla & Kwesi

OMG
Had this catering for a work function today… absolutely amazing. Flavors wonderful, taste perfect, ingredients fresh…
I’m remembering this name for a long time.
Today we had Mexican food. great, thick corn tortillas, grilled chicken, carnitas, rice with veggies, and 3 amazing salsas. Red pico de gallo, a red chunky salsa with (I think) a slight chipotle flavor and an amazing, chunky green salsa with tomatillos and red onion. OMG, I’m having a plate of seconds this was so wonderful.
This is probably the best catering company my employer has used.
Like i said, great flavors, not too strong, not weak. just a great fresh, grilled, roasted flavor throughout.

California Rose catered our wedding this past weekend, and all I can say is THANK YOU!
We were challenging as far as our venue size/​logistics, not to mention our guest list exceeded the venue by a bit. Angy and Dov remained supportive and helpful through out the whole process from providing suggestions at the tasting, to coordinating with our venue, to recommending rental companies as well as incorporating that into their invoice to minimize costs, and then narrowing down our needs to accommodate our budget, which was limited for an invite list of 250.
I’m continueing to refecive rave reviews from friends and family members about how delicious the food was and furthermore, how professional, fun and efficient the staff was. I have to make a personal shout out to ANDY! She rocked the head table and even took a quick break to get down on the dance floor as guests started chanting her name amidst her serving.
I will recommend California Rose over and over again. They are truly amazing to work with and our day would not have been the same without them.
Thank you Dov and Angy!!!

Absolute professionals. Between Dov & staffs fantastic cooking and Angy’s masterful event coordination, you really cannot go wrong with California Rose. Our wedding not only wouldn’t have been the smashing success it was without them, it likely would not have happened at the venue we wanted. Angy and Dov helped us work through a very complicated situation involving multiple parties. They also had the patience and empathy to work with us at our most stressed stare without batting an eye lash. I could not be happier that we went with California Rose and I urge anyone considering them to go with them. You won’t regret it!
Thanks Dov and Angy!

California Rose catered our wedding this past weekend, and I cannot say enough good things about them!
My husband (then fiancé) and I did tastings with two catering companies. Our first tasting with another company was pretty typical – good but nothing special, but then we met with California Rose and were completely blown away. Dov clearly loves to cook, and even though we had a tight budget he really wanted to present us with options that we would love. He even added a bonus item onto our tasting menu because we had told him we had tried a really unappealing short rib dish at our first tasting, and he couldn’t let us think all short ribs were like that. When we left, there was no doubt in our mind that we were going to hire them, but we were seriously conflicted over which dishes to pick because they were all so good!
Fast forward to the wedding, and the day-​of food was amazing. We received rave reviews all night from our guests – including a friend who’s a chef in SF – saying it was some of the best wedding food they have ever had. Top dishes of the night were definitely the corncake hors d’oeuvres, brussel sprouts with bacon and wild mushrooms, and the milk-​braised pork (if you’re a pork fan, TRY THIS). Our guests were also blown away by the stationed hors d’oeuvres table, which was full of amazing cheeses, fruits and charcuterie. Sadly, I never got to see the full presentation b/​c I was too busy talking with my guests, but they did prepare a small plate for me so I could at least taste everything =)
Angy also did an amazing job running everything on the day-​of, as evidenced by the fact that I didn’t think about the logistics once – everything just ran seamlessly =)
If you care about food and want to serve your wedding guests something special, you need to talk to California Rose. The quality of food was amazing and at a far more reasonable price than many of the catering companies I reached out to in the city.
Thank you again, California Rose, for helping to make our wedding so magical!

California Rose catered our wedding, and it was a pleasure to work with them.
First, the food was fantastic. Angy and Dov welcomed our parents to join us for the tasting, and worked with us to design a menu that was perfect. Dov also helped suggest wines we could order that would pair well with his menu.
But California Rose is much, much more than just a caterer. Angy arranged all of our rentals, walked through our schedule with us, and functioned as our day-​of coordinator. We picked the family style menu, but she made sure to take special care of my grandparents so they wouldn’t have to pass the plates. Without us asking, Angy also reached out to all the other vendors to coordinate cake delivery, flower set up, etc. She really went above and beyond what anyone would have asked of a caterer, and because of Angy, we were able to go without a day-​of coordinator.
We also particularly appreciated how thoughtful Angy was. While setting up before the wedding, a plate of cheese and fruit mysteriously appeared in the wedding party’s room, which was very much appreciated by everyone. She also put up with all of our questions — «what’s the rain plan? do you have any table number holders?» — cheerfully and patiently, and always knew the answer, which made us feel very confident that we were in good hands for our wedding.
In short, California Rose was both friendly and professional, and we couldn’t recommend them highly enough!

I attended my brother’s event catered by California Rose, and during planning/​set-​up worked with the team (thank you Ang!) gaining a massive amount of respect for them and their business! Not only were they professional, they take pride in their food and every aspect of the catering business, lending to the overall success of my brother’s event! I’ve worked with catering companies in the past, and none compare to the perfect mix of cool, fun, and class that California Rose delivers. As far as food-​my god! Dov took my brother’s requests and transformed them into foods more memorable and delicious than possibly anticipated!!! Needless to say, I absolutely recommend California Rose to anyone who wants to have a great damn party and eat something Food Network worthy!!! Organized-​Fun-​Professional-​Memorable-​Delicious: Thank you California Rose!

California Rose catered out November 2014 wedding in San Francisco. We couldn’t have been happier!
I was completely overwhelmed with the process of trying to find a caterer within our budget. Several caterers we contacted actually laughed (snorted?) and said they wouldn’t even consider trying to work at a price below $ 175/​head. Welcome to the ridiculous Bay Area wedding industry complex.
In comes the breath of fresh air that is California Rose. We had a great experience from day one. I am vegetarian and wanted to make sure we had great vegetarian options, while my mom was extremely skeptical of having a predominantly vegetarian wedding. Given tastings we had with other caterers within our budget, we had sort of resigned ourselves to «meh» food. At our tasting with California Rose (which was so fun!), we were completely blown away by the quality and freshness of the food, on par with great SF restaurants. My mom became chef Dov’s biggest fan and couldn’t stop raving. No more complaints from her about the vegetarian-​friendly menu!
Angy (their coordinator) was amazing-​I had budgeted to possibly have a «day-​of» coordinator but she was so on it that I ended up deciding not to have one (we had a friend who also volunteered as a point person). Angy coordinated everything with our venue and other vendors and took off a lot of stress. She was completely willing to work with my budget and to plan a beautiful meal.
On the actual day of the wedding, the food was delicious. For appetizers, we had corn croquettes, handmade sopitos, and burrata bruschetta. For dinner, we had a plated beet and goat cheese salad, sides of quinoa salad and mushroom and brussels sprouts, entrees of stuffed poblano pepper with jerk sauce and seared cod, and a mini-​dessert bar. We chose not to have a wedding cake, and they even threw in a delicious triple crème cheese for a «cheese cutting.» All the servers and bartenders were very professional and helpful, and everything went so smoothly-​we feel lucky that our friend found California Rose for us and can’t recommend them highly enough.

California Rose was by far the best investment we made for our wedding. Angie and Dov were very professional, well-​informed, honest, patient, and genuinely cared about the success of our event. From the selection of our linens, to the choosing Star Wars themed names for our menu items, Dov and Angie spent a great deal of time and creative energy making our vision a reality. Catering Rose’s wait staff and bar staff were punctual, warm, and engaged our guests. And the food! Our food was so delicious that our friends posted pictures of it, and are still telling us how great it was. Our meal was more of a quality one would expect in a chef’s home as opposed to a large catered event. If you can, partner with California Rose for your event– if you can’t partner with them, figure out how you can. They. Are. The. Best.

Like many other reviewers, I’m so glad we hired California Rose as our caterer. We learned that the key to a good caterer is not just the quality of food and service, but their experience at the venue, and California Rose’s experience at Landmarks Art & Garden Center in Tiburon (our venue) could not have been better. Angy was effectively like a wedding planner, helping us determine rental orders (who from, how much, etc), where to place things, how the flow of the event should go, what had worked in that venue before and what hadn’t (e.g. we decided that enjoying market lights for an hour wasn’t worth the price of stringing them up), how much alcohol and other drinks to buy, and of course, what type of food we wanted,
We had 2 tasting with California Rose and they were incredibly accommodating with scheduling since both my husband and I live outside of California. The first tasting was in late January, and I was not super impressed by the quality of food. (I was, however, really appreciative that they gave us a doggy bag so my sister could try it too). The second tasting was in May and it was amazing, some of the best food I’ve ever eaten, particularly the appetizers. Looking back, the first tasting may not have been as amazing because Chef Dov uses local, fresh ingredients and in January, the fruits and vegetables may not have the same quality. At the wedding, the food was excellent, especially the little appetizers. Unfortunately, like most brides and grooms, we didn’t get to eat very much of the goodness, so California Rose will box up the extras and send it along with you. It was way more food than we could eat, but we were really appreciative for it.
Neither my husband nor I care for cake, so we opted for just a dessert table with coffee and hot cocoa. However, Chef Dov really encouraged us to have a cake (no extra cost) and the little chocolate tort was absolutely delicious. One of the best desserts I’ve ever eaten. If only I had some right now…
Angy and Chef Dov and their staff are excellent to have worked with, down to earth (we literally just hung out at their catering office for one afternoon just talking about plans and rentals and eating their jelly beans), calm under pressure, and perfectors of the art of food preparation. When we totaled the bill, they were not inexpensive but not expensive, and for the quality of their food, service, and hands-​on help and preparation of the entire wedding event, I wished that I had hired California Rose at the very beginning of our wedding planning rather than waste our time (and much needed energy) with looking into other caterers and trying to figure out up from down in the wedding planning world. They were the linchpin and truly made our wedding come together, and we are so grateful to them.

We hired California Rose Catering for our mother’s memorial service. The food was fabulous, the server efficient and sensitive, and Dov, wonderful to work with. Many people in attendance remarked on the top quality and asked for business cards. We were concerned that the event go well and CRC was an important contributor to its success.
Highly recommend!

We hired California Rose to cater our first wedding anniversary party last week. We had over 50 people, and my greatest concern was for the quality of the food, and I wanted to make sure that we wouldn’t run out of food. From the first time I talked to Chef Dov, I knew that we were going to be taken care of well! He is very clear about wanting to give an amazing product to his customers, and takes care that every detail is attended to. We had BBQ at our party, as it was a picnic. Dov helped us with every angle, from advising us on the locations that we were scouting to tailoring to the menu to accommodate our preferences and budget.
The food was AMAZING! We had ribs (with a delicious BBQ sauce), sausage, chicken, potato salad, quinoa salad, kale salad, and the most amazing ever corn-​polenta-​jalapeño bread… yum!
In the end, the party was a GREAT success, everyone was happy and well-​fed and we have Dov and Angy to thank for that! We would definitely hire then again!

I got the wonderful opportunity to eat some incredible dishes during a wedding tasting done there when installing some equipment. Clean kitchen, fresh amazingly tasting dishes. Wow, lucky bride and groom, I passed them my card so I could get a wedding invite just for the food alone!
I would definitely recommend this professional catering company to everyone I know!

Bio-​Rad ordered this catering for 2 days. The first day was lasagna and garlic bread. The second day was BBQ link, chicken, and potato salad.
The lasagna was alright. Garlic bread was a little on the salty side. And the gluten free baked ziti was served with cold cheese. My manager said she bit into an actual frozen piece of cheese. Because of this, I felt that this place deserved 3 stars.
The BBQ was a different story. The chicken was tender and the sauce was finger lickin’ good. Their homemade croutons made their salad better than normal. The potato salad had a lot going on inside. It was hard to tell what exactly was in it, but it didn’t make it taste bad.
I’d definitely would love to try something else on their menu in hopes to give a better rating.

I don’t even know where to begin. I just can’t. Angy and Dov were… amazing amazing amazing.
They spent countless hours answering my torrent of emails during the months leading up to my wedding. They knew my vision like the back of their hands and even better. What I didn’t anticipate was everything to go completely seamlessly and flawless. Every bride fears the worst and yet, I could not have a imagined a more fun, perfect and awesome wedding thanks to CRC and their team.
Angy is so on top of it, so attentive, so professional and just incredibly amazing. Dov is the chef of the century! They both know what works and what doesn’t but they had no problem compiling my millions of visions into one amazing wedding. My guests STILL rave about the food at our wedding. We did something really fun, food stations that represent different SF neighborhoods and Angy/​Dov just made it work so well.
CRC is not pretentious, not crazy asshole caterers who nickel and dime you for the dumbest things. They are so down to earth, so on your level and will truly make your event or wedding MAGICAL.
Whoever passes them up for another caterer in the city is mental. I would absolutely hire them for future events!

California Rose provided the catering to a Birthday Party celebration that Gayle and I recently attended at the Allegro Ballroom in Emeryville. We were both very impressed with food quality and selection and the service. I believe that our host were also pleased on how they and all of their guests were treated.
I wasn’t really expecting this kind of spread when we decided to attend this event. I love pleasant surprises such as this and would gladly travel any extra miles to again attend a gathering that retained California Rose for their catering needs.

Our wedding process was a sheer nightmare. As our guest list grew, then shrank, then grew again, we had Dov and Angy by our side all along the bumpy ride of wedding planning. We started at one venue, a quaint gallery I was sure would work for our 180 guests. Dov met us there to check the venue for their kitchen… which was non existant. But he guaranteed us that if we could really wanted to have it there, and were willing to rent the equipment, he would make it work for us, worry free.
Fast forward about a month later. We finally decided that renting all the kitchen equipment wouldn’t be worth the cost so we switched venues. Without skipping a beat, Angy was right there with me planning on how to create the wedding we wanted for the guest list that had now grown to 220. We needed a tent, as it was outdoors in San Francisco and they worked with their vendor contacts to find us just what we needed. Then it was on to the tasting.
Dov created a menu that was no only delicious, but beautiful in color as well. (Beet gastrique! Chard salad!). Our parents, who accompanied us, were completely blown away. It was unlike anything they’d ever seen served at a wedding before and I could see how excited they were getting. We finalized our menu, decided on a couple of signature cocktails they would pour for us, and chose our linens. Done!
Not so fast. Our venue came back to us saying that because we were installing a tent, our capacities would have to go down. Like, way down. Like, lower than the amount of guests we were inviting. Before I could shed a single tear, Angy and Dov were telling me not to worry, and jumped into researching what we could do with this new restriction. They even called the fire department and harassed our venue coordinator until they got the answers they wanted. Talk about being on your team! In the end it was sorted our in a matter of days and I hardly had to lift a finger.
By our wedding day, we were so looking forward, and anxiously awaiting, how everything was going to turn out…
It was flawless. I myself have worked in the wedding industry for years and have seen the ups and downs, but I couldn’t believe how smooth things went. Angy was directing traffic, and Dov kept the food coming. Duck spring rolls, ahi bites, polenta cakes, miso cod, hanger steak, and wine! So much generous pouring of the wine. And Gretchen was on hand to serve our every whim. They then expertly broke down two tables and made us a dance space without a hitch in our programming. We danced all night and guests enjoyed the dessert bar which the team so beautifully presented.
They treated us like family and I will never forget how they saved our wedding day! Angy, Dov and team are more than amazing — they are like catering superheroes!

Ok update —
After writing my previous review, I was contacted by Dov who explained what had happened with the business at the time I was expecting a response. They were hacked, all emails received at that time went into cyberspace nowheres-​ville, and had an absolute horror of a time getting everything back to sorts. I expect also, that this happening right before the holidays (many caterers busiest time of the year), things were understandably horrific for them.
I’ve now had a few really lovely email exchanges and we’re in the process of building a menu which suits my taste and budget.
What I hadn’t realised was the fact that California Rose seem to be willing to be as much or as little involved in the process as the client likes, which is great. They can even sort non-​food related issues in event hosting such as flowers, tablecloths, the works.
So, we’re back on track and I definitely hope we are able to work together.