The Napkin Ring

I contacted Shirley to cater a memorial reception, and even though it was around the holidays and to be held in a short time, Shirley got back to me right away. She worked with me on menus and pricing, adjusting her proposal as I told her more about what I wanted and needed, and was just wonderful. Her service and professionalism was extraordinary.
The food, however, was even MORE amazing! There was more than enough in quantity for all attendees (even though our numbers were probably higher than expected). Everything tasted wonderful, from the deviled eggs to the sliders to the fruit skewers. The memorial was for a person who had won awards for cooking, so it was important and appreciated that the food was of a high quality. Even so, it far exceeded my expectations.
The staff who served at the event, Lindon and Ben, were FABULOUS. Not only were they courteous and professional, but they were helpful over and above normal support. They wrapped/​boxed up leftovers for transport home, helped us put items in our cars after the event, and assisted with clean up, even of things that weren’t catering related. They were attentive without being intrusive, and were just perfect.
I am a professional in the events business, and The Napkin Ring completely surprised me with their amazing and exceptional support, food, and service. I recommend them without hesitation!

Please save yourself time & energy and do NOT call these people! This will honestly be the worst customer service you will ever encounter in your lifetime!!! I read the past reviews saying how disoriented and disorganized these people but I did not believe it till I faced it myself!
I called them to ask about a sit down dinner event I was planning for my husband’s 50^th BD… I talked to Shirley and she always promised she will get back to me with the quote and menu etc… she ALWAYS forgot to send that email! I had to call back about 5 – 6 times and either talk to her or another person to finally receive that email!!!
After FINALLY receiving it, I agreed to a very high price ($ 125 per person) to get this over as we were also getting very close to the event date (she had Wasted about 3 weeks of my time by just ignoring my calls and requests of sending me the menu etc…)…listen to the rest of the story.
Ok I agreed to this high price of $ 125 per person and then she again got disappeared and never sent me the contract to sign!!! I called after 2 weeks again and she said she cannot guarantee the price & It might be higher than $ 125 per person!!!
Can you even imagine?!
Please believe me and do not call these people. These people absolutely waste your time and energy and add unnecessary stress to your event. I am now a few weeks away from my event and still do not have a catering due to this lady wasting 1.5 months of my time!!! Please listen to me!

I can honestly say, I’m not sure where these 5 stars came from all other reviewers but my experience with The Napkin Ring is way different! My fiancé and I inquired with Napkin Ring to cater our wedding at Hakone Garden. We started inquiring in March, after a week we booked our venue. We wanted The Napkin Ring to cater since they are close to the venue and transporting things won’t be a big issue. I called and Shirley assisted and told us we can come by. So we did. We did our first meeting, face to face with Shirley and we informed her the number of people, types of food and services we’d like to have. Two weeks later, I still didn’t her back from her. I called and left her 1 voicemail, left a message through another one of her employee, my fiancé called and left her a voicemail and we heard NOTHING.
While on the 2^nd week and we were waiting, I started inquiring with different vendors and they were quick and fast to respond, they worked with me right away and I absolutely felt I can trust them with our business. On the 3^rd week, I emailed Shirley to follow up on the proposal. She then replied and said that they had issues with their emails and that she sent it to me but will be happy to resend it– it was a quick and short email also. My concern was: 1) I didn’t email her, I called her and left a message, 2) my fiancé called also… and we both didn’t get a call back! It would have been appreciated if she called us back and informed us that they were having email issues or if she is still working on it. ACKNOWLEDGMENT is what every potential or current client would like to hear from their vendors and we didn’t get that from Shirley. Our wedding is in May 2015 but I like to lock our caterers early as our venue has a preferred list.
I’m greatly disappointed with The Napkin Ring– they were our first choice but I guess sometimes first choice just doesn’t work! We went for another caterer and the event coordinator is attentive and she respond within a day.
Props to the chips and soda that Shirly gave us on our first meeting though, that was good but did not impress us enough to want to continue working with them.

The Napkin Ring is an outstanding catering company! I highly recommend them because of the incredibly healthy, delicious and fresh food that they make. On top of that, the ladies are so professional and personable. Our company uses them for company lunch events. We have about 300 employees on site and TNR always does an amazing job! They arrive early and have everything set up beautifully (with decorations and all), keep the buffet tables stocked and do a great job with clean up. They bring more than enough food for everyone to enjoy. I’ve had their hot and cold lunches. Their recipes use quality ingredients. All the ingredients they use are in season and super fresh. The baked goods are to die for as well. I would classify them as high-​end catering. Their food and service speak volumes!

Great business, great service… my experience with their food is that I have heard they are amazing. I’m not local. But when I was out running on Thanksgiving day and they were crazy slammed, they stopped to do something kind for me. They didn’t have to but did — with smiles on their faces! I can only assume they are as kind to their community, their food sources and experiences like this makes me believe that they probably insist on humane farms, etc. got to love businesses like this!

The Napkin Ring catered our wedding a couple weeks ago and we could not be happier. Everyone absolutely loved the appetizers, main course and deserts, some even going as far as saying it was the best wedding food they can remember.
We had a great experience planning as well. All of our ideas were incorporated and our questions and concerns were addressed with ease. When we saw (and enjoyed!) the final dishes we were 100% satisfied, just wish we had more time to enjoy during the reception!
Many thanks to The Napkin Ring. We would recommend them to anyone and everyone.

The Napkin Ring catered a luncheon for us yesterday at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga as part of a Memorial Service. When we arrived from the cemetery, they had set up beautifully and everything was perfect for us and our guests. They did a phenomenal job on very short notice. The food was delicious and the staff very competent and friendly. I would use them again without any hesitation whatsoever. Thank you, Napkin Ring!

My favorite aspect of my job? FREE FOOD or Napkin Ring catering!
Napkin Ring caters most of our lunchs, and I would like to state that this is probably the company’s best investment decision ever. Happy tummies = happy workers = happy workplace.
The food is always delicious, and always fresh. I love their salads! The ingredients are all high quality and the dressing is soo fresh, like homemade!

Once again, The Napkin Ring have produced a flawless event for us. We hosted an engagement cocktail party at our home for our daughter and her fiancé last night. Carol and Shirley made the food suggestions and I really changed nothing… knowing that the last time I had them here… everything was pretty perfect. The same staff came (which is another very wonderful thing about this company… staff stays with them for years) and knowledge of the house and kitchen goes along way with caterers. We totally enjoyed our guests, not once was I asked even a question… they handled everything… and our guests were wild about the food and the staff. Just lovely. My home was put back to topnotch condition and the kitchen show no sign this morning of a party for 50! I have used other caterers in the area over the past 15 years, but decided to Unilocal this review after this second fantastic event with Napkin Ring… they are the people you want in your home. Thanks Linda, Barbie and Brianna, Carol and Shirley… flawless.

The firm that I work for provides lunches (catered by Napkin Ring) to us at no cost. But, instead of eating the free meals, quite a few people actually spend their valuable time and hard-​earned cash to go elsewhere for lunch.
The fact that someone would turn down a free meal that’s conveniently delivered right to the office and run through the lunch-​time traffic and parking gauntlet speaks volume about what they think of Napkin Ring’s food.

Their boxed lunches are excellent. A little pricier than some other options but they are really good. They deliver on time and the food is always fresh. One of my favorite places to order for meetings from.

I get these guys at work every now and then, and I always look forward to it. They are on time, professional and oh yeah, the food is good. w00t.

My company had a party once and we used this place as catering for the food. Having had several bad experiences with other caterers, we were reluctant to try a new place. However, The Napkin Ring totally opened our eyes (and appetite). We had Artichoke and Parmesan stuffed chicken breast with lemon pepper. That was great, the chicken breast was a little tough, but the stuffing compensated the bland chicken breast and turned it into an amazing entrée. Sauce warm potato salad with pecan; this was another big hit, the potato was chunky and the sauce is like no other potato salad, this felt home-​made. Chive and celery pecan corn rice; I hesitate to try rice dishes outside of home, but this dish is even better than what I can make in my kitchen, a definitely plus. Roasted carrots and green beans; this is fairly plain, but they also had asparagus that came with these savory white cream sauce, I don’t typically like vegetables, but I can eat anything with this white sauce. We were in the middle of the meeting when the caterer came in, and she started to set up the food at a table in front of us. The food smelled so good, that as soon as the caterer left, we had to stop the meeting for the lunch break. It was AWESOME. The only thing was that the food was cold by the time it got to us from the commute from Saratoga, but it still tasted awesome. Have you ever had wonderful food after it got cold? I haven’t, but this place really opened my eyes as to what they can do with simple ingredients, and we will definitely be using them again.
*Update*
My company tried to contact the caterer again for our Christmas party, but they had to decline our order because they were too busy. I guess the secret is out, I can only wish I can find a restaurant in the Bay Area that can cook as well as they can.