Lancer Catering

We had our wedding at Woodland Park Zoo and Lancer was the caterer. The food was very good. We got a lot of compliments on the food. The service was also excellent (although I did have to remind them to bring drinks to the tables). Our parents, who were helping with set up, said the Lancer staff was very nice and accommodating.
I was originally working with Lydia and then was switched to Kory. Both were great, but I would have preferred to stick with the same person who I had been working with throughout.
Also, there was not enough alcohol at the cocktail party and not enough non-​alocholic drinks at the reception. But they just barely missed the mark on those calculations.
All in all, they did a great job and delivered awesome food!

Lancer catering is absolutely amazing! From the start of the wedding planning process until the day of they were fantastic! I had many questions and emails sent to Ashley within a year’s time and she was always so kind and quick to get back to me. They were very organized which in turn made me have zero worry on my wedding day. Every single thing I had requested they executed perfectly. Liza who helped with our ceremony and Ashley who helped with our reception were amazing! Ben our day of coordinator was great too! I wish I could give them all 6 stars! We had many guests come up to family members and say it was the best wedding they had ever been too. I couldn’t have asked for a better day. Lancer was great at letting my husband and I go first to eat (which really saved us). They also were very kind and our guests later complimented to my entire family how professional they were. The food was AMAZING! I had a little bit of everything! It definitely was very expensive but they were clear from the start how much it would be. For the amount of people we had it was well worth it to do the buffet! They do not disappoint! I can’t say enough about how great Woodland Park Zoo and Lancer Catering are! Thank you Ashley, Liza, and Ben! You guys rock! = D
Stephanie S.

Our company holiday party was at the Woodland Park Zoo, hosted by Lancer Catering. If you host an event at the Zoo, they are your only option for catering. Regardless, they were great from start to finish.
I worked with Lydia who quickly responded to my many questions, was very professional and always helpful — even in the middle of a move.
The event staff were all very accomodating, polite, professional and followed my requests without issue.
The food was good, not great but overall it was enjoyable. The spiced cake pops were really bad so I would skip those entirely. The hot chocolate was REALLY great.

Our company holiday party was at the Point Defiance Zoo, hosted by Lancer Catering. They were incredible from start to finish.
*Both Chip and Emily were responsive, professional, and so helpful. I had tons of questions leading up to the event, and they always responded to my emails right away. They had great suggestions for making things run smoothly.
*The entire staff went out of their way to help. My car was full of things for the party and they were right there with carts to help get them inside. The catering staff at the party were friendly and very attentive.
*The food was wonderful and very well laid out. At least a dozen people came up to tell me how much they enjoyed the food.
I highly recommend Lancer Catering to anyone planning an event. They will make your life so much easier, and your guests will be impressed.

I worked with Lydia at Lancer for our work holiday party at the Zoo. She was thorough in planning the layout with me, flexible with our guests with food allergies/​preferences, and they worked to accommodate our reeeeally tight budget. The buffet ended up being beautiful and really yummy, and the wait staff was great as well. Thanks for a great meal at a lovely event.

I worked with Lancer for a two-​day function being held at the Woodland Park Zoo two weeks ago. I found the process extremely painless, as they were completely organized pre-​, during, and post– function.
On day one we held a small, intimate dinner in Zoomazium which was surprisingly transformed from a kids play area to a lovely area for a VIP dinner. It was a sit down meal with a beer/​wine bar. The food was good and the staff very attentive and friendly… even when having to work on the night of Halloween!
Day two was a reception in the Rainforest Pavilion, which was equally transformed from a popcorn-​cheerio-​day-​time food court to a great space to hold 200+ people. In this situation, we had an appetizer buffet and waiters walking around with appetizer trays, and a beer/​wine bar again. The appetizers were delicious, though we under ordered the amount of flatbreads and pizzas (or our attendees over-​served, which is probably the more likely scenario!)
All through the process we had great communication with Ashley Pearce. I would not hesitate to use Lancer again.

I worked with Lancer, as the required vendor for my wedding at the Woodland Park Zoo, this past month. I originally started working with Erica, and halfway through was switched to Lydia. Working with both was great, and the transition of my account went smoothly.
I thought the team was very responsive in general, responding quickly to new inquiries, changes to the setup plan, and repeated clarification requests for me on different parts of the bill.
There were a few increases in prices from when I booked a year ahead, but relatively minor. On the day-​of, the reception, bar, and buffet were all set up on time, and the food was still hot (note my specific location was not near the kitchen). I heard a lot of good remarks on the food, I did try some stuff I didn’t enjoy during the initial tasting, but I decided to just go for the most popular/​well reviewed option based on feedback they had received and that went fine. Not the cheapest option overall, but I felt like I got good value for money. I thought the alcohol was actually pretty reasonable. I didn’t get to test if they stuck to the max limit for host bar since we fell about $ 20 short of hitting it. Champagne was distributed on time, and they also provided everything needed for my matron of honor to complete the cake cutting.
Overall-​great working with them. They delivered as promised.

My company, DoubleDown Interactive used Lancer for a large company picnic this last weekend, and it was amazing! Very professional, attentive, and the the food was great. I would definitely recommend them! Thanks Lancer Catering/​Woodland Park Zoo!

professional, friendly and flexible service. Very Convenient for a birthday party at the zoo.

Lancer catering did a great job with the food, and I found the staff that hosted the day of the wedding and that we interacted with throughout the planning process to be extremely kind and professional. The prices are a little steep, but it is worth it to have a wedding at the zoo!

We just spent a lovely Saturday evening at the zoo’s Rain Forest Pavilion for a work function. Lancer’s provided passed hors d’oeuvres, which got rave reviews, plus a buffet dinner and dessert bar. Seemed like a lot of people were going back for multiple trips to the buffet line and returning with heaping plates of food. The room provided by the zoo was nice with lots of monitors for watching our video program. We were also visited by the resident peacock which took up roost outside the room and provided entertainment for our guests. Thanks.

I recently used Lancer Catering for my wedding at the Woodland Park Zoo because I had to use them. Everything was absolutely terrible and I strongly urge you to consider another venue for your wedding or important event, because they will ruin it. I will happily provide more detail if you contact me, but have limited space in this review.
I had many issues with Lancer during the planning process. The representative I worked with Erica, was very nice but incompetent. I found Lancer to be extremely disorganized, untimely and not sufficiently responsive. It was also hard to get a straight answer from them about anything. Most of the food we had at the tasting event was inedible. The steak was hard as a rock, and even the bread was stale. After another tasting, I luckily found some mediocre things to serve our guests.
The day of our wedding, everything Lancer handled was a disaster. They set up only one bar for 225 guests, even though we had agreed in advance that there would be multiple bars. They were also supposed to tray-​pass wine during cocktail hour, and to refill wine glasses after entrees were served. They did not do this. Place settings were missing and had to be added as guests were waiting to sit down. Dinner was 45 minutes late and only served after my coordinator went into the kitchen and told them to do so. The service staff was inexperienced (took our silverware after the salad course and did not reset silverware until several requests were made, didn’t refill waters, just dumped entrees down without caring who had ordered what, trying to break down the room early when the party was still going), overworked, unhelpful and unfriendly (nasty to my mom when she asked for bread, which was supposed to already be at the table). They were also talking behind the head table during toasts and bickering with one another. Brenda, the bartender, was nasty and aggressive, arguing with guests and tried to close the bar early because she wanted a cigarette break. My coordinator also informed me that the kitchen was «filthy», «with piles of zoo food next to trash and catering supplies» and described the kitchen as «total chaos».
After the wedding, I was unexpectedly charged an additional $ 1100 in corkage fees, which I would not have known what for had I not requested a final invoice. I had a term in my contract providing for a maximum of $ 500 in corkage fees. Luckily, Lancer refunded the $ 1100 (one of the few things they did right). I was also accused by Erica’s supervisor of «lying» and «providing false information» that I was going to be charged for the florist’s missing vases, which were rentals, which was obviously extremely inappropriate and unprofessional (I sent her an email from the florist which stated exactly what I said).
In sum, DO NOT use Lancer. They are totally unprofessional and inept. Again, feel free to contact me for more information.

My review is on the same ⁸⁄₂₄ event that my wife posted in more detail about. I am posting a general summary.
DO NOT USE LANCER!!! I would not recommend them if they were simply unprofessional. But basic incompetence would be a huge step up for them. They are actively bad, and their presence at your event will make it much, much worse. The first rule of catering should be like the oath doctors take: «Do No Harm.» But Lancer will cause you more problems than they help, and ruin your event so completely that you will wonder what you did to them to make them angry. You’d do better to have everyone cook and serve their own food.
Again, incompetence can be dealt with. And so can bad attitudes. But not together. Here’s the executive summary of what they did at our 8÷24÷13 wedding: the food was cold and awful (expected due to the tasting event, but I was actually surprised that the veggie dish wasn’t TOO bad), they didn’t serve the food on time, the servers were all new to the job and angry for having been there for 12 hours, the bars shut down early (after opening late), and there was a question about where the extra wine went.
That isn’t an exhaustive list, and left out the pain in the ass that they were to plan, and then in returning improperly-​billed money.
If you want more info, please DM me. You’ll see that I’m not a bridezilla, and that I had already set the bar low for Lancer. But they failed to even meet that, and so I am happy to spend my time informing the rest of the event-​planning public of the incompetence and poor service of Lancer.

Outstanding service, food and venue. Would highly recommend for anyone looking. Their mac and cheese, and chicken are out of this world good

Terrible customer service. I’ve been trying to get a quote for our wedding reception for weeks and no one responds. I’ve used their request form, sent emails and left messages. Nothing. I don’t even want to have our reception at the zoo anymore because I don’t want to work with people who can’t even call you back.

Lancer catering was great for our wedding at the Woodland Park Zoo. The only hitch was that since we were one of their fist customers since they took over the contract at the zoo, they didn’t get their liquor license in time. By now, that should be all set.
The servers we very courteous, and the food was excellent. Our guests raved about the buffet. The staff member we worked with primarily, Sarah Klapstein, was a pleasure to work with. It was wonderful!!!
We planned out wedding from out of state, but I do know that they hold tastings to help people choose the food for their event, and that is a great idea.