Panetta’s Good Taste

Why does it say that they have closed? I know they haven’t, I have my wedding booked with them for Oct. 24, 2009. I’m confused

Since there is a lot of negative-​ish reviews here, I thought I’d add a semi positive one.
We only did a tasting here (so far) and I was pretty impressed with everything. We first met Glenn (owner/​chef) at Los Gatos History Club, which we liked as a venue but it sounds like we’re planning a bigger event than we originally thought, so we might not do it there. But Panetta’s handles catering for a lot of Bay Area venues so we figured it wouldn’t hurt to do the taste testing.
Yes, his office is in an industrial area, but there’s a nice little area with a large table set up. He essentially gives you a private dinner for free. We started off with the appetizer plate, which was decent. Yeah, nothing special, but good food, and something that would definitely be good after sitting around at a ceremony and waiting for dinner. Then we went to the casar salad which he raved about, and I must admit I loved it! Great dressing, croutons, and very fresh lettuce. Definitely one of the better casaers I’ve had, and definitely on par with any restaurant.
The entrée plate included his chicken madeira, rice pilaf, and pasta and vegetable medly. The pasta I must say was pretty bland. It was kind of undercooked and the olive oil and herb mix wasn’t anything special. The chicken however was delicious! Very fresh and the sauce is awesome. Mixing the sauce and rice was so awesome, and is something I absolutely would give an A+ to!
Glenn sits with you and answers all your questions, presents everything in an up-​front, reasonable, and friendly fashion, and has tons of references and photo examples and can work with you too (low salt, vegetarian, etc). Working with him was a treat and if we go with one of his venues I’m definitely not worried with our event in his hands, and I know our guests will be treated right and will have a great time (and good food!) too.

Wow! Where do I start…
My husband and I got married in August and we hired Panetta’s to cater our wedding. We hired them because we wanted to get married at Creekside Terrace Estate (which is beautiful), but it is too bad that you have to use Panetta’s in order to get married at this site.
Panetta’s scheduled 5 weddings for the day of ours! That should have given us a clue.
So here I go:
*We paid for 114 guests – they set up only 104 seats at the reception.
*Many people were left standing at the ceremony
*There were no champagne flutes
*We paid extra for wine glasses on the table (instead of plastic) but they did not even put wine on the tables so it was a waste!
*They were short staffed
*We were promissed coctail tables around the dance floor so that people could sit and watch the dancing, but the tables had no chairs!
*They did not have enough plates, so they had to wash and re-​use some!!! So dinner took forever!
*They changed our coordinator to Kathleen at the last minute – Who was really rude to our guests and close family (even my mother).
*Our «coordinator» Kathleen did not say one word to my husband or I the entire day! Now that’s «complete event coordination»!
*Kathleen was wearing cotton shorts and a T-​shirt when our guests arrived – how professional!
AND TO TOP IT OFF… Panetta’s will not even return our calls! They have their money… that’s all they needed! Panetta’s does not actually care about your special day.

I LOVES ME SOME PANETTA’S!!! I hired them for my wedding was the best thing ever. We had originally planned to have them cater our wedding at my mother’s church. Well, two and a half months before our wedding we were told that due to some rules of the church we find out we can’t use the church. I frantically contact Panetta’s to find out if they know of any venues that are available for the date we have set. Lori gets back to me quite quickly with the Saratoga Foothill Club. We go and look at it that night… it was perfect for what we wanted. Lori and Erin were awesome through out the whole planning process. Panetta’s made planning my wedding easy. And on the day of the wedding everything was perfect. The food was excellent, the tables were set up beautifully, our DJ Ross from Elite Entertainment (part of the package deal with Panetta’s) was awesome, our cake was beautiful and yummy. THANK YOU PANETTA’S for making my day perfect!!!

Looking at the previous reviews, I guess you either love or hate Panettas. I loved them.
Going with Panettas was like having a wedding coordinator without paying for it. I admit that we put off calling Panettas when we first started planning because their deal sounded too good to be true. But we eventually contacted them because they had an exclusive catering contact with a hall that we had been to and liked. Turned out that hall was too small, but they introduced us to a place we had never heard of that was perfect for us.
The food was good– the chicken madeira is amazing and the rest of their standard menu, though not exciting, was good quality. I recommend splurging a little extra for the appetizer package, which was delicious and keeps the guests happy and upright during cocktail hour.
The dj and cake was included. You can opt to use your own dj and bakery if you like, but we were okay with the ones contracted with Panettas. Our dj was awesome– we are both amateur musicians and very picky about our music. Even though he was «part of the package», he called us beforehand to get an idea about our style, and played just what we requested and kept the wedding moving smoothly.
The cake was tasty, but I felt like I was on an assembly line when I went to the tasting.
Panettas also helped place our favors on the wedding day, gave us ideas about decorating, gave us referrals to our photographer, florist, and officiant, all who were outstanding, and arranged for chair covers at discount prices.
Glen does seem a little like a strange dude, but I only had to deal with him a few times. Lori, Gaby, and Erin were all really helpful and answered all my 10,000 questions. There were only a few times where there were miscommunications between us and they were minor and easily fixed.
Panettas amazed me by the quality and value they provided, especially considering they deal daily with us crazy, stressed out bridezilla-​types. Our event was great.
Oh and BTW… one of the reviewers said Panetta’s was dishonest about being exclusive caterers at certain sites. They never misrepresented themselves to us in this way. There are a few places in the south bay (our hall was one) where Panetta’s has an exclusive catering contract and you cannot use another caterer. But from what I understand they are on preferred vendor lists at other places (therefore not exclusive), and also will cater for you at sites with which they are not affiliated. Maybe the other Unilocaler was working with one of the sites where Panetta’s is a preferred vendor???

I have to admit, i was a little sketchy about Panetta’s when i first met with them, but they ended up being GREAT! They just catered my wedding and it was amazing. Lori was wonderful. She went to the site the day of the wedding, made sure her staff was doing everything they needed to be doing. And the staff rocked. Everything was put out exactly as i wanted and when i wanted it. I got great feedback from everyone at the wedding that the food was terrific.
So yes, the office is a hole in the wall, and yes, they staff may seem a bit flighty, but my wedding day was incredible.

I read the reviews on Unilocal,but based on the packages they advertise and their ‘exclusive’ locations, I thought I would give them a try. I filled out the inquiry form on the less-​than-​professional looking website, and waited for a response. After several days of hearing nothing, I thought ‘OK, benefit of the doubt, let me call’. So I did, left a message with Glenn. And never got a return call. I am frankly very surprised at the customer service. Guess they are just too busy to bring on potential new clients. And aren’t really concerned that I will bring my business and money to someone else.

One star based on dishonesty alone. I had already filled out a site inquiry form and realized that it went straight to the caterer — in this case, Panetta’s. So, I checked out Unilocal,and saw that someone mentioned that I could book with the site directly without using them… and frankly, after reading some of the reviews, I was skeptical. So I left a message with the site directly, and the next day, my fiancé and I headed over to visit, as Laurie from Panetta’s had already contacted me. When we got there, the girl that showed us around was nice enough… but when I asked her point blank if we could use another caterer, she said no, that they were the «exclusive» caterer for the site. Ok, fine. Three hours later, I was out and about and got a voicemail from a woman affiliated with the site — saying that yes, they could absolutely rent it to me and I wouldn’t need to go with Panetta’s! They won’t get my business based on that alone. Filthy!

If you’re a bride planning a wedding, your eyes are probably watering from looking at millions of websites. And any South Bay bride doing research will come across Panetta’s sooner or later. The packages seem so cheap, since they include the DJ and the cake and linens, and a big plus is that they’re willing to serve your alcohol without a corkage fee.
Their website is totally lame and just based on that my fiancé was skeptical, but we went ahead and did the tasting. We were stressed on the way because we were running 15 minutes late. When we got there, the woman who was supposed to be there was gone and Glen said he’d get us started. The appetizers were great. Then it started to go WAY downhill. The caesar salad looked ok, but was bland and limp. Then the main course came out, the «famous chicken madeira.» The plate had some crunchy wild rice (bad) and a very boring penne pasta tossed with grilled veggies (not acceptable as the main course for our vegetarian friends as he suggested). The famous chicken madeira smelled like maple syrup and was completely drowned in a heavy pudding-​like cream based sauce that tasted like wine plus maple syrup plus cream. I couldn’t look at the fiancé because I was afraid I would laugh.
Please keep in mind that we are on a budget and we both admitted to each other that we only want decent food at the wedding, nothing super fancy. So our expectations were reasonably low. basically we’re looking for something not-​gross. Panetta’s struck out. We both left with stomach aches. The food was so heavy I can’t imagine eating it on a hot summer evening.
Not to mention the multiple bickering arguments Glen had with his wife when she finally arrived for our appointment (45 minutes late). Neither one of them knew our names and had to search for the form with our info. Which shows they weren’t organized about their appointments. And if they couldn’t handle a simple tasting without bitching at each other I don’t trust them to run an event smoothly. Glen also tried to make it seem ok to serve a wedding cake on styrofoam plates by saying «your guests will just be walking around eating it anyway, and if I use china they’ll just try to steal it.»
Oh really? I think you just implied that my guests would steal things from you. Way to nail that sale!
Next!
If anyone has advice on reasonably priced caterers in the San Jose/​Campbell/​Los Gatos area I’d love to hear about them.

I really wanted this place to be good, because their prices are great and the first person we met with (Gabby) seemed on top of things. However, when we showed up for the actual tasting, they started looking less and less like a top-​notch catering service and more like a bumbling team of professional wedding stress creators.
We witnessed multiple scheduling errors unfold before our very eyes. One actually required that Glen (our host) be pulled out of the tasting room and into a closed office, where some stifled yelling was heard. When he emerged from the office, he said to his wife «Look, I made a mistake! I’m SORRY!» Then he turned to us with a weak smile and said «Sorry about the drama…» as we sat there in awkward horror, our mouths full of CostCo appetizers.
They seemed nice enough, and I’m sure that for the price, they’ll deliver a semi-​decent setup, but I would be totally uncomfortable trusting any kind of important event in their hands.
And the food… bring a salt shaker. And some Tums. And some Beano (I’m just sayin!)

We went to a tasting here on Sun. My fiancé and I are both foodies, so we weren’t going to pick a place for our wedding without tasting the food.
Panetta’s made our choice easy…
They have a variety of sites they’re in charge of catering for. No matter how much we may have liked one of their venues, there’s no way we would have gone with them. Their food is seriously nasty. I would never serve it to my friends and family.
Luckily, the tasting was free. I couldn’t even eat mine, it was so gross.
I couldn’t believe what they served us. Seriously, if they’re trying to get our business with this food, what would it taste like normally?
The girl we dealt with had made it sound as though the food was going to be prepared fresh. (She went on about the cook living in Lodi, and not wanting us to do a tasting on Mon. or Tues. to give her a break.) It was anything but. She mentioned a wedding she did the previous night. I definitely think the food was reheated from that wedding. Especially since there was no one else at the office.
If you like food at all, and you don’t want to disgust your guests, don’t book with them!
Their packages seem reasonable… at first. Then they start telling you about upgrades… Some of them seem so simple, but you’re still charged for an «upgrade.»
There are a lot of other reasonable places that have edible food.

This review is just based on the communication I had with the staff at Panetta’s. We never actually got around to the tasting. By the end of the ordeal, I really didn’t even want to bother.
The first meeting was to look at various wedding sites with one of their reps. When we arrived at the first location, we found that she was somewhat less than organized. She didn’t have any maps to the locations we were supposed to be visiting and gave fairly vague instructions on how to get to some of them.
The flyers that were being handed out had different package pricing on them than their website. I can totally accept that they just didn’t have their site updated. So, I’lI left that aside for the time being.
I made several attempts to call to have a quote put together for a sit down meal rather than their buffet. I understood that this was going to be more expensive.
The quote came back with the standard buffet package pricing. I had to remind them that I wanted pricing for the sit down. So I waited and waited, and waited a little more.
Finally I receive the quote back and it was higher. They had increased the base buffet price from what was on the original quote was and the pricing on the flyer handed out. Then added an additional charge for the sit down. I’m fine with the sit down fee, but this looks like the 2^nd increase in price for the buffet pricing.
When asked about the pricing variance, the person who put it together apologized and said it was an error she would correct and revise.
I never did receive a revision and I didn’t pursue it either.
I wouldn’t trust this company to cater a picnic let alone a wedding. They are completely disorganized and that is the last thing you need to worry about on your wedding day.

Mixed feeling about Panetta’s. They offered a full-​service package at a reasonable price that includes catering, location, DJ and cake for 100 guests, with an additional charge for more guests or upgrades, so the pricing is clear and upfront. The real savings is that you get supply your own alcohol which they serve with no extra fees. This really added up to savings for us as we could pick great bargain wines without high markup or corkage fee. We tried the food and it was amazing — the chicken madeira is to DIE for, and the passed appetizers (an upgrade but well worth it) were all delicious.
We had problems with the coordination though. First they messed up and gave away the date we had a hold on. They ended up finding us another site we loved. At the time they were professional and accommodating about the mix up and agreed to pay for our table and chair rentals, so I thought they were handling the situation well and I was still confident in them. Only later did I realize that the first location included tables & chairs, so really the «free» rentals they offered didn’t save us anything.
Throughout the planning everything went fine, but 3 weeks from our date they switched our main contact and communication between the people in their office become a problem. Things we had confirmed with our first contact were never told to our new contact Glen (the owner). We got surprises, none that were showstoppers but enough to cause us headaches as we scrambled to accommodate them in the 10 days before the wedding. (Example: Our first contact told we could access the hall the night before to decorate but the day before we were told we couldn’t.) His attitude felt a little cynical, along the lines of «What did you expect?»
The day of the wedding I was shocked to learn that we had been lied to — plainly lied to — on several matters. Our original contact had said she would be onsite during the event to help with basic coordination of the ceremony as part of the package deal. I asked Glen directly if he would be on hand to help with minor things like signaling me to walk down the aisle and moving the chairs from the ceremony lawn inside for dinner. I wanted to know so I could ask friends to help if needed. He assured me that he would be there to handle these things. But on the big day he LEFT 20 minutes after catering staff started set up. Minutes before I had to walk down the aisle, I was scrambling to find someone to signal me. After the ceremony, the DJ had to ask guests to move chairs themselves. I felt awful. Had he been honest and upfront I would have arranged for these things to be done. I surely didn’t expect that he had to do these things (which is why I asked directly) but he said he would, so I relied on that. As it was, my guests were inconvenienced and I felt embarrassed just before and after the ceremony.
Another aggravation was they ran out of cake. Cake is included in Panetta’s package, and so I assumed they would have enough to go around. My husband & I never got a piece, and later I was shocked by how many guests told me they had also not received a piece. The staff was cutting the slices thin as paper and still they ran out. The package deal seems great until you realize they cut corners like this.
Overall I can’t say I’d recommend them strongly. They did deliver on all the major things: great food, fast and friendly servers, fabulous DJ, all contracted items delivered upon (besides the cake). The price, especially no-​fee for your own alcohol, makes it an attractive option if you want a reasonably priced wedding that doesn’t have the feel of a complete DIY. But with more time to plan or creative budgeting you might be able to match their prices. The most frustrating thing is that if they had just given me honest communication instead of empty promises I could have avoided the problems that came up. I would have been writing a great review instead of chronicling the ways they let me down.
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Updated to add: Panetta’s gives the impression that you can only book the venues on their site through them, or that they are the exclusive caterer for these venues. NOT TRUE. You can contact any of the venues directly to book independently (try searching Google to find the venue contact info).

Yum Yum Yum. With the minimal amount of room he had to work with he pulled it off great! The salmon rolls where my favorite oh and that cheese with sun-​dried tomatoes. He does a great job and was very amicable and went way out of his way to keep everyone happy and he kept his area clean no empty plates lying around anywhere. I am sure you will be delighted with him and his services. Truly a business going above and beyond. You did great! Expo exhibitor GioviSport Fitness. Hope to see you next year!

Perhaps I’m spoiled by the wonderful caterer I chose to work with, but I was not extremely impressed with Panetta’s. The location is somewhat odd, a little hole in the wall amongst a somewhat industrial area. There was obviously some critter living in the ceiling… hopefully it stays away from the food.
Starting out, Glen seemed nice enough. He returned calls and rescheduled when we needed to, with a private tasting in the evening to coordinate our busy schedules.
The food was deliciious. We were all in love with the hor d’oevres, and the salad was different and tasty.
Problems started when we began asking questions. My mom is notorious for being inquisitive, and asks about everything. A lot of questions were intended just to understand how things were run– the other caterer mentioned getting to take the leftovers home, and offered coordinating services, including meeting with the DJ prior to the event. So we asked about these things, and Glen seemed to get defensive. He didn’t answer our questions, but said, «I’ve been in business 30 years, I know what I’m doing.» That wasn’t the question!
The main course came out, and he just didn’t seem to pay attention. We’d asked to try the vegetarian option, butternut squash ravioli, because I’m vegetarian. Well, he brought out a dish of the ravioli, but still put chicken on my plate!
All the questions surrounding vegetarian options were pretty much avoided. I asked how it would change the cost, and he kept insisting if it were just a few dishes, it wouldn’t be an issue. My hope was to serve primarily vegetarian food with chicken as a side option. He never really allowed for this, as if he thought it was a stupid idea. Then he made some ill comment about fake meats (which I use frequently in cooking at home). He just wasn’t sensitive to the vegetarian issue at all.
While the food was good, the balance for a vegetarian was bad. Pasta, pasta, and rice. Where’s something besides carbs? Between that and his condescending failure to answer questions, I wasn’t feeling too comfortable. He also sat with us throughout the meal, including taking some of the ravioli and then licking the serving spoon. The other caterer was extremely attentive to our needs, but allowed us time to talk alone and decide how we liked things. Glen didn’t allow us that opportunity.
In addition to being $ 2000 more expensive than the caterer we ended up choosing, my mom was disappointed in quality: styrofoam cake plates instead of china or even a nice plastic.
Glen was nice enough to suggest an alternative reception venue, which he said was bigger. After the tasting, we went to look at it. It honestly didn’t look any bigger, and although it was nice enough, 13 parking spaces for 150 people just didn’t seem like enough. I asked him about a decoration, and he told me, «You won’t want to do that on your budget.» He doesn’t even know what my budget is, so now he’s just insinuating we’re cheap… thanks.
My parents tell me the chicken was good… but my mom god indigestion, and overall we just weren’t comfortable working with his attitude.