Kenmare Catering & Events

We started planning our wedding in the midst of what turned out to be a rocky time for Kenmare (the venue owner, not affiliated with Kenmare, was about to get evicted and no one knew!) so there were things changing at Kenmare and a lot of turnover right around our first tasting. Our coordinator had just left, so Gen ran our tasting and introduced us to our new coordinator Macrina. Both Gen and Macrina are rockstars and have been at Kenmare for years. I immediately felt that we were in good hands and they took excellent care of us, even anticipating that we might want to try one of our tasting choices prepared a slightly different way.
I’d been stressed out from being bumped around from coordinator to coordinator, but from the tasting on I was all in. The food was AMAZING. They have so many different choices, it’s really easy to put together a menu that reflects you as a couple, while also remaining fan-​friendly for your guests. The staff was polite and proactive. We had a member of the waitstaff, Wanda, assigned to keep us newlyweds happy and our glasses full. She took great care of us! The bar staff was impeccable, every drink they served was a crowd pleaser. Some of our friends hit the dance floor pretty hard, and I’m pretty sure we broke more than a dozen glasses, but I didn’t even notice because the staff did such a great job clearing them away and keeping everyone’s dancing feet safe (sorry about the glasses though guys!)
Macrina and her crew nailed the set up, everything looked and tasted amazing and by the end of the night I was hugging her and my day-​of-​coordinator and bowing to their rockstar abilities.

Reid,
It’s been nearly 6 months since our wedding reception, and you still haven’t refunded our money or sent us the release to sign so we can get said refund. Can you please let us know when we’ll be receiving those? Per the contract and multiple emails you said you’d refund the difference of guests when we came in under on our guest count.
Please reach out to me as soon as possible as we’d love to close this out and get the balances resolved.
Thanks!

Just to follow up on the previous comment by Kenmare, we had a full sit down with the owners and managers of KENMARE who were partners with the ART Revolution owner (before January of 2015) PRIOR to our wedding. Because of our concerns, we were considering switching venues. REID, who has commented falsely on my previous post gave me his word and his promise that multiple things would be accomplished in the venue by the time of our wedding (see recent post about ugly curtains which Reid promised would be gone because they were awful and then later when he didn’t want to pay to replace them changed his word and told me I was being ridiculous because everyone thought they were beautiful and he decided to leave them up– total BS’er) and that he personally would take responsibility to ensure this. He took on full responsibility for the venue. When he completely failed us, we thought it reasonable to request our cost of the venue space be refunded (or at least part of it) considering that Reid personally promised to take responsibility for the venue and also the fact that we had written it into our contract that the venue fee would be refunded if the venue was not fully operating on the day of our wedding. Don’t let his false response fool you. Also, not once were we asked about the food or service by Kenmare after the event, and Reid was not at our wedding so I’m not sure how he would say our guests were commenting on the food. They didn’t know what we had picked so they didn’t realize the items we paid for that were not served. I appreciate those who have reached out after reading my review to ask about other loft spaces we looked at while planning our wedding. Please feel free to contact me if you’re searching for loft spaces, I did a lot of research and looking when we were considering changing our venue and there are some beautiful spaces in Chicago.

I have many mixed emotions about my experience with Kenmare. We selected Zhou B Art Center as our venue for our wedding. The preferred caterer for that venue is Kenmare. Our initial experience with Kenmare was great. We really liked the Sales Manager we worked with. And our early encounters with our Event Planner went well. However, our Event Planner, Macrina Ocampo, completely failed us in the end. She was not around for our rehearsal and she didn’t show-​up to our wedding. We never received an explanation from Macrina. Which I found to be extremely unprofessional on her part. Another Event Planner was present for our wedding. Since we did not work with this new person ever, she was not aware of what we needed or our vision. It was clear that Macrina did not communicate anything with her. There were a lot of mistakes that happen during our wedding and Kenmare bears the burden for most. I know most of the mistakes would not have happened if our original Event Planner had shown up. For that reason, I would not select Kenmare for any of my future events. Nor would I recommend them to anyone. If you do select Kenmare for your event, you should definitely hire your own Event Planner, or a friend you trust to make sure things go as planned. Mistakes will happen but multiple major mistakes should not. Silver lining — the food and bartenders were good.

I own Monastero Entertainment and have the pleasure of working with the staff at Kenmare. If you want a seamless, wonderful, and fun reception, you’ve found a great team with exceptional venues. We see the hard work and dedication that they put into receptions and love working with them… absolutely at the top of their game… :)

I am a little late in writing this review. This review is for both Kenmare Lofts and Kenmare Catering. My wedding reception was on April 18^th 2015.
My husband and I had signed the contract with ArtRevolution in March’14 for September 2014 wedding. Long story short, that didn’t work out b/​c ArtRevolution were just biggest scam artists. I later changed the date to April 2015 and I am grateful that I did. Everything happens for a reason.
ArtRevolution’s owner left and thankfully Kenmare took over the venue in January’15. This was the best thing that happened b/​c I was very nervous about my reception.
Kenmare reassured me that everything was going to be perfect and indeed it was. The tasting was perfect, the food was perfect, Genevieve Manning (planner they assigned me) was perfect. I am a wedding planner myself so I may needed things «perfect» and probably requested a lot of things, but Kenmare Lofts did come through on everything.
They remodelled the space, men’s bathroom was done and they removed those ugly curtains that were left behind by the previous owner.
On the day of the reception, everything was perfect. From food to floor plan to service. Reid the owner was there on the day of the event. He personally spoke to me and welcomed me and my family. I was very nervous about the event going perfect and to be honest it was!
I have some photos which I will upload, the room just looked awesome, well my décor did an awesome job too. My mom was shocked that the venue looked nice as she is old fashioned and didn’t approve my venue choice =).
Again, thanks goes to Reid, Genevieve, and Katie. Thanks for saving my reception.

I’m exhausted by this company. Being handed off to too many different people within the company has led to incredible inconsistencies. Do NOT use Kenmare if your event budget is less than $ 100,000.

Just perfect, beginning to end. We loved working with Macrina, and she was there for us (even when we were stressing in that final week!). Our guests loved our reception; highly recommended.

WOW! Reid and his staff at Kenmare are top-​notch. They’re warm and awesome. We ended up in a bit of a strange venue position, and Kenmare came through to entirely support and help us make our day special. They were professional and amazing. Macrina and TIm, under Reid’s direction, were nothing short of amazing. These guys know what they’re doing, have great suggestions, and are so easy to work with. Also, Kenmare loft is STUNNING. All around, awesome experience. Recommend these guys to anyone looking for responsive, engaged staff with great input.

We used Kenmare for our October 2014 wedding at Loft on Lake and were extremely happy with everything.
We started by working with Katie on a menu and proposal. She was very flexible and worked with us to find a menu that fit our budget.
Once we decided to go with Kenmare, we started working with Julie as our coordinator. She was responsive to emails and very helpful with all things wedding related — our schedule, how much alcohol to purchase, the layout, etc. We didn’t hire a separate wedding planner or day of coordinator, so Julie worked with our other vendors and made sure the whole night went perfectly.
Our ceremony and reception were in the same location, so Julie also took responsibility for putting up all the DIY decorations we created when they switched the space from ceremony to reception. She went above and beyond and is the reason our wedding went so smoothly.
The food was delicious — we got a ton of compliments — and the buffet stations worked out really well with our more informal seating. The bartenders were great and nobody had to wait for drinks.
We highly recommend Kenmare and Julie!

If I could give a 10 star I would. Handled my daughter’s wedding at Artrevolution. We had 175 guests and everyone of them mentioned how great the food tasted. They also mentioned how much food there was to eat. We had appetizers that were to die for, the meal which was served warm and promply, desserts galore, and even had sliders and chocolate chips cookies served at the after party. They handled the cocktails too. Plenty of servers. Everyone at the wedding were happy campers and I could not have been any happier. I have always believed good food and drink can make or break the night. Would highly recommend Kenmare to everyone.

Thankfully we did not choose Kenmare as our caterer for my daughters wedding in November. He was one of the preferred caterers for ArtRevolution. We did call him and in pursuit of our business his last voicemail sounded desperate and he alluded to the fact that ArtRevolution was experiencing some difficulty but if we chose him everything would work out.
Well, ArtRevolution closed that venue because he did not pay the rent for 18 months … A fact that Kenmare was probably aware of. So far ArtRevolution has not paid us the money back. ArtRevolution’s new venue is a dump. What kind of business is Kenmare if they are now the Exclusive caterer for ArtRevolution. Desperate is my opinion.

We had our wedding over the weekend at Germania Place and Kenmare caters to Germania (I believe Kenmare actually owns Germania Place, but that is neither here nor there).
The actual important information here is how amazing the food is from Kenmare Catering! This is definitely not your typical wedding food. We had flatbreads, and sliders, and skewers of beef for our passed appetizers. Then we had summer salads, ceviche, and a choice of chicken saltimbocca, eggplant rolitini, or a steak duet for dinner. Everything was perfect and tasted exactly (and I actually think better, if it’s possible) as we had it on our tasting day.
We had tons of guests come up to us throughout the night to let us know how amazing the food was — which is definitely a good sign!
I highly highly highly recommend Kenmare Catering and having your wedding or event at Germania Place!

Katie and Reid have made the most fabulous tasting foods ever in the most creative way! I will say my wedding had the best wedding food you will ever have hands down! They created such a wonderful taste for your palette and omg my guests were amazed with the food! You get the best of the best with them! Not to mention they are wonderful and friendly people!

I have attended 3 weddings that were catered and coordinated by Kenmare so it’s probably about time I write them a review. Each one of the weddings was classy, beautiful and most importantly, delicious. The food they prepare is unmatched when it comes to wedding cuisine. I have experienced both a plated dinner and a stations arrangement and Kenmare does both flawlessly. I particularly recall the lamp chop appetizers and would absolutely recommend them when planning your menu. The staff has always been professional and fun, which in my opinion, is a vital combination! Perfect for your most formal event or even a more casual, yet impressive, soirée.

I hate writing less than great reviews, but Kenmare was the only wedding vendor I had an issue with on my wedding day (and after.)
First, linens were included in our package and we selected them at our tasting months before the wedding. The week of the wedding, I was told our linens were not available and we would have to pick something else. Last minute they were able to find linens similar to what we originally chose, but not a stress we wanted to deal with.
On the wedding day, cocktail hour went great. Bartenders were quick in serving everyone and the passed hors d’oeuvres were wonderful and well-​served.
However at dinner, we (the bride and groom) had a dedicated server as part of our package however the head table didn’t receive bread baskets until about 45 minutes into the dinner. After the soup/​salad was served, there was at least a 30 minute delay before entrees were served. I found out this was because the kitchen created the wrong risotto, not the one we had selected (and that was printed on our menus.)
This would not have been a huge deal, I told them to just serve the risotto they made, except our guests were making comments to us about the lag in service. And the dinner delay also forced the band to delay playing by 30 minutes as well. So we had to pay the band an extra $ 1200 to stay the extra half hour so we would get the full amount of dancing time we wanted for our guests.
Kenmare followed up after the wedding to say congratulations, but did not address or apologize for the mixup. When I spoke to the company president about my frustration with the way the evening went, after he suggested that «several factors go into delays in receptions» he finally said he would work with the band to take care of the extra charge we incurred due to the delay. After 3 phone conversations, nothing was ever accomplished and I haven’t heard from him since.
Kenmare’s food was delicious and they would have been a great value had we not experienced the stress of restless guests and additional costs incurred.

When I got married, my venue provided a list of recommended vendors. Kenmare was the only catering contact we reached out to. Genevieve and team were extraordinarily helpful and genuinely wanted what was best for my husband and I. The entire Kenmare team was unendingly patient and a huge help well beyond just the catering.
We received fantastic compliments on our appetizers, entrees, and the phenomenal servers that made sure our guests were cared for. Genevieve went the extra mile to ensure we were more than satisfied and I recommend Kenmare very highly. You should feel very confident choosing Kenmare.

Where do I begin… Basically, the food is great, but customer service is terrible.
We got married at the School of the Art Institute Ballroom and did not have a choice in caterer. Needless to say, we were a little nervous. During the contract phase, the sales girl (Genevieve Manning) was great. Very attentive and threw in some nice extras at no additional charge.
For the tasting, you work with an event planner. We were able to have 4 people attend and was able to try everything I requested. Alot of decisions are made during the tasting and I wanted to make sure we were both on the same page. I had emailed the event planner many times requesting a summary of choices made and got no response.
At the wedding, there were a few things that were wrong that could have been avoided if they would have communicated the decisions made at the tasting. None of the guests knew of course, but it annoyed us.
On the positive side, we got TONS of compliments from our guests on the actual food. Many people stated it was the best wedding food they ever had.
We ended up overpaying and they were supposed to give us a refund check. We had to hound them via email and phone. The president responded and said it would get taken care of. Two weeks later (and over two months after our wedding), we finally received the check… and it cleared.
I would rate the food 5 out of 5 stars, but the customer service a 1. At the end of the day, our guests thought it was great and that’s really all that matters.

My wife and I used Kenmare to cater our wedding at St. Ignatius College Prep in August of 2012. Genevieve Manning was our event coordinator and she made sure everything went smoothly leading up to the event and throughout the reception. The food was great and received many compliments from our guests on the quality of the food and the service.
Overall, we would definitely recommend Kenmare!

We first started reviewing details for our wedding in April 2012 and then had to put things on a hold. Rachel was very friendly and accommodating in our initial conversations. I am giving an additional star because of this.
We picked things back up 4 months later in August 2012. We had details finalized early September (due to delay in the rep in getting back to me because of their many events) and a tasting scheduled the following month. They didn’t have anything earlier. In addition they charged $ 150 for a tasting for up to 4. Even though we only had 2, they still charged $ 150. Thought this was odd as the 2 other caters we were considering did not charge anything for a tasting.
After waiting a full month, we received an email the day before the tasting indicating that they now have a policy that tastings are only given for events with a pretax minimum of $ 15k. ‘to keep up with their high quality of food’ and they attached their new pricing list. Found it odd that they waited this long to tell us this. Our wedding pretax was $ 10,500. How could we chose a caterer without tasting the food? This put us in a tough position. Thank goodness we were close to signing with a different caterer. This is actually the second time they’ve changed prices ove the last 4 months (since April). What ever happened to we will honor the price we quoted you even though we’ve raised our base prices?
Their menu options were also limited. Their options were very typical, like chicken picante, pasta primavera. For example, I asked for their beef appetizer options. The caterer we ended up signing with, Dabsolute, named 9 beef options off the tip of his tongue. Rep from Kenmare could barely think of 3 to 4 of them. Had basic appetizers like beef wellington, beef on a cracker, etc.
What attracted me to them was the ‘special’ they had earlier in the year for around $ 68 per person. Maybe this is what people call the bait and switch?
I’m not a wedding or catering expert but I’ve never heard of a caterer not give a tasting for a wedding. I will not turn this into a review of DAbsolute so I will simply say if you want to work with a caterer that is professional, stays true to his word, and provides top notch customer service — check out Dabsolute!