Art of Catering

This review is long over due. A couple years ago I had a terrible experience with this business. Things worked out in the end but I have had a nagging urge to warn others of the kind of person you are doing business with when you hire the Art of Catering. I have heard similar experiences and stories not listed here so I thought I would speak up now.
I was getting married at a venue that worked exclusively with this caterer. I had been in talks with one of their event managers for about 13 days to lock down one of the last dates they had a available for the summer of 2012. Once all of the schedule logistics were discussed I confirmed that I would take the date and would put my despot down immediately. They said that would be great and they would get me my contract ASAP. Two, three days went by and I had not received any contract. So I reached back out to them to see what the hold up was. I got a different event manager (I believe his name was Eric) and he said, «oh yeah, sorry we should have contacted you, we decided to give the weekend to someone else.» I mentioned I had emails confirming the date was mine and that they would send over the contract and deposit instructions ASAP, to which he replied «well I don’t know what else to tell you. We had a bigger wedding party inquire about that date.» Mind you, this is a venue that holds about 120 people and I had a 95 person guest list.
I was very upset, had to move my wedding up several weeks which came VERY close after another family member of mine’s wedding date (which I was to be in), and this was not ideal. Not only that, but this Eric character had made me feel like a second class citizen in the wedding arena because I was going to have a smaller wedding.
I was very unhappy and against my better judgement stuck with them anyways because it was the only way to get the venue I wanted that summer. I refrained from writing any reviews in fear that it would affect the service we would get for the big day.
Then, about 3 months before my wedding my assigned event manager left the business. At this point a new, VERY GREEN, gal was assigned to our event. She was nice, but things really started to fall through the cracks during the transition period. At one point when we met in person to plan, she was curious why there was a discount on some of the rentals and I mentioned it was compensation for the scheduling issue. I explained to her what happened, how I didn’t feel that they had handled it well and how offended I was by Eric. I mentioned the latter part because she had mentioned there was a chance he would be the one on site for the wedding day… Which was NOT ok with me.
About a month before the wedding (8 months after the rescheduling fiasco), my father traveled to town and we booked an apt. to see the venue. When we arrived to the venue we were met on the curb, in the rain, (for the first time ever) by the owner of the Art of Catering. He basically acted as a gate keeper to the venue doors and wouldn’t let us in until he said his «piece,» which was that he advised against me writing any poor reviews or «running my mouth around town» about what happened. That they had offered a discount on the rentals and that it should have ended there. He said he has heard from multiple of my vendors that I have tarnished his business’ name.
Well that couldn’t possibly be true. The only other vendors I was working with were a close personal friend (from out of state) photographer, a Spanish-​speaking Latino bakery for my cake, and personal friend for my floral, and another personal friend for Dj. Clearly he was just trying to throw his weight around since I had told my new event manager that I did not want to work with Eric. At this time, he said he had no interest in my event and he would even be willing for me to use a different caterer «perhaps a pizza company» to cater the event instead. This is ONE MONTH BEFORE MY WEDDING and this guy is telling me he could give two you-​know-​whats about this event? All because I hurt his ego by telling his own employee why I was hesitant to work with anyone but her.
Our catering menu had already been determined at this time. Pork and salmon were decided. What on god’s green earth gave him the impression I would order pizza for my wedding instead? Clearly, he was going beneath the belt and trying to make us feel unworthy of his culinary excellence. What a character this one is!
After the side walk «meet and greet» he essentially more or less said «enjoy the venue tour, and let me know if you plan on keeping your mouth shut or not, so I can know if I’m actually going to cater this event or not.» Seriously!
I will say the food and service day-​of were excellent. Truly. But I have never gotten past how belittled and disrespected I felt by this complete ego-​maniac. Take this into consideration when booking this business. They didn’t deserve my $ 13k+ and they probably don’t deserve yours either.

BEST IN PDX! Everyone should choose Art of Catering for their Event!
James and his Art of Catering staff are AMAZING. We used Art of Catering for our wedding. James was so accommodating as we started booking vendors two years in advance and he met and emailed with us as many times as we wanted! He answered and gave us his advice and recommendations! He was so helpful in picking a menu for the wedding that was accommodating to a gluten free diet.
On the actual wedding James and his cooking, catering, bar staff were the most amazing staff ever. They were so helpful, educated on the food and my dads homemade beer (they were able to explain each beer). As the Bride & Groom we had our own staff that catered directly to us. They kept making sure we had food, we had drinks, we had water. They got us anything we asked for. It was more than I could have ever imagined!
As for the FOOD, THE BEST WEDDING FOOD EVER. I am a picky person and I wanted the food at my wedding to be amazing. We did a flank steak and sea bass and then we had roasted vegetables and two different salads. The food was amazing. The meat was cooked perfectly. I have absolutely nothing bad to say about this company.

My wedding was catered by AOC at the Portland art museum! Absolutely fantastic, detail oriented crew. Made all my requests and dreams come true! Hands down the best wedding vendor I worked with! James Lowry was my contact. It was a pleasure to work with him, he responded to my emails (hundreds of them) immediately!

Attended the exclusive ‘All-​Star Salute’ on Jantzen Island in Lake Oswego. We were raising funds for the Oregon Military Museum & KISS was headlining. The food & beverages were absolutely fabulous!!! Moreover, the staff were extremely professional, always there to attend to your next need without being overbearing. The evening started with passed hors d’oeuvres, sadly I didn’t get a chance to try any of these. The bar was well stocked & they passed wine, beer & two speciality drinks. One a basil vodka lemonade & the other a bourbon concoction, loved the lemonade.
At the table we started with a super fresh spring salad with hazelnuts, raspberry’s & a slice of lovely soft cheese. Dinner consisted of a beautifully prepared piece of Salmon, al dente green beens and scalloped potatoes. The gentleman sitting next to me owned a fishing fleet so he knows his fish and was highly impressed.
About 10 minutes into the Salmon the servers came around with ribs from a rack of lamb. Delicious, pink, mouth-​watering, perfectly cooked little ribs of tender lamb? What is important to mention is that this was an outdoor, garden party, so this food had to be prepared a good distance from the tables, yet it arrived warm, nothing was over cooked or poorly presented.
The only thing I felt was a bit thin was the desert, it was three little morsels, honestly can’t remember what they were. They were tasty but nothing to dwell on. Perhaps the customer chose this lighter dish because they had put a box of Moonstruck chocolate at each seat.
There food is a true art, can’t wait to use them for one of my events!

They recently catered my wedding. Everything was delicious. The staff was friendly and made sure we were happy and with drink in hand. Hands down the best, freshest catered meal I’ve ever had!

I recently worked a non-​profit fundraising event where Art of Catering provided food. We were treated to probably the most amazing catered food I’ve ever eaten.
We started with smoked buffalo salad with raisin compote (BUFFALO! I’ve never had it before and it was seriously mouth-​wateringly amazing). The main course was salmon on wild rice and veggies and fruit compote. Usually, when a catered event serves rice, it’s hard to chew and not very tasty. This was soft and cooked/​spiced to perfection. We finished off with a lemon pie with toasted coconut on top.
Seriously. To die for.

Perfect! Detailed, professional and the food is unbelievable. What more could you ask for in a caterer

I have worked with Art of Catering many times and I was always impressed with two things: quality and innovation of their food, and the friendliness and professionalism of their staff. I work with a lot of vendors, and I love working with vendors like Art of Catering as they make my job easier.

Art of Catering catered my wedding at the De Soto Rooftop Terrace this August. I worked with Jen Loveland. Jen is a consummate professional — calm, cheerful, completely organized, experienced, accommodating. She gave suggestions and advice when that was wanted. She worked seamlessly with my florist, cake baker, band and sound people. She never raised an eyebrow when I had close to the last-​minute changes. She had recommendations on outside suppliers.
The planning and execution process went without a hitch. I highly recommend her!
The wedding day we had excellent food at the De Soto. The tables set up was beautiful. The wait staff were excellent. They brought my husband and I beverages and food to be sure we enjoyed our own wedding.
I’m so glad we went with Art of Catering!

Last night was great and Art of Catering added to it. One of the cocktails we had planned on serving (Hibiscus Tea) didn’t work out so the bartender mixed up a refreshing replacement that was a hit. I was often lost in conversation and failed to promptly meet each arriving guest but your lead quickly met them and brought them a drink, an unexpected welcome. When it came time to close the bar and change to an open party the staff didn’t just put stuff away, they left out an appropriate number of ice filled glasses, and bottles of wine; enabling our remaining guests to serve themselves while keeping excess bar ware and half empty bottles to a minimum.
This event was probably small for them, only forty guests and passed hors d’oeuvres but they delivered the same level of service as at the vineyard wedding they did for us last year.