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Jeffrey Miller Catering
Category: Event Planning & Services Caterers Caterers [Edit]
1530 Locust StPhiladelphia, PA 19102
Serving Philadelphia and surrounding area
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
(610) 622-3700
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
11 reviews for Jeffrey Miller Catering
11 reviews in English
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Review from Jing C.
Chicago, IL
7/20/2011
JAM is amazing! They catered our wedding at the Racquet Club and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Our guests raved about their entrees and cake all night (and the week after). Since a few will probably be headed down the aisle in Philly soon... I wouldn't be surprised if they went with JAM too.
The highlights:
- Budget: Like most young couples getting married and footing a lot of the bill ourselves, we were on a budget. and went with mostly basic options. Marc Liss, our coordinator and the man Jeff himself never judged us for this! Instead, we got lots of great tips on how to save from the alcohol to tailoring our afterparty to spend on the thigns that mattered to us.
- The food: Terrific. The salmon just melted and the ginger carrot soup was fantastic. I think people tried to go for thirds and fourths on the cake.
- Organization: I plan events for a living and Marc/JAM were superb. Everything ran smoothly and on schedule. Marc even sat down for an additional run through with my in-laws - pretty picky customers. They left the walk through feeling at ease.
- Flexibility: Made a few out of the norm requests and JAM handled them just fine and no questions asked. I specifically asked for PepsiCo products instead of Coke knowing that sometimes caterers can't oblige but mentioning that it was important to me. Without any hassle, I showed up to my wedding day with the right products there. That easy!
Highly recommended. -
Review from Beth K.
San Francisco, CA
1/20/2012
I got married at the Audubon at Mill Grove last October and Jeffrey Miller catered the event. While the venue was wonderful and the food was great, working with Jeffrey Miller was the most frustrating part of wedding preparation and I would certainly not do it again.
The positive:
- Food was fantastic, truely amazing. One of our guests had four hamburgers!
- Event staff was very friendly and helpful. All of the servers were friendly and kind. The bartender was spunky and having a good time.
The negative:
I found it difficult to get straight answers and pricing from Jeffrey Miller and we were told incorrect information on several occasions. Jeffrey Miller was the exclusive caterer of our venue, so we didn't have the option to switch away from them. Here's what happened:
- Our initial event coordinator mislead about the pricing options, which we had discussed on the phone before I booked the venue. After I booked, paid our deposit (3k), and sat down to discuss menus, It turned out that all of the prices within the range we discussed were for an "extended cocktail hour" which meant Jeffrey Miller would only provide seating for half of our guests. That was never mentioned on the phone. The new prices she offered were around $30 per person higher.
- During our initial meeting, our event coordinator seemed to barely listen to us. We did not have a bridal party and my husband's parents were unable to attend the event. Those details were explained on the phone, over email and then in person. Throughout the two hour meeting she regularly referred to where the bridal party would sit or how they would enter. This was just annoying. She also kept her cell phone ring on full volume and allowed it to ring out several times. We had to yell over the sound. I left this meeting near tears because of the price changes and the frustration of working with the coordinator, who told us "no" on most of the options we requested (eg. Can we have burgers instead of steak?)
- After that meeting, we were assigned a new event planner and things moved a little smoother. However, I had to email three people at Jeffrey Miller three different times to request a final cost estimate. When that came through, it included costs for items we had been told were free (coat rack, etc). I requested these be removed and they were. But the actual invoice that was sent by the billing department included them, so we ended up paying for them in the end
- My husband's only request was to have hay bales on site for people to sit on (I really don't know why, but it was a casual event and he wanted a down home kinda feel). We brought this up to the party planner four months before the event, had it cleared and then purchased the hay bales. My husband arrived at the venue the day of our wedding and was told the hay bales were not allowed. Sad face.
- Lastly, my aunt and my mom built a chuppah (jewish ceremony tent) for my cousin's wedding a few years ago. We used the same chuppah and gave Jeffrey Miller written instructions for it to be sent home with us. At closing time, we were unable to find the chuppah and assumed someone had put it in storage and we could come get it the next day. When I reached out to our event coordinator (she had left the venue an hour before closing), she discovered it had been thrown away. -
Review from N B.
Philadelphia, PA
12/17/2011
My husband and I were married in June 2011 in a Philadelphia venue which required that we use Jeffrey Miller Catering. Their prices seemed pretty reasonable for Philadelphia so we didn't mind the requirement. We were assigned a representative from the company as a 'coordinator' to be with us 'throughout the planning process.'
The coordinator was a complete disaster. He was difficult to get hold of (perhaps he worked another job?). He ignored me, the bride, and negotiated mostly with my mother-in-law who was helping with the planning. We never got the 8 hours of planning time with him which we were supposedly entitled to as part of the fee--my mother in law actually drove 10 hours to Philadelphia to meet with him, and he clearly had not even looked at any of the materials he asked us to prepare for him ahead of the meeting. Moreover, he kept pushing his tastes on us and didn't listen to our preferences. We didn't want an open bar during dinner, for example, and he was upset about that. We know he makes money on tips and all, but we would have tipped him the same amount whether it was open or not and we ended up just getting very annoyed with him. Basically, we had to plan everything ourselves and push for every little detail since the coordinator was so unprofessional and unresponsive to our needs.
The food was decent. Our tasting menu was extremely good and nicely presented, but the presentation at the actual wedding was much worse. Since the wedding was small, under 30 people, it's not clear to me why the presentation of the plated meal took such a hit.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend the catering company. If you have to use them because the venue requires them, you'll probably be ok but be prepared to have little help from any 'coordinator.' Hopefully their other coordinators are better than ours was. -
Review from Elisabeth Y.
Philadelphia, PA
5/10/2011
Jeffrey Miller Catering made our May 7th wedding at the Tyler Arboretum a flawless event. Throughout the leadup to the wedding, Monica Bodor, our coordinator, was extremely helpful, attentive, and organized. She was flexible to some of our unique requests: she allowed me to bring in my own cake (baked by a dear friend) and provided platters for the challah my mom baked.
On the actual big day, she and the captain, Amir, worked together with the rest of the staff to serve a delicious meal, pour perfect cocktails, and in general take excellent care of us. We got tons of compliments from our guests on the delicious wedding food and the wonderful service.
If you're planning a wedding and think it's worth it to shell out a few extra bucks so your loved ones can enjoy a great meal, look no further. -
Review from Ryan G.
10/5/2010
For any of you who are considering Jeffrey Miller Catering for your wedding, go for it, you'll be happy you did. Not only did they put on a seamlessly perfect event, our guests were even more impressed. I'm still getting calls and compliments about how beautiful everything was. Unfortunately, we did not have the budget to put together a $200,000+ wedding, but you wouldn't have known that with the way they put it all together!
Marc Liss was the "captain" and event planner for our wedding and we couldn't have been luckier. Marc made sure that the entire event went according to plan, budget, and timing. In preparation for the wedding, family and friends told us from experience that not everything would go according to plan and to not stress over it. It seemed as though Marc and his crew did not agree with that philosophy one bit. The execution of the hors d'oeuvres, salads, entrées, drinks, cake cutting, basically everything, was just absolutely perfect.
One touch we thought was truly classy was how Marc handled us as soon as we walked in from taking pictures after the ceremony... he pulled us aside and had a plate of hors d'oeuvres waiting for us because he didn't want to see us go hungry and immediately ordered us two drinks. I know that seems small but on your wedding day, you're running around like crazy shaking hands and kissing babies and you don't stop to take a minute to eat. Again, Marc was right there!
Lastly, the food. I don't know where to begin. I've been to a few weddings and the food is rarely something to run home about. Again, not the case with JMC. The food was amazing, everything they put out had a true culinary touch and everyone was happy and full!
Marc and JMC, you made our wedding perfect and we'll have that for the rest of our lives, so thank you. -
Review from Ripp K.
Philadelphia, PA
5/24/2011
Planning a wedding can be one of the most stressfully and frustrating things you will ever do. For my fiancée and I, locking down a venue and caterer.was like pulling teeth. By far one of the worst parts of our venue search was dealing with Jeff Miller Catering. The rep we dealt with, Sue, made us feel like we were bothering her and that our budget of $120 per plate was beneath her.
We tried to have our wedding at the historic Waynesboro where jeff miller catering is the exclusive caterer. We reached out to Sue to ask for a menu on August 8th. a few days later we received menu at a cost of $144 per person with everything we were looking for. This was a bit over budget so we asked if she could rework the menu to something closer to $120. Revamping the menu is something that every other caterer we dealt with did happily and quickly.
After asking 4 or 5 times and waiting for a month and 1/2 for a revamped menu we got a menu that include hummus and mixed vegetables as the horderves and chicken with rice as the only entrée choice.
It was a nice way of saying...."here is your menue and your lucky to get even this." We were never able to get Sue on the phone to talk about the menu until we said no thank you and we walked away. That customized and welcoming feeling that everyone else seemed to give us never came from them. Snobby is really the best word I can come up with how she acted toward us.
In the end we are having our wedding at a venue in Philly that is offering everything from sushi and raw bar horderves to 6 different entrée choices at $130 per person.
All worked out well but my experience with Jeff Miller was so bad I am still willing to go out of my way to point it out.Comment from Sarah H. of Jeffrey Miller Catering 9/6/2011
We take great pride in our 30 reputation for quality… More » -
Review from Matt L.
Philadelphia, PA
2/22/2011
Jeffery Miller catering did a fabulous job with our wedding at the RCOP. The food was great, the service was great, everything was great.
Marc Liss was especially helpful in helping us realize exactly what we wanted in a wedding reception.
We strongly recommend this company! -
Review from mike l.
Brooklyn, NY
10/14/2007
When we were planning our wedding, the two things we really cared about was the photographer & the caterer. We would trade off on most everything else, but those two were our priorities. I don't think we could've done any better than Jeff & his crew.
From Day 1 working with them, everything was fantastic and ultra-professional. Sarah was our party planner. With Sarah, we got wedding planner, therapist, comedian, you name it, she helped us with it. She handled every retarded, simplistic question I threw at her.
Let's get to the important stuff - the food. Read some of my other reviews, you'll see I have no qualms about calling people on their mediocre crap. All of Jeff's food was eye-opening. Everything was layered with flavor and built to perfection. Nothing was half-assed or ignored. He was cooking for 150, but everything tasted just as good as it did in our initial menu tasting.
This isn't catering hall food. This is a gourmet production. -
Review from brooke z.
New York, NY
9/10/2009
Beware of Jeffrey Miller! I had my wedding there last year. The power went out and they did not have a generator. For a whole week , everyone knew the weather was going to be bad. Why would a caterer not have a generator? Other caterers and restaurants, I checked with after said, they have one on site. The food was not cooked and gross. None of my guests could eat and were starving. I had people drinking on empty stomachs. The manager was unprofessional and showed up hours late for this event.
Unfortunately, I would never use this caterer again, he is too busy and is more worried about the money and not quality. After this event, there was finger pointing and no accountability. I continue to warn all brides about this place.Listed in: Top Restaurants, My Neighborhood, Born to Shop, The Places I Go Out
Comment from Sarah H. of Jeffrey Miller Catering 8/31/2011
We take great pride in our company's 30 reputation of fine… More » -
Review from Dia G.
Columbus, OH
Updated - 8/5/2009
So, my wedding is over. And my food turned out to be really great despite my uneven initial food tasting! After a lot of my giving many edits/guidance on the flavors to get it where I wanted, the entrees turned out great (piece of advice, know what you want and be able to communicate it). Also, post-wedding, all my guests raved about how awesome my appetizers were. My brother's table claimed their beef entree was overdone, but I didn't experience this with the tables near me. If fact, this year I went to a marathon of weddings, and I definitely felt my JMC food was far superior to almost all the other weddings where the hosts also hired a "traditional" American wedding food caterer.
There were small logistical issues, like despite all my preparations, they served my one nut allergy guest nuts and they kept asking my guests what they ordered even though we had painstaking clearly marked all the tables. Also, unknown to me prior, the lobby of the RCOP was not air conditioned and so the place was sweltering. Foreplanning would have equipped the whole place with lots of fans earlier. And even though I provided them with material for many, many pitchers of my signature drink, they only made two and of course, it immediately ran out and they did not replenish. Argh! Anyways, overall I am really satisfied with the food and services.
Lastly, the customer service is really high quality. Sokmala my day of wedding planner was really pleasant to work with and gave 101%. Moments before my wedding, she was even frantically trying to correct mistakes my florist made. Kim the sales person/planner was extremely prompt, responsive, and cheerful no matter how stressful the situation got. I was really impressed.
One warning I might give someone using JMC, eh, don't trust all their other vendor recommendations. Do your own homework and plan early. Most notably, their recommended liquor supplier I went with (due to time) felt really sleazy when it came to pricing. For example, he was charging near identical prices for Beefeater gin as Bombay Sapphire, and the BS was already a bit over-priced. All the beers were $10 more by case than it should be. When I got on the phone with him, it seemed to me that he was completely making up his pricing to take advantage of the time situation. You are most probably better off with your local liquor store whose pricing you trust; it might even work out better despite taxes and a so-called discount. That is just my experience, since everything becomes heart-stoppingly expensive when your guest list gets anywhere in the 150 plus range! Mine was about 190, and that for most caterers it seems gets a little hard to handle.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/6/2009
The current rating is based on my experience so far---I only have had a food tasting. My wedding is… Read more »
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Review from Sara L.
1/11/2010
My overall experience with Jeffrey Miller's catering of my St. Paddy's day, 2007, wedding rates a solid four stars. The ultimate food and presentation was a five all they way, but some logistic and communication issues along the way could have had them as low as a two depending on when you asked me. Since I fell in love with The Racquet Club for which JM is the obligatory caterer, they pretty much had my business at the outset.
Good things first:
I felt the prices, though certainly not cheap, were very reasonable for the quality of food and level of detail provided. They were happy to let me mix items from across their different price level packages and put together a custom package for me. As an example, this allowed me to offer the filet mignon as an entree choice without committing to the cost of the dessert bar, soup and sorbet courses that were part of the high-end package. Their "standard" table cloths and plates are quite nice so you don't feel roped into paying extra for "upgrades".
All of the food that was served was delicious. They had quite a few menu options, and a lot of the trendy appetizers were a big hit. They did our cake too (lemon cake w raspberry jam) and it was beautiful, moist and tasty. All of the buffet, dessert and espresso bar displays were nicely designed with platters and decorative greens.
Now for the not so good:
I had organizational problems throughout the planning experience. My initial coordinator left the company and I was never notified. I tried for several weeks to schedule my menu tasting and my calls kept going to voice-mail, and my e-mail went unanswered. When an e-mail finally bounced back I called the company. I was assigned to another coordinator, who was lovely and actually seemed more together than the first. Other than a few minor paperwork issues things went smoothly until the week of my wedding when the coordinator went MIA. I called the company after two days of not being able to get in touch since I had to arrange the details of deliveries and vendors getting in to set up. It turns out that her father had passed away, which was OBVIOUSLY a perfectly valid reason for not being focused on my wedding. However, someone from JM should have let me know what happened and given me someone else to contact.
In the end, a lot was forgiven because my wedding turned out beautifully, and I was left with so many happy and delicious memories. I would recommend Jeffery Miller to my best friend if she was getting married in Philly, but I would caution her to stay on top of the details.
