Rouge Fine Catering

My company ordered a variety of wraps for our volunteer event in DC on Wednesday. I picked the bag with the Grilled salmon wrap. Wow!! The wrap was delicious and substantial! The salmon was perfectly cooked. Very impressed!

The bag also contained oatmeal cookie, a bag of chips and water.

I looked at their extensive menu and the prices seem reasonable. I would consider catering with them for a special event.

so my team and I ordered rogue catering for our holiday luncheon. When they arrived at the office they set the food up. All was well. When we dipped our spoon in the mashed potatoes a long black hair came out w it and we all were very sad. Scared to even eat the other dishes. I called and spoke with a representative who said they will give us a percentage off of our next catering order. I let them know that there will be no next time. The representative then placed me on hold while she got the manager. The manager got on the phone and proceeded to say, why would you say that you're never going to order w us. That's offensive to me. She went on the say your not going to eat the mashed potatoes ? You didn't just pull the hair out ? So you're going to waste perfectly good mashed potatoes ? I'm like is this lady serious. She goes on and on about how I need to look at their
Google reviews. IDGAF about no Google reviews. I want to be compensated for the mashed potatoes that's it. After arguing with the manager, she proceeds to say she will refund me for the potatoes. I was so disgusted by her demeanor. I will never patron this place just based off the manager telling me to just take the hair out and still eat the potatoes. Wow. People are nasty/dirty. And she just happens to be in the food and beverage business. Be careful. How's that for a review.

The food is delicious. The wait staff are experienced and do a great job. Hoping to use them in the near future.

We chose Rouge Catering for my daughter's Baptism in Baltimore. The food was excellent and we had many family members asking who catered the event. Were very happy with the service and the prices were reasonable. I worked with Michelle and she was friendly and very helpful. I will definitely use them again.

Very disappointed in professionalism.

1. At the beginning of the Pandemic, they did not want to change the date of our event. People were dying. The venue had to contact Rouge for the date to be changed.

2. 20 minutes into our event, a chair rented from Rouge broke while our guest was sitting in it. Unfortunately, the owners did not want to take responsibility; they did not apologize yet.

3. "Ice Tea" was placed on the table 2 hours before the event, uncovered -- (ICE was never given to the guest unless they request it. Venue did not have AC; it was an 80-degree day.)

Was excited to use Rouge Catering for my wedding that was originally scheduled for last summer. They met our needs in regards to food quality and budget. In March 2020, signed a contract and paid a 20% deposit for our wedding scheduled for July 2020. A week later, the whole country unexpectedly went under lockdown for COVID. Since our wedding was made up mostly of out-of-town guests, we decided in May to make the socially-responsible choice to cancel our wedding to eliminate the risk involved with travel. Despite my various attempts, including a phone conversation explaining that rescheduling our 100+ person social gathering during a global pandemic was simply not feasible, Celeste, the owner, refused to return our deposit back to us.

Rouge Catering was the only vendor that was not willing to return our deposit. Anyone who has planned a wedding knows the exorbitant amount of expenses that couples must take on for their special day. I would just be cautious of doing business with a company that doesn't feel the need to hold themselves to the same standard as everyone else in the industry.

Working with Rouge Catering was the highlight of my April 2017 wedding in DC. Why? Three things: the food is phenomenal, the price is astoundingly affordable, and our event manager, Sarah Kelley, was maybe the most outstanding person that I have ever gotten to work with.

First, the food was incredible - like, not just incredible-for-wedding-food, but actually incredible.* I am still blown away by the appetizers and how fancy they were - we had 5 types of passed appetizers (all amazingly composed AND served so you didn't need a plate to eat one, which is the hallmark of a great app) and a sprawling, homemade antipasti bar that had at least a dozen options on it. For the main meal, we did a buffet with tons of delicious options, and anyone with dietary considerations (i.e., vegan) got their own specially prepared meal. Why is it so good? They actually build a kitchen on site and cook everything. Not finishing everything - actually cook it. And it matters. Open bar was unlimited all night and included all top shelf liquors imaginable (including a whiskey and a bourbon and a scotch), a variety of beers, and three wine choices (one red blend, one white blend, and a truly outstanding rose).

Second, the price - the whole meal, with fully open bar, with a three-tier Charm City wedding cake and coffee service included, and full staffing, was the best price we were quoted. No hidden costs or "add ons" that popped up later - my sole additional cost was linen rentals ($300 total for like 17 nice tablecloths and upgraded napkins), because the staff is not allowed to accept tips.

I need to expound a bit here: Rouge was by far the lowest price quoted for me, and yet it was by far the fanciest. To be honest, I actually encountered them first at a wedding expo at the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore; their display was so upscale and elaborate, and their food was so complex and flavorful, that I didn't even call them in my initial search because I assumed that I could never afford them if I wanted to stay within our budget. Meanwhile, they managed to come in under our budget, and that price included the staff setting up the whole venue, providing all the drinks and food, doing cleanup, providing the groom and I table service, etc. They even followed us around outside on the vast venue grounds while we were taking photos to give us food and drinks. In short: rejoice in finding something you can afford and that is mind-blowing.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, event manager Sarah (and Rouge staff in general). Sarah was the most amazing person to work with; her excitement and professionalism made this the easiest and most enjoyable part of wedding planning. She was always available to us and worked to find the perfect price point for us while still providing far and beyond what I had hoped to serve at my wedding. When we visited their site for our tasting, we got to meet the owners and see how small and close the staff is, and it just felt good to give my business to people who care passionately about where they work. (Plus Sarah is hilarious and cool! I am actually sad that I don't talk to her weekly now!) The staff at the event took care of so much and allowed us and my family to just enjoy the day. The venue looked AMAZING, the staff that was there was adorably sweet and so efficient (and adept at handling tipsy and bossy family members!), and everything went off without a hitch without needing any attention from me.

I cannot recommend this company enough for anything. They are truly outstanding and I cannot praise them enough.

(Reposted in December 2019 because typos in the previous review drove me nuts and Yelp removed the edit button for some reason....)

Had a great experience with Rouge!

As a bride starting off you have NO IDEA what you're doing. Sarah was super helpful and answered my million (literally) questions without complaint. I liked how this carter was very "all in one." I told Sarah our budget and she was able to give us cocktail hour, dinner, open bar (beer and wine), and cake all for one price. I think we were able to save some money that way.

Wedding day the staff was awesome! You didn't know they were there basically, everything was so smooth and the guest raved about the food. The staff were so kind to get us food and waters during cocktail hour in a very HOT room. We have appetizers waiting for us at our sweetheart table and they made sure we ate! They did all the clean up (not of our stuff) we didn't have to worry about anything. You also get a "to go" box at the end of the night, great for that late night snack!

My complaints are minor. The cake tables were pushed back in the corner and hard to see. The cupcake/cake tier was also not displayed as we talked about (however the cake may have been too heavy, not a big deal but wish someone told me ahead of time). Also the tasting, maybe this is how everyone does it and I don't know any better. A menu was written up based on our budget and we arrived for the tasting. I thought we would try a few different things and chose from that but we only tasted what was pre chosen. We ended up needing a second tasting which isn't free (I think $75pp??). The menu is HUGE (did I say HUGE!) so of course you would need help narrowing your choices but I think we would have had some different things for our tasting if I knew that's how it was done.

I would recommend Rouge to any bride!

I attended a Christmas party last Saturday that Rouge catered. I have worked in catering for a large part of my life. I was so impressed with everything! The presentation was top notch and the everything was delicious! I would highly recommend Rouge catering to anyone!

UPDATE:
Rouge has NOT given me my refund back and are saying they are doing my daughter's wedding. The owner Jonathan called my daughter yelling at her about a post on Facebook. He demanded that she creates a new post saying that the owner of Rouge called her, and that they will be doing her wedding. They would like us to sign a mutual release agreement that is different from the one they are sending to other couples. I believe it is because of her post. I told them I do not feel comfortable signing, so they said then we are doing her wedding. We were having a great experience working with Nikki from Rouge. She left, and I have been dealing with Celeste mostly. Again, they say they are doing her wedding and we have NOT received our refund.
Always read the most recent review. We signed the contract and hired Rouge to provide catering for my daughter's wedding in April 2019. Today they told me Rouge can not provide catering services
because they hired undocumented worker (60%) and they are understaffed. If you have contract in 2019 you might want to find another cater. Don't understand why don't they hire workers and trained
Very disappointed and angry