Hel’s Kitchen Catering

This is my 2nd review of Hel's Kitchen and I still cannot express just how lovely they are to work with. We were originally working with Hels for a 200 person wedding that was to happen 9/26/2020. Well as we all know, that changed due to COVID and while it could have been awful in deciding what we wanted to do, Hels and all of our vendors made us feel so confident in our new plan: 50 people in our backyard. After planning and re-planning and having 3 back up plans just in case, not a beat was missed by Linda and her team. Not only did I have full confidence in them working with our coordinator I had full confidence in stepping back as a bride and just letting them do what they are great at - catering. Our guests are still talking about the food - and that is NOT typical for a wedding. Truly, some of the best food many of us have ever had. From appetizers, to service to plated meals of chicken & steak - Hels is the choice you should make for your next event (big, small or anywhere in between). It's not easy having strangers in your home, but at the end of the day Hels was like family & we are excited to hire them over and over again for any events we plan!

Hel's Kitchen catered our dinner for 29 people on Xmas eve. I didn't love all the food, but I'm giving five stars because every person I interacted with there was so nice, responsive, and competent. I would absolutely recommend them, I'm thrilled they are here in Northbrook.As for the food, taste is so subjective and it is hard to please all the people with every dish. Everyone thought the Thai chicken skewers with peanut sauce were delicious. The Mediterranean chicken was also very good (loved the artichokes). The sweet potato mini pancakes were also a hit.The Tangine vegetables were too bland. I like more flavor, spices. To their credit, they use very little salt. The bourbon chicken skewers went untouched. The Jerusalem salad desperately needed dressing, it was also untouched (but of good quality).Having them cater saved us days of time preparing and cooking, it was well worth the money. They are super organized and, as I mentioned above, great people to do business with. We'll certainly try them again now that we know what we like.

Hel's Kitchen Catering is THE BEST at what they do. I plan events for a nonprofit organization but my background is in hospitality, catering, and catering sales. I've worked with a lot of people and catering companies over the last 10 years but these guys know what they're doing. Linda is incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and friendly, and the on-site team executes flawlessly. This year we had Mike and Luanna at our event and I couldn't have asked for more. We had some last minute changes and they took it in stride with a smile on their faces. I couldn't do our event (ghscommunitytable.org) without them, and I look forward to another great year next year. THANK YOU to the incredible team at Hel's Kitchen!

My daughter was married in late June 2018 at The Grove in Glenview. Hels's Kitchen was one of their preferred vendors. As luck would have it, a friend of mine had attended a wedding that Hel's Kitchen catered. She couldn't rave enough about the delicious, creative food and wonderful service she experienced. With a little research and a phone conversation we had a meeting with Linda at Hel's Kitchen. We knew we were in good hands and the tasting was amazing. Every detail was perfect, even better than I had expected, and the staff are a fine tuned team of happy and hard working people who knew exactly what to do. I can't give enough praise to the Hel's Kitchen team. The delicious food, service and care they delivered was exceptional!Cindy S

So easy peasy!I ordered the calypso cocktail package, home delivered. A half hour before my party, the truck shows up and gets everything set up in 15-20 minutes. Then after the party, we just rinse everything off, put it out on the porch for pickup the next day. Everyone raved! The food was delish and it looked so pretty.The reason I did not give 5 stars. I tipped the guy... and then hubby didn't know and he tipped too. The guy could have said something! grrrr-rrrr.Also, I ordered several items in addition to the calypso buffet. I also told the sales person I was cooking beef and pork etc... at some point, It would have been since to get advice that I would have WAY too much food. To me, that would be a five star caterer.

I have used Hell's for several events. I had thrown a party recently for about 60 people. Cyndy provided great direction and offered perfect suggestions for my guests. All my guests raved about the food. The bartender and supervisor on site were polite and professional. I highly recommend Hell's.

As the anniversary or our daughter's wedding approaches, I realized that I was remiss in writing a review for the caterer of our backyard celebration of the big event. David and his team are top shelf, yet also willing to roll up their sleeves to get the job done. I would hire him and Hel's Kitchen again in a heartbeat.

We used Hel's for our wedding on 7/23/17 and this review is long overdue. There are really no words that would do justice for the appreciation we have for David Borris and his team at Hel's Kitchen. We started our journey to find a caterer with two things in mind: quality, interesting food, and a limited budget. Despite working in the wedding industry as musicians, we had never hired a caterer and we did not realize how invaluable a caterer can be to the actual planning process and flow of the entire event. We went through several catering interviews over several months before realizing that our first instincts were correct. Not only does Hel's provide 30 years of food experience, they provide 30 years of people and planning experience.We were happy that our initial consultation happened to be with the owner of this well-established North Shore gem (although everyone we worked with was fantastic!). David is a friendly, welcoming, honest, and down-to-earth expert with the patience of a saint. We asked questions throughout our conversations and he answered every one of them. Our parents were welcomed into the process as well (which was important because Lara's mom is French! ;)). We changed our minds about the details many times and David invested hours in our event before we even officially agreed to use Hel's. When a few details changed, he even gave us a follow up tasting to ensure our satisfaction. David (and all of his staff) are extremely thorough, detail oriented and hard-working. They will listen to your concerns, explain everything, share price breakdowns, and work with you to make sure you are satisfied with every detail. We wanted an international menu, so we went with a European station and an Asian station. We had an impressive variety of flavors and something for everyone (including vegans and gluten free, dairy free guests). David even went so far as to visit Argyle street to ensure that his Banh Mi condiments and nuoc-mam were comparable to the best Vietnamese restaurants in town.When it came time for our wedding day, we really had no concerns because we knew that Hel's Kitchen staff works as a professional, intuitive and caring team. Their attitude toward their work is really a testament to the importance of valuing one's employees. When we first met David, he gave us a tour of the facilities and introduced us to every employee by name. The food was fantastic, the display was gorgeous, the staff was polite and our guests were delighted. Even when the rain started 30 minutes before our ceremony, Hel's Kitchen worked with our other vendors like a dream to move tables to make it possible for everyone to sit theater style at our venue for the ceremony (which was originally going to be outside) and then moved it all back during cocktail. We recommend Hel's to everyone as a solid and caring catering team.

Had the best experience with Hel's Kitchen this past weekend. I thought Linda had the best customer service, was kind and would work with me regardless of my budget. Thanks for making my event so easy.

Hel's catered my wedding in November, and at first they were great to work with--very attentive and very accommodating of my husband-to-be's severe allergy to nuts and sesame (he can go into anaphylactic shock if he eats either of these things). However, when we sat down to eat a bite right after our ceremony, we were served an item with sesame seeds in it. My husband spotted them before he took a bite, but this honestly ruined the whole meal for us. How could we trust that everything else served on the menu was nut free and sesame free? We were clear about the allergy throughout the process, and I emailed the catering coordinator two days before the wedding to reiterate that everything had to be nut free and sesame free. After the wedding, I asked them to make an adjustment to our bill to make this right. They declined to do this, and instead offered to send my husband and me a free dinner at our home. As if we would feel safe eating their food when they already demonstrated their incompetence when dealing with allergens at our WEDDING.