Michelle M.
Nov 30, 2009
Immensely rude on the phone -- we used to use them all the time for our office parties and political events and we never will again. I strongly feel that when you're in the customer service industry, you have to be polite. Rudeness, impatience, snarkiness -- not appreciate and not tolerated. Bad service taints good food. "Larissa" should really be more polite, she just lost out on our business :(
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Amy W.
Nov 25, 2011
We had an excellent experience working with the staff at Don Strange planning our wedding! Everything was outstanding from the Ranch venue itself to the amazing food! They helped create a magical evening that everyone loved!! Would absolutely reccomend the Ranch or Don Strange Catering to ANYONE looking for a beautiful Hill Country event and excellent food! A big thank you to them for all of their help!!
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Chelsea B.
May 31, 2012
WARNING to all brides and parents of the bride or groom!! I was engaged in December of 2011 and planned a May 2012 wedding to work with my fiancé's upcoming Bar Exam schedule. We felt so lucky and blessed to find such a beautiful venue only 5 months before our wedding date! Well, there is a reason why the ranch wasn't booked and I hope to spread the news to all who dare get swindled into using this facility or the catering company itself.When we did our walk through, we were promised the world. I am the youngest daughter of my family and my Mom plans events as a hobby, so we were looking for flexibility for this blow out party. They have two locations on the ranch (Kendall Creek and DSR) and we were assured that they wouldn't double book the other location as that would mean cars would be driving past our outdoor ceremony site during the ceremony itself. They also mentioned that the facility (as it was January) was out of season and therefor was overgrown with weeds and fallen branches. They said those things would be in prime condition by May.Once we signed the contract all heck broke loose. They now said that we would have to rent out both venues (more thousands of dollars) to keep them from double booking the sites. Lorissa, their wedding planner, was beyond rude to my parents, my in laws and myself. At one point she offered to send us to a different venue, as they may be more helpful... After our save the dates went out! When I would call for a scheduled conference call, she wouldn't even remember which bride I was or what wedding we were referring to. She fought us on every tiny menu change and we didn't even receive a final menu until two weeks before the wedding. We tried to contact Brian Strange who seemed to care less that even though we were paying them tens of thousands of dollars we were being treated with worse customer service than you would receive from a call center representative for your phone company. Not to mention that they would constantly throw new charges into our catering bill. They were planning on serving our 350 guests with 6 wait staff and when we asked to have water and a plated salad at the tables our bill went up by $5,000! Not to mention a VERY LARGE "service charge" that was tacked on the end.Two weeks before the wedding we were invited to come see the venue while it was being set for another wedding. They had weeds that were 2 feet tall directly in front of the house that the bride walks out of to start the processional. There were dead leaves and tree limbs on every slanted rooftop where photos were to be taken. It seemed like now that Don Strange had passed away his sons have no pride for what they have. We ended up giving them a detailed list of common sense wedding venue "to-dos". And after they threw a fit, they eventually pulled the weeds, cut back branches, and cleaned the place up a bit. We had a custom made stone altar (similar to Jenna Bush's) brought in which they also made a fit about getting it in no earlier than the day before and having it out by Sunday. Yet, we found out when we brought the machinery to move it that they had scheduled three brides' walk throughs for earlier that day and were leading them to believe that our altar would be there for their weddings! I feel so sad for them!! They will swindle you out of every dollar after it is too late for you to make other arrangements and will knowingly mislead you along the way. Our wedding turned out beautifully, thanks to our wonderful vendors outside of DSR and thanks to the 5 months of anxiety my poor mother endured while working tirelessly. If you don't want to experience the stress level of a bad comedy movie while planning your wedding, I recommend finding another venue.This is just the tip of the ice burg when discussing our wedding nightmares. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me personally via Facebook or LinkedIn.Sincerely,Chelsea Briers
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Jennifer S.
Oct 15, 2012
I discovered Don Strange Ranch in Boerne last summer via a Groupon deal to do the adventure climb. We walked through the barn and both thought wow this would be a great place for a wedding and so fitting for us. Needless to say, 10 months later we got married at Don Strange Ranch on September 29, 2012. Everyone that we dealt with was very pleasant. Lorissa was very patient with us and helped us maximize our budget. Even better, all of the linens and chairs and such were included so that was less for me to worry about. She scheduled a food tasting for us (that is actually in San Antonio), the food was incredible, and we knew that we had our caterer.She was able to recommend vendors for other items that we needed and advise us on some things we may not need which saved us some money.Any time that I called and she wasn't available she would call back quickly and thankfully already had a rain plan in mind as day after day the chances of rain on our wedding day became larger and so did my anxiety.The week of the wedding she introduced us to Esther. We met with Esther and went over everything from the ceremony chairs to the placement of the cakes. When the rain would break both the adults and the kids were crazy about feeding the longhorns. The Don Strange staff was at the event and on top of everything but somehow transparent. They made us both dinner plates and took them away later and I swear I never saw them. Esther was a godsend but I think we noticed that more when we got to our hotel late at night and hungry (the guests hardly let us sit down!). When unloading the luggage I found a goody basket with wine and dinner plates for us that she made up and somehow got into our getaway car. Even cold the food was good, not to mention the only bite I got of the wedding cake was the one my husband shoved in my face so I was ecstatic to see that she had packed us some cake as well (it was incredibly delicious so I felt like I had missed out).Two weeks later I'm still hearing about how beautiful the wedding was, and how great the food tasted. Everyone raved over the mashed potato bar! If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't change a thing. Our thanks to everyone at the ranch that contributed to our day and made it so fantastically memorable for us and our guests.
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P. G.
May 11, 2022
Don Strange catered our daughter's wedding reception in Dripping Springs with 200+ guests. We hired them in part because we had the sense that they would do whatever it took to make the reception a success, and they certainly did. They listened carefully to us and made suggestions that we would never have thought of, all of which attributed to a great event. The food looked and tasted terrific, and was served at exactly the right temperature. Many of our guests remarked that it was the best food they had ever been served at a wedding reception. Service was efficient and unobtrusive. We would not hesitate to have them cater any event for us in the future.
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Lori S.
Aug 6, 2019
This is a long review because Don Strange did such an amazing job! Don Stange catered my wedding reception at Joshua Creek Ranch in Boerne. My guests are still raving about the food! Di-anna listened to the things that I and my husband wanted making suggestions for combinations that made our menu really special. I also wanted to avoid a per person hors d' oeuvres charge for the cocktail hour and Dan Strange crated a beautiful local meat and cheese board for a flat fee. People absolutely loved the bacon! For my wedding reception we served prime rib and salmon with a choice of jalapeño béarnaise sauce, red wine reduction and a chimichurri sauce, au gratin potatoes, corn pudding soufflé with rajas served in a corn husk, green beans, asparagus and red peppers tied in bundles with leeks. They also rented me a beautiful charger plate for $1, some linens and other items and pressed the linens I bought separately for the event for free! The only thing I would do over is the late night food. People ate so much of the dinner that the late night food was a waste. Many of my guests said the Don Strange food was the best wedding food they ever had. Kudos for making my wedding food so special. Not only were they less expensive than other alternatives, they also let us keep the leftover food (other caterers may not). We were able I to give care packages of prime rib to the bartender and our guests. If I could give them 10 stars I would.
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Nick D.
May 29, 2022
First class, always! Our executive luncheon was delicious and from the first phone call to the final bite of dessert, the process was smooth and professional. They've got a great team!
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Tj S.
Apr 7, 2020
My husband caught a write up in the paper of many restaurants and catering services that were now doing home meal deliveries during the COVID19 Pandemic and Don Strange Catering Service was one of those listed. We tried it on a whim, since the menu looked fantastic and the price was very reasonable, and boy was it absolutely fantastic. We have now have 10 different meals come in since our start, over the last three weeks, and the "worst" of the meals was just good. :-) The best of the meals were wonderful! My favorite so far was yesterday's Strawberry Lemonade Cake for desert. I swear I could have eaten the whole cake all by myself it was so good. I highly recommend you check out the home meal delivery services for yourself.
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Belinda B.
Aug 19, 2016
Don Strange catered a dinner party for my family and we couldn't have been more pleased with the menu. The food arrived on time, was warm and presentation was fabulous. The tenderloin was very tender and juicy, asparagus cooked to perfection and the corn soufflés were beautiful! The jalapeño béarnaise sauce was perfect as were the Parker rolls. We had ordered for 20 guests and their portions were very generous! I will definitely call them again for future gatherings. Hats off to Di-Anna Arias for coordinating this event. Thank you for making our dinner so memorable!!!Belinda Bazan-Lara
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Tammy M.
Apr 25, 2018
Don Strange Of Texas Catered our National Association of Women Business Owner's Gala Celebration at the Witte. It was an amazing event. The food and service were exceptional
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