Mermaid Catering

Unfortunately we gave them a try and the overall was below average. Our family of four agreed and we would not use them again with the inconsistency of our meals. This is a tardy review with service rendered this past Winter. Main issues was inconsistent portion sizes, inconsistent taste because somethings were quite good. Then to top it off rolls that were rock hard and not edible. How can you mess up bread? The two is for meeting the deadline for prep and half of our order being delicious. 2.5 rounding down and would never recommend them.

We hosted a 2016 event for 60 people and hired Julie for Indian food. It was all pretty mushy and tasteless. The guests were gracious and ate it anyway, but only enough to be polite. Julie was curt on the phone and in person. She tried to put up a huge cardboard advertisement for her business next to the buffet, which my husband immediately told her to get rid of. One of her staff people stepped over the baby gate and used the bathroom in the kids area because he said, the one we told them to use was "occupied". Later, he was literally taking a piss in our yard, on the edge of the property, into the fence, which borders the Admiral's home. Julie left very early in the event. Never hired nor recommended them after that.

Mermaid Catering provided some eats for the Yelp birthday party event recently - and my oh my - I am *still* dreaming about that mint chocolate mousse! They called it "spring dirt - beautifully presented and absolutely delicious. I had like four. They also provided a nice little salad, which was a welcome addition to the event since it's always hard to find a vegetable at some of these events! They also had one of their servers/members dressed up like an actual mermaid - how cool is that? If you have a kiddo who is obsessed with mermaids, this place would be a great one to get in touch with if you're planning a birthday party or other special event.

At a recent event we attended, we were underwelmed. There was not enough food available for the number of people in attendance. Many did not eat at all. We heard comments from the their staff that the guests "piled" on the food and that was why there was not enough. What I ate was dry and the vegetables were over cooked. Certainly not what we paid for. I would not recommend this caterer.

Liz S.I wish I could give less than a 1 Star. I attended a recent event (fundraiser) where it was advertised Mermaid would be. The menu presented looked delicious and when I shared it with others the meal was what put them over the top on deciding to come. WHAT A DISASTER. They RAN OUT OF FOOD. My professional job is planning events for a local university and I NEVER have a buffet without having servers. That way everyone eats and then you can get seconds. If you think you might run out of food, at least monitor it and then you can step in if you see as what did they say "overeaters" helping themselves to large portions. Not only did Mermaid NOT serve, but they did not monitor the food and the guests in line had to tell them when the food needed to be replaced. The salad was ok and the appetizers were pretty good (which they also ran out of), but the dinner itself was subpar. I feel like it was prepared hours before the event and just kept warm. The meats were very dry. To make things worse the event planners had to refund tickets to people who did not eat. It was very embarrassing for the planners, who had no control on running out of food. As if that was bad enough, when the planners reached out to the Mermaid owner and asked for a partial refund, she was extremely rude and said it wasn't her fault, but ours for having "overeaters" and because she donated something for the silent auction that should make up for it. Extremely unprofessional and I would never recommend this caterer to anyone. I cannot say this enough---buyer beware.

Julie Hudgins and her team did the wedding rehearsal dinner for our younger son. Their kindness and professionalism were flawless, perfect, unforgettable. Thanks to Julie and her team, that evening will always stand out as one of our most cherished memories. We have eaten several of Julie's specialty dishes - always delicious perfection. Thank you, Fred & Lucy Johnson, Virginia BeachPlease note that this review is brief, to the point and sincere. I am leery of unusually lengthy negative reviews, especially if they are anonymous. They cause me to wonder if some other agenda might be in play. In such cases, I am inclined towards the conclusion that 'the reviewer doth protest too much' (Apologies to Mr. Shakespeare). Just my humble opinion. We do not know Julie or any of her staff personally.

According to our guests, everything at our wedding on 8/6/21 was great...everything, but the food!Dissatisfied with food and even more with customer service skills of servers, manager and THE OWNER.To begin with they were extremely hard to reach before the wedding, the sales manager kept screening the calls from me and my wedding planner and ignored the voice messages we left(even though we paid in full in advance).We ordered seabass in orange marmalade, chicken Alfredo, roasted green vegetables and potatoes- and only potatoes were cooked as promised. Chicken and fish had no sauce on ( when I say no, I mean it) Multiple guests noticed that cornbread tasted like orange... Vegetables were overcooked and mushy, even though when the same exact thing happened during the tasting we were guaranteed it won't happen again....The event caterer was 1.5 hours late to set up( later the owner blamed our wedding planner for not communicating the time properly) The servers were unprofessional and kept complaining to the guests.Honestly, all of the above we would tolerate if the owner was somewhat apologetic on the phone discussing the issues with us... stuff happens, we understand, people being late, food is being overlooked... it's okay. However, Julie- the owner was totally unprofessional on the phone telling us we were the only people at the wedding who didn't like the food. She blamed everything on the kitchen manager who was fired couple days after our event (of course, according to Julie it was a coincidence and wasn't connected to our experience).Overall, I would never ever choose this caterer if I knew about the quality of customer service and food quality. Your option doesn't really matter after you paid them. Try at your own risk.

An epic fail! Hired for a sit down dinner buffet for 189 people. 20 people did not show at door. Caterer claims they cooked for 200 people. Let's do the math....189 minus 20 = 169. Tell me why they ran completely out of food prior to feeding the last two tables (about 20 people) if they cooked 200 servings? An embarrassing situation for the hosts of the dinner not to mention additional $$$ for refunds to people who didn't eat.Might be good for a small tea party, but not a serious sit down dinner!

We hired Julia and Chris for a private dinner party at our house. They were professional and quick to respond. Also super accommodating for personal food choices such as gluten free. The food was amazing. They even cleaned all the dishes. I was impressed and very thankful the are doing this right now since it's hard to get babysitters and go out to a restaurant. Highly recommend. You can bet we'll be having them back.

Don't hire this caterer! I was at an event recently catered by Mermaid and they ran out of food!!! My friends at another table, and we all paid for dinner, did not get to eat at all! Surely, a professional caterer knows to provide extra food so as to not have this problem?! (They were told how many were expected and in fact, fewer actually showed up.) And I must've got the last few pieces of broccoli because they were burnt. They said they were bringing out another pan, but I got tired of waiting and returned to my seat. Come to find out, there wasn't another pan! Lower your standards if you hire this caterer.