I recently attended a conference hosted at the San Diego Convention Center, a *huge* place, with a dedicated events team, including catering. All our meals and snacks were provided by the in-house catering team, so I was able to experience a number of their offerings. I was not ever there early enough for breakfast, so I cannot comment on those offerings, nor did our hosts select any plated meals, so this review is only for the snack, lunch, and evening reception choices, all buffet style.
I was impressed with the catering services. They are clearly professionals, and although there were some misses, most was above average for buffet style catering, and some, particularly one dessert (!) were far above average. I recommend, if you are ever attending or hosting an event there ...
Lunches
For lunch, there are plated and boxed lunch options, but our hosts went for buffets for our event.
The catering menu has a number of different buffet lunch options, ranging from the simple deli lunch with pasta salad, sandwich fixings, and cookies for a whopping $40.75 per person to many hot buffet options that are themed, starting at $46.50 per person up to $52 per person for more premium offerings like the "Little Italy" that has steak included. All the hot buffets include two different salads (one green, one pasta), a starch (rice, roast potatoes, etc), a cooked veggie, two main dishes, two desserts, plus coffee/tea/soda.
The buffets were always ready right at the time they should be, but not too early, so items were hot. They were well set up, with items in an order that made sense, toppings often on the side so you could garnish as you pleased, and everything reasonably well labelled. The staff kept everything replenished (I'd almost say they kept it too replenished, removing trays that were still half full, which I hope wasn't getting tossed ...). Clearly, this events team knows how to operate smoothly, and I was quite impressed with the quality of the cuisine.
Day One - Far East Buffet. $46.50/pp
Our first day lunch was the "Oriental" package, the cheapest hot buffet option. Like all of the packages, it came with two salads (one green, one noodle), a starch (rice), veggies, two entrees (chicken, beef), and (kinda) two desserts. The menu:
- Oriental Salad with Romaine Lettuce, Napa Cabbage, Snow Peas, Mandarin Oranges and Wonton Strips with Oriental Dressing
- Udon Noodle Salad with Asian Slaw
- Orange Chicken
- Broccoli Beef
- Steamed Jasmine Rice
- Stir Fry Vegetables
- Fortune Cookies
- Matcha Cheesecake with Tropical Fruit
I actually really enjoyed my meal, although a few parts were a letdown. Still, the salad (and toppings!), orange chicken, and fantastic cheesecake made for a very satisfying meal, overall, ***+, above average for catering. Vegetarians had rather limited choices however, no vegetarian protein was part of the meal.
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| Oriental Salad with Romaine Lettuce, Napa Cabbage, Snow Peas, Mandarin Oranges. |
I mostly really enjoyed the salad. The lettuce and cabbage were chopped up fairly finely, but were fresh and crisp. Snow peas were also thinly sliced and crisp, and added a great crunch. The mandarin oranges I could do without, just not my thing, and they seemed like the canned kind. Baby corn was soft and not great.
But, overall a nice base, and I appreciated something other than generic garden salad.
***+.
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| Oriental Salad Toppings: Wonton Strips, Chow Mein Noodles, Oriental Dressing Udon Noodle Salad with Asian Slaw. |
The salad line up was completed with the oriental dressing and wontons/chow mein noodles for the oriental salad on the side, and a chilled udon noodle salad.
I appreciated that the toppings were on the side rather than pre-mixed, so I could add as much dressing as I pleased, so the crispy toppings wouldn't get soggy, and, um, so I could take as much of those toppings as I wanted, which, for me, was more than average. The wontons and crispy chow mein noodles were standard, but totally my thing, and I enjoyed them quite a bit.
The udon noodle salad was fine but not really my thing, I'm just not one for cold pasta salad (unless it is classic deli macaroni salad, laden in mayo ...). The veggies in it were cooked and pretty soft, so the whole thing ate fairly mushy.
Still, for a salad lineup, this was above average, mostly due to the great toppings.
***+.
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| Stir Fry Veggies. |
Vegetarians didn't have much to eat besides the salad. Steamed white rice and stir fry veggies with no protein. Lack of vegetarian protein option seems like a kinda big miss, particularly as its easy to have tofu for an Oriental menu.
Anyway, I actually wanted the veggies, but, they weren't good. Super mushy. The same broccoli and baby corn were in the salads too, so it was a lot of same-same in the meal.
Way too over cooked and mushy, no real flavor either.
*+.
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| Broccoli Beef / Orange Chicken. |
Meat eaters though did have good options, probably the two most popular "oriental" mains out there.
The broccoli beef was meh (tough beef, more way too soggy broccoli, not much flavor in sauce), but the orange chicken was decent. Battered, nicely coated pieces, reasonable sauce (not too sweet), and it seemed to be white meat chicken. Far better than I was expecting, although, still no Panda Express!
*+ for the broccoli beef, *** for the chicken.
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| Dessert: Fortune Cookies, Matcha Cheesecake. |
All the lunch buffet packages come with two desserts, which, dessert girl I am definitely makes me happy. For the Oriental package, the second dessert was just fortune cookies, which I did think was a cute touch, but those don't really count as dessert for me.
The matcha cheesecake though I was thrilled to see.
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| Matcha Cheesecake with Tropical Fruit. |
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| Matcha Cheesecake with Tropical Fruit. |
The cheesecake was sliced into fairly small portions (in my mind), but I heard others saying they were too big. The servers assured them it was ok not to eat it all. But I was surprised how many attendees opted not to have cheesecake, making comments about the size of slice, or heaviness of cheesecake. It made me sad, mostly.
I was more than happy to devour my tiny slice. The crust was delicious. Yes, me, the girl who regularly calls cheesecake crust "throwaway" as it is often soggy or mushy, and even if not, standard graham cracker crust just doesn't do it for me. But this was glorious, super crispy, caramelized, more like a cookie, and I think it had coconut in it too. Sugary deliciousness, and I was happy to see such a thick layer, once I tried it.
As for the cheesecake, the texture was good, very smooth, firm. Light matcha flavor, sorta a mascarpone flavor as well. Definitely above average in both texture and taste.
I would prefer it be served with a different fruit, but, overall, this was better than most frozen mass produced desserts, and I liked that it was themed with the meal. The combo of above average cheesecake and very very good crust made this a total winner.
****+.
Day 2: Embarcadero Buffet. $52/pp.
The next day, our hosts splurged for the Embarcadero package, which also normally has two salads, a starch (mashed potatoes), a veggie, two entrees (chicken, beef), and two desserts, but, they did sub one of the main proteins for a veggie pasta, which didn't really go with the rest of the lineup, and may have been a course correction after so little vegetarian food available the previous day (both lunch and dinner). The lineup:
- Endive Mixed Greens Pea Tendrils, Pickled Melons, and Dried Cherries, with Creamy Cucumber Dill Vinaigrette and Mint Verjus Vinaigrette
- Broccoli Salad with Cashews and Raisins
- Herb Grilled Chicken Breast with Mushroom Demi
- Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket with Tamarind BBQ Sauce --> Vegetarian Pasta
- Confit Garlic Mashed Potatoes
- Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Glaze and Fried Thyme
- Peach Cobbler Tart
- Amaretto Raspberry Ganache Cake
This meal was even better than the previous one. I adored both salads, and, although I completely skipped the mains, I was happy to feast on garlic mashed potatoes and delicious brussels sprouts, and, both desserts, although neither was as good as the previous days. Again though, above average for catering, and **** overall.
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| Endive Mixed Greens Pea Tendrils, Pickled Melons, and Dried Cherries. |
I loved this salad. The greens were all fresh and crisp, and I just adore endive and rarely have it, and the pea tendrils were a really nice change from standard salad greens. It was rounded out by some other assorted mixed greens. Really, this was a fantastic base.
I can't speak to the pickled melons, but the dried cherries were even tasty, not too hard, and the flavors all went really well together.
Far above average for a salad.
****.
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| Dressing, Broccoli Salad. |
The salad came with two dressings on the side, both of which I tried, and they both went well with the salad. Although both vinaigrettes, they were creamy, and more to my liking. That said, I didn't use much of the dressing because instead I mixed in the broccoli salad.
"Broccoli Salad with Cashews and Raisins."
Ok, this was awesome. I am a HUGE fan of the broccoli crunch salad at Whole Foods, and every time I see a creamy broccoli salad, I want it to be like that. This was different, but totally reminded me of it.
The broccoli was lightly cooked, not soft, great crunch to it. There was tons of carrot, shredded and chunks, raw, more great crunch. I didn't actually find any cashews (which, the Whole Foods one does have, and I always like, because they get a bit soft after being soaked in dressing forever). It was overloaded with raisins (Whole Foods uses currants I think?), which would normally bother me, but, because I mixed this in with the salad base, worked well. The whole foods one has harsh red onion to contrast the other elements, and, bacon, which I certainly enjoy, but didn't find this to really be lacking without either.
And then, the dressing. Yup, it was totally drowning in mayo, sooo creamy, and since I mostly used this as salad dressing with the other salad, it didn't bother me how ridiculously dressed it was.
Anyway, this was considerably better than I even imagined it could be, and I liked it just as much as my precious Whole Foods version. I wish I could purchase this somewhere! And when combined with the other salad, just, a wonderful combination. ****+.
I didn't try the rolls, but there was an assortment of white, wheat, and dark rolls, along with pats of butter on the side.
The menu normally has Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket with Tamarind BBQ Sauce as the main dish, but our hosts must have gotten the memo that the vegetarians were feeling very left out, and they subbed in a pasta dish instead.
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| Rolls. |
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| Confit Garlic Mashed Potatoes. |
The mashed potatoes were good. A very smooth, creamy style. The garlic wasn't as strong as I wished, but was present. They were a bit boring, but, well executed (no lumpy bits, not overloaded with butter and cream).
Above average for a buffet, and perfectly tasty, just not something to rave about.
***+.
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| Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Balsamic Glaze and Fried Thyme. |
I love brussels sprouts. Yup, I'm one of "those people". I know many people, including my mother, haven't discovered the glory of well prepared brussels, but, I certainly have.
Buffet brussels sprouts have sooo much potential to go poorly. Like the previous days veggies, I kinda assumed they would be very mushy. Or, as sometimes you can get, I thought they might be laden down with oil (when not cooked on high enough heat maybe? I'm not sure why, but sometimes they can be sooo greasy!). But these were done really well. Not mushy, but certainly not raw, just lightly al dente. Perfect texture for me, and they even had a bit of char on them.
The balsamic glaze as minimal but added a nice flavor. I didn' t find the fried thyme.
Overall, another well executed dish, and perfect with the mashed potatoes.
****.
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| Vegetarian Pasta. |
It was just penne with tomato sauce, parmesan cheese shards, and roasted tomatoes. I stole some of the tomatoes, and they were quite flavorful.
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| Herb Grilled Chicken Breast with Mushroom Demi. |
The other main dish was chicken, which I don't eat, but, the mushrooms and roasted onions called out, as did the demi.
More well cooked, not mushy, flavorful veggies, and they went really well with brussels and mash, and I drizzled the mash with the demi to great success.
I can't speak for the chicken, but, <3 the toppings.
****+.
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| Amaretto Raspberry Ganache Cake. |
After the really quite good matcha cheesecake the day before, I was actually looking forward to the desserts, not usually the area that catering shines.
First up was had a layer cake. It said "Amaretto Raspberry Ganache Cake", but I really didn't taste any amaretto (presumably in the cake?) and I certainly didn't taste, nor see, any raspberries.
Instead, it was basically just a basic cake, with fudge, er, ganache filling and topping. It was nicely decorated, but otherwise was very average, not particularly dry nor moist, not particularly flavorful, just, it was what it was.
***.
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| Peach Cobbler Tart. |
The second dessert sounded great - peach cobbler!, although, I was curious about the "tart" part.
This item was ... ok. Definitely more standard mass produced frozen foodservice dessert quality.
The tart shell was pretty average (never the kind of thing I like very much), and the "cobbler" element seemed to be the crumb topping (not cobbles, and not biscuit-like a cobbler usually is), which was fine, but, not nearly as tasty as cobbles would be.
The peaches were the oddest part of this. Not that I expected fresh juicy peaches, but, these reminded me more of pears. They weren't mushy, but instead were fairly al dente, and tasted like, well, canned pears with a slight peach flavor, if that makes any sense.
There was also perhaps a little custard in there, or perhaps that we just where the crumble topping was more moist, I couldn't quite tell.
Overall, highly average, and perhaps it would have been better warm and a la mode?
***.
Evening Receptions / Dinner
The evening packages are definitely more varied, of course there are formal plated dinners and more expensive buffets (these have a soup instead of two salads, and higher end main proteins like salmon, airline chicken, etc but otherwise follow the format of the lunch buffets), and then there are all sorts of hors d'oeuvres to pick from, both hot and cold, priced out by the 100 pieces. From there, you can also opt for themed stations, like a nacho station, or "baja" station with shrimp cocktail, flautas, empanadas, tacos, chips & salsa, or carving stations with all different cuts of meats, all priced per person.
For our welcome reception, the hosts just opted for a few hors d'oeuvres, and definitely did not intend it to be a full dinner. The other evening, the hosts combined a few stations and hors d'oeuvres, and basically made it a dinner, albeit one without any desserts (or really, any vegetables). The unconventional formats I didn't think worked all that well, but, I don't blame the catering team for this, they have clear packages that make more sense as a cohesive meal.
Day 1:
The first night was a welcome reception, an optional event, before the conference got started. The welcome reception was hosted by a different group from the main organizers, and, they intended this to be just a social few hours, not dinner, it seems (it ran from 5pm-7pm). The offerings were just a few cold hors d'oeuvres, all finger foods, certainly not a meal. Nothing was particularly good, this was basically the quality and style of catering that you kind of expect from a large event, and can cater equally well yourself from the grocery store deli department.
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| Bruschetta & Flat Bread Station: Bases. $14.50/pp. |
"Served with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a Variety of Toasted Flat Breads."
First up, we had a build your own bruschetta or flat bread station.
There were two types of flat bread, I tried one with pesto and cheese. It was ... kinda stale bread? Not toasted. You were supposed to make your own bruschetta with these and other toppings, but I don't think I saw anyone actually do that.
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| Bruschetta & Flat Bread Station: Toppings. |
"Specialty Toppings".
To go on top we had the following "specialty toppings":
- Cauliflower, Artichoke and Kale Tapenade
- Kalamata Olive Tapenade
- Pesto Hummus
- Fresh Tomato, Basil and Garlic
The pesto hummus I hoped would be more pesto than hummus, but alas, it tasted like hummus to me, a miss for me, since I don't like hummus. Meh. I didn't try the kalamata olive tapanade, another flavor profile I don't really like.
The classic tomato/garlic/basil topping was fine, fresh enough, good garlic, but, since I didn't care for the flatbread, I didn't have much to do with it, and it was too oily to just eat on its own. I wished there was a salad base, or mashed potatoes, or something to mix it with.
I did mix it with the cauliflower/artichoke/kale spread ... which was a mixed bag. I'm not one for artichoke, but I didn't mind it here. I liked the chunks of caulflower, and bits of torn kale. But much like the tomato/garlic topping, it really was made to be a topping, very oily, and not that great to just eat on its own.
I tried to make a tomato/garlic/cauliflower/artichoke/kale dip salad like thing, and added roasted tomatoes and stuff from the other platters, but ... yeah. not very good.
**+.
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| Imported and Domestic Cheese. $10/pp. |
"Garnished with Seasonal Fruit, Sliced Baguettes and Assorted Crackers."
The cheeses I tried were highly average. All hard cheeses, very run of the mill.
I did snag fresh strawberries and mediocre grapes, which was nice because the other fruit platter was full of melons and I had to avoid it entirely due to my allergy. The fresh fruit was appreciated.
There were also dried cranberries (meh) and candied pecans, which I also liked for something sweet, but didn't go that great with anything else on the menu.
**+.
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| Ahi Poke. $675/100 pieces. |
"Wakami Salad, Tobiko on a Wonton Chip."
Eh. I do like poke, and I love wonton chips but ...
This was pretty mushy, the tuna didn't seem particularly fresh, and it was all mixed up with seaweed. The wonton chips were greasy.
**+.
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| Mediteranean Chicken Kebab. $750/100 pieces. |
"Figs and Roasted Tomatoes and Balsamic Glaze."
One of only two hot items. Chicken kebabs.
I obviously didn't want chicken, but, the roasted figs, tomato, and balsamic sounded good, particularly when combined with the mediocre cheese from the other platter maybe? The fig was just a dried fig I think, but, decent enough with the glaze and cheese, and chunk of a bran muffin I brought with me. The tomato was more like a sundried tomato than roasted, very chewy, savory, and good with the bruschetta toppings.
But yeah, eh overall still. **+.
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| Guava Cayenne Empanadas. $625/100 pieces. |
These were almost ok.
Flaky enough pastry. The filling was confusing though - I didn't taste the cayenne they said it had, but it seemed to be guava and cheese? Sorta sweet, but garnished with roast tomatoes and spring onions? No dipping sauce, which it really needed (either sweet or savory would have worked).
Almost ok, but it wasn't quite a dessert, and was too sweet for a savory, and again, I wanted a sauce.
**+.
Day 2:
The next night was considerably better. While still not a real dinner package, at least on the savory side, I was totally satisfied, and really enjoyed some elements.
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| Dinner-ish. |
For our dinner reception, our hosts opted to make their own menu, rather than using any of the standard buffet or plated dinners.
They opted for one appetizer station (charcuterie and roast veggies), a carb station (pasta), and two carving stations (one meat, one seafood).
I felt a bit bad for vegetarians as the only veggies were intermingled on a platter with charcuterie, and they had no protein option, just, pasta + sauce + breadsticks, but it definitely would not have been nice to be a vegan. The pasta didn't even have a vegan sauce they could opt for, and the breadsticks were cheesy. They could, literally, have plain penne, no sauce, and some crackers?
Not the fault of the catering team, this was our host's choice, but, as one who used to cater a lot of group events, I noticed the oversight.
Overall though, this was reasonably tasty, in particular, the sauces were the highlights.
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| Grilled Marinated Vegetable and Charcuterie Board. $16.pp. |
"A selection of Roasted Zucchini, Squash, Eggplant, Peppers, Salami, Prosciutto and Sopprasetta drizzled with Extra Virgin Olive Oil."
Served with Toasted Flat Breads and Gourmet Crackers.
This was a bit of an odd platter. Normally they separate charucterie and veggies, rather than combine. I heard several vegetarians express their displeasure, commenting that they really didn't want to pick out veggies that were touching the meat. The vegetables were also all grilled, but cold, and not particularly tasty. The baby eggplants were cute.
The charcuterie though was pretty good. I really enjoyed the proscuitto, particularly when I added pesto cream sauce to it.
**** for the proscuitto, ** for everything else.
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| Pasta Station: Pasta. $17.25/pp. |
"Tri-Colored Cheese Tortellini and Penne Rigate."
Rather than one of the buffet dinners, our hosts opted to do a pasta station for dinner. All pasta stations come with both penne and cheese tortellini.
I had the penne, it was fine, not clumped together, not too soft, pretty decent for a buffet I guess. ***.
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| Pasta Station: Sauces. |
"Selection of two sauces: Pesto Sauce · Bolognese Sauce."
Pasta stations come with the host's selection of two sauces, ours were bolognese and pesto. The other options are simple marinara and the one I secretly hoped they would pick, vodka cream.
The bolognese was not good at all. Really just thin marinara with tiny ground bits of beef, no developed flavor at all.
The pesto sauce though was great. I was expecting just a green pesto, and this was a cream sauce. I'm a sucker for cream sauce, and I found this quite flavorful. I made a wonderful pasta dish with penne, cream sauce, and proscuitto. I think mixing in the salmon would have worked well too.
**** for the cream sauce though.
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| Pasta Station: Sides. |
"Served with Soft Bread Sticks, Crushed Red Pepper and Parmesan Cheese."
The bread sticks were lofty, and lightly coated with cheese (yup, sorry vegans), and herbs. They were decent, but not very warm. Still, nice to dunk into the sauces. **+.
Basic parmesan and red pepper flakes were on the side to jazz up your pasta.
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| Applewood Smoked Side Salmon (serves 30). $500. |
"Served with Lemon Dill Crème Fraiche and Chimichurri, with a Large Ciabatta Croustade."
Our hosts selected two carving stations. I was happy to see they opted for a seafood choice although the other seafood option, pistachio crusted sea bass, sounded a bit more fun.
The salmon was decent. I would prefer it more rare, and it wasn't particularly warm, but, it was decent. I really enjoyed both the lemon dill creme fraiche and chimichurri though, the former thick and flavorful, the later quite vibrant.
This was served with super thin crispy "ciabatta croustade", but I opted for crackers from the charcuterie/veg platter instead, and spreading the sauces on the crackers was really quite enjoyable.
***+.
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| Sirloin of Beef (serves 35). $650. |
"Served with Chimichurri, and Horseradish Crème Fraiche and with Miniature Rolls."
Our other carving station was one of the beef station options. I'll admit, it looked pretty good. The catering menu has two other beef preparations available with different sauces, along with pork loin and turkey breast, none of which our hosts oped for.
The beef looked better than it tasted. It was pretty chewy. The crust looked flavorful, but I didn't get much flavor from it. We all struggled to cut it with little plastic knives.
I also had roast onion and garlic garnishes, and neither were very flavorful, a big surprise, as, well, how do you make onion and garlic NOT flavorful?
The sauces however were again great. The same chimichurri that we had with the salmon, and a different creme fraiche, this one horseradish.
So, again, great sauces, but meh to the beef. This came with little rolls if you wanted to make sliders, which I didn't try.
*** sauces, **+ beef.
Snack Time
I wasn't there for snack breaks most days, but the catering depart has a wide range of options, ranging from boring (generic packaged granola bars, pretzels, or bags of chips, which, it sounds like my hosts had picked on day one), to freshly popped popcorn, to themed assortments, like the "Death by Chocolate" break package with chocolate s'mores bark, chocolate dipped strawberries, fudge brownies, and chocolate chip cookies. I was definitely hoping for the "Ball Park' lineup with mini hot dogs and soft pretzels and cracker jacks, but, alas, we only got soft pretzel bites when I was around.
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| Sesame Seed Pretzel Bites. |
Our lineup had two kinds, including these sesame seed only versions, which I skipped.
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| Everything Pretzel Bites. |
I went for the more interesting everything version.
They were ... fine. Soft. Lightly warmed. Not stale. Loaded with everything coating. But I had just been in Munich two weeks prior, and consumed far too many soft pretzels, and these just didn't really stand a chance.
**.
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| Honey Mustard, Spicy Mustard. |
The pretzels came with both spicy and honey mustard, neither of which were particularly flavorful. Again, after being in Munich, land of all the mustards, this just didn't compare.
**.
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