Catering by Michaels

Chicagoland including Lake Forest, Highland Park, Glencoe

About this vendor

Catering by Michaels is a full-service, special event catering company in Chicago. We are passionate about providing a beautiful and creative epicurean experience which truly captures the unique flavor and style of your wedding. We believe catering is more than just food on a plate. We want to build a relationship with you to understand not just your vision, but also your personal taste. Why? Because we want to ensure your wedding is the perfect reflection of YOU. We offer a variety of different price points and menu styles from which to choose. We never compromise on quality or presentation, and all our options are customizable to suit your needs. We work with the best photographers, florists, and event planners to integrate all aspects of your wedding for a stress-free experience.

Details

Business Attributes

Woman-owned Business

Cuisine

African
American
BBQ
Cajun
Chinese
Eastern European

Dietary Options

Dairy Free
Gluten Free
Halal
Kosher
Nut Free
Organic

Food & Catering

Buffet
Catering Clean Up
Catering Delivery & Setup
Chef Stations
Family Style
Menu Tastings

4.5

out of 5.0

13 reviews

Search reviews

11/26/2024 • Sara O

Absolutely a 10/10!!! As someone who has worked in event catering before, I was very picky in choosing a caterer, since I have a pretty good sense of how weddings should be run. I also married a guy with a large Italian family, so good quality food was also really important to us! Between both of these things, we spent quite awhile trying to make this decision. We are both THRILLED that we ended up with Catering by Michaels. Moriah was an absolute dream to work with from start to finish! She was so helpful and responsive, and willing answer any questions that we had. She also appreciated that I had a catering background (some companies seemed to find it annoying LOL), and knew what I wanted before I even had to say it. I knew that I could 100% trust her on our wedding day to make sure everything ran smoothly, and it did! As for the food, we had multiple guests tell us it was the best food they have ever eaten at a wedding. Even my super picky Italian mother-in-law loved all of her food, and didn’t have a single bad thing to say about it! They were easily able to accommodate any dietary restrictions that we had, and even made last minute special dessert accommodations for our vegan guests. The table settings looked BEAUTIFUL (again, I know how hard that is to do well having done many myself), and service was fantastic from start to finish. I cannot recommend CbyM more highly, truly. Amazing food, super professional, and are absolute pros at what they do. Thank you thank you thank you!!!

4/19/2021 • Sophia W

There are no words that can describe how happy I am that we chose to work with CBM for our wedding. Aside from the fact that the food was phenomenal, the quality of service, professionalism, and accessibility leading up to and on our wedding night far exceeded all of our expectations. Michele and her team truly thought through every detail. When our guest count doubled just a couple of weeks before the wedding (thank you Covid Vaccine!), Michele remained completely calm and executed everything flawlessly. They say brides don't eat on their wedding nights, but after my tasting I knew I had to eat everything because it was SO delicious!!!

9/30/2019 • Christy C

We received a lot of great feedback from our wedding guests about our food and we couldn't agree more. Every appetizer that was supposed to be hot, was hot. I know that seems like a weird thing to share, but sometimes weddings don't always even have that. Overall our experience was wonderful from the food tasting and letting us ask too many questions to when it came to the day of the wedding. Every meal was prepared great, they accommodated every person with specific dietary needs, and the taste alone was absolutely incredible. I also would like to mention the desserts and more importantly the donuts. THEY WERE INCREDIBLE. They really truly do good work and help make sure you get the menu you want for you special day and there is nothing more you could ask for. Clear eyes, full stomachs, can't lose. They were the best.

9/21/2018 • Jessica N

Jessica was amazing and really worked to customize a delicious menu within our budget!

7/09/2017 • Kelly S

Having had our wedding at Independence Grove in Libertyville, Catering by Michael's was the default caterer. WE COULD NOT BE HAPPIER with the service and food on our big day. It was fun tasting all of the different items at our food tasting - and it was almost hard to choose what to serve because everything was delicious. Our guests kept commenting on how amazing our food was (all courses). We even had the option to have a late night snack - we chose slices of Lou Malnati's pizza. It was such a hit! Would definitely recommend Catering by Michael's!

7/31/2014 •

The man from the catering department I spoke with was very rude and treated me like I was stupid! I don't care if the food is made of gold or if they only buy cows that are organically fed without great customer service, patience with customers and a warm personality.... you do not have a full successful business!

8/01/2013 • Caitlin C

We cannot stop thinking about our fantastic meal for our wedding. People were taking photos of the food and are STILL raving about how delicious it was. My husband and I did not eat a whole lot at the reception because we were busy talking to people so we ate very little, but they pack up an extra meal for both bride and groom. We couldn't thank them more for it because we ate it the next night and were able to completely enjoy it. We got a combo plate of Chicken Neopolitan, Filet, Garlic Mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies of carrots and green beans. Thank you for the amazing food experience!

7/22/2013 • Lori G

We used a division of Catering by Michaels called, A Tray to Remember and it was terrific! Barb, our sales woman was informative, flexible and reliable. The food was delicious, we had vegetarians that were blown away! The service staff were not as spectacular, unfortunately, but again, the food made it well worth it!

1/31/2013 • Sarah B

Very easy to work with but the guy who delivered called me during the ceremony to ask about the location to drop things off. They should know better than to ever call the bride on the day of the wedding.

9/18/2012 • Samantha K

I worked with Alyson Vondruska to plan our Wedding at Brae Loch Golf Club in Grayslake. She is a miracle worker and handled every last detail with grace. The food was yummy, the cake was the best wedding cake I've had at a wedding and the sweet table was decadent. I can honestly say that there is absolutely nothing that I would have changed. Thanks to Alyson, from beginning to end the event was a hit! Our family and friends had a great time and enjoyed the food and booze!

11/05/2011 • Katharine B

These caterers were outstanding. The food tasted like nothing I've ever tasted at a wedding and they were extremely easy to work with. My wife and I got married at Independence Grove in Libertyville, and Catering by Michaels is their de facto catering place. We had some trepidation about it at first, but we heard a lot of good things about them. When we went in for our tasting, they sat us down at a table that had the linens we had chosen for our venue - including several napkin folds from which we could choose. We got to try a ton of different food, all of which was excellent. We picked and chose what we wanted, mixing and matching certain things, such as changing a salad dressing on a salad or choosing a different vegetable to go with our meal. We ended up with an array of appetizers and for our entree, the beef braciole and chicken spiral. Everyone at the wedding raved about it. It was completely different from what you'd expect at a wedding; it was more like a fine restaurant. And it was really cheap, too! Much cheaper than a lot of other places we were looking. (Something like $28 per head)

7/19/2011 • Gabrielle L

Catering by Michael's did an amazing job at our wedding. They are the exclusive caterer to Independence Grove so we didn't exactly pick them but I couldn't be happier with the choice. The food choices were amazing; there were literally dozens and dozens of options for appetizers, entrees and desserts. The entrees came out hot (all 200 of them) and the presentation was beautiful. Our sweet table was so impressive! There was a milk fountain! I obviously chose milk and cookies but didn't have any idea that it would be in the form of a fountain. The quality was unmatched and we're still receiving compliments from our guests about the food. They are definitely an example of you get what you pay for though so if you're looking for a budget caterer they might not be the way to go.