Let me start by saying that I never intended to write a Review. Instead, I extended grace to the owner by emailing her to express my concerns, that way the issue would be between the two of us. Now that untruths are starting to swirl in the form of a reply by ECS, I feel it’s time for me to go public.I emailed the owner on December 30, 2023, two days after the said event that she catered for on my behalf. My sister (Margarita Mimi on this Google Review) organized a 60TH b-day event for me.If the Owner took 5 minutes to pick up the phone and call me to discuss my concerns, this issue would not be in a public forum. However, she would rather take 20 minutes to write untrue replies to reviews.LET ME BE CLEAR. NO ONE FROM ECS HAS RESPONDED TO THE CONCERNS I RAISED IN MY EMAIL BELOW DATED DECEMBER 30TH.I will say no more, instead I have copied the message in the email to the Owner December 30, 2023:Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2023 1:58:28 PMSubject: Feedback regarding catered Event for my birthday event on December 28thGood afternoon,I am in the car and on my way back to Texas. So, I am using this opportunity to give you feedback regarding the food that ECS provided for my birthday event.Let me begin by saying, ECS earned high marks regarding delivery, presentation of the food, portion size and the appetizers. However, I have concerns regarding the taste of the food. I, and my guests found the food was way too salty.A guest seated to my left tasted the rice and commented that it was salty. I then tasted the pork. It too was salty. Every item for dinner was salty. I could understand one food item being salty, but not all. Which begs the question, is there quality control? Is the chef tasting the food, and more importantly is someone other than the chef tasting the food?Two of my guests could not eat the food due it's saltiness. Fortunately for me, I had leftovers from Christmas dinner to offer them instead.As you could imagine, no one returned for more food catered by ECS. Therefore, I had plenty of food left over. I threw it all in the trash. If it was salty on the day of my event, it would only become saltier over time.My sister planned my birthday event. She chose your establishment based on the great 5-star reviews online. Unfortunately for me, I cannot say the food delivered on my birthday warrants a 5-star review.Thanks,
Michael Adair
Unfortunately, both of my experiences with Essential Catering Solutions has NOT be a positive experience. Initially, I reached out to the company to cater a Christmas event at my home in the East Tampa area. This was based on a recommendation from a friend who had read so many positive reviews on ECS, Inc. However, it took several days to hear back from ECS with the news they would not be able to accommodate my needs for the event. Fortunately, I had already secured another caterer for the party.About 2 weeks later, I attended a 60th birthday celebration and lo and behold Essential Catering Solutions was the cater for the event. I was excited to taste the food I had read so many positive reviews on, hoping I had found a cater of choice in the area. We just moving here from out of state recently and hosting parties and events a least once a month at our home.So sad to say, the food was not edible (WAY TOO SALTY), 90% of the quests were unable to finish their dinner and had to resort to finishing off the initial appetizers and desserts in lieu of dinner.How unfortunate for Essential Catering Solutions, (lack of quality control and inspections) but most of all, I am so sorry for the host of the party. A lot of money and food wasted, gone down the drain."The search is on again"
Yvette A
In the realm of catering, the top warning sign that the caterer you are researching is disreputable and/or lacks quality is that the company possesses questionable reviews on online. Heed this warning: Essential Catering Solutions (ECS) has questionable reviews online. This review adds to the company’s waxing (in science terms) list of unfavorable reviews. In December 2023, for my niece’s birthday dinner party in Lakeland, I provided food and beverage display/serving and kitchen management services. These services included completing after-event cleaning responsibilities. A summary of the quality of the catered food for the dinner party is that all but one entrée was so over-salted and/or was of such low quality that the only item that was consumed in high quantities was the salad. This occurrence is not telling of the quality of the salad; the quality of the salad and accompanying salad dressings was average. Every plate returned to the kitchen from the dinner table contained unusually large quantities of uneaten food. After the formal dining period of the party ended, most of the guests gathered in the kitchen seeking appetizers to satisfy their unexpected hunger. These appetizers had fortunately been prepared by the hostess to supplement the catered dinner. In all my experiences with countless parties that I have either provided hostess services for or hosted personally, I had not before this dinner party discarded such high quantities of food from plates, or caterer-provided containers of food. The waste resulting from the incompetence in the caterer’s preparation of the food remains memorable.Of course, a terrible customer complaint to have as a caterer is that the food quality and taste is unsatisfactory. The three things a caterer should always get right is the quality and taste of the food, timely deliveries, and effective communication. Unfortunately, every guest at the dinner party found the quality and taste of the food provided by ECS to be exceptionally repugnant. However, despite the disappointing dining experience, the dinner party remained festive and enjoyable, as expected due to the joyful occasion and characteristics of the guests. My advice as one who has recently tasted food prepared by ECS follows: Select a different caterer for your event.
Saige Mills
Food was extremely salty. Pulled pork, greens, Mac & Cheese all inedibly salty. Love good soul food, this ain’t it— family dinner Lakeland 12/2023
margarita mimi
If I could give this company zero stars I would. Poor communication from the very beginning. I was planning a 60th birthday party for my sister in lakeland. Based on all the positive reviews I chose this caterer. Either the positive reviews for them are fake or….the positive reviews are fake. I host a lot of parties ! I’ve hired caterers for years and never have I come across such a an unprofessional company as this one. It was the first time I’ve had to cater a party in Lakeland. It took several phone calls before I received a call back. Eventually I was emailed a form with a menu for my event that I didn’t choose. Eventually after another round of unanswered calls and emails , we finally were able to coordinate the final menu and logistics. The party was scheduled for December 28. I gave Essential Catering the benefit of the doubt that maybe they were very busy because it was the holidays. On the day of the event , the setup team arrived and they were VERY professional in the set up. I had been so worried given the weeks and weeks of bad communication. But the ultimate complaint was that the food was HORRIBLE !!! INEDIBLE!!!! Every single item : Greens, Mac and cheese, shredded pork, chicken was SUPER SALTY. The Only edible item was the salad. Every one of our guests ( we were a seated dinner party of 14 adults ) stated that they couldn’t eat the food. We ended up throwing away entire pans of food. What a big disappointment for my sister and family and friends. We had created a beautiful candlelit table and hired entertainment and guests wore vintage costumes representing the 1960s. It would have been a perfect night but the food ruined it. It made me cry. We could have ordered food from one of lakeland’s local southern restaurants instead of the slop Essential Catering served. We reached out by email a few days later to let the owner know about the fiasco but we never received a response.
Dustin Monaco
Amazing service and food offered to us at the Florida Southern Business building. The food was perfect with great seasoning and flavor.
Malia Brost
The quality of customer service and food were both fantastic and I can't thank them enough for being so patient and kind throughout the whole process!
Brian Kubiak
In all honesty, the experience exceeded all expectations as it was coupled with great service and quality.
Kyndall Brewer
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! THE FOOD IS AMAZING!!! WILL DEFINITELY USE AGAIN
Food was extremely salty.
Let me start by saying that I never intended to write a Review. Instead, I extended grace to the owner by emailing her to express my concerns, that way the issue would be between the two of us. Now that untruths are starting to swirl in the form of a reply by ECS, I feel it’s time for me to go public.I emailed the owner on December 30, 2023, two days after the said event that she catered for on my behalf. My sister (Margarita Mimi on this Google Review) organized a 60TH b-day event for me.If the Owner took 5 minutes to pick up the phone and call me to discuss my concerns, this issue would not be in a public forum. However, she would rather take 20 minutes to write untrue replies to reviews.LET ME BE CLEAR. NO ONE FROM ECS HAS RESPONDED TO THE CONCERNS I RAISED IN MY EMAIL BELOW DATED DECEMBER 30TH.I will say no more, instead I have copied the message in the email to the Owner December 30, 2023:Sent: Saturday, December 30, 2023 1:58:28 PMSubject: Feedback regarding catered Event for my birthday event on December 28thGood afternoon,I am in the car and on my way back to Texas. So, I am using this opportunity to give you feedback regarding the food that ECS provided for my birthday event.Let me begin by saying, ECS earned high marks regarding delivery, presentation of the food, portion size and the appetizers. However, I have concerns regarding the taste of the food. I, and my guests found the food was way too salty.A guest seated to my left tasted the rice and commented that it was salty. I then tasted the pork. It too was salty. Every item for dinner was salty. I could understand one food item being salty, but not all. Which begs the question, is there quality control? Is the chef tasting the food, and more importantly is someone other than the chef tasting the food?Two of my guests could not eat the food due it's saltiness. Fortunately for me, I had leftovers from Christmas dinner to offer them instead.As you could imagine, no one returned for more food catered by ECS. Therefore, I had plenty of food left over. I threw it all in the trash. If it was salty on the day of my event, it would only become saltier over time.My sister planned my birthday event. She chose your establishment based on the great 5-star reviews online. Unfortunately for me, I cannot say the food delivered on my birthday warrants a 5-star review.Thanks,
Unfortunately, both of my experiences with Essential Catering Solutions has NOT be a positive experience. Initially, I reached out to the company to cater a Christmas event at my home in the East Tampa area. This was based on a recommendation from a friend who had read so many positive reviews on ECS, Inc. However, it took several days to hear back from ECS with the news they would not be able to accommodate my needs for the event. Fortunately, I had already secured another caterer for the party.About 2 weeks later, I attended a 60th birthday celebration and lo and behold Essential Catering Solutions was the cater for the event. I was excited to taste the food I had read so many positive reviews on, hoping I had found a cater of choice in the area. We just moving here from out of state recently and hosting parties and events a least once a month at our home.So sad to say, the food was not edible (WAY TOO SALTY), 90% of the quests were unable to finish their dinner and had to resort to finishing off the initial appetizers and desserts in lieu of dinner.How unfortunate for Essential Catering Solutions, (lack of quality control and inspections) but most of all, I am so sorry for the host of the party. A lot of money and food wasted, gone down the drain."The search is on again"
In the realm of catering, the top warning sign that the caterer you are researching is disreputable and/or lacks quality is that the company possesses questionable reviews on online. Heed this warning: Essential Catering Solutions (ECS) has questionable reviews online. This review adds to the company’s waxing (in science terms) list of unfavorable reviews. In December 2023, for my niece’s birthday dinner party in Lakeland, I provided food and beverage display/serving and kitchen management services. These services included completing after-event cleaning responsibilities. A summary of the quality of the catered food for the dinner party is that all but one entrée was so over-salted and/or was of such low quality that the only item that was consumed in high quantities was the salad. This occurrence is not telling of the quality of the salad; the quality of the salad and accompanying salad dressings was average. Every plate returned to the kitchen from the dinner table contained unusually large quantities of uneaten food. After the formal dining period of the party ended, most of the guests gathered in the kitchen seeking appetizers to satisfy their unexpected hunger. These appetizers had fortunately been prepared by the hostess to supplement the catered dinner. In all my experiences with countless parties that I have either provided hostess services for or hosted personally, I had not before this dinner party discarded such high quantities of food from plates, or caterer-provided containers of food. The waste resulting from the incompetence in the caterer’s preparation of the food remains memorable.Of course, a terrible customer complaint to have as a caterer is that the food quality and taste is unsatisfactory. The three things a caterer should always get right is the quality and taste of the food, timely deliveries, and effective communication. Unfortunately, every guest at the dinner party found the quality and taste of the food provided by ECS to be exceptionally repugnant. However, despite the disappointing dining experience, the dinner party remained festive and enjoyable, as expected due to the joyful occasion and characteristics of the guests. My advice as one who has recently tasted food prepared by ECS follows: Select a different caterer for your event.
Food was extremely salty. Pulled pork, greens, Mac & Cheese all inedibly salty. Love good soul food, this ain’t it— family dinner Lakeland 12/2023
If I could give this company zero stars I would. Poor communication from the very beginning. I was planning a 60th birthday party for my sister in lakeland. Based on all the positive reviews I chose this caterer. Either the positive reviews for them are fake or….the positive reviews are fake. I host a lot of parties ! I’ve hired caterers for years and never have I come across such a an unprofessional company as this one. It was the first time I’ve had to cater a party in Lakeland. It took several phone calls before I received a call back. Eventually I was emailed a form with a menu for my event that I didn’t choose. Eventually after another round of unanswered calls and emails , we finally were able to coordinate the final menu and logistics. The party was scheduled for December 28. I gave Essential Catering the benefit of the doubt that maybe they were very busy because it was the holidays. On the day of the event , the setup team arrived and they were VERY professional in the set up. I had been so worried given the weeks and weeks of bad communication. But the ultimate complaint was that the food was HORRIBLE !!! INEDIBLE!!!! Every single item : Greens, Mac and cheese, shredded pork, chicken was SUPER SALTY. The Only edible item was the salad. Every one of our guests ( we were a seated dinner party of 14 adults ) stated that they couldn’t eat the food. We ended up throwing away entire pans of food. What a big disappointment for my sister and family and friends. We had created a beautiful candlelit table and hired entertainment and guests wore vintage costumes representing the 1960s. It would have been a perfect night but the food ruined it. It made me cry. We could have ordered food from one of lakeland’s local southern restaurants instead of the slop Essential Catering served. We reached out by email a few days later to let the owner know about the fiasco but we never received a response.
Amazing service and food offered to us at the Florida Southern Business building. The food was perfect with great seasoning and flavor.
The quality of customer service and food were both fantastic and I can't thank them enough for being so patient and kind throughout the whole process!
In all honesty, the experience exceeded all expectations as it was coupled with great service and quality.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! THE FOOD IS AMAZING!!! WILL DEFINITELY USE AGAIN
Restaurantji Recommends
Great food, calmed the stomach.
10/10 green beans!
Food was delicious! Crumbley is a great businesswoman and teacher. Thank you again!
the food was amazing, the chicken was great. I also networked with many people here and learned a lot about business.
Essential Catering Solution staff were beyond professional and courteous in service to our guests. The food was delicious!