Food Tasting #1: Quido's Grill

One of our concerns regarding our upcoming wedding is our caterer. You see, we will be settling with a not so expensive venue but we want to ensure that we will serve our guests with good food and lots of booze. We want them to go home full and happy with the food served during the reception. 

For our caterer, we listed the following criteria:

• Affordability. Food must be good but friendly to the pocket. 
• Presentation and Styling. Must be classy but not too overly dramatic.
• Payment terms. We don't want a caterer that will require us to pay big chunk of the contract fee upon reservation or even a month after it. 
• Freebies. There are lots of caterers who offer freebies. That would compensate for the expensive  contract.
• Attentiveness/friendliness of the representative. This is a must. It would be hard to prepare your wedding with a caterer who cannot follow your orders or yung mas mataray pa sayo.
• Over-all. The "IT" feeling. That moment when you say that yes, I want this caterer on my wedding day.

Among the caterers that I reviewed in the Internet, I find QUIDO'S GRILL one of the most affordable. There are several brides who said that they are very satisfied with the services of this caterer so I instantly contacted them. So I emailed Ms. Gina of QG and she immediately sent the schedules of different events that she will cater and she made us choose the event where we can have our food tasting.

We chose Patio Manila with a Premium Package.

(By the way, Patio Manila rating as a wedding reception venue: 1/5.)

THE VERDICT:

Affordabilitye: 4.5/5 
Their package is indeed affordable. For 120k+, you could avail of their super premium package which gives you a salad bar, chocolate fountain bar, pasta bar, choice of viands, and a mobile bar. If you want to have a lechon during the wedding (they do not offer lechon in their menu), you just need to pay Php 700.00/lechon for service charge.

Food is just right. M likes the morcon although he noticed that the appetizer (mini sandwiches with cold cuts) was too big and were not evenly cut.

clockwise: penne in red sauce - has become soggy (3/5); morcon - tasted really good. M liked it(4.5/5); hamonado - I liked this one (4.5/5); sea food hotpot - undecided. tasted like the one they sell in 7-11; chicken bbq - very tender and tasty. winner in this plate (5/5);  mixed vegetables - kulang ng butter (3/5)

By the way, I have to commend their buko pandan and mango jelly. Ang sarap!

Appetizer: Cold cuts. The one that didn't make the cut. Literally. Medyo uneven kasi yung cut tsaka malaki.

Presentation and Styling: 3.75/5
Styling of the buffet table is just normal. I wish they have a name for ever viand. I am not sure though if I was just early that they might place card holders for every viand.

Styling of the reception venue is quite awesome considering the entire look of Patio Manila. I like their flower decorations, their backdrop for the couple, and the drapes.

One thing that I noticed though is the tiffany chair. Most of the chairs need repainting. Yes, I am very particular with small details.

I also want to see how their mobile bar would be set as the waiter was preparing the shot glass in the table. Walang sariling setting. I'm not sure though.

Couple backdrop

centerpiece in the presidential table

This is how the presidential table was set

Drapes. I love it!

Payment Terms: 5/5
You just need to pay the reservation of Php 5000 to Php 10000. 50% of the package must be paid at least 2 months of the wedding day and 50% at least a week before the wedding day.

Freebies: 4/5
Your freebies depend on your package.

Attentiveness of the representative: 5/5
I must say that Ms. Gina is very friendly and accommodating. She gives this impression that she will take care of your party. She was even there in Patio Manila a few hours early making sure that everything was prepared.

Over-all: 4/5
I must say that if you are on a budget but you still want a classy reception, then get Quido's Grill. =) There are some hits and misses but I think if you can provide specific instructions to Ms. Gina, she will organize it according to your wishes.