Toast Catering & Event Management

We hired Toast to cater our wedding August 2015 in Berkeley, CA. It was absolutely one the best decisions that we made for our wedding. We had initially been concerned because our venue had a host of logistical issues, including no onsite industrial kitchen and limited parking. Ashley visited the site twice with us to make sure everything would go super smoothly. Our guests RAVED about the food, it was absolutely delicious and exactly like the tasting (which was one of our best dining experiences in the Bay area.) We so enjoyed meeting Jim and working with Ashley, she thought of every detail, even picking up soft drinks and mixers for the bar that we had forgotten about, even though we had chosen the DIY option. I absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for exceptional quality catering. And the prices were much much lower than other caterers that we had received estimates from. They will go out of their way to help you have the most cost efficient options for your budget.

We hired Toast to cater our wedding in October at Kohl Mansion and they did an amazing job! I must note that someone at Kohl questioned my catering selection since I went pretty over the top price wise some other vendors (a girl’s gotta «save» somewhere). Toast was reasonably priced compared to the other preferred vendors and their value was through the roof since the food was delicious and they were a pleasure to work with. I’m SO glad I didn’t listen to them and I trusted my taste buds and instant rapport with Ashley and Jim.
My fiancé and I had a menu that we were set on– heavy hors d’oeuvres and then 3 stations for dinner (southern, pan-​asian, and traditional carving). They nailed everything and our friends are still talking about the chicken and waffle bites! Toast also took care of our full bar and even with the extreme winds our night was perfect because Walter and his staff had everything perfectly orchestrated.
There were a couple hiccups along the way (a mis-​communication about sequin tablecloths) and Jim went above and beyond by purchasing some similar to the ones I wanted. I mean that is amazing customer service and satisfaction right there! I own a small business so it was important to me to support a local small business (even better since it’s family run) and I am so happy to say that they exceeded my expectations!

If there is one thing that a client never thinks about, when hiring a catering company but is just as important as great service and great food, is their working dynamics between them and the venue they are hosting their event at. Jim, Ashley and the entire Toast team takes teamwork to a different level. From the moment they are hired by a client, they take the time to understand each and every element of the venue, from the team, to the location that the venue resides in, in order to expect the unexpected and ensure that all the moving pieces are running in unison. I would recommend this company any day of the week and twice on Tuesday.

Toast catered our wedding at the Kohl Mansion on 9÷5÷15. We only looked at three caterers, and Toast was a very obvious top choice.
We met Jim at the tasting in their Pacifica kitchen. He was so friendly. The tasting had a massive amount of food (probably about half they packed for us to go!). And this is how much food your guests will get (no onne is going home hungry!). Jim has been in this business a long time and knows his stuff. He was also really upfront about when it would be cheaper for us to do alcohol ourselves and when it’s actually easier for them to do it.
Throughout the planning — we mostly worked with Ashley. She went to Classic with us to do our rentals for tabletop and she did a vendor walkthrough with us. She is on top of everything. As we were doing all our own planning — it was nice to have all their advice and know that they would prevent us from missing something important.
Day of — I cannot express how great the catering staff was across the board. Walter ran the show that night. He made sure my husband and I were taken care of (brought us appetizers while we were doing pictures, etc). What was most awesome was that there were a couple places we forgot decorations — and Walter/​staff were able to move a few flowers around and put some additional candles in the windows — which absolutely made everything better.
I had many many compliments on the food from my guests and I have so man more great things to say about them, but this review would get too long :)

Toast catering was such a pivotal part of our wedding and they went above and beyond to make our wedding day exceptional. Jim and Ashley were friendly and though we did most of our communication over email we did meet for the event walk through and spoke on the phone a few times to clarify small details. We chose toast because their food was delicious, their pricing was reasonable, and they had worked at our venue multiple times and were familiar with the layout. We decided to have small cakes as our centerpieces and Jim helped work with us to coordinate cutting and serving of the cakes to our guests. He also even offered to help out with a lighting issue we were having at the venue. On the day of the wedding, the layout was beautiful and the service provided by toast was excellent with the food being cooked perfectly. The event manager at toast even found my dad and offered him a special plate of food without mushrooms. I am still receiving compliments from my guests on how friendly the staff was and how wonderful their food tasted. We cannot thank toast enough for their hard work on our wedding day and would not hesitate to use them again!

Thank you, Jim, Ashley, and the entire TOAST team. We had a wedding of ~150 guests couple weeks ago and the service was executed flawlessly. When we first started planning our wedding, we knew abundant well-​prepared food was the top priority for our guests to have a good time and remain FULL. We are so glad that we decided to move forward with TOAST.
We had a seasonal menu with a salad starter (everyone loved it) served at the seat and a 6 course buffet: Chicken, Salmon, carve to order Prime Rib with green bean pecans, roasted potatoes and pesto tortellini. We had so much food we had leftovers to take home too!
Ashley was our main point of contact through the tasting (complimentary for two), and performed our venue walk-​through and picking out the rentals (linens, plateware, glassware, cutlery). She had some great alternate ideas for us to work with like ordering extra white plates as a replacement «charger» which was significantly cheaper and allocated for more guest space on the table. She drafted our proposals multiple times as things changed and ideas were shifted but never once complained or had a bad attitude. She was exceptionally professional.
Jim is the owner, head honcho and well-​versed in the catering industry. He assured us of our seating arrangements, answered our phone calls, returned emails quickly and never made us feel left in the dark. He was also very upfront about what he was charging us unlike some other caterers I had reached out to.
9 months of planning went by quickly and Toast was there to make sure our estimated budget was updated when changes occurred. Overall, we hit the nail with the food, the service, and the professionalism with TOAST.
Many thanks to the whole team!!!

Toast Catering was fantastic to work with for our September 2015 wedding at the Kohl Mansion. From beginning to end, they were extremely professional, kept things simple, and were absolutely so nice to work with. Jim and Ashley were extremely responsive via email and gave us lots of ideas for a menu that we sorted through. They then hosted a private tasting for us to land a menu for the wedding, which was an absolutely delicious meal and a really nice evening, and it was really helpful to get to know them a bit better. In quoting our final menu, Toast was really fair — no hidden fees or strange wedding upcharges, which was refreshing. Ashley also joined us to pick linens and tableware, and their involvement in the process with rentals made everything feel a lot more manageable.
On the day of, the entire Toast team was on time, prepped, and ready to go, and made the entire day run smoothly in coordinating set-​up, the event itself, and break-​down. Walter, the on-​site manager, was so on top of making sure my husband and I were totally comfortable and taken care of. Most importantly, the food was DELICIOUS. The whole wedding couldn’t stop talking about how good the hors d’ouevres and meal were and more than a few people got up for seconds. They also really raved about the staff, and how well they took care
everyone there, making sure everyone was feeling welcome, comfortable, and well fed. Our wedding felt like it ran totally smoothly, in huge part due to the amazing work of Toast, and we’re so thankful to Jim, Ashley, and the team for making our wedding amazing!

Wow, what can I say — Toast catered my wedding at Kohl Mansion in August and they were phenomenal. We knew we were in good hands after the menu sampling — we were stuffed after just trying the delicious appetizers! I met with Ashley to pick the linens and tableware from Classic and she was so helpful in picking the colors and styles.
Jim and Ashley worked with our budget and our special requests to make our wedding day exceptional. They were very responsive to email and held my hand through the entire wedding planning process.
Walter was the onsite manager from Toast for our wedding and he made the day run smoothly — I don’t know what we would have done without him! I can’t stress enough how wonderful Toast was and how highly I recommend them. Thank you so much Jim, Ashley, Walter and the rest of the Toast crew for making our wedding day so incredibly special!

Toast Catering was the first vendor we chose for our wedding — even before we finalized our venue contract. We went for our food tasting and LOVED everything.
Jim and Ashley were my favorite people to work with during the wedding planning process. They are super nice and responsive (which helps a lot with wedding planning!!) They were so accommodating with questions and special needs/​request we had.
On the day of the wedding, everything from Toast was perfect. The staff was so kind and they made sure to bring me some of the hors d’oeuvres to eat while i was freshening up after the ceremony. Aside from all the congratulations, the other thing we heard from our wedding guest the most were how good the food was. One of my friends who traveled from Boston asked me if they had a restaurant because he wanted more of the short ribs & sea bass!
Another thing to note is Jim and his staff were so kind to pack up our wedding meal which we enjoyed back at the hotel at 3:30am!
Thank you Toast, Jim & Ashley and all your staff for making our wedding day perfect!

We had the most wonderful experience with Toast Catering for our wedding on August 21, 2015, at Nestldown in Los Gatos. Jim and Ashley are absolutely lovely people to work with, and the food was just delightful – even better than the tasting, I think. The drink options were impressive. We had beer, wine, and two signature cocktails (a bourbon Arnold Palmer and a margarita) that were made better than I’ve had at most bars. They accommodated several food allergies and many vegetarians and vegans. We were also exceedingly happy with Toast’s prices. I’d be surprised if any caterer in the Bay Area offers such high quality for that price. Most of all, we were delighted with our service. Every member of the team went above and beyond to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves. We are so grateful to have had Jim, Ashley, and everyone else at Toast catering our wedding, and we can’t recommend them highly enough.

Toast was one of the caterers preferred by our venue, Nestldown, and we could see why! I have nothing but good things to say about our experiences with Jim and Ashley leading up to our July wedding at Nestldown.
From the beginning, Ashley and Jim were extremely helpful and responsive via email, working with us to provide initial cost estimates (so nice to have upfront!), meeting to go over general information early on, and scheduling a tasting.
We brought two foodie friends to our tasting for an amazing assortment of appetizers, entrees, and wine. Of course, Jim’s fabulous cooking made it difficult to decide what to serve, but all four of us were deeply impressed with the food (and loved the leftovers later!)
Because Toast helps to arrange rentals of linens, glassware, and plates, Ashley also attended our meeting with Classic Party Rentals to help us narrow down the overwhelming number of options and to help price things out. Ashley was so incredibly patient through our incredibly long meeting together and was extremely accommodating as I added additional linens from another company, calling to verify my order twice in the months leading up to the wedding to ensure we were all on the same page.
The food, bar service, and service were impeccable the day of the wedding. All of our guests were carefully attended to, and no detail was left unnoticed by Ashley and her staff. Ashley herself checked in on us multiple times throughout the night to see if we needed anything. We were sent home with ample leftovers which were promptly enjoyed!
We loved working with Toast, and loved having a family-​run business as part of our big day. I can’t imagine our wedding being as smoothly executed, or as delicious, without Ashley & Jim.

Plenty of well-​deserved love on Unilocal already but my wife and I felt the need to share our very positive experience with Toast Catering. We have nothing but good things to say about Jim and Ashley. Our wedding took place last month (June 2015) at Nestldown in Los Gatos and Toast was impeccable from start to finish.
From day 1, Toast was responsive and pro-​active in working with our Nestldown wedding coordinator, the talented Barbara Beck. We planned our wedding from Boston so calls and back and forth email exchanges were the primary means of communication (and an absolutely necessity). After contacting Jim and Ashley about an upcoming Bay Area visit, Ashley scrambled to schedule a tasting for us at their kitchen in Pacifica. We loved every dish at the tasting and even had a difficult time narrowing down our cocktail appetizer selections.
Throughout the months of planning, Toast worked with us diligently to prepare a menu that accommodated our budget and taste buds. We had requested minor adjustments to a few of the dishes and they were more than willing to make it happen for us. For our hors d’œuvre, we ultimately went with the baked brie puff, miniature crab cake, ahi tuna tartare, and pulled pork slider. On the entrée-​side, we picked their filet mignon (specifically asking for a medium rare), pan-​roasted pacific salmon, and portobello mushroom. Toast was flexible with changes even had a specially-​prepared gluten free entrée prepared for my sister, vegan options for some of our guests and accommodated a few last, last minute RSVPs. In addition, they took a leadership role in working with partners such as Classic Party Rentals to ensure that we had all the necessary rentals and Mills Wine Group to make sure we had the appropriate and right number of beverages for all of our guests. Planning a wedding remotely was so easy since Jim and Ashley were fabulous to work with!
On the day of the wedding, Toast showed up early for setup and had everything ready to go way ahead of time. The setup was beautiful and precise. The staff was professional and courteous to all of our guests. And of course, the food was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS. I can’t tell you how important food is to our family and Toast nailed it. The dishes were high quality, perfectly cooked, and tasted nothing like those from a traditional caterer. Toast even set aside hors d’oeuvres for the wife and I to enjoy after the ceremony since it was a busy day and ensured that we were always well hydrated and fed. Most couples claim they don’t get to eat much the day of the wedding, but that definitely wasn’t the case for us. If anyone is still looking for a wedding caterer, look no further, you’ve come to the right place. My wife and I would definitely recommend Toast for your catering needs.
Thanks again, Jim and Ashley!

Our guests STILL talk about our wedding food!!! Seriously, Toast Catering nailed it on the head with the buffet for our November wedding! Since we were having a Fall wedding we decided to go with cozy comfort food. Our reception was in a cabin with a fire place lit while our guests feasted on Southern Fried Chicken, Braised Short-​ribs, Baked Beans, Mac & Cheese, Mashed Potatoes, and Cornbread. I went to Jim & Ashley at Toast Catering and let them know what I had imagined for the food, they came up with the perfect menu!!! They also helped out SO much with all the rental linens, china, glassware, & chairs from Classic Party Rentals. We also had to do all our own shopping for the liquor and wine for the reception. They gave us an outline of how much of each item we would need to purchase. They really went above and beyond with all of their help! They really were out wedding planners, not just the catering. Thank you Jim, Ashley, and all of the Toast staff for making our evening so outstanding and smooth from the start to finish!!!

One of the best decisions we made for our wedding. Jim was so awesome to work with! The food was great! The service was fantastic! I believe his name is Walter, took really good care of us! He was so attentive and made sure my husband and I had plenty of food. He even made sure we had food packed to take home in case we got hungry after the wedding. Loved everything about Toast and their service. Will be definitely recommending them to our friends and family. HIRE THEM!

Toast Catering is amazing. Jim and Ashley are accommodating, wonderful to work with, and extremely helpful. They were the only catering company that would work with my student organization’s tight budget.
From the very beginning, they got back to us quickly and put together a proposal and when the dept. chair changed things around a week before the event, Toast totally changed the menu and kept within our budget. Ashley always answered my numerous phone calls and got back to us right away.
Most important — the food was amazing. The night of the event, I got great feedback from so many of the guests about how great the food was. And all the servers were wonderful, friendly, and competent. Toast Catering Company is definitely the way to go if you want a company to work closely with you with amazing service and food.

Hiring Jim and Ashley for our wedding was like winning the vendor lottery. They are fantastic. They were willing to help with all sorts of aspects of the wedding: giving suggestions on vendors, helping to communicate with the venue, working through the timeline together, and they went with us to the rental company and helped pick out all the rentals and included them in their contract (one less contract for us).
On top of that, the food was excellent. I honestly wouldn’t have even cared if it was just mediocre at that point because they were so great to work with, but many people came up to me to tell me how great the food was. It was just as good as when we tried it at our two free tastings — which is no small feat when they’re turning out 180 meals. They handled our hor d’ourves, bread/​butter, salad, sit down dinner with 4 meal options (prime rib, chicken, salmon and veggie option — no additional charge for extra options), inexpensive kid meals and vendor meals, full open bar including signature cocktails (no additional charge for signature drinks), late night snack (sliders and tater tots), no-​charge cake cutting, coffee — we went for the works and they made it all happen flawlessly.
All the staff on the day of were very helpful and professional. They helped trouble shoot small problems and make sure everything was set up perfectly. They even set up a drink station outside by the ceremony which was a surprise. On the bar they set up a tower of wine glasses on either side for effect. It was incredible! AND they were the least expensive catering option on the list of approved caters from the Presidio in San Francisco. We went all out on the little details with them because they made it affordable and possible. Can’t recommend them enough :)

I was SO impressed by Jim and his staff at Toast Catering. After comparing countless catering companies and their menus, pricing and availability, I picked Toast because they had the largest menu selection and easily cost about 30% less than their competitors. And believe me, they were worth way more.
We ordered risotto stuffed chicken breast, pesto ravioli, risotto balls, sausage stuffed mushrooms and a few other things. Everything was an absolute hit.
They were able to provide EVERYTHING for every type of menu. In fact, their menu is overwhelming due to the amount of goods you can choose from. Jim makes it easier by helping make suggestions. Their menu is broken up by what pairs with what, and I love how prices are displayed upfront per person for each type of menu.
Some hors d’oeurves must be passed by the wait staff, and others can be kept hot on a chafing burner, so served buffet style.
We went with buffet style because we had another catering company already which provided waiters. Jim was so honest about pricing, he knocked off some of the cost because we didn’t need desserts or on-​site staff. Yet the food quality was to die for!
They were on time and arrived 11:15 on the dot to begin setting up. Everything was set beautifully — every single napkin, piece of bread, down to every stuffed mushroom and how they lined up the chafing burners. They returned at 5:00 pm on the dot (as I requested) to pick up their belongings.
Everyone was impressed by the food, and I was impressed by how easy they made everything for my company party. I would definitely contact Toast Catering again for any event. Thanks very much, Jim!

Oh man. What can I say about Jim and his staff and family that hasn’t already been said? Toast Catering is the absolute best. They’re professional, reliable, and everyone we met was so hardworking and nice. And just as importantly, the food was delicious.
I think I’m going to go with an unwieldy bullet list to try and synthesize my thoughts about the best day of our lives, which happened September 20, 2014 at Nestldown in Los Gatos:
— The service from the moment you first email them to the final good-​bye is absolutely fantastic. I really can’t stress how important this is. I wish I could remember the name of the guy who was managing everything day of, but he was wonderful, and totally discreet in asking me about very difficult decisions that I needed to make, like did I want cake now or later, or did I want a glass of wine (yessss, please).
— If you get married at Nestldown, know that Toast Catering will go above and beyond what they are truly scoped to do in order to get everything set up and taken down. Nestldown is a great venue and they were also wonderful to work with, but I think they have been particularly selective about their vendor partners, and work with those who will go above and beyond to help extend their reach and resources as a company.
— I mentioned I liked the salad dressing at the wedding, and they literally gave me the whole bucket of leftovers and filled tupperware (they recommend you bring it) with delicious food, which I sadly and promptly left out of the tiny mini-​fridge. So sad. But the gesture was really wonderful.
— The food was SO good. We got so many compliments from our wedding guests, and five months later, they’re still talking about how delicious the food was.
— The food, specifically: we skipped the appetizers and basically did a Cowgirl Creamery Cheese buffet with fruit and charcuterie, because we are obsessed with cheese and cheese is the best. Huuuuge it. Their appetizers are fine, but where they really shine are with the entrees. We had the prime rib and the salmon with beurre blanc, which was just so good, and the plated spinach salad is just killer. «I can’t believe this is a wedding salad,» exclaimed one of my guests at one point. Oh, and tortellini pasta salad with green beans. Simple food, executed well — no fussy foams or plated service, we just did a buffet and it was great. We definitely both got to eat and can vouch for it all.
— The initial tasting: Jim is such a friendly and fun guy, and the tasting is what sold us. We went to his tasting room in Pacifica, which is this magical space where an obscene amount of food appears. He cooks on the satellite equipment that they’ll be using at the wedding, which is great because there’s really no bait and switch. If anything, some things were even better at the wedding (maybe it’s because it was our wedding day, so everything tasted better?). In any case, we had the space to ourselves and it was something we still talk about to this day. We had a few other tastings with other caterers, but none were as special.
— Yes, they’re affordable.
— Jim’s been doing this for over 30 years and it shows.
— Ashley at Toast is just great. She’s Jim’s daughter and helped my maid-​of-​honor and I through so many decisions, including the equipment rentals.
— There was only one snafu, which was with the rentals: we got the wrong flatware (we were supposed to get wooden vintage-​y ones) and instead we got these modern silver dappled forks and knives and spoons that didn’t really go with the plates, but I don’t think anyone but me really cared or noticed.
— Oh! And we did the s’mores bar at Nestldown, which was super fun. I decided to supply most of the chocolates and graham crackers since I work for an organic consumer packaged goods company and am particular about that kind of stuff, but the set-​up was awesome and the kids had so much fun with it.
In any case, can 100% recommend them and they completely deserve all the five star reviews.

Stop. Don’t look any further.
YOU HAVE FOUND THEM.
Jim and his team from Toast Catering and Events is the absolute best of the best. Just look at this entire page blossoming with beautiful, cherry red 5 star reviews! Seriously, though, Jim is sort of like Santa Claus. He is amazingly kind and jolly and generous and showers you with everything you could possible have on your wedding wish-​list and you keep asking yourself «Is he real? Is he really REAL??» And, unlike Santa, Jim IS real and he DOES answer your letters (and e-​mails and phone calls, all in incredibly good time, especially considering how busy he is).
Here are the reasons to go with Toast: 1.) Jim, who is the most fun, honest, and genuine person to work with 2.) the food, which blew my guests’ socks off and almost prevented them from dancing because they stuffed themselves so fully 3.) the advice: My husband and I hadn’t a clue how to plan the tiniest detail of our wedding, and Jim helped us with so many choices he might as well have been our wedding planner. Seriously, he should charge extra for that kind of help. But he doesn’t, because HE IS SANTA.
The only problem with Toast Catering is that, after your wedding, you get all sad to see them go and want to have another one just to eat that splendid food again and chat with Jim and his nice, helpful staff.
Thanks Jim and Toast!!!

TOAST IS THE BEST!
Toast catered our wedding at Nestldown just last month, and it was really wonderful! We HIGHLY recommend Toast! The food is really delicious, Jim is an absolute pleasure to work with, and the price is incredible! And they were happy to meet some of our unusual requests; like a bunch of to go dinners for fasting guests.
We had a fusion wedding, and they were able to pair up with a local Indian restaurant: Roti to provide both American and Indian cuisine! I know Roti does not have the best ratings as a restaurant, but they did a great job providing some Indian dishes to Toast!
Jim is what makes Toast incredible, though! He is very sweet and supportive and fun! We actually had fun picking out our table linens because of him! Our tasting was also really really enjoyable. It is very obvious that Jim is a caterer because he LOVES to cook, and that is evident in the high quality of his service.
Also, let me reiterate, his prices are incredible! Very reasonable, and his food is so much better than a lot of the other caterers out there…
HIRE TOAST!