A Table for Two

Another disappointed Groupon customer. This company promised to cater our superbowl party and did not confirm a delivery date or respond to any communication whatsoever as the day of the event neared. Our party was instead forced to go to Costco as a last resort. Miserable communication and professionalism. Huge gaff on their part promising the groupon deal then blowing everyone off.

I was very worried about how this dinner was going to work out after reading the reviews on Unilocal.I had a youswoop for dinner; we had the choice of cooking with her or just letting her do it and chose to just let her cook. I thought there was at least a 50% chance that we would end up ordering pizza for our ten friends.
The process went like this: Monica and I emailed to find a date that worked and then a couple of weeks before the event I emailed her again to discuss the menu. After a couple of revisions we settled on a Tuscan theme, including Porcetta and ravioli. When I expressed concerns about the Unilocal reviews she offered a written contract, which wouldn’t really have been that helpful if she didn’t show up, but at least it was something.
We spoke on the phone the day of to confirm everything. Monica and her husband showed up on time bringing all of the food and gear that they needed. A helper joined them a little while later. All of the food exceeded our expectations and the service was excellent. I will be hiring Monica again.

Well, add me to the list of people that Monica disappeared on.
I bought the boyfriend this Youswoop. What a great idea, have a chef come to your kitchen, invite some friends, watch the chef make very cool sounding (because she never showed up, we have no idea how they actually taste) exciting new dishes and get dinner as well. Perfect evening, right?
Wrong. Monica’s last communication with us was that she’d be out at 5:30 on October 1^st. We sent her a couple follow up emails to confirm (did she need to park in our spot, does she need directions, or for us to provide anything)…and nothing. No show, no call, nothing.
She couldn’t be bothered to email or call with any excuse at all for her absence. So now we have friends over, with no food! So now I’m off to write a glowing review for Kitchenette Sushi as a business that not only advertises food, they actually are open for business and are willing to make food for you!
Youswoop was helpful, prompt and very apologetic in getting a refund.
Don’t bother with A Table for Two.
And really, who exactly is giving this business 4 stars? How can the first review be 4 stars, but their average is 1.5? Everyone else on this site is only giving one star because zero stars is not an option and somehow someone gets spectacular service out of them? …hm…

I have NEVER encountered a business run so poorly before as this! Monica and A Table for Two do not even deserve 1 star.
I purchased a Groupon for a Superbowl party package early this year (2011). At first things seemed great. I put together a menu, set a delivery date/​time, and waited. Unfortunately the week of the Superbowl Chicago got hit with one of the worst snow storms it has seen and they had to cancel delivery. TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE. I was fine with this and had no problems as the weather was so bad I would have been surprised if they actually did deliver.
At that time Groupon purchaser were given two options. Get a refund, or keep the Groupon and A Table for Two would make the deal a little better for the inconvenience. So I decided to keep the Groupon figuring I would probably throw another party at some point and use the catering package.
What a huge mistake that was. Monica NEVER answers her phone and has not bothered to return any of my voicemails and I have left at least 3 – 4. All email contact is usually completely cut off after 2 – 3 emails too, as soon as she realizes you are trying to use a Groupon.
The absurd thing too is that if I would email Monica/​A Table for Two from a new email asking about setting up a catering party and NOT mention my Groupon, she usually responded within 12 hours. As soon as she realized I had a Groupon she would stop responding. I did this with 3 DIFFERENT email addresses, all with the same result. Monica and A Table for Two are scam artists and I highly recommend no one ever do business with them.

I just read over a number of reviews and have to say that I’m stunned with some of the comments as our (2) experiences with Chef Monica were great.
5 Star dinner party for 10
5 Star appetizers party for 30
We worked thru menus and everything was great– we recently moved out of state and had to cancel our Christmas dinner party– but to make it up to her, I’ sending her yet another customer today– I was looking up her ph number and came across the Unilocal comments– and they are not accurate at all.

Although it seems redundant, I feel compelled to write a review about my experience, or lack thereof, with chef Monica at A Table For Two. I contacted Monica to redeem a you swoop certificate for a 3 hour in home cooking lesson and dinner. Monica confirmed an agreed date with me via e-​mail in August and told me she would be in touch closer to the September date to discuss menu planning. I contacted her at the end of August and she again confirmed the date and asked about dietary restrictions for menu planning. I replied with menu requests and then never heard back from her. I e-​mailed her 5 days prior to the arranged date and she did not reply. Then again at 2 days, no reply. The day of our scheduled appointment, I had a bad feeling and left her a voicemail and e-​mail requesting a call back. I then looked on Unilocal and read similar reviews about her lack and professionalism and fraudulent business practices. I have contacted you swoop to request a refund and to ensure that they do not continue to sell vouchers for her scams.

I really enjoyed Monica and Michael of Table for Two Private Chef Service. They went beyond my expectations. First they prepared for 8 not 2. I helped select the menu, which was fun, They arrived with lots of supplies for the preparation of the meal. They are very organized. If you use them make sure you have plenty of room for them to work. The conversation throughout the preparation process was fun, enjoyable and educational. When all the preparation was finiched, we were served as if we were in a fancy restaurant. The food was so beyond all expectations! I was full from the aromas during the cooking. We were served four courses. All were large enough to be a meal in itself. I did eat all of it, because the flavors were so delectable. It was an amazing experience. They even cleaned up after themselves, including taking out the garbage and recycling.

I really enjoyed my time with chefs Monica and Michael. The meal that they prepared was wonderful. Their friendliness and selflessness helped everyone relax, (a party of 8). The meal offered get connectors for everyone and made the experience like heaven.
Monica and Michael brought everything and cleaned up even better than they found my kitchen. They really made the entire gathering a treat for everyone — we all felt evaluated to the upper crust of society, as they were very gracious and kind.
Truly, A Table for Two was not what I expected — it was better!

I was given a You Swoop deal for A Table for Two as a Christmas present. I scheduled our Saturday, May 21^st dinner in mid-​late March. Monica and I played phone-​tag for a short time; however, she was very good about returning my calls within 24 hours (usually sooner). When we scheduled our dinner, we discussed possible foods and we decided to center the evening around a Bourbon theme.
The week of our scheduled dinner, I touched base with Monica again and she emailed me a possible menu for the evening. I looked at it and said that it looked great! There was New York Strip Steak, candied beets, smoked scallops with corn pesto, wilted spinach salad with bacon vinaigrette and garlic parmesan croutons, comte and leek fritters, and a deep dish Kentucky chocolate bourbon pie for dessert.
Monica arrived in a timely manner. She came wearing a typical chef outfit and with a cart piled with a cooler filled with food and several other bundles. She brought her own towels, knives, and many utensils.
Monica allowed us to be as involved (or uninvolved) as we wanted with the dinner. She made lively conversation with us as we liked. Overall, she seemed extremely eager to please. Her conversational skills definitely did not distract her from cooking as she moved around an unfamiliar kitchen with ease, preparing most of the food without even glancing at her recipes.
Monica showed us how to smoke scallops in the comfort of our own kitchen with wood-​chips on the stove top. It was incredibly easy and eyeopening. I’m sure that we will smoke more items in the future.
When it came time for dinner, Monica served us at the table and even took away our plates when we finished. As we ate, she cleaned the kitchen and prepared the next course. The dinner flowed really well and everything was delicious! The comte and leek fritters were especially unique and delightful.
By the time we finished our meal, we saw that the kitchen was completely in order and the dishes were cleaned and put away. We tipped Monica and she went on her way. After Monica left, we realized that we hadn’t paid for the food (the You Swoop deal explained that we were to pay for it) and we called her right away to make arrangements. She was gracious and asked us to follow a link to make a donation to a breast cancer charity.
Now, our only complaint about our experience was when we noticed cat hair on the cleaned dishes. Monica must have a cat and the towels she brought had cat hair on them. While we appreciated her effort to clean the kitchen after herself, we had to clean it again (and all of the dishes) the next day. We’d recommend that if you’re not used to animal hair that you should have Monica use your own towels rather than hers.

I, too, was a victim of Monica’s unreliability. We set up a date 5 months ago for a dinner. This was a dinner in honor of my husband and my first wedding anniversary. We invited our whole family. Monica and I spoke again 3 weeks before the event. She sounded great. She told me she would email menu ideas. I never heard from her again. Multiple phone calls, messages, a bounced email, etc. She disappeared leaving me to cook for our 10 guests. I wanted a cooking lesson, not the responsibility of trying to cook! That is why I needed a lesson! At least I read other negative reviews so I had 5 days to prepare for the event on my own because I was able to predict her no-​show.

It’s been over a week with STILL no communication from Monica at A Table for Two. Still not okay. Even happier I got my money refunded from Groupon!

PLEASE READ: Let me start by saying, my communication with Monica the owner, at the start of my inquiry for a baby shower was initially great. She responded to all my correspondence in a timely manner and was incredibly accommodating with any party request. The week before my event, I emailed the company and asked if there is anything else that I need to do. Monica promptly responded that we were all set. She included that she was double booked on the day of my event (January 15, 2011) and that it was going to be a long day for her and her company. Needless to say it all went downhill from there.
The day of my event, I woke up extremely early to decorate for the baby shower and finalize last minute items before guests arrived at 1pm. Around 11:45am, I started to get nervous as «A Table for Two» had not arrived and I had received no word from Monica. I gave her a call which went to voicemail and then checked my email. Monica had sent an email at 9:45am stating that her and her husband were violently ill and did not want to serve the food in their condition. I completely understand and think it was responsible to not serve the food. However, who contacts the host of the party VIA EMAIL and does not call the day of the party? At this point, I was an hour until the event started and had no backup plan.
The guests arrived within 45 minutes and I was completely and utterly mortified. I salvaged the tea party themed baby shower with anything I could have delivered within the hour for a large number of hungry and unhappy guests. But, that was not the end of the story. Monica noted in the email that she would pay me for the service that I did not receive. This was two weeks ago and she has not returned a phone call or email and I have left messages almost every day. I even told her that I would put up this review post within two days if I did not hear back as now it has been over two weeks since she promised to make good on the cancellation.
A Super Bowl party Groupon offer from «A Table for Two» started the day after my baby shower was planned and I saw that Monica had replied to a post on the Groupon blog site that day. Not only was her response as cheery as she had first appeared to me, but also showed no evidence of the severe illness that did not allow her to give me a simple call the day prior.
Through some research, I have discussed the catering company with some of their past clients and found that this has not only been the same experience that they received, but that they also were fooled by the same kind and courteous manner that they were initially approached with and found themselves later misled with poor service. If you do work with «A Table for Two» do yourself a favor and make sure you draw up a contract and get something in writing or better yet, use a more reputable catering company.

We hosted our daughter’s wedding rehearsal and dinner at our home. Monica, the owner and chef for a Table for Two, had been personally recommended. After our initial phone call, a middle-​eastern menu was decided on to welcome our new in-​law family from Turkey. When we received the e-​mailed menu suggestions (to which we made no changes by the way) I asked Monica how many dishes we could choose to keep to our budget. We were happily surprised that all of the appetizers, salad, main course, side dishes and desserts would be freshly prepared and delivered for what I had told her was my budget.
The food was delicious, plentiful, and fun (some new dishes for me and many of our guests) It was delivered and set up on time with the assistance of her husband, Michael (who is also available as a maitre’d if needed). All I had to do was heat up the lemon chicken (and she popped it into the oven for me) and then pour on the hot au jus when it was time for our buffet. The dolmas absolutely disappeared as well as the other appetizers while the rehearsal was going on. Then dinner was ready-​to-​go. So delicious. Right through an amazing dessert of baclava and a sponge cake with rose-​infused whipped cream that just melted in your mouth.
The evening went so smoothly. As Monica e-​mailed me during our planning stage «no worries. It will be an amazing weekend for your family. You just focus on everything else — this is under control.» Thank you Monica — you were right.