Apulent Events & Catering

We had our wedding and reception at Shilshole Bay Beach Club in October this year and it was everything we had hoped for.
From the beginning, we knew this was the right place for us. Our site coordinator changed between a couple people at first, but we were relieved when Tasia was doing our wedding. She’s the best! She was extremely accommodating and made things very easy for us. We’re Filipino and my parents had asked if we could bring in an outside pre-​cut lechon (roast pig) and they let us do so. But this doesn’t take anything away from Apulent’s food. We heard nothing but positive things about the food at the reception. We had it buffet style and it was so good that people went back for second and thirds. The food was really amazing. We also had a s’mores bar with a fire pit outside the venue put together that worked out really well for guests that wanted to step outside and not be too cold. We actually got really lucky that weekend because it was sunny that afternoon and not that cold in the evening. Kids and adults had a lot of fun with that.
Overall, I highly recommend using the Shilshole Bay Beach Club venue for your next event, and make sure to ask for Tasia!

I wanted my wedding to reflect a specific design sensibility. My husband and I share very similar taste, so when we first visited Shilshole Bay Beach Club, we knew we had found something special (Holy beachside patio with grassy lawn and palm tress, Batman.)
Having fallen in love with the venue, we were hoping the management would be easy to work with. As it turns out, they were beyond awesome. I simply cannot say enough good things about our experience planning our wedding with Apulent.
Tasia Fisher, our planner, is a godsend when it comes to producing a gorgeous and memorable event. She is calm as a cucumber and super committed to getting all the details exactly right. And there are a lot of details to consider when planning a wedding, even a smallish wedding. All I can say is that our experience was beautiful and magical. Our day could not have been better.
Also, the food was really quite fabulous. We did not expect that, to be honest, because food prepared in large quantities usually disappoints. We had been to a tasting or two and had chosen our favorites. Our guests definitely appreciated our selections, but we cannot take credit for the YUM factor. Everyone commented on it.
Note: If you have your wedding there, I highly recommend renting ghost chairs from Pedersen’s. They aren’t cheap, but they really transform the indoor space into something truly spectacular. The standard chairs are fine for an outdoor ceremony, but they aren’t quite nice enough for a sit-​down dinner.
Post-​event, I braced myself for some weird billing surprises, but Apulent was above-​board to the very end. The bill was totally reasonable. How often do you hear that after a wedding?

We worked with Tasia Fisher and Apulent to cater our wedding reception, and we are so pleased with how everything turned out. Tasia is a fantastically prompt and thorough coordinator. The venue was perfect, the food was delicious, and there were no surprises with our final bill.
Apulent invited us to a private food tasting to sample our menu choices for our wedding dinner about 3 weeks in advance, and offered a very comprehensive structure for planning the evening’s events. Tasia handled all of the details with the rest of our vendors (flowers and décor, cake delivery, DJ setup, etc.) and I got to enjoy our entire wedding reception with family and friends without worry.
I would highly recommend hiring Apulent to cater events. The compliments from our guests just keep rolling in about how fun our wedding was, how delicious the food was, and how amazing the Shilshole Bay Beach Club venue is. What a night! Thank you, Tasia and Apulent!

I have worked with quite a few caterers in the past and Apulent stands out as one of the best, if not THE best. There is always stress involved in planning events, but whenever I call Apulent, I know my event is taken care of. Whether it’s the extra wine opener that they always have in hand or the amazing food that their caterers provide, I am never disappointed.
Tasia Fisher is a JOY to work with. She not only relieves me of any stress I might be under, but she is so calm and collected that you know she has confidence in her staff and their work-​which speaks volumes to the company as a whole. I am so grateful that I’ve gotten to work with Tasia multiple times and that whenever I call or e-​mail, she responds promptly and with enthusiasm. When I grow up, I want to BE Tasia Fisher!

We are very happy we chose to work with Apulent Events & Catering at their Shilshole Bay Beach Club location in Ballard, for our wedding ceremony and reception. We lucked out with a beautiful day in March, so our ceremony was outside and the view was breathtaking. The reception was inside, but just as beautiful, since one entire side of the room is all windows.
Our wedding coordinator was Tasia Fisher. She was wonderful to work with, very professional, nice, calm, and replied to all of my email inquiries right away. She also made sure everything flowed nicely on the big day, including helping my Mom fix the cake, which shifted in transit.
Apulent provides the tables, chairs, linens, napkins, glassware, flatware, and china. We didn’t have to spend anytime worrying about the basics. We simply chose our linen/​napkin colors and then attended a wonderful evening of sampling all the food/​drinks available to pick our menu. The food was wonderful! The wait staff and bartender were very friendly and accommodating. We felt very spoiled and our guests kept commenting on how attentive the staff was.
If you wan’t a beautiful venue with great staff and little stress then choose Apulent Events & Catering at the Shilshole Bay Beach Club!

I dropped off my business card at Apulent’s table during the Shilshole EE awhile back (
). I totally forgot about it until I received a call from Megan a couple weeks ago. She remembered that I occasionally order catering for my office and offered to drop off a box lunch for me to try. Free lunch? OK, twist my arm! Megan arrived yesterday afternoon with a box of food and a folder of into for me to sample and peruse, respectively.
My lunch box ($ 13.95) contained:
– Grilled Chipotle Chicken Sandwich (chicken, red peppers, cilantro, and chipotle aioli on focaccia, sans the Swiss cheese) — AMAZING. Really, one of the best sandwiches I’ve had in awhile. Tons of cilantro, very flavorful aioli, and tasty bread. It came cut in half and each portion was wrapped separately. This was convenient for me as I ate half for lunch and half before the gym (and I usually need to cut sandwiches in half so they spared me the trouble), but the extra plastic wrap used seems wasteful. Salad box lunches are also available.
– Pasta salad — Spiral pasta, red and yellow tomatoes, zucchini (?) and a few pieces of asparagus in a vinaigrette. The vinaigrette was thick and oily but this salad was delicious. Yummers.
– Fruit salad — With a typical order you choose the pasta salad OR the fruit salad. The fruit was just melon (which I hate), red grapes (not my favorite), and pineapple. I left it at work for others to eat. I’d recommend the pasta salad over this hands down. But I appreciate that they offer a gluten free and healthier side option.
– Bag of potato chips — A basic store brand
– Two homemade cookies — I didn’t eat these but my coworker that had one said it was «really good.»
– Plastic utensils and napkin, salt/​pepper, wet nap, and a chocolate dinner mint.
Overall I was much more impressed with my box lunch that the hot food offered at the Shilshole event. The price is a little higher than I expected (about $ 2 more than a box from Gourmondo, which sets the standard as far as I’m concerned:
) so this would end up being a pretty expensive lunch for the office, especially since the lunch boxes do not include beverages. Delivery fee is $ 20, with a $ 50 order minimum.
Worth noting:
– Apulent is able to accommodate dietary restrictions including vegan and gluten free
– Compostable and eco friendly packaging and utensils available upon request (for an additional fee?)
– Apulent offers a catering discount to non-​profits
– In addition to food, they can provide or help arrange for décor, A/​V equipment, tents, valet parking, music and more event planning elements
– Apulent has an emphasis on community involvement, charity work and advancing contemporary art
– They’ve been doing this since 1980
Since the price point gives me pause I may have to wait until ordering for a smaller meeting, but Apulent will definitely be on my catering list! The only thing I hate is the name. So bad. Oh well, at least the stuff that matters is good!

I was lucky enough to sample some of Apulent’s sliders and small bites during a Unilocal party at the Shilshole Bay Beach Club. They had four different kinds and each one was so tasty!
1. Beef sliders: tender, juicy, strips of meat. Pretty good.
2. Lamb sliders: even better than the beef. More juicy and more flavorful. Didn’t like the aoili sauce/​mayo, though.
3. Shrimp sliders: a kind of shrimp coleslaw filling; very refreshing.
4. The veggie sliders: Best ones! I eat meat, obviously, but found myself liking these the best. Pickled/​sweet beets on a bed of sprouts. Again, not a fan of the sauce though.
The poached pear/​blue cheese cracker thing was also addictive and yummy. And the fresh rolls with veggies were super good too. Yum.

It was my first time planning an event that involved caterers, so I had no idea what to look for. But I think we really lucked out. We found Apulent through Canlis Glass, which was the location of our company holiday party. Apulent came very highly recommended by the gallery manager, but I still called all 4 preferred caterers on Canlis Glass’s list (Apulent, Lisa Dupar, Wild Ginger, and Gourmondo), and ended up getting proposals from Lisa Dupar, Apulent, and one other caterer.
Of the three caterers, Lisa Dupar and Apulent were the most responsive, but in the end, Apulent won out on the basis of price and how simple the proposal process was. Jess, our event manager, was incredibly considerate and thoughtful. We had our own sommelier (Dave at Vino Verite) pair wines for each course of the meal, but because we were working on such a short timeline (one month to plan the whole party), we didn’t have the wine list until the day before the party. Thinking that I would just email her the list to tape up for the waiters, Jess created elegant table tents that listed each course and the wine pairing so our guests could refer to them as we ate. They also provided votive candles on the table to set the mood.
Because of massive traffic jams that night, my co-​coordinator and I had arrived at the event pretty much at the same time other guests started arriving. The staff at Apulent, Canlis Glass, and Vino Verite already had everything figured out, hustling and working really well together. They even unwrapped the engraved wine glass party gifts and set them out on a table all nice and neat. The wine pairing dinner is actually a feat onto itself, there were 6 wines for 40 people, that’s about 240 glasses not counting water and beer. Thankfully, Apulent had charged us a flat price for all the rentals including the aforementioned votive candles.
The food was also excellent, I highly recommend the appetizer fennel/​apple phyllo cups, the Tuscan bread salad (everyone RAVED about how much they loved the bread salad), both the beef tenderloin and halibut received high compliments, and the dessert tray, while looking more rustic than the typical fancy dessert course, was amazing and tastes homemade. We were kicking ourselves for not bringing ziplock bags to take the leftover desserts home, but I think they eventually all got eaten.
The onsite staff was also extremely attentive. While our senior management made congratulatory speeches, the kitchen staff on the other side of a 90% wall (does not go all the way to the ceiling, so you can hear everything in the other room) were very observant and stayed completely silent the whole entire time. I can go on and on about Apulent. The party coordinators were able to enjoy the party as guests without having to worry about timing or details. Everyone had a great time, people didn’t want to leave! Apulent’s attention to detail really made our event a success.