basikneads catering

I chose Basikneads due to there excellent prices and huge selection of foods. The food was good, and I had no complaints from any guests. There were a few little things that did not get done as discussed, but it really did not matter. My only main complaints are that the point of contact for Basikneads was very slow in returning phone calls, you could never reach her on the phone, only email and if anything discussed was missing she always had an excuse. Two days before the wedding there was an error in processing the final payment, which sent our checking account into the negative by 2100.00, due to the card being swipped twice. Mind you it was on a Friday and the wedding was on a Sunday, over a three day holiday weekend with Monday being the holiday. When Basikneads final responded to my frantic calls they stated the card read declined/error on their side and did not know how to fix the problem, except to let the banks work it out. Which did happen, but we left for our honeymoon on that Monday keeping our fingers crossed that it would work out. This was definately unwanted stress right before the wedding.The serving staff was really good and very professional at the wedding. They were attentive to all the guests and the bar was set up nicely. I was very happy with the serving staff, which is not part of Basikneads, they are contracted out.I suggest you do your homework on this company first. Read the reviews, visit the business and check for any health code violations, they have had some in the past. Though I recommend this being done for any vendor.

The food was delicious and we received many compliments-- we would give food a 5/5. We did feel that there is a lot of room for improvement with the point of contact at Basikneads and the serving staff. We reviewed set up and event details thoroughly with Basikneads yet there were many questions regarding setup. The questions were not only items we had thoroughly reviewed but they were asked at inappropriate times like when the bridal party was in line to process for the ceremony which we found very unprofessional. Additionally, the staff for our event spoke very little English and did not appear to be professional bartenders which made for numerous problems with ordering drinks. We also felt that as we got close to the event we did not receive good service from the in house staff-- many unreturned calls, paperwork provided in a very delayed manner and many excuses which made for undue stress leading up to the wedding.

We emphatically do not recommend Basikneads as a caterer, because of their terrible business practices. Our daughter selected Basikneads based on food tastings and their promise to provide the wedding buffet dinner she requested. We paid Basikneads over $10,000.00 in advance to keep that promise. Here is what happened on the night of the wedding and the several weeks afterward. • There was clearly not enough food provided on the buffet for 1/3 of our guests. The buffet table ran out of four items before those guests were served. In a subsequent phone conversation two days later, chef-owner Cornell Coulon said that he had planned 1-1/2 each of the salmon and chicken satays for each of the guests. On the night of the wedding, as the mother of the bride took a chicken satay, one of the servers said that there was “only one per person” and asked that another server come to those plates to oversee the distribution. Each of the satays barely had any meat on them to begin with, so it was surprising to the bride’s mother that only one was being allotted to each guest. Cornell blamed the lack of sufficient food on children at the wedding. However, the employees of Basikneads served the items on the buffet, so they were in charge of how much each guest received. One and a half of these items was simply not enough for guests at a buffet dinner at a wedding. In addition, the buffet ran out of two other items.• The bar table was disorganized and sloppy. The bartenders did not even put out all the wines that were brought in. They turned guests away who requested merlot, saying that we didn’t have any. They simply never opened all the boxes of wine to look at what was in them. The father of the bride had to go into the back room to bring them out. In addition, the bartenders opened an excessive number of bottles of alcohol in advance, causing the parents of the bride to be charged for wine and liquor that was never served.• The mother of the bride contacted Basikneads the day after the wedding via e-mail to express disappointment with the lack of sufficient food. The next day we called Basikneads and left a message to contact us. Lena Muhtadi returned the phone call later that day, and the mother of the bride described how upset and embarrassed we were in front of our guests to both Lena and Cornell. Ultimately, after listening to their justifications, we asked for restitution of the individual costs of the four items multiplied by 33 guests. The total came to $330, which Lena promised would be sent.• When no check arrived after two weeks, we sent a reminder e-mail. Receiving neither response nor check almost a week later, the father of the bride called Basikneads twice in one day. Whoever answered the phone acted rather strangely, first offering Lena’s and Cornell’s voice mailboxes to leave a message, then saying, “Oh, we don’t have voice mail.” The father of the bride left messages with this person both times and asked for a return call. The calls were never responded to by anyone from Basikneads. • A couple days later, we received an e-mail sent by Lena saying that Cornell was on vacation and stating, “I assure you that he has not forgotten about your refund, and this is a priority to him.”• Two weeks later, not having received the check, we sent three separate registered return receipt letters to owners Cornell Coulon and Kristen Coulon and their manager Lena Muhtadi. They all signed for these letters, but it is eight weeks after the wedding and we have not received a check or an acknowledgement from anyone at Basikneads. In dealing with this matter, both verbal and written promises were broken by Basikneads. Thank goodness everything else about our daughter’s wedding was wonderful, but our experience with Basikneads after the wedding has left a bitter taste in our mouths.

I wanted a smaller catering company, who would pay attention to the details, while quality ingredients and service, and who would work with our budget, and Basikneads certainly fit the bill. I contacted Basikneads, and was put in contact with Lena. Lena was very helpful and answered my questions through the whole planning process- I couldn't have been happier with the process or initial communication. Then the day of the wedding............. things went downhill fast. First, Lena decided to leave after being at the venue for only 30 minutes, even though we had paid for a catering manager for 8 hours. Apparently, she felt that she had given enough direction to their staff, so that they could adequately manage on their own. Which, I would have been ok with had things gone smoothly. However, it was clear that the staff had no idea of what needed to be done, even though we had reviewed the event details plan with Lena extensively. In fact, our family and friends had to step in to assist the staff with the basic set-up, so that the wedding would be on time. Not only was the set up not done, but Basikneads also forgot a number of key items, such as putting out the table number for the tables, signs, favors, (I could go on and on........), even though we had delivered these items to Lena in clearly marked bins. In addition, the chef had requested that we bring some key items for the drinks (mint, basil etc) However, the bartender had no idea of where they were when we asked why they were not included with the drinks. There are a number of other examples that I could provide, but I think you probably get the idea. Overall, I would expect a catering company to be much more professional than this. Perhaps they had a bad night, I don't know. However, we are disappointed that Lena had spent so much time going over the days events, when clearly, she had no intention of ensuring that things would go according to plan - shame on you Basikneads. Based on their performance, I would never use them again, and would not recommend them as a catering company for a wedding.

Basikneads is great for its creative menu, delicious food and its affordability. We received so many compliments for how delicious our “Hearty Fall Buffet” wedding dinner was. Cornell Coulon, the chef of Basikneads, was really friendly and incredibly professional. He went out of his way to make that everything was done to our liking in terms of taste and dietary restrictions, and did so in very creative ways. Moreover, he went above and beyond the call of duty to help us with our paperwork in the last few weeks before the wedding. His friendly and understanding demeanor really make it easy to work with him especially during the stressful time. Also, I wanted to comment on the efficiently and unobtrusiveness of the staff who served our wedding. They were excellent! The two issues that we had with Basikneads were the bartender and the event manager. The bartender had difficulties following directions such as red-dyed beverage restriction at the venue. The restriction was clearly spelled out in the rules and regulations of the venue that the caterer was supposed to sign, and the event manager supposedly provided the bartender with those directions prior to the wedding. Despite that we saw several guests holding red wine during the cocktail hour. Luckily, we noticed the problem immediately and the issue was taken care off before any disasters have occurred, but you should make sure to have an appointed person reminding the bartender of any restrictions because the caterer was not doing it. We were also not very impressed with our immediate point of contact – an event manager at the Basikneads, who was great initially, but closer to the wedding became not easily accessible, not as flexible and understanding, and sometimes very rude. In the last two weeks before the wedding the email correspondence or return phone calls from her were not very timely, and she would then blame us for it. For instance, she would take four days to get back to us with the final contract paperwork, and then demand an instant turnaround from us. Also, the week and a half before the wedding our venue informed us that the caterer has not returned the proper paperwork to them that would allow them to cater our wedding, and when I contacted our Basikneads event manager about that she told me off. Similarly, 5 days before the wedding I got a very curt email from her telling me that I have not yet sent her detailed information about setup and timeline, which she never requested from me in the first place. I had no problem with the request itself, but rather with an unprofessional manner in which it was done. The final product mostly compensated for the issues we encountered, but knowing of these issues ahead of time would have greatly reduced the level of stress and helped during the planning stage of the wedding.

We were very happy with Basikneads Catering, both before and during our wedding. We looked into a few other caterers, but Basikneads provided the most personalized service. We worked with Lena Muhtadi for all of the planning and setup on the day of, and Faviola was our day-of contact after Lena left. Everything went so well. I am the bride so of course I was getting ready during setup time, but when I walked into the reception hall, everything was just as we had planned. They even paid attention to the little details--we had candlabras from my grandmother around our main pie stand (we had pie instead of cake). The candles had no drip guards, and when the caterers noticed the candles were dripping down and burning down very quickly, they blew them out but then had them relit just before our cake cutting. Lena was wonderful throughout the whole planning process. She was very responsive. Everything was planned down to the last detail, and I got multiple comments on how wonderful the food was, and how picture-perfect everything looked. One of the best things--we were able to take leftovers home, and the last few days now after the wedding we have not had to cook at all! With all of the craziness on the day of (stress, nerves, etc.) I was not able to eat much of the wonderful food, so I am so glad we were able to take it home and enjoy it after the big day. I highly recommend Basikneads Catering; they did a wonderful job!

Basikneads was wonderful and extremely flexible when we found out we needed to make some drastic changes to our proposal about a month before the wedding. Lena was so helpful, responsive and even proactive in helping us make sure our day was wonderful. All of the guests raved about the food and we are so happy we used Basikneads! We would recommend them to any couple!

They were wonderful form beginning to end. Lena was really nice and very helpful with everything. I looked around and they were the best priced for what I was looking for. More importantly, I didn't feel nickeled and dimed. When my husband and I went to the tasting we were sold!!!! Lena was so thorough that nothing went unnoticed. The food was great except for one mishap which they immediately took care off. I have recommended them to my company as well as other brides. Ohhhh I almost forgot, Cornel made a drink for our signature cocktail that was abosolutely devine!!!!

Lena and Chef Cornell worked with us to create a menu that would suit the dietary needs of our guests (many that kept kosher/halal, one who is vegan, another that is severely allergic to peanuts), and came up with a delicious spread, with a clear Mediterranean theme that we hadn't realized we had wanted until our first tasting. The food was delicious and inventive, and they had no difficulty in serving it family style, which better fit the tone we were going for, rather than buffet style or waited. And at the event itself, when the weather proved even hotter than we had expected, they moved the hors d'ourves inside, unprompted. Perhaps most important, they were *fun*; the meetings for tastings and choosing place-settings were both hassle-free and enjoyable, due to their good-nature. Lena is very easy to get a hold of via email and responds very quickly with sensible answers to neurotic questions. We chose Basikneads because of Lena and her quick and well-thought answers. When we were first shopping for a caterer, she was the only person to respond to our inquiry with a menu that actually could be eaten by most of our guests. She was so wonderful during those initial contacts, that I decided with out meeting them that I would go with Basikneads because of how great they were when I wasn't even a client. That's good business practice.

We were pleased with the food and the service Basikneads provided. Lena was very helpful and answered my questions through the whole planning process. As we got closer to the wedding, it did take a little longer to get in touch with her since it was busy wedding season. We were happy with our menu, the food was very good), and they worked with our budget.

Working with Basikneads was a very good experience for us. The food was delicious and we got a lot of compliments on it. When we started looking for a caterer, we knew we needed someone who would be very good at communicating, since we planned everything from far away. Lena, one of the managers for catering needs, handled our case with great professionalism and lots of positive energy. I knew that I could email Lena any questions we had and within 24hrs, I would get a helpful response. The food tastings at the Basikneads kitchen where very enjoyable. I found that the way in which they have you organize and communicate your plans for your wedding was a very helpful planning tool. I used their questionnaires as a guide to planning our event and everything turned out awesome. When it came to the day of the wedding, Basikneads didn't deliver the quality of service that I was expecting from them. The food was yummy but the logistics were a little weak. My main complaint is that some of the setup logistics that we had discussed with Lena prior to the event did not get communicated to the people who were actually there. For example, they were supposed to place bows on the ceremony chairs (which we rented through them) and the center pieces on the tables. The delivery of the rental equipment was pretty late and they struggled to pull everything together in time. When my mom when out to see what was going on (like 15 mins before the wedding), she realized that non of the decorations had been placed. She then had guests help out to make sure that we were ready to go at the scheduled time. Obviously, since I was getting ready and had all my friends helping out, I didn't really realized what had happened until recently when I talked to my family about it. Everyone who was there agrees that they really struggled to pull this off. That being said, when I got to the ceremony everything looked beautiful as did the reception hall. I enjoyed working with them and would recommend them to a friend, though the pricetag seemed a little steep and the execution was a little weak. If you are going to go with Basikneads, I would recommend that you ask to meet with whoever they are going to send as their on-site representative before the wedding. This will ensure that they understand the plan ahead of time and that everything goes smoothly on the day of.

We chose Basikneads based on our experience with the company at our first tasting. Chef Cornell and Lena were very friendly, warm and inviting people to work with. The tasting took place in their catering kitchen and it was a very personalized experience. When we returned a second time with my parents closer to the wedding date to finalize our menu, my parents were equally as impressed (if not more!) with the kind treatment we received. Chef Cornell added a taste of my husband's traditional ethnic cuisine to the menu as a paired appetizer. He was willing to accommodate my husband's tradition by using his recipes. The final product we had at the wedding was very authentic. Lena provided exceptional support throughout our planning process, and was easy to communicate with, and very responsive to my emails, calls, and requests. She was able to guide us with little details a non-pro might not think of, as in equipment we might need, and different possibilities for set-up. As with any big event a few minor things went wrong on the wedding day, but Lena took the time to backtrack and talk with relevant staff regarding each concern we raised. She responded fully, and that showed us that she really valued our feedback and wanted to make our experience great. We were very pleased with the catering on our wedding day. Thank you, Chef Cornell and Lena!

Although the laid back demeanor and friendliness of the staff were initial attractions to my fiance and I, it turned out to not be beneficial in the end. As we got closer to our wedding date, important details were forgotten (such as the need for dessert forks/plates) and required additional communication and clarification at a time when we wanted to be on cruise control. This was just a warning sign of what was to come. The day of our wedding, DC was hit with one of the biggest snow storms ever. We knew ahead of time of the potential size of the storm and made every adjustment we could to ensure attendees could get there, hotel room rates for an additional night were negotiated, rooms were reserved for our Pastor, DJ, and Photographer, and calls were made to BasiKneads (BK) to ensure their arrival and seek a back-up plan. We did not hear back from BK until 12PM (3 hours before they were supposed to arrive for set-up) on our wedding day, informing us that they did not think they would be able safely get to our venue. Ultimately, with a little coaxing from another chef, Cornell was convinced to show up...which we were ever so grateful. So why the bad review; ultimately they did show, right? Well, a few reasons, 1) I felt it was highly unprofessional to wait until 3 hours prior to our event to contact us, 2) seeing how the chef lived in the city, parking was available at the venue the night before, covered parking garages were also available the night before, and discounted hotel rooms were available at $75/night (nominal fee for a big event like a wedding) it seems as though BK could have made a few extra adjustments to ensure they were able to make it, 3) although BK was able to cater the event, they came with 5 of the promised 8 staff, which required additional family/friend assistance to ensure the venue was set-up in time (30 mins late). We felt that since this was not a sunken cost (such as the food/rental fees, etc), it was fair to request a refund. Apparently BK did not agree, which leads me to the final reason 4) HIGHLY unprofessional email (see below) sent by their Sales Manager. I found the tone to be insulting and questioned the truthfulness all together. I'll let you decide for yourself:"Thank you for your email. I was so very pleased to hear that everything went well despite the many complications that day from the weather.To be perfectly honest, I am very surprised that Cornell and the staff were able to make it to DC at all. The roads were very treacherous that day, and they certainly all risked their safety to pull through for you and and make your wedding happen.Unfortunately, we are not in a position to issue a refund for the staff. Of the eight members, five did show up and managed to pull off the work of the full eight. There was a Chef, a bartender, a catering manager, and two servers, so you were only missing one server, one bartender, and one kitchen assistant. However, working with an extremely limited time frame for set up and traveling under severely hazardous conditions both there and back, we had no choice but to raise the rate for each staff member in attendance, thus making up the difference ($720) for the three individuals who were unable to get there.I would also like to remind you that while all other catering and rental companies did cancel their events that day, we could have also done the same – in fact, I was very surprised to learn that Cornell and his team were actually able to make it to the event. There is a clause in your signed contract that states the following:CANCELLATION BY VENUE or ACTS OF GODAll prepayments and deposits are forfeited if the Event is cancelled by the Client's venue or acts of god (i.e. fire, flood, terrorist activity) that prevent the Caterer from performing the Event as agreed. The Caterer will apply the entire balance of your deposits and prepayments, less $500.00 towards another event occurring within 90 days of the original event date. Subject to our availability. All costs are subject to change.Contractually, we had the right to cancel the event. $500 of the total cost would have been forfeited to make up some of the loss incurred from unused (but paid) products, and the rest would have been applied in the event that your reception was rescheduled for another available date within 90 dates of February 6, 2010. I am very sorry that nature interfered with your day but hope that despite everything, it was a wonderful day that you will always remember fondly. If you have any other questions or concerns or would like to discuss this in further detail, you may reach Cornell at ccoulon@basikneads.com.It has been a real pleasure working with you, and I wish you and all the best in your future together!"

We only had 5 months to plan our wedding in a venue two hours away from NoVA. We were lucky to find Basikneads. Lena helped us all through the way from providing accurate quotes, to making the site visit, to the day of preparations. Everyone was really great. Cornell is an amazing chef and worked with us to customize our menu. Everyone was raving about the food.

I used Basikneads for my October 2009 wedding reception. I booked them for 3 reasons:1) Lean, the main event coordinator was incredibly timely in my initial response to a request for information. In an age of internet research where brides can reach out to 10 vendors a day, you can't afford to let messages languish a moment longer than you have to. 2) Basikneads did not balk at my request for a cocktail reception menu (versus a sit-down affair) OR at the price point I specified. I work in event planning planning professionally and I know what things should cost. Basikneads was able to give me what I wanted at a price I was willing to pay. 3) They had worked at my venue before and I actually invited us by during a set up hour to take a quick look and see how everything might be set-up at our event if we went with Basikneads. The fact that they went an extra mile to win my business at the very beginning meant a lot to me. It inspired a lot of confidence!Lena's responsiveness was incredible the entire time. She always got back to me in an incredibly timely fashion no matter how trivial my question or request. We did two tastings -- one before signing the contract and one of the final menu. The food was consistently excellent and both, and best of all, I was able to personally interact with Chef Cornell! He even tweaked one of his recipes to more closely match a recipe that my husband and I use (our special fried green tomatoes).The day of, everything ran incredibly smoothly. The catering coordinator worked really well with our other vendors (photog, dj) to make sure everything ran smoothly and flowed correctly. The food was JUST incredible friends, parents, in-laws are still telling us (a year later!) how delicious the food was. I would also like to mention how wonderful the service staff was. The bartender kept everything flowing and was friendly yet professional with our guests. The servers passing appetizers and restocking the main table were quick, efficient and professional. I was really pleased and our guests (especially our parents) were really impressed. I was so pleased with my experience, I have been using Basikneads for work events and have also recommended them to several friends (one of whom used them for her wedding, which I attended and it was awesome!!).I would recommend Basikneads wholeheartedly and without reservation.

My wife and I were very happy with Lena, Cornell, and everyone we dealt with at Basikneads. They catered our wedding for about 150. We were on the phone and emailing with Lena practically every day for months and she was delightful and helpful the entire time. She and Cornell were creative in putting together a menu that made reference to both my (Cuban) and my wife's (Jewish) cultural backgrounds. They were also able to deal with some dietary restrictions imposed by the synagogue. Not only that, but they pitched in and helped us set up appetizers at our rehearsal dinner at a different venue the day before, which we had catered by someone else. Their willingness to help out on food, decor, etc was really over the top. We'd highly recommend them. Oh, not only that, but we got raves about the food. More than one person told me that this was one of the few weddings where they actually liked the food! Great job!

The food was great however, the service the day of was horrible. They were 30 minutes late, they did not set up the ceremony chairs right away and I had guests waiting at the top of the hill for 15 to 20 minutes to sit down, they did not tap all 3 kegs and told my guests we were out of beer, they spilt a whole tray of champagne on my bridesmaid and did not even apologize or offer to clean up. They also spilt on my co-worker and her infant. They were rude to my family and guests, they did not use the champagne we purchased in the contract, instead used the extra we purchased and proceeded to tell me, the bride, when I went to the bar, to get a glass of champagne at my own wedding that there wasn't anymore. Come to find out the next day that we had 6 more unopened bottles!! The replacement for Lena had no clue what was going on and had no idea where anything was supposed to go and had no idea how to set anything up. So my friend,(a guest) who didn't know much either, offered to help her by using common sense and reading the little notes I spent the night before writing out so no one would be confused. Over all we are very disappointed and we sent an email to Lena, which she replied back to us saying she would work out some sort of compensation. We received this email from her in October, it is now Dec. with no word from her. We are seriously thinking of small claims court to receive some of the loss we required from the champagne toast, them being 30 minutes late, and so on...... It's just so heart aching to talk about the events of my wedding like this and I never imagined all of this for my special day!Once again WE ARE VERY DISAPPOINTED and DO NOT recommend their services to ANYONE!!!!!!!

I can not say enough good things about Basikneads! From the day I sent over the proposal request to the day I got home from our honeymoon and received an email wishing us much happiness in life, I have loved every minute of working with them. Our point of contact was Lena and not only did she do her best to keep us within our budget, but she also so patiently accomodated all of my menu changes and questions. I never felt like I was being a burden and it was so refreshing to have a vendor that I felt 100% confident in. The chef Cornel prepared a great tasting for us and easily made the few changes we requested and the food at the actual reception was even better. He was able to take our vision of Spanish Tapas and turn it into a hearty latin inspired buffet with a tapa feel. Loved it! Everything went smoothly the day of the wedding and I know that the staff who worked behind the scenes did a great job. And they suprised us with a nice gift of pastries for breakfast the next day. As you can tell, I highly recommend them.

I worked with Basikneads for over a year, working primarily with Lena. We originally booked with Hernan Murno as chef, but Cornell Coulon took over last fall. Lena and Cornell are both sweethearts and you can tell they are really committed to giving you delicious wedding food and a fun wedding experience. Everyone at my wedding raved about the food--"best wedding food ever" was what I keep hearing from my guests. And I can confirm that--everything was delicious. We had a southern comfort buffet, including 2 entrees, 3 sides, plus cornbread and biscuits. And it was all delicious. Also, the appetizers during the cocktail hour were a big hit. Lena is very responsive and went above and beyond when I wanted specialty linens that their normal rental company didn't carry. My reception was beautiful and the food rocked! The servers and bartenders were all very sweet and on top of their game as well.

Lena and Cornell were determined to please - and they pulled off an incredible assortment of unique and tasty heavy hors d'oeuvres for a June wedding, with some terrific vegetarian options for guests who were so-inclined. Lena shared experiences from doing many other weddings that proved quite helpful. And Cornell is a great chef! At the very last minute, we decided on a signature drink and a non-alcoholic punch that he added to his repertoire without complaint. They anticipated the bridal party's need for sustenance and set up trays in a special room, before the introductions and the dancing. Servers were courteous and responsive, and the food got rave reviews from our guests! I'd recommend them without hesitation!