Tasting Menu

Radioheader

Hi all,
What is the standard regarding pre-wedding tastings? I had understood that most did them, but our hotel is saying they do don't tastings. Just wanted to know if this is common.

January

Ours did it and even threw in a night in the hotel that night for us...

pooch90

We got our taster night too, I'd be fighting the venue on this one.

Radioheader

pooch90 wrote: »

We got our taster night too, I'd be fighting the venue on this one.

We certainly will be fighting on this one. Can I ask what format did the tasting take? Were there other couples there the same night and it was one big tasting, or did they prepare the tasting just for you?

The point they are making is that they won't be able to prepare 5 starters, 5 soups, 5 main courses and 5 desserts for just two people.

whiskeyman

Radioheader wrote: »

Can I ask what format did the tasting take? Were there other couples there the same night and it was one big tasting, or did they prepare the tasting just for you?.

There were other couples tasting the time we went with other people who were enjoying their meal in the venue restaurant.
Ideally, they'll try and do it for a number of couples to save them cost.
I think some venues have set 'tasting nights'.

Radioheader wrote: »

We certainly will be fighting on this one. Can I ask what format did the tasting take? Were there other couples there the same night and it was one big tasting, or did they prepare the tasting just for you?

The point they are making is that they won't be able to prepare 5 starters, 5 soups, 5 main courses and 5 desserts for just two people.

That's a fair point from them though.
You should have a rough idea what you'd want.
For example, out of a choice of 5 mains, you should narrow down to 3 to taste if you're picking 2.
If you're only having one dessert, just narrow down tasting choice to 2 or 3.

There's no point tasting things for the sake of it. You really should have a fair idea what you want on your menu before the tasting.

kandr10

Our venue didn't do tastings and I know of a few others who didn't have them either.

PhoenixParker

Haven't had the tasting yet but our tasting is included in the venue's standard package, so it's in the contract.

Does your contract with the hotel say anything about it?

Radioheader

PhoenixParker wrote: »

Haven't had the tasting yet but our tasting is included in the venue's standard package, so it's in the contract.

Does your contract with the hotel say anything about it?

No mention of a tasting in the contract, but it doesn't say there isn't one either.

Toots

Our venue did tasting but the way it worked was you narrowed it down to what you were planning to have on the wedding day (we'd picked a choice of two) so we went to the restaurant and they actually served us a full dinner as it would be served on the wedding day. If you didn't like a certain dish, you could arrange to taste another one at a different stage. To be fair, there were a choice of about 10 main courses, so there's no way I'd have expected them to make all of them. Also at that stage we'd decided what we wanted but we needed to taste it to be 100% sure.

Ask the hotel if you'd be able to try a choice of two and see what they say. I know that some hotels don't offer tastings, but if it were me I wouldn't be happy knowing that the first time I would be tasting the food would be on the wedding day itself. Just to give you an example, with one of our main courses there was a stuffing type thing served with it, and it was quite garlic-y. Now my husband and I both love garlic, and I thought it was delicious, however I knew that a number of our guests really didn't like garlic, so the hotel did a different version of the stuffing for us. If I hadn't known that before the day, and the first time I tasted it was during the meal, I know I'd have been thinking "oh god, xyz doesn't like garlic, I hope their dinner was ok"

Faith

Our venue asked us to pick a couple of dishes for each course to taste, so we tried two starters (to pick 1), 3 mains (to pick 2), 2 desserts (to pick one) etc. We got one full potion of each dish and shared them. We got 2 white wines and 2 red wines to try then as well (a glass of each). We were the only couple there that evening.

Radioheader

Toots wrote: »

Our venue did tasting but the way it worked was you narrowed it down to what you were planning to have on the wedding day (we'd picked a choice of two) so we went to the restaurant and they actually served us a full dinner as it would be served on the wedding day. If you didn't like a certain dish, you could arrange to taste another one at a different stage. To be fair, there were a choice of about 10 main courses, so there's no way I'd have expected them to make all of them. Also at that stage we'd decided what we wanted but we needed to taste it to be 100% sure.

Ask the hotel if you'd be able to try a choice of two and see what they say. I know that some hotels don't offer tastings, but if it were me I wouldn't be happy knowing that the first time I would be tasting the food would be on the wedding day itself. Just to give you an example, with one of our main courses there was a stuffing type thing served with it, and it was quite garlic-y. Now my husband and I both love garlic, and I thought it was delicious, however I knew that a number of our guests really didn't like garlic, so the hotel did a different version of the stuffing for us. If I hadn't known that before the day, and the first time I tasted it was during the meal, I know I'd have been thinking "oh god, xyz doesn't like garlic, I hope their dinner was ok"

That would certainly be fine with us. We are not looking for 5 of each. 2 of each would suffice for us.

lazygal

Ours allowed us to design a menu based on their usual options (it was not a hotel). We went for dinner one night and based on what we ordered went for certain things which we adapted for our requirements. I think it not too much to ask TBH. We also tried the house wines.

January

Sorry, I forgot to mention, we chose dishes to try.

So we chose two starters to narrow down to one, two mains for a choice and one dessert as I knew what I wanted there.

Birdie086

We had already chosen our menu according to price bracket. So we got that menu to try, however there was an option to try other dishes but as it happened we were very happy with the menu we chose. The wine was free flowing and we were given a ton of friendly (not over powering) attention from staff.

The food and beverage manager appeared at the end of the meal for an informal chat at the end to see how we felt about everything.

It took place in their restaurant, which was open but we seemed to be the only couple menu tasting.
I would push for some sort of menu tasting at least.

Gatica

The organiser is a bit silly saying they couldn't cook 5 courses each for 2 people, who would expect all that!
We shared a choice of 3 for each course and I think 2 for the soup. We were still stuffed as you end up having a course and a half each for each course. Then we picked our choices from that. We also had complimentary stay and half hour treatment at the Spa, but that was a bonus.
I would certainly expect to have some kind of tasting at the very least. If they're so worried about cost, could you ask them if you could book it as a dinner reservation and have them prepare you your number of choices at a discount rate? It's a bit odd they can't stretch the few quid it costs them to feed you on 1 night for the sake of having a happy couple...

MrJones2013

I know this thread is a long time dead but just want to ask the OP how you got on with this? We are experiencing something similar with our venue and I just want to know how you approached it.

I would have assumed that it would be standard practice across all venues as they would want only positive feedback as one of the main things that guests talk about post wedding is the food!

Also regardless of any places reputation, how can you be expected to decide what 200+ people will be eating if you don't have any idea what it will be like yourself?!

Radioheader

MrJones2013 wrote: »

I know this thread is a long time dead but just want to ask the OP how you got on with this? We are experiencing something similar with our venue and I just want to know how you approached it.

I would have assumed that it would be standard practice across all venues as they would want only positive feedback as one of the main things that guests talk about post wedding is the food!

Also regardless of any places reputation, how can you be expected to decide what 200+ people will be eating if you don't have any idea what it will be like yourself?!

Hi,
We fought them on it and in the end they agreed to give us a taste of what our likely choices were, so we were given one starter, one main course and one dessert to try. We tried a few wines as well. In the end we were delighted with the choices and the wine so it all went well. I think at the very least they should allow to taste your likely choices just in case you really don't like one of them. Hope that helps

MrJones2013

Radioheader wrote: »

Hi,
We fought them on it and in the end they agreed to give us a taste of what our likely choices were, so we were given one starter, one main course and one dessert to try. We tried a few wines as well. In the end we were delighted with the choices and the wine so it all went well. I think at the very least they should allow to taste your likely choices just in case you really don't like one of them. Hope that helps

Cheers, thanks for the reply! I've been in contact with them and they are pretty adament that they don't do it but said about coming to a compromise so we'll see.

I just find it strange myself, as I said how can you be expected to decide what over 200 people are going to eat if you aren't sure yourself! It's their own reputation that will be on the line anyway not myself and my Fiancée's.

Toots

I really don't understand venues not allowing you to taste things before hand. I can understand them not putting out the whole menu, but couples are forking out thousands for the meal, it's completely reasonable to want to taste it beforehand! I'd be wary of somewhere that was point blank refusing to allow you to try anything.

Gatica

Personally I'd check this in the contract before signing and walk out if they weren't willing to include that. It's preposterous to expect B&G to guess at what they'll be eating. They'd want to be sure the standards are up to scratch for the particular venue...

MrJones2013

Toots wrote: »

I really don't understand venues not allowing you to taste things before hand. I can understand them not putting out the whole menu, but couples are forking out thousands for the meal, it's completely reasonable to want to taste it beforehand! I'd be wary of somewhere that was point blank refusing to allow you to try anything.

Gatica wrote: »

Personally I'd check this in the contract before signing and walk out if they weren't willing to include that. It's preposterous to expect B&G to guess at what they'll be eating. They'd want to be sure the standards are up to scratch for the particular venue...

To be fair the place has a very good reputation and we've heard nothing but good reviews from people who have been there and online. They have a large selection though and it seems strange that they wouldn't allow you to try out your choices.

Gatica

Unless it was a michelin star restaurant where one could vouch for the quality. I'm afraid tasting is still the main way to put one's stamp of approval on a meal.