Picnic Graduation Party
Mark was delightful to work with, and made it easy for us to coordinate this celebration from 100 miles away. The food was terrific, and appropriate for our setting in the park. I would highly recommend the Affordable Chef adn would definately hire him again should I need another caterer in Santa Cruz.
June 16, 2009 by Kirsten Weisser

How to have a good time at your own party
I sensed after I first met Mark that working with him would be very easy. As the rehearsal dinner approached and more details needed to be addressed, he consistently conveyed to me that I could leave it all up to him. I did --and we had a fabulous evening with indeed everything (including color coordinated linens, furniture, crystal, china, arrangement of the room, placement of flowers) taken care of. The menu we selected was delicious and ideal, for adults and children. Everyone had a festive time. His assistant was excellent--attentive to all the guests' needs and requests. Chef Mark took charge and I had a grand time.Thank you Mark.
June 01, 2009 by lynnet c mcdermott in Santa Cruz, CA

Great party
Nearly everyone of our guests, Ed included, commented on the beautiful buffet and delicious food. I should also add that you and the rest of the staff were absolutely charming. In other words the party was great; you are the best caterers I've ever hired; and thank you."
May 26, 2009 by Arthur M. Kaplan in East Windsor, CT

Loved it. Thank for making it happenn
We had, lets say, Shot gun wedding, we thought we were all set with our catering needs. I guess we did to much talking and not enough confirming. So we lost our caterer 6 days before the event. I spoke to Chef Mark at affordable chef. explained my problem, and asked for help. Boom that was it. He went in this direction and that direction.Everything was thumbs up. Thanks for making it happen..
May 25, 2009 by Bob and Sandy Stieger. in Enfield, CT

When the big day did came.
Even before the date, I felt very assured about your services. You made the reception portion of our big day the least worrisome. When the big day did come, you and your staff were spectacular. Everyone raved about the food Chef Mark dished out. For me, the oysters were most excellent and serving it as a shooter was a very good idea. Each guest enjoyed everything and left with a favorite dish from the reception. It was a total sensual delight: from the gustatory to the visual. I really hope that the photographers were able to take pictures of the food as I would like to keep a visual keepsake of the wonderful reception from you. You took away a lot of potential stress. As I walked into the reception, all I could see was perfection and tasting everything simply proved it.
May 23, 2009 by Debra pinski in Scotts Valley, CA

Truly a Gift
We just want to let you know how much we appreciate you! You have worked with us every step. onj our way to creating our family union. Thank you for your Guidance and endless patience. You have already gone above and beyond for us and the event hasn't even happened yet! We do not know what we would have done if you did not come into ourlives, Your ability to understand and accept our indecisiveness and nervous tendency's is truly a Gift !!
May 21, 2009 by Cory and Roy in Santa Cruz, CA

Give him a call
I was watching one of those take home chef shows. While researching for a chef in my area, I was goggling and came across a local chef, Mark Gallagher. After talking to him a little about what I wanted to do, which was a 3 to 5 course candlelight dinner for my girl, chef Mark took full control over every detail.
Needless to say she was in wonderland, and I was shocked and impressed at the same time. If you have a couple bucks to spend, give him a call.
May 16, 2009 by Terry Way in Santa Cruz, CA

Thanks so much
What can I say other than delivered as promised. Affordable Chef team were extremely punctual & organized. Everyone loved the food, the service was excellent and the guests were pampered-your team were pros... Thanks so much-- our son and daughter-in-laws celebration was a great success, thanks to you and your team!
May 12, 2009 by Becky Oneal in Palo Cedro, CA

Definitely use them again
Affordable chef was a perfect caterer for our party, which at the last moment became a wedding. They were flexible, attentive, and very professional. The servers went out of their way to do little extras that made everything go smoothly and perfectly. The food was good and everything was clean at the end of the night. I would highly recommend Affordable chef. and would definitely use them again.
April 24, 2009 by Anonymous in Sebastopol, CA

Thank your staff we forgot..
Our wedding was exactly as we had imagined! We are both from out of state, so initally we thought planning would be difficult. It couldn't have been much farther from that! We took a weekend several months from the wedding to visit Santa cruz and picked all of our vendors at that time. After speaking with Mark before our visit, we were given a list of their preferred vendors which made things a lot simpler. I still feel confident we would have been just fine picking vendors from that list and never meeting in person. Mark was incredible in every way. Our guests had an amazing time (so we were told!), the music was great, food and wine was incredible...
April 18, 2009 by Anonymous

Small Garden Wedding Extraordinaire!!!

After meeting with Chef Mark to plan our wedding, he said, "Just have fun and I'll take care of everything." And that's just what he did! During the months preceeding the event, he checked in frequently and was always available to answer questions or offer suggestions. His charming and fun personality really made everyone in our family feel so comfortable! Most importantly, Chef Mark made everything about our wedding day so special! He tailored the menu (and the whole reception, actually), to reflect the intimacy we wanted for our celebration. Not only was the food fabulous, (our guests are still commenting about how great it was) but the atmosphere Chef Mark created with his creativity and professional talents was incomparable! I was worried that my Italian mom would get all stressed out having someone in "her kitchen" but Mark couldn't have been more reassuring and nice on that level as well. He and his staff were so courteous and amazing all day - We love Affordable Chef Mark!!!!