Emily's Kitchen - Jacksonville, Oregon

Heather K.

I had a disappointing experience with Emily's Kitchen that I feel obligated to share. I hired Emily for an event and paid $2,500 upfront.

After only three planning meetings and receiving a standardized menu that wasn't even aligned with the project I wanted to create, the event never took place. I never received any actual services from either Emily or Mark. When I requested a refund for services not rendered, I was met with resistance.

The situation escalated unexpectedly when instead of resolving the issue professionally, Emily and her husband Mark showed up at my home and threatened physical violence, and slander libeling of my business, to the point where I was screaming.

My husband heard me from the other side of the property, rushed over in a side-by-side vehicle, and had to physically get between Mark and me to prevent the situation from worsening. This frightening confrontation was recorded on video.

I still still have that video for legal purposes in case we decide to sue later because this is such a heartbreaking situation To be threatened this way.

I am now actually terrified of Mark and have had subsequent incidents where he approaches me in public, gets in my face, and starts screaming at me.

What was particularly heartbreaking is that while Emily and Mark came to my home to threaten me and tell me they couldn't do my project, they had already taken the money I paid them and started implementing similar concepts and ideas that I had shared with them for their own projects off the back of their property.

Additionally, I've since learned that Emily has spoken negatively about me to others in our professional community, which has affected my business opportunities.

I originally sought out Emily because of her culinary talent, but unfortunately cannot recommend her services given the unprofessional way this business dispute was handled

Annika B.

We asked Emily to cater our fall wedding and we had a wonderful experience! She designed a menu just for us and was so accommodating of all our needs-including budget and hopes for dishes. The food her and her team cooked was amazing--so interesting and local and great for gluten free, vegan and meat-eating diets. Our 120 guests couldn't stop talking about how wonderful her farm-to-table cuisine was! We would definitely hire Emily for future events and we highly recommend her, she was truly wonderful!

Jessica M.

I wish I could speak more to an overall experience but I have not received a reply.

On December 3rd, I emailed as instructed on their website, to sign my husband’s parents up for a cooking class as their holiday gift.

On December 11th, I emailed again, thinking the busy holiday season could have buried my email.

Today is the 19th and I am giving up.

Sadly, they seem to be the only classes in southern Oregon so I have to completely re-think a gift for them.

Kate S.

Wonderful, talented chef and teacher. So kind and wonderful to learn from! Highly suggest taking a cooking class from her at Rogue Community College. Everything she makes is wonderfully delicious! Can't wait to take more classes!

Inka R. J.

My husband and I hired Emily's Kitchen to cater side dishes for our wedding, and I'm afraid we didn't have a very good experience. In general there seemed to be a lack of organization, professionalism, and good communication. They lost/ forgot/ misplaced the menu we agreed upon and had to reach out 3 separate times to reconfirm the details.

They showed up 30 minutes late for the tour of the venue, and did not call out to let us know they were running behind, we had to call them to find out what was going on.

And most unfortunately, they they did not bring enough food to feed all our guests at the wedding! More than 1/4 of our guests did not get any of our main side dish (mashed potatoes) including my husband and me, and there was not enough of 2 of the other sides to allow people to serve themselves seconds, even though we had agreed upon this with Emily's Kitchen. They also messed up the gravies, and the vegan gravy had gluten in it meaning many of our guests couldn't eat it.

We had served copious appetizers before dinner, and had dinner plates that were closer to breakfast sized plates rather than normal dinner sized plates. We also had 9 people who didn't come to the wedding last minute, who we had included in our head count that we gave to the caterers. And yet, even with all these factors, there still was not enough food.

This was really disappointing, particularly as the side dishes they were offering were not made from expensive ingredients, and it would have been easy and cheap for them to have brought extra to make sure there was an abundance.

What was most frustrating about the whole experience however, was that when we brought this issue up with them after the wedding, they proceeded to blame everything on us, rather than offering any apology or taking any accountability.

They claimed that we had had 15-25 guests more than we had paid and that was why there was not enough food, when in reality we had many fewer than we had paid for and. They also claimed that the food shortage was because dinner was served buffet style, rather than having the caterers serve people.

Never once in the planning process did the caterers mention any concern that food would run out if we allowed our guests to serve themselves, nor did they recommend that we have servers.

We discussed both options, and decided on buffet style as this seemed simpler and would allow our guests to get food faster as they could then serve themselves on both sides of the tables. We would have been happy to allow the caterers to serve if we had been advised to do so. Or they could have simply made sure to bring extra food to be sure there was enough for everyone.

Unfortunately, our experience was not positive, and we would not recommend working with this catering company, especially for a wedding or other important event.

Hannah C.

Wow, wow, wow. We hired Emily and her team to cater our event for a wedding in a very remote area on the Oregon coast. Our asks were quite tall: cater an event for 100 people, at a venue with no water, and also no kitchen. But Emily and her team DELIVERED. I am not exaggerating when I say about half of our guests commented on the amazing cuisine - salmon with dill and miso sauce, salad of fresh summer greens, vegetable lasagne, muscles on the half shell, and the list goes on. My only regret in hiring Emily and her team was not going back for seconds. Emily, thank you for adding such taste to our event (literally and figuratively). Our party would not have been the same without you. We are so grateful!

Rose S.

We had a wonderful dinner catered by Emily's Kitchen Catering for our wedding. Emily was wonderful to work with leading up to our event, and the food was beautiful and delicious. We had vegan folks and also meat-centric folks, and we wanted to highlight local, in-season flavors; Emily helped us plan a lovely menu, with plenty of great foods for both! Everything was delightful; my favorite part was a lovely (vegan) autumn vegetable strata, my mom especially loved the smoked salmon with a tahini sauce and the chicken with bacon and red pepper romesco, and my husband loved the farro and chickpeas (also vegan). Hawaiian roles with pineapple butter were a huge hit with kiddos. Emily and her staff handled every detail, and everything ran as smooth as could be. It was a great experience for us!

Abigail B.

Fav little commercial kitchen