D'Absolute Catering

We had a wonderful experience with D'Absolute Catering and especially Chris Constantine. From the beginning he was very accommodating of ever request and made special arrangements even though I was out of town to meet with my husband and I during early hours of Saturdays and Sundays before the wedding. Our wedding planner at our venue left early and we were left with no one to coordinate between our vendors and Chris Constantine stepped up and coordinated between the different vendors all night even though we did not ask him. He did above and beyond what we expected and even though it is almost two years past our wedding we are so grateful and appreciative of how he made our wedding that much more special. Thank you!! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

One of the best wedding decisions we made was choosing D'Absolute to cater the big day! As soon as we met Chris, we knew we would be in good hands. Chris and the rest of the D'Absolute team treated all 250 of our guests with excellent service and everyone was blown away by the food. We could not be happier by how flawlessly the day went, thank you! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We used D'Absolute to cater our October 2017 wedding at Room 1520, and couldn't be happier with how everything went. Of all the places we did tastings, not only was D'Absolute's food the tastiest, they were also the friendliest and most accommodating of what we wanted for our big day, so deciding to go with them was a no-brainer.

Our wedding was on the small-ish side (70 people) so we didn't want to hire a coordinator if we didn't have to, and Chris at D'Absolute said his crew could take care of everything a coordinator would do (put favors on tables, set up the gift/place card table, put out any signage, etc.), so we happily saved a few bucks not hiring a wedding coordinator.

On the big day everything came together perfectly. Chris' brother was our day-of supervisor, and the fact that my husband and I weren't even aware of everything that was going on behind the scenes speaks to how well he orchestrated things. Everything was set up perfectly at the bar and on the tables, the hors d'oeuvres at the cocktail hour were passed around frequently so everyone got some, everyone had plenty to eat at dinner, our dessert table was set up beautifully, and at the end of the night the whole D'Absolute crew worked quickly to clean up, break everything down, and pack up leftover food and booze for us to take.

Since the wedding several of our guests have commented on good the food was (get their mac and cheese and thank me later) and how impressed they were with the staff there. When one of our guests told her server about a nut allergy, they brought her out a freshly prepared nut-free salad without hesitation, which is a level of service we didn't necessarily expect, but are very grateful for.

From first meeting, to menu planning, to coordinating beforehand, to the actual wedding day, working with D'Absolute was a great experience and we couldn't recommend them more for anyone's catering needs. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

From the very start when we completed our tastings from multiple different caterers, we knew D'Absolute was going to make our wedding day even more amazing. Chris is so professional and so friendly and accommodating - we immediately felt comfortable with him. We had some dietary restrictions to work around and Chris didn't struggle with this at all - he adjusted the menu multiple times until we found something perfect for everyone. We wanted to add in unique flares to our food and Chris helped us come up with great ideas and stunning ways to present the food. We got engaged in Paris and wanted to have a Parisian touch to the night so Chris added a crepe station where his staff created different crepes on the spot! Our guests loved this unique touch! Chris and his team take catering to the next level. The food is delicious, the presentation is incredible, and the staff are professional and so friendly - they even danced onto the dance floor to serve our late night snack! :) We highly recommend D'Absolute - they helped to make our wedding the best day ever!! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Our experience with D’Absolute Catering for our wedding was nothing short of perfect. Prices were extremely reasonable compared to other Chicago caterers, without falling short at all on the quality. The food was amazing, and we received tons of compliments on the food. The food was inventive, well-prepared, and well-presented. What sets D’Absolute apart from the rest is their involvement in our planning process. Mena at D’Absolute helped us with determining how to stage our cocktail hour, where guests should enter/exit, event timing, everything down to the smallest detail. They even helped us out with handling the table and chair rental with another vendor. We did not have a day of coordinator, and Mena made us feel so much more comfortable that the day would go smoothly. We even had some special requests for bar service and dessert that were handled very well. Their communication throughout the entire process was excellent. They responded in a timely manner and are great people to work with. We can’t recommend D’Absolute enough for any wedding, or any event for that matter. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

D'Absolute did a great job catering our post-wedding celebration. Their food is delicious, better in my opinion than some of their higher priced competition. Chris also did a wonderful job of listening to our thoughts and ideas throughout the process, and made many helpful suggestions to make the evening perfect. The staff was experienced, well-prepared, and kind to our guests. Highly recommend! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We loved D'Absolute's food and service. Our guests very much enjoyed the food and everyone walked away satisfied including us. Chris, George, and Mena run a well-run ship and our guests were thrilled with dinner and the bar service. D'Absolute does an excellent job of providing thorough hospitality and catering services. Everyone is also very patient and helpful- great bunch! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Absolutely amazing food, I wish I could've taken home leftovers! They were super flexible and even gave suggestions for foods that would incorporate my husbands Brazilian background. Everyone had great things to say about the menu. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We got married on 8/6/16 at Room 1520. First off, the venue is amazing. If you haven't already booked a spot, check this one out. You WILL NOT be upset.

Back to catering... To be honest, my wife and I never really cared that much about food for the night. We knew we had to feed our guests, but wanted more of the focus to be on the booze and dancing part of the evening. We met with a few caterers and quickly learned that food was going to be a HUGE expense. That was until we met with Chris. He and his wife, Natalie, were amazing to work with - super organized, quick to respond and genuinely nice people. We were able to work with them on a pretty spectacular menu for the night. Apps were charcuterie, tuna tacos, filo chicken cups, and bruschetta spoons. Dinner started with a salad and then guests had their choice of beef, chicken or pasta entree. My wife and I liked these dinner options so much, we asked to split a little of all three. Of course, we didn't get to eat more than a bite the day of, but it was really good. The quality of the food far out weighed the cost of the package, which happened to be the least expensive option of everywhere we looked. By the way.. Our guests LOVED the food. Especially the wasabi butter.

Outside the stellar food, the team at D'absolute did an outstanding job of setting everything up, flipping the room from ceremony to reception and providing 5 star wait and bar service. The linens were perfect and really enhanced the room.

Natalie and Chris are pros. Throughout the process and more importantly the day of, we didn't have to worry about a single thing. Natalie asked all the right questions and came up with the game plan far in advance of the wedding. Everything was executed to perfection and we cannot thank the team enough for such outstanding service. You guys made the night!! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We are so happy we chose D'Absolute to cater our wedding. They were the best vendor decision we made. From the moment I first talked to Chris, he made me feel so incredibly comfortable. He was very responsive to any and all questions, and always had options available when we couldn't make up our mind. He was also very accommodating of our budget, which we appreciated, and had suggestions about ways to keep the cost down. The tasting blew us away in terms of the presentation and quality of the food. People are still talking about how the great the food was! Outside of just the food at the wedding, Chris made it a point to treat us like VIP. He checked in on us to make sure we didn't need anything, brought us water during the photos, and had prosecco flights waiting for us when we came out from the ceremony. These little touches made the evening just so much more special. The staff was great, as well, and I would recommend Chris to anyone looking for a high quality caterer that won't disappoint. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Chris and Natalie were wonderful to work with. Our daughter was married at the Skyline Loft at the Bridgeport Art Center and we selected food stations. We were attracted by D'Absolute's proposal. During the trial tasting, we were impressed that each station offered a full meal, each with a meat, vegetables, and a tasty potato or starch. The event was a huge success, mostly due to the delicious appetizers and food stations. Chris and Natalie responded to every question promptly I felt we were in good hands during the planning process. I would not change a thing. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Chris, Nathalie, Mena, and the rest of your catering staff...thank you so much for providing Ktrice and I such a seamless cocktail reception for our wedding night!

For our wedding, I was very specific in what types of food and how we wanted to present the food. During my initial conversation with Chris, on the phone, I explained to him the type of reception I was hoping to have for our wedding, and I wanted to make sure everyone would be full! Culturally, if a guest is still hungry after your wedding, you will never hear the end of it! Secondly, we wanted to make sure the food was not your typical "wedding" food, where guests graze over it, and complain about it being cold, or just not good.

Our tasting was amazing! Chris made sure he answered any questions we had, and went through all the details of what we envisioned. He knew exactly what we wanted and executed the plan perfectly.

The food was amazing! Guests are still raving about the mac and cheese and corn bread. I had a wedding guest that was allergic to pretty much everything, but Mena, made sure to provide a special plate for her, and also made sure it was personally delivered to her, out of the entire sea of wedding guests. Mena made sure our bridal suite was ready with a cocktail for my husband and I right after the ceremony, and that we had an ample amount of apps ready for us. Everything was set to a tee!

I cannot thank you guys enough for everything you did! Thank you! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Excellent catering and Chris goes above and beyond for his clients.

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We couldn't have asked for a better caterer for our wedding!! Chris and his team went above and beyond to make sure our wedding reception went smoothly. My fiance and I planned our wedding from out of town, and Chris was so responsive whenever we had any questions. They are probably the best caterer for an affordable price and they even allowed us to bring in outside food since my fiance and I wanted to make sure our Korean and Chinese backgrounds were also reflected in the food. During cocktail hour and dinner, they were always bringing out food and drinks promptly, and Chris himself made sure we were comfortable throughout the reception. Chris was so open to our vision of what we wanted our signature cocktails and food to be, and so easy to work with. D'absolute was one of the best decisions of our wedding!! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

D'absolute catered our wedding at The Newberry Library on 5/24/14 and did an absolutely AMAZING job. We first met we Chris early on who took our food vision and created an absolutely delicious menu! We had many comments from our guests about how great our food was. The whole team was a breeze to work with - Chris, Natalie and Mena especially. Natalie specifically was present for the entire event and made sure everything went off without a hitch. I also really liked how she always made sure my husband and I were eating and drinking. The staff in general was fantastic and even loaded up our car with the things we needed to take home at the end of the night.

We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day and D'absolute is in large part to thank for that! We recommend them to everyone!! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Hands down my favorite of all my vendors! Chris and Nathalie are simply fantastic. First, not only was the food amazing at the tasting, it was just as amazing at the actual wedding (when they were cooking for 200 not 2). They made sure everything was just as we wanted it and their wait staff was just awesome. Our venue was 2 floors and they floated throughout the whole space with the apps and late night snacks. Plus, whenever we wanted to make a change or ask a question, Chris and Nathalie were so on top of things and always responded right away. On top of amazing food they really provide great service and make you feel like your wedding is the only one that matters to them. I've heard friends' horror stories over difficult caterers they've used and I can say that I never once had a stressful moment with these two- simply fantastic all around! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

I went with Chris for our cater and couldn't have been more pleased with the whole experience! The food was delish! The serivce was above and beyond. So many compliments from the cocktail hour to the main course! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

It took only two minutes for us to fall in love with D'Absolute. My parents drove down on a Friday from out of state where Chris prepared an private tasting for us. Needless to say we wrote a check that night without doing any other tastings. He took care of us from that point on. In the months leading up Chris did tweaks to the menu and the head count. When the big day arrived the food and the services they provided were amazing! My favorite option on our menu was the seasonal pear salad but my guests have commented to me on how they loved the entire meal as well as the appetizers. I also had guests approach me on how the team went out of their way to service the children first and provide them with a special more kid friendly dinner options. I had no idea this was going to happen and was so grateful for the extra attention to detail that Chris and the D ’Absolute team paid towards my guests. Throughout the night their hard work, professionalism, and responsiveness was very evident to me and my guests. D'Absolute did a remarkable job from start to finish! We highly recommend them for any event!! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

D'Absolute was the exclusive preferred caterer for my venue. I was a little anxious when I felt I was somewhat forced to use them. But I am so happy I was pointed in their direction! The food they created for my wedding was incredible. Their staff was so sweet and really brought a positive energy to their job. (I myself am a server at a restaurant, so I know it's not always easy to be excited to serve people food on a Saturday night, but I have to send a shout out to them for being both professional and enthusiastic). We took a short bus ride away to take photos between the ceremony and reception, so they even set up some food and drinks for us on the bus before we left so we didn't miss any of our appetizers. The food was delicious and creative - I was at a wedding two weeks later and one of the guests, who was also at ours, was still talking about the bacon wrapped dates and the goat cheese grape lollipops (Now, I don't endorse discussing other wedding details at someone's wedding, but I secretly enjoyed the compliment). More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

There are no words that come to mind that I can use to accurately describe how fantastic Chris with D'Absolute is. The entire menu was delicious, the service was impeccable, the staff was friendly and attentive. And he helped assure that everything flowed seamlessly. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

D'Absolute hugely helped in giving us a magnificent wedding. All of our guests absolutely loved the food & atmosphere! D'Absolute did an amazing job setting up our ceremony & reception, with no snafu's. The food was to die for. They are a fantastic catering company! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

During and after the wedding, everyone said how amazing the food was and that they wanted some more. Everything from the food to the setup was absolutely perfect! Chris, the most awesome event manager, was super nice and easy to work with. You can tell that he's done this so many times that he knows all the details. Yet he still manages to make you feel like you are the only event that matters. Thanks to D'Absolute, everything came together flawlessly. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

I need to confess – at first I was indifferent with our food vendor and what type of food that was going to be served at our wedding because I wanted to save money with our caterer. What a fool I am! The food and alcohol can make or break your entire wedding experience. My wife and I started off tasting at various vendors in Chicago and the suburbs. And we were only partially satisfied with food, menu, and price options (at the beginning). That all changed when we had our food tasting at D’Ab. Chris’s food tasting was the highest quality food of any other food vendor we visited. I thought for sure pricing would be through the roof for such high quality and delicious food. I was mistaken when he gave me his estimate and it was significantly less than all the other vendors. AND we had more menu items and food options.
Chris and his wife have it down to a science. They have been in the industry for such a long period of time and know how to do it the right way. And they tailor their service to your needs. D’Ab is a full service caterer that provides food, plate ware, glasses, linens, staff, cooks, bartenders and bar service, and different dining options such as pass service, plated dinners, food stations, and buffets. That’s about 4 vendors wrapped up into one full service company. Chris was one of the only vendors who would NOT charge us for bringing our own deserts or cake cutting. Our guests were raving at how great the food was and the beef tenderloin is magic; you truly cannot go wrong with the food options as they are endless and all taste magnificent. I also went with a late night food option through Chris and it was a HUGE hit to sober up everyone at the end of the night. The custom signature drinks were a winner too! The last win/win relates to how dialed-in and involved Chris is in your wedding planning. He makes things so simple by taking the lead role to coordinate the timeline for the day and working closely with all the vendors. I highly recommend Chris. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Chris with D'Absolut was so passionate about his food that it was just contagious - we have now been married over a year and someone just told me last weekend that they still remember the food from our wedding and how amazing it was, which is a true testament to how great it was. We were also thrilled at the flexibility we were given for menu options and we hands down had the best vegetarian entree ever at a wedding - red pepper risotto! AND they made our cake! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Our reception was at Room 1520. Chris and D'Absolute made our planning easy. The meals and hor dourves were inline with our taste. I have many family members with allergies and he was accommodating for them as well. The tasting night was so much fun and we got to know Chris really well in that environment at his office. We left there with full stomachs and full of ideas. He had great suggestions for us to make it top notch and stay in our budget.

He drew up the floor plan and had a great vision of how the room would work best for all our needs. And he worked great with the other vendors. Our guests have been raving about the food, bar service and dessert that D'Aboslute provided. On top of that we rented all our tables, linens and chairs through him. The room looked awesome and everything came together great.

Now I just need to plan another party so I can work with him again! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

My wedding planner (Anthony with Liven It Up Events), recommended Chris and his D'Absolute team for my wedding last month. Chris is such a professional! He is very organized and knows catering so well! He had great suggestions on how we can make our reception go more smoothly as well as have great input on every aspect of our event. Everyone commented on the professionalism of his staff on the night as well. We did drop off catering (we wanted Chinese food from a specific restaurant) so I can't say much about the food, but he managed my reception so well and his staff was amazing! I highly recommend Chris for anyone planning an event, big or small. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

It was a pleasure to work with Chris for our wedding. We had occasional delays in communication (on both ends), but ended up pleased with the results. Chris was exceptionally accommodating with the tastings and meetings around the wedding, and offered many helpful suggestions to us along the way. He even helped us in buying our own liquor, instead of going with one of his packages. He got us estimates, suggested quantities, and even recommended a signature drink that matched our wedding colors. The guests LOVED the drink and were blown away.

We just had two small snags on the day of that should be mentioned, though they weren't even a big enough issue for us to address with Chris. First was that the portions at dinner were far smaller than those in our tastings. It had never crossed our minds to confirm anything like this, but fortunately the food was good enough that our guests didn't mind. (And most had filled up on the delicious hors d'oeuvres anyway!)

The other issue was involving the cake. Chris took care of this through a subcontractor, and it was absolutely delicious. Heard from some older guests it was actually the best wedding cake they'd ever had. However, in our red and ivory wedding, our cake ended up with PINK ribbon on it. When we'd met with Chris and passed along cake pictures, one of the examples had pink ribbon- but we had all agreed, and written out that it would have dark red ribbon, of which I provided an sample. We had also asked that it included the flowers we were using. However, when we walked into the reception, the first thing I noticed was a cake with pink ribbon and no flowers. I'm not sure exactly what happened in the communication, but the cake design was very far down on the list of our priorities, so we didn't make a fuss or follow up as we probably should have.

All in all, the best prices we could find in Chicago (and we did our research), great food, and great service. Just a couple of snags that future brides will definitely be able to avoid! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

Chris was an absolute pleasure to work with! He catered and provided linens and some decorations for our wedding in March at the Newberry Library. He really took the time to really get to know us and our needs - including budget, environmental and dietary concerns, etc. He impressed us initially with his amazing value and continued to impress us throughout the tastings, walk-throughs, and consistent follow up at every stage of the wedding planning process. We had very positive feedback on the food - from the hors d'œuvres to the entrees. He also helped us coordinate the alcohol order and made sure that every detail - down to the star fruit on the cocktails - was in line with our vision for our day. His staff is very professional and respectful in every way. We did not work with a wedding planner, but knew we had nothing to worry about with Chris - he proved us right. :) More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

I loved my caterer!!! D'Absolute did an amazing job for my wedding! Chris was so helpful throughout the wedding planning process. He went above and beyond what I thought a caterer should do but I am so thankful for all that he did!
The things that made my experience so great are that Chris worked with my budget, he designed the menu all the way to the table linens, and was on top of everything going on for my wedding that wasn't always his job to take care of.
I gave Chris my budget and he created a masterpiece out of it, as I was a little worried that my budget was going to be hard to work with. While I will not disclose my budget or pricing, I have to say that Chris gave us the best service and food for a great price. His pricing along with services was the best rate when compared to over 10 other highly referred caterers. When my family, fiance, and I went to the tasting we were so impressed we decided not to even go to the other tastings/caterers. Other caterers were a bit pushy but Chris was very confident about his services and so that made us feel very reassured that D'Absolute would be the best choice for my wedding.
Chris is so organized and on top of his business that he made me feel very comfortable and reassured that my wedding would be perfect. He is sort of like a event planner and caterer in one! He even took care of setting up my candy table (which was over 26 glass jars of different kinds of candy) which was not something he provided. He made sure to coordinate with my venue designer, florist, and DJ. He was on top of every detail of my reception and also helped to make it extra special without it causing me to break the bank.
Chris was so confident that I trusted him completely to take care of anything that might come up at my reception. I did not, nor did my parents or guests, experience or know about anything that went wrong (any maybe nothing did since Chris is so on top of things). He is beyond professional and was so flexible with his time to meet with me. While he is a busy busy man as he should be with such a great catering business, he still was able to make me feel like my wedding day was the most important thing to him.
It is also very important that I tell you how good his food is! The appetizers, salad, dinner, and also wedding cake were amazing. Everyone at my wedding made a point to tell me how great the food was, how much food there was (nobody went home hungry and several people got second helpings), and how great the bar service was. Chris helped us design our bar menu/liquor choices and his staff was incredible too! Everyone left our wedding full and happy with the service!
My wedding really was perfect and it is all thanks to a really great caterer! I would use D'Absolute for other functions in the future and wouldn't even think to go with anyone else! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

I worked with Chris at my wedding a few weeks ago at the NewBerry Library. He was great and his staff was excellent... everything went perfectly. The food was amazing, people were very happy with food... Excellent choice! More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

D�absolute catered my wedding at the Newberry Library on December 12, 2009. We were very happy with all aspects of their service. Chris is friendly, professional and responsive. We contacted him on the recommendation of the Newberry event planners. We actually had two (free) tastings. The first was just my husband and me. We liked him and the food so much that we signed him on the spot. A few months later, my mother in law was in town and wanted to try the food, so Chris arranged for another tasting.

We had 4 passed appetizers and then a plated dinner, which included salad, chicken stuffed w/ asparagus and topped w/ a red pepper sauce, potatoes and green veggies. Chris also did all of the linens, plates/glasses etc, and service (wait staff and bartenders). Everyone at the reception loved the food (especially the roasted red pepper sauce) and thought that all of the staff was very friendly. There was barely a wait at the bar � which is saying something about how fast the bartenders made drinks b/c our group is full of crazy partiers. (We bought the alcohol directly from Binnys for a huge savings). The whole event went so smoothly and everything was on time.

They even did more than I expected � serving wine during dinner even though we didn�t discuss and setting up the centerpieces. I made the centerpieces myself and had hired a friend of a friend to act as DOC, setting everything up. But Chris and the staff made her job so easy � they set everything out.

I did comparative pricing before booking Chris. I don�t think Chris would want us to disclose our pricing, but it was a great deal. D�absolute is really the best deal in town � fabulous food and service for a great price. I would definitely recommend using D�absolute catering for your wedding. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We worked with Chris at D'Absolute for our wedding at the Newberry Library a few weeks ago (Sept 6, 2009). Chris is GREAT to work with and you cannot beat their prices. He is very professional, responsive and we were very pleased! Good food too! They did everything we asked them to do and we had a long list of requests! It might not be as "fancy" as some caterers but it was just what we were looking for. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire

We were very pleased with D'Absolute catering. Chris was extremely accommodating as we kept changing our minds on everything, and the value was great! He was very professional, the food was great, and the service impeccable. This is a very reasonably-priced catering business, and I would not hesitate to hire them again for other events. More...

Reviewed on WeddingWire