Smokin Pit Bbq Catering - Madera

The atmosphere is wonderful, and the barbecue is fantastic! This is a locally owned family restaurant where the owners genuinely care about their customers. You can tell they are dedicated to creating a great experience. I will definitely be returning!

We hired Smokin Pit to cater a large event for 100 guests and paid a deposit. However, just two days before the party, we couldn't reach anyone to finalize the arrangements. After several attempts, we finally received an email informing us that, due to a family emergency, they could no longer fulfill their commitment. Fortunately, we found another caterer, Maw-n-Paw's, who did an outstanding job on such short notice. Our event was in May, and we are still waiting for our deposit to be refunded. Communication with Smokin Pit has been sparse, and though they promised us a refund check, it has yet to arrive. We are now contemplating legal action to recover our funds. This experience has convinced us that Smokin Pit is unethical and untrustworthy. I strongly recommend avoiding their services!

Finally, we inquired about the cancellation policy, and suddenly we got a reply! In her response, she informed us that our deposit was non-refundable, a detail that had not been mentioned in any previous emails or on our invoice. She also asked if we were thinking of canceling, which we hadn’t considered until we received her email regarding the deposit. Additionally, she neglected to respond to our request for a food tasting. We replied, expressing our need for improved communication and clarified that we were not considering cancellation if we could just sample the food. Since this was for our wedding, we were very much looking forward to working with them. We received another email apologizing for the lack of communication, confirming that our deposit would be refunded by June 23, 2015, and that we should expect it within 14 business days. Now, a month later, we still have not received the refund. We’ve sent several follow-up emails and made countless calls, leaving voicemails with our contact information, but we have not heard back. While I fully support small family-owned businesses, this experience has been incredibly disappointing and has made me hesitant about such establishments. I strongly advise against using them as caterers to avoid similar issues.

I had the pleasure of using this business in 2013, and I was very impressed. They were responsive, prompt, friendly, and provided excellent service. Their catering is also very affordable! They do an amazing job of accommodating large groups and events. You can't go wrong with this family-run business!