At-home catering brings the kitchen, the chef, and the service team to your home. Private event catering does the same work at any venue you choose. Personal Touch Dining handles both. Our most-requested at-home formats are interactive cuisines: action station catering with a chef cooking on a portable grill, BBQ with plating at each dining station, plated dinner parties with restaurant-level service, and brunch parties with omelet stations and mimosa service. For private events at venues across San Diego County, the same team handles setup through cleanup. We have been catering private events here for 37+ years.
Four things that hold true on every private and at-home catering booking we run.
Our most-requested at-home format is interactive cuisine, where a chef cooks in front of your guests instead of in the back. Build Your Own Italian pasta station, poke bars, Mediterranean Kabob stations, Teppanyaki dinner parties where each course gets cooked while guests watch. The food becomes the entertainment.
Full-service at-home catering means we bring the equipment, the chef, the servers, and the cleanup crew. We use your kitchen for prep when it suits, set up portable induction burners and convection ovens for cooking, station hot holding equipment for service, and arrange the bar in the spot that works. The home looks the way it did when we arrived. The dishes are washed, the kitchen is clean, the trash is bagged and removed.
Beyond the interactive cuisines, our private catering covers plated multi-course dinner parties with restaurant-level service, brunch parties with omelet stations and mimosa service, milestone birthday celebrations, anniversary dinners, and intimate at-home weddings for smaller guest counts. The format scales from intimate 8-guest dinners up through backyard parties for 80.
We have catered private homes and private venues across San Diego County since 1988. The kitchens we have worked range from estate properties with full chef setups to standard family homes with apartment-sized kitchens. The team adapts to what your space offers and brings what it doesn't. Discretion, cleanliness, and respect for your home are part of how the work runs.
The three formats that cover most private catering bookings we handle across San Diego County.
A chef arrives at your home with a portable grill, proteins, vegetables, sauces, and the full setup for interactive cooking. Action table catering with steak, chicken, shrimp, and vegetarian options on the grill. Teppanyaki dinner parties with sequenced courses cooked in front of guests. Each station seats 10 to 15 guests; larger events use multiple chefs working parallel stations.
Plated multi-course dinner parties with a chef in your kitchen and servers handling table service. Family-style spreads that put platters on the table for sharing. Station receptions with passed appetizers and a bar setup. Brunch parties with pastry trays, omelet stations to order, and full mimosa and bloody mary service. Works for milestone birthdays, anniversaries, intimate weddings, baby showers, and gatherings where the host wants restaurant-level food and service at home.
Full-service catering for private events at the venue of your choice: country clubs, private estates, community spaces, outdoor properties, and dedicated event venues across the county. Same team, same standards, with menu and service mode built around the venue’s setup. Includes full bar service, rentals coordination, and end-to-end staffing.
At-home catering means a chef cooking in your home, servers handling your guests, and the team taking care of setup, food prep, service, and cleanup. We bring the equipment we need, use your kitchen for the parts that fit, and leave the home clean. The host stays with guests instead of running the kitchen.
A private chef typically comes to your home, prepares a meal for you and your family, and may or may not handle service or cleanup. At-home catering is for a hosted event with guests, where the team includes a chef plus servers, bartenders if there’s beverage service, and a captain coordinating the timeline. Both models work; we do the second.
Korean BBQ at home uses tabletop grills set up at each dining station. The chef preps marinated proteins (galbi short ribs, bulgogi beef, pork belly, chicken) ahead of time, sets up banchan side dishes (kimchi, pickled vegetables, pajeon, namul), and walks guests through the cooking. Guests cook their own meat at the grill while socializing. The format works especially well for smaller dinner parties of 8 to 16 guests.
Yes. Small dinner parties are some of our most common at-home catering bookings. The team for that size event is typically a chef plus one server, with the chef cooking in your kitchen and the server handling table service. Plated multi-course dinners, family-style spreads, and intimate station receptions all work at this scale.
We adapt. For homes with limited kitchen space or older equipment, we bring portable induction burners, portable convection ovens, hot holding equipment, and refrigeration. The team walks the home before the event to figure out what’s available and what we need to bring. Apartments, condos, and older homes all work.
Yes. Brunch at home is a regular booking type, especially for milestone birthdays, baby showers, and morning gatherings. Setup typically includes pastry trays, fresh fruit displays, an omelet station with a chef cooking to order, mimosa and bloody mary service, and a staffed coffee bar. We can also bring a waffle station or breakfast pastry chef for larger events.
Pricing depends on guest count, menu style, service mode (plated, buffet, interactive cooking), staffing, bar service, and any rentals. Pricing varies by booking, so we provide custom quotes instead of flat rates. Send the date, guest count, where you’re hosting, and the kind of menu you’re picturing, and we’ll build a quote within a few business days.
At-home catering works for events from 8 guests (intimate dinner party) up through 80 to 100 guests at properties with the right outdoor space. Beyond that, we usually recommend a venue with more service flow. The team scales accordingly: a chef and a server for 10 guests, a full crew of 8 to 12 staff for an 80-person backyard event.
Send us the basics: the date, the guest count, where you’re hosting (your home or a venue), and the kind of menu you have in mind. We’ll respond within 24 hours with menu direction, service mode recommendations, and a clear picture of how the day will run. For hibachi at home, Korean BBQ, or plated dinner parties, mention the cuisine direction in your note so we can match you with the right chef from the start.
Prefer to call? Reach us at (858) 638-0672
