REVIEWS
Check out what recent clients and guests had to say about their experience with Chef Rene!
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Denielle Waite
San Marcos
Chef Rene was fantastic! Great communication, easy to work with, and accommodating to my dinner party’s preferences. I’m pretty sure he made everything from scratch in our kitchen, including garlic confit for the mashed potatoes. A bonus - he left the kitchen cleaner than when we arrived.
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9/25/22
Dina Toftely
Austin, TX
My husband and I have always wanted to hire a private chef so I surprised him with Chef Rene for our anniversary! While we enjoy all kinds of food, I was born in the Philippines and my husband was raised in the Midwest, so I was slightly worried about a balanced menu for our tastes. Chef Rene was wonderful: he proposed a delicious menu, worked with me on my suggestions, and encouraged us to be open. The results were AMAZING! My husband loved every course and we're hiring Rene again soon!!
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7/10/22
Dawn Hui
San Marcos, TX
Chef Rene did an amazing job as personal chef during our group vacation of 4 families. The meals were delicious and flavorful. Presentation and service were professional, yet conducive to our family meal ambience. We also enjoyed visiting with him and getting to know about his background and plans. He was completely prepared to work in the small VRBO kitchen. Booking, planning, communications, and payment were all very professionally conducted. I would definitely hire him in the future!
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3/24/22
Steph and Dan Hui
San Marcos
With a family of 8 adults and 5 toddlers, we decided to make our family holiday more relaxing by hiring a private chef to handle the meal planning and cooking. We hit the jackpot with Chef Rene. The entire family, down to the 6 year old, were so impressed by the delicious food and the impeccable organization and cleanliness chef Rene left the kitchen after every single meal. Chef’s offerings were all very well balanced, healthy but at the same time special, with some island and Asian flavors. 👍🏻
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3/22/22
Jennifer Felix
Spicewood
As many others have noted, Rene was incredible. We were celebrating our 24th wedding anniversary at an Airbnb and I wanted my husband to experience a personal chef. After contacting a few, Rene stood out above all others. His suggestion for menu and explanation and advice for what works with just a private, two person event was super helpful. The meal was incredible. Everything was so unique and perfectly prepared. I will definitely work with Rene again. Hopefully sooner than later!
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12/22/21
Aileen B
Austin
Chef Rene is amazing! His dishes are some of the best we’ve had—fresh, flavorful and expertly prepared. He went out of his way to make it very special for my husband’s early Father’s Day gift . The Watermelon and Tomato Gazpacho was a new treat that surprised us with all of the different layers of sweet and savory. Our 4-course meal was very satisfying. I couldn’t get enough of his signature crispy carrots! We look forward to our next culinary experience with him!!
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6/4/21
Kat & Paulina
Austin, TX
Wonderful Experience
We had a wonderful experience with chef Rene!!! If you want an amazing, intimate dinner, get him and you will love the night!
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3/9/21
Cuc Nyugen
Austin, TX
Bachelorette ladies loved the food!
We got connect to Chef Rene from one of our girl friends who had a bachelorette dinner cater by him last year. We were happy to have him cook for us and it made it an easier night for us ladies to enjoy games, drinks, and his food! Highly recommend to have him come over to your home and dish out an awesome service!
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3/6/21
Ashlie D.
Austin, TX
Highly Recommended!
Last night was such an incredible evening! @chef.renehelit cooked the most delicious four course meal and it was such a fun and unique experience. Louis found Chef Rene and shared our food preferences and allergies. Chef came up with this perfect menu, arrived with all the plates, ingredients and cooking gear and cooked in our kitchen. Timing was perfect and it made for such an intimate setting. While we were all raving about the delightful flavors, Chef was cleaning up the kitchen and left it looking flawless. If you’re looking for a a fun date night experience, I can’t recommend Chef Rene highly enough. Pricing was pretty comparable to a nice date night on the town, plus babysitter fee.
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3/4/21
Jennifer Baker
Austin, TX
Everything you want in a Personal Chef!
Chef Rene is everything you want in a personal chef—talented, professional, responsive, punctual and most importantly he makes delicious healthy food with big flavour. Thank you, Chef Rene!
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Thumbtack
3/1/21
Louis D.
Austin, TX
Our First Private Chef Experience!
Chef Rene was our first in home private chef experience. We hosted another couple for a casual, fun, kid free dinner party. Chef was great with communication and knew exactly the right questions to ask me as I really didn't know where to start with curating a menu for us and what the vibe of the evening was to be. After a few messages back and forth, chef presented a few different options for our menu. We collaborated and locked the menu down. The whole process was easy yet detailed. The cost was very reasonable. The night of, Chef arrived at the arranged time and was polite, friendly, professional and cordial. Within an hour of his arrival our home smelled amazing and I knew we were in for an amazing culinary experience. Chef brought everything, and was very conscience of social distancing and cleanliness, all we needed to do was have a clean kitchen, empty dishwasher and counter space. He used our stovetop and oven. He had our first course ready and plated at the exact time we had arranged. He served us and described each course, answered any questions we had, and left us to enjoy the course. He then cleared the plates, plated the next course and the night progressed. The food was absolutely amazing. It looked and tasted unbelievable! The courses complimented each other yet stood alone on their own. One of the greatest benefits of the night was my wife's surprise when she went into our kitchen and realized it was even cleaner than before Chef arrived. Our dishwasher was running and the sink was empty. Such a treat when you have 2 young kids and the dishes, cleaning battle is always a battle. We pretty much booked Chef for our beginning of Summer party right then and there. I can't recommend him highly enough. THANKS CHEF RENE!
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Thumbtack
2/28/21
Meghan Swindall Greene
Austin, TX
Chef Rene is very professional, organized, can cook and the presentation of his plates are beautiful
Chef Rene is very professional, organized, can cook and the presentation of his plates are beautiful. If you are looking for a private chef in Austin than look no further.
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2/3/21
Brad Y
Austin, TX
Chef Rene helped us have an amazing 40th birthday dinner.
Chef Rene helped us have an amazing 40th birthday dinner. He was exceptional from the get-go! Very responsive and wonderful to work with. He came up with an island inspired seafood menu after a quick discussion about likes and. dislikes. The menu looked incredible and the meal was absolutely amazing! All 5 courses were top notch. He’s very well organized, let himself in to help with the surprise, served a 5 star meal and then, after quick conversation and getting to know him a little better, loaded the dishwasher and let himself out. Pampering at its finest. We absolutely cannot recommend Chef Rene highly enough.
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Thumbtack
1/16/21
Holly Mace Massingill
Austin, TX
Fabulous keto-friendly dinner for my birthday
Chef Rene made a fabulous keto-friendly dinner for my birthday celebration. The food was delicious and the service was impeccable. He even took the time to teach my son a few tricks of the trade! Would definitely hire again!
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12/13/20
Linda H
Austin, TX
Chef Rene worked with me to come up with a menu of shareable dishes for a birthday dinner
I hired Chef Rene to come to our VRBO house in Wimberley. We rented it for the weekend to celebrate a friend's birthday. There were 6 women. Chef Rene worked with me to come up with a menu of shareable dishes for a birthday dinner last Saturday night. I asked Rene to share some of his previous menus and recipes with me and he graciously gave me tons of options. We also had a gluten free, dairy free friend in our group and although I didn't need the entire meal to be GF and DF, I wanted a good portion of it to be so our friend could enjoy it with us. Rene adapted recipes to work that those restrictions. He arrived on time, wearing a mask, and having provided me with a picture of his temperature taken that morning, brought everything with him, and quietly prepared a lovely dinner for us which was laid out on the table at the scheduled time. He said he had extra carrots on hand so her cooked up a roasted carrot and cilantro soup (not included in the menu) which was delicious. We had cucumber hummus bites, Filipino Lumpia Egg Rolls, Chicken and Shrimp skewers with mango salsa, orange ginger sesame seed salad, and peppers stuffed with a sweet potato veggie mixture. I do not normally write reviews, but everything was absolutely delicious. I worried beforehand whether I ordered the right amount of food, and if the dishes would be stingy and small, but we had a ton of food and wonderful leftovers. I have never hired a chef before and I didn't want someone with a big ego and snobby personality and Chef Rene was none of those things. I highly recommend him to anyone in the Austin/San Marcos area if you would like to have a special meal in your home. Best part is that he and his assistant cleaned up everything so that there wasn't a thing we needed to do afterwards. We all couldn't even choose which was our favorite dish. They were so tasty and well seasoned, a treat for the tastebuds and beautifully presented. Rene is a young chef and eager to please and I cannot recommend him highly enough!
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Thumbtack
12/11/20
Benjamin W.
Austin, TX
An absolute pleasure!
Where to start? Everything about this experience was an absolute pleasure. From the time that he responded to the project here on Thumbtack, to when we said goodbye after he cleaned our kitchen, his professionalism and passion for his craft are very obvious. Rene was in constant communication with us, and worked with us to provide the perfect meal menu for our 10th anniversary celebration. And the food? Simply amazing. The pictures, as amazing as they are, do not convey enough just how blown away we were by the quality and flavor of the food. If you are looking to have a 5 star dining experience without the anxiety of physically going to a restaurant during this pandemic, then Rene is your man!
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Thumbtack
10/12/20
Loren S
Austin, TX
Chef Rene worked alongside our children and had them help with all the sous chef work.
Chef Rene worked alongside our children and had them help with all the sous chef work. They absolutely loved it and were so excited to participate in the dinner prep. He chose a traditional Indian curry, an Indian style salad and a Japanese machine dessert, they ate all of it. It was a wonderful experience and I think Chef even had fun! What a great experience! Thank you Chef Rene!
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Thumbtack
10/7/20
Eli A.
Austin, TX
Meal Prep
Our family wanted to have a personal chef for 2 nights a week and meal prep. Chef Rene was very responsive and super flexible in what we needed. Our lives are chaotic and always changing and he is doing a great job at adapting for us.
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Thumbtack
9/4/20
Joel B
Austin, TX
Fantastic Experience!
It was a fantastic experience working with Chef Rene!!! Very inventive with the menu, extremely responsive to questions and ideas!!!! The food was amazing! We will definitely be using Chef Rene again!!!
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Thumbtack
8/20/20
Amy Traylor
Chef Rene cooked a fantastic 4 course meal during my friends birthday party.
Chef Rene cooked a fantastic 4 course meal during my friends birthday party. Highly recommend- great food, service and five star all around!
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8/20/20
Joanna Callaway
Chef Rene is very responsive and was able to make meals for our family.
Chef Rene is very responsive and was able to make meals for our family. We have a toddler and he ate ALL his veggies!!! Chef Rene is professional and flexible with our menu. We were able to try new foods that we never would have imagined to make ourselves. Thank you for feeding our family. It put less stress on me having to worry about cooking healthy meals while juggling a newborn and toddler!
***Update: 1/02/21***
Chef Rene exceeded our expectations once again and here's why:
✨ We scheduled a 3-Course Dinner with 3 friends
✨ He is VERY responsive and adaptable when creating our menu
✨ We felt SAFE. He texted us his temp beforehand and wore his mask the proper way at ALL times.
✨ Professional and easy to work with.
and obviously...the food was DELICIOUS. We savored each and every bite.
We will continue to hire Chef Rene years to come. I think we found a new tradition
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8/1/20
Susie P.
Fab experience
Had a fab experience with Chef Rene! He was so personable, full of energy and loves his craft. He really bailed us out in a pinch with delicious meals that fit our paleo life. I am super cramped for time/ energy and he just breezed in cooked up a storm and left a spotless kitchen which I really appreciated 🥰
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Dinner Elf
7/8/20
Mary Mclane
Amazing Chef and young gentlemen.
Amazing Chef and young gentlemen. The dishes he prepares come from the heart
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4/21/20
Cassy R.
Great attitude, fun to chat with, cooked great food, and left the kitchen in great shape.
Great attitude, fun to chat with, cooked great food, and left the kitchen in great shape. Some of the recipes were a bit salty, but that's not under the chef's control. I loved the experience overall and can't wait to try out Dinner Elf again!
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Dinner Elf
2/29/20
Molly N.
Fantastic from start to finish.
Rene was fantastic start to finish. He was efficient, friendly, and super capable. My kitchen was cleaned up and 3 yummy meals were in our fridge. Highly recommend!
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Dinner Elf