Personal Chef To Go vs Home Bistro

Personal Chef to Go has been a part of the meal delivery marketplace for over 15 years. Their goal is to bring healthy meals to your home that only require three minutes in the microwave, with no need to spend any time shopping, cooking or planning menus.

This company seems to have limited their options over the past few years. Originally, they offered menus for individuals, couples, and families. At the time of our most recent review, this meal delivery service only offered the following options:

• 5 meals per week: $78
• 8 meals per week: $118
• 10 meals per week: $138

The per-serving costs of these plans are much higher than almost all of the meal delivery services we reviewed.

For most addresses east of the Mississippi, delivery is free. Meals ship on Thursday and arrive on Friday or Saturday; there's no opportunity to change your delivery schedule.

All meals are delivered fresh, but Personal Chef to Go says that they'll stay fresh in your refrigerator for 10-12 days.

We don't love that Personal Chef to Go makes prospective customers give them their email address and zip code to find out more about their meal plans and pricing. Once you've done that, you have to decide if you want the Chef's Choice, where they pick their most popular meals for you each week, or Your Choice, which lets you pick which meals match your taste preferences. Those preferences are set using the filter, allowing you to eliminate meals that have fish, gluten, pork, shellfish, beef, soy, dairy, or tree nuts. Each week's menu only has 12 options, so if you are looking for 10 meals a week but you don't eat shellfish or fish, you may not have very much to choose from.

We also were less than impressed with the experience of using the Personal Chef to Go site. The photos of the various meals weren't appetizing, and none of the meals had customer reviews to see what real people have thought of them after they got them home and on their plate. One plus is that each recipe has very clear nutritional information, from calories and sodium to a detailed ingredient list.

The one very positive thing we found about Personal Chef to Go's meal delivery service is that customers like it. Although there aren't hundreds of reviews available, the ones we did find were almost entirely satisfied - with the food quality, with the delivery, and with the convenience of having meals delivered to the home or office.

On the whole, however, Personal Chef to Go gives you fewer options at a higher price. You're likely to find one of our higher-ranked services a better fit for your budget and for your tastes.

Home Bistro offers delivery of freshly-prepared, frozen meals. They have a good variety of options, including Meal Combos, SUPERBowls, Individual Meals, and Chef's Choice selections. All meals are designed to be boiled in their bags, but easy microwave instructions are included so that your food will be ready in 10 minutes or less.

Pricing varies depending on the plan you select. For example, you can get 10 meals in the Chef's Choice plan for $134.99, 20 meals in the Table for Two collection for $259.99, or individual meals starting at $16.29. Examples of Home Bistro's meals are Artichoke-Lemon Steak with Vegetables, Mediterranean Tapenade Salmon, and Roasted Harissa Shrimp with Gratin.

Although they don't make it easy to find, the filter function lets you sort available choices by dietary preference, such as paleo, diabetic-friendly, or gluten-free. Look for the "Filter" dropdown towards the top left once you've selected your category, like Meal Combos or Individual Meals.

What's Home Bistro's refund policy? There is none. "Home Bistro has a strict no-refund policy due to the nature of shipping perishable meals." That's a far cry from their competitors, who state emphatically that they want their customers to be satisfied, no matter what, and who offer to replace or refund anything that is less than excellent. Home Bistro's approach is to tell customers that they can email their support address within 24 hours if they have any issues. That's not an acceptable way to handle customer problems.

And, you can expect problems with Home Bistro. When nearly 100% of the reviews say things like "poor customer service", "horrible quality food", and "disappointing in every way", it's no wonder that the company hides behind a policy of "all sales are final".

When we looked at Home Bistro's contact page, we found that they have an alternate name: Dinewise. Dinewise's reputation across the web was equally disappointing.

Although Home Bistro has been around for a while, their reputation is lacking, especially when it comes to how their food tastes. We're confident that you'll have a better experience with a meal delivery service that is committed to their customers' satisfaction.

Best Meal Delivery

To help you find the Best Meal Delivery, TopConsumerReviews.com provides you with an in-depth comparison of Personal Chef To Go and Home Bistro.

Who is the best Meal Delivery company? Are you looking for a way to simplify dinner after a long day at work? Using a meal delivery service has become an easy way of getting nourishing, flavorful food on the table without the hassle of grocery shopping.

Of course, the most popular reason for using a meal delivery company is the convenience. Customers love being able to order their favorite entrees, side dishes, or even appetizers and desserts, and to choose how much cooking they'd like to do. Some meal delivery services are reheat-and-eat, while others provide you with all of the ingredients you need to create a restaurant-quality meal in your own kitchen.

As these services have grown in popularity, the types of meals and plans has expanded as well. Has your doctor recently put you on a special diet, and you're not sure how to incorporate it into your lifestyle? Whether you're adapting to a diet that's low in carbs, diabetic-friendly, or even gluten-free, you'll find a meal delivery program that can help.

Are you interested in becoming a vegetarian but unfamiliar with how to create a balanced meal? Once again, there's a meal delivery service for that - use it for a few weeks to get ideas of lunches and dinners that you can recreate, or for as long as you like as you adapt to your clean, green way of eating.

As you consider which meal delivery service is best for you, you'll quickly see that they vary greatly when it comes to price, preparation, and types of food offered. Keep these criteria in mind as you decide which company fits your needs:

• Reputation. What do past and current customers have to say about the meals they received and the overall experience, from ordering to delivery?
• Cost. What will you spend for the meal delivery plan you choose, whether you opt for a la carte entrees or regularly-scheduled weekly or monthly shipments?
• Variety. Does the meal delivery provider have an appetizing range of flavors and cuisines to choose from? Will you be able to select meals that you'll actually want to eat?
• Satisfaction Guarantee. If you're unhappy with the service, the quality of the food, or the condition of the meals at the time of delivery, can you get a refund or a replacement?

TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best meal delivery services available today. We hope these reviews help you find the service that puts the food that you're craving on the table right away!