Best Italian Food In Our Lives
Landini Brothers Restaurant was the perfect venue for the rehearsal dinner for our wedding. The restaurant accommodated our 55 guests in the charming upstairs Wine Room. To quote my mother, “It was the best Italian food I’ve ever had.” The restaurant’s manager/event coordinator, Ashlie Dolce, was an excellent partner who helped me craft a menu and an Italian dining experience for our guests. My wife and I consider Italian cuisine our favorite, and we wanted to give our guests the experience of a multi-course, full Italian meal. We will be visiting Italy during our honeymoon, so we also wanted to give our guests a taste of Italy. Ashlie helped us craft a “best-of-tour” menu featuring our favorite Italian foods: fresh-baked bread, olive oil, pasta, caprese, fresh meats and seafood, tiramisu, cannoli, and fresh fruits. She also guided me in selecting several outstanding house-label wines, which paired perfectly with each course. Beyond providing the serving space for world-class food and wine, the Wine Room was a perfectly sized space for our guests. It was equipped with a bar and had a beautiful, perfect ambience. Working with Ashlie on the event experience and logistics was exceptional. Her staff helped coordinate setting up small décor, made great suggestions on how the timing of when courses would be served, and helpfully provided accommodations for guests with food allergies or dietary restrictions. One of our guests, who is both allergic to gluten and dairy (e.g., pasta, cheese, cream!), told us that she was “in heaven” as she enjoyed her food that evening. To this day, I don’t know how an Italian restaurant managed to make a guest so happy without being able to serve staples such as pasta, cheese, or cream, but Landini Brothers did so without sacrificing an outstanding quality of food. Finally, Ashlie made sure that everything stayed within budget. She helped me set up a flexible “pay-only-what-you-open” arrangement for alcohol while making suggestions on how to best save money (such as purchasing by the bottle as opposed to the glass) and arranging for a cap on alcohol so that there wasn’t an accidental overrun of budget (which ended up not being hit, and so stayed within the max budget). My wife and I couldn’t have asked for a better rehearsal dinner experience, and we have Landini Brothers and Ashlie to thank for it!