Dear Kathleen & Guido,

You were amazing! The absolute highlight of the evening. Pretty much every person who talked to us said that the food at our wedding was the best they have ever had. It was a nice change from typical wedding food. We are so grateful for all that you did to make our day such a success. We will refer you to other engaged couples.

Kathleen, Guido & Crew,

Thank you so much for the wonderful catering you provided at our reception. Everything was just perfect, and the guests really enjoyed the food-- the crepes were a big hit!! Thank you for all your hard work.

My wife and I had our wedding catered by Refined Dining and we were extremely impressed with them. They were willing to work with us and serve the food we ordered from one of our favorite restaurants in Chicago. Kathleen was very helpful in the months and weeks leading up to the wedding and she and her crew worked so hard at the wedding to make sure that we were happy. The tables were set so beautifully and exactly the way we wanted and the food was presented very well as well.

The price we were quoted and the final price were simply the best out of the 4 or 5 places we checked in with, and neither of the other caterers wanted to serve food other than their own.

Prior to the wedding Kathleen met with us twice (once at the venue: The Grove in Glenview, IL) and helped with deciding where everything should be placed. It was clear that Refined Dining has a lot of experience catering weddings. They also had quite a bit of experience catering multicultural weddings as we are Polish and Kathleen already knew a lot about how thing should be done at a Polish wedding.

We highly recommend Refined Dining for any event as they are very helpful and professional people.

We have enjoyed several events catered by Refined Dining and they are not only extremely professional in every way, but sensitive to their clients needs. The food is delicious and service excellent. I receommend them to all family and friends.

They did a fantastic job catering our wedding. Their food is amazing and the staff is efficient and helpful. Kathleen was always available to discuss logistics and offer advice. Best of all, they don't charge absurd prices like most caterers.

Kathleen and Guido were really fun to work with. Our first interaction with them was quite interesting. Kathleen seemed unprepared for us to show up at her house. It was not a great first impression but after sitting with her and her husband for two hours, we were sold. They really care about their work and worked with us a lot to make sure everything was perfect. Kathleen is difficult to get a hold of by email which was frustrating for me as I was working and in grad school, so email was sometimes the best way to talk as I would work all day and then have class at night. Once you had her on the phone though, you were her number one focus. The only other critique I would have is that we had three vegan diets in our wedding. We gave them advanced notice on that and I was disappointed with the meal they came up with for those guests. It was just pasta with red sauce and a salad with no dressing. They had plenty of notice, and I thought they could at least make them side veggies that weren't in butter, or dressing with the salad. Everything else was fantastic though. Service, food, and rentals were wonderful!

We hired Refined Dining to cater our wedding in late July 2014. We got married at The Grove Redfield Estate in Glenview and Refined Dining is one of their preferred caterers.

Initially, we emailed Kathleen and put together a preliminary quote and menu. We then met with Kathleen and her husband Guido in their home. They were friendly and provided us with tons of advice and options. Having worked The Grove for years, they were very knowledgable and we were able to benefit from their experience. As we finalized our menu and wedding details, Kathleen was responsive and professional. We actually ran into her while walking around the venue a few weeks before the event. She just happened to be at The Grove and she took the time to confirm everything was on track. On our wedding day, the food and service was excellent. Guests raved about the bow tie pasta and the desserts were delicious. They even came around all the tables and offered up seconds.

We were fortunate that've a perfect wedding and Refined Dining played a major part in making our big day magical.

Kathleen and Guido with Refined Dining are salt of the earth! I worked with them at the Kenilworth Club and can testify that they do a great job at weddings and events. They have a passion for food and go out of their way to make clients happy. They also happen to be kind and thoughtful people who have been in the business for many years, which makes a difference when you are spending a small fortune on food for your wedding.

Kathleen von Aulock and her chef husband, Guido, have a contagious passion for preparing and presenting fresh food. We had the reception at The Grove in Glenview in part because of the extensive kitchen available. Guido definitely did not want to prepare the food and then deliver it in hot boxes like many caters do, he wanted to prepare the food on site. We had delicious appetizers and a wonderful pasta bar that our guests raved about. We didn't hire a wedding planner and really didn't need one because Kathleen gave us numerous helpful suggestions and reminders as we planned and re-planned the meal. Kathleen and Guido were wonderful to work with. We highly recommend them.

I am at work today, and rather bored, so I decided to review the most loved and most hated places I can think of. :-) So glad I happened to think of Refined Dining, and so sad to see I am the one and only reviewer! We hired Refined Dining for our wedding, three years ago. We had it at The Redfield Estate at The Grove in Glenview. The Grove was amazing, our tiny wedding party was amazing, our ceremony was heaven, but it would not have been the perfect experience without Refined Dining. I am Italian, so food was a HUGE part of my wedding planning, and I spoke with so many caterers my head was spinning. I was so put off by the high prices and obvious low quality of most corporate-style caterers. Also, having to buy the preset 'packages' was not working for me. The staff at The Grove recommended Refined Dining as they have worked parties there for years, so I gave them a call. My husband and I were immediately impressed with their obvious desire to understand what was important to us, their ability to give us a custom menu, and the assurance that all of the food would be cooked ON-SITE at the event. I was shocked to hear that! And they did all of this at HALF the price of any other caterer I spoke to. This included all of the table settings, linens, clean-up, service, etc. All of the stuff that normally makes a catering bill 50% higher than you expected was included. And the MOST important thing - the food was AMAZING. We had a carving station, a pasta station, chicken marsala, salads, breads, etc. All manned by the chefs themselves and presented beautifully. The appetizers were also made fresh on-site and were unbelievably delicious. Our guests were already raving about them and couldn't wait for the meal. Three years later, we STILL get comments about how wonderful the food at our wedding was and how impressed they were with the service. Let's face it, what people tend to remember the most is the food, and it's usually remembered because it was god-awful pre-made and reheated hours before your dinner is served. Do yourself a favor and see if Refined Dining could suit your wedding/party needs - you will definitely have an event people will HAPPILY remember!

Dear Refined Dining,

Thank you so much for making our special day so wonderful. We were so happy with the delicious food and amazing service. Our guests couldn’t stop talking about how much they loved the food. Thank you for taking the time to plan with us and for making the day so memorable. I only wish I had eaten more!

Dear Kathleen & Guido,

Thank you so much for making our wedding so special. The food was really incredible, and your staf did an amazing job making sure everything ran smoothly, It was really a pleasure to work with you. Thank you for making the catering process so easy, and being simply wonderful people. All the best.

Dear Kathleen & Guido,

I wanted to thank you for the lovely meal that you prepared for our wedding. We were impressed with the food-it was phenomenal!!!

Even more phenomenal was your amazing hospitality and how comfortable you made us feel.

Sincerely,

Dear Kathleen & Guido,

Many thanks for all the hard work and preparation that made our wedding dinner so memorable. We can’t tell you how many people commented on the quality and uniqueness of the wonderful food! We and our guests were thoroughly impressed with your professional team of people. The attention to detail and personal service was mush appreciated! We look forward to to having another chance to use your talented services..

Warmest regards,

Dear Kathleen & Guido,

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for your outstanding services for my client’s wedding.

Over the years I have worked with several caterers, but non of them put as muchdedication and care into the wedding couple as you do. I truely appreciated your efforts to understand the couples’ needs and wishes and tailor each event.

The compliments on the food are continual and I am amazed at the freshness and outstanding quality of your finished products. At both weddings we received such compliments as...

“Who is this caterer- I must have their information.”
“This is the best food I haver had at a wedding reception”
“”How fun to have a pasta bar- I can get just what I want.”

I look forward to working with you both for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Dear Guido & Kathleen,

You lived up to our greatest expectations. Our guests had a wonderful time our daughter’s wedding. You wee efficient and friendly, and the food was fantastic. Thank you for all the attention to details.

Best wishes for your continued success.

Dear Kathleen & Guido,

Thank you and your wonderful family for everything you did to make our wedding day just perfect! The food was absolutely amazing! Our guests are still talking about how delicious everything was. You really outdid yourselves. We couldn’t have been happier!
We had a wonderful night.

Love and laughter,