Excellent food very nice and accommodating Family have had many experiences with this place

profesional people! for anything, good dealings with people to give a budget they know how to work! don't stop doing it with them! thank you so much read more

Thank you to Kathleen and her crew for a wonderful Women's History Month celebration luncheon experience at the Glenview Park District. We are a non-profit working on a budget and Kathleen worked diligently with us to come up with a tasty and filling menu & serving format that perfectly met our needs and enabled us to reasonably price tickets. With her years of experience in the business, Kathleen was able to find ways to trim the budget without sacrificing quality. Our event had a fabulous turnout and we're still getting compliments for those who attended re: the food and service. read more

The best food we're ever had at a wedding, delicious and as it included beef and chicken it was enjoyed by all.

Hired Refined Dining to cater our wedding at The Redfield Estate in Glenview just this month and was extremely satisfied with the food quality, presentation and service for a long cocktail reception after our ceremony. The owners are accommodating to dietary needs, take great care in the cuisine they provide and were very responsive to surprise requests during the food service. It is almost an added bonus that for great food and presentation we found costs extremely reasonable and flexible to our tight budget while still hearing our guests rave about the taste and volume of food for a cocktail party. Don't just throw a random list of food items at these owners and file a quote in a folder of caterers; make a list of your wants and bring to a meeting with them. Sit down and really listen to what this husband and wife team want to provide for you. read more

Kathleen and Guido catered our wedding on 10/20/19 at the amazing Grove Redfield Estate and exceeded our expectations in every way! This is a wonderful family business that pays meticulous attention to every detail of their excellent service. Kathleen was completely responsive and helpful in menu planning and discussing every detail of how she would manage the event and delivered exactly as promised! She acted as a wedding planner in many ways, pointing us in the direction of some great vendors. Guido's food is exquisite; we went for a tasting before we hired them and were completely seduced by his sauces made from scratch and by how he lovingly and creatively approaches every aspect of every course. This is not your typical wedding food. Our guests went out of their way to tell us how much they enjoyed our feast. Thank you so much! read more

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. read more

Guido and Kathleen catered my wedding because I knew from working for them as a waitress for about five years. It really says something when you want a caterer to do your wedding AFTER you've seen how they prepare it/treat customers/charge people. They are genuinely honest people. They say they have a problem with people going with other caterers because they are so inexpensive that people assume the quality can't be good enough. However, they feel strongly about charging what they feel is fair. (In my opinion, they could double their prices, still beat their competition and be more than fair...) As for the food: amazing. Guido was the head chef at the Ritz Carlton in Chicago before he left to start this business. Everything is exquisite. The salmon in puff pastry appetizer is a huge hit at every single wedding/party, as is the brie/apricot in puff pastry. For dinner, I LOVED the pasta stations and the crepe station. We did a buffet style because years of doing this showed me that this was the best way to keep all guests happy. We did a sit-down salad though so that while people waited to be called to the buffet, they had something to eat. The rolls that Guido buys are amazing too. The two things that really matter for a fun wedding (other than people who are right for each other!) are the music and the food. Nobody really remembers the flowers, chair covers, favors, etc. I STILL get comments, five years later, from people about how it was the "best food I've ever had"! For the record, they are one of 17 or so caterers who are cleared to work at the Kennilworth Club, and one of only 2 of those that "use" the kitchen, as in, cook. Everyone else uses frozen commercial foods. Guido makes everything fresh and healthy and Kathleen keeps the servers clearing glasses, passing appetizers, etc. I cannot say enough to illustrate the high quality of the food and the genuine concern that Guido and Kathleen have toward making your event everything you had hoped for. read more

Kathleen was wonderful through our whole wedding planning process. In the planning stages, she broke down how catering is typically billed and pointed out areas where we could save money by cutting back on redundancies or by providing food or equipment ourselves. She also listened to what we envisioned and worked within our price range to make the reception happen. She was also helpful in suggesting other vendors for our wedding based on the venue (The Grove) and our needs. The food at the reception was delicious and guests kept coming up to us and telling us how good the food was. Kathleen and her husband were readily available throughout the night and were very helpful. The only hangup during the reception was a minor one. The bartenders were perhaps not fully prepared for how many, let's say "professional-grade" drinkers were in attendance and seemed to be a bit overwhelmed. I honestly do not fault them for it though; serving drinks to our guests would have been a tall order for any bartender! In any case, the team was able to make it work out with no complaints from the guests. You honestly cannot go wrong with Refined Dining for your event. From the initial planning to the after-event settling up you will be happy with the experience. read more

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! read more

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. read more

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. read more

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. read more

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! read more

We hired Refined Dining to cater our wedding a few weeks ago, and they did an amazing job! They were great from the very beginning. While I was shopping around, they were the only company to follow up with me to see whether or not I had made a decision. I was actually ready to go with another company that I wasn't too excited about but I thought was cheaper. After talking to Refined Dining again and re-checking the other company's quote, I realized that Refined Dining was significantly cheaper! They always remembered my name throughout the whole process and went out of their way to personalize everything for us. My theme was a rustic country wedding, and they added biscuits for the dinner rolls and little pigs in blankets for appetizers. The whole staff was extremely professional and efficient. The food was a buffet style that included a pasta station, champagne chicken and beef carving station-it was delicious and people are still talking about it! There was plenty of food for everyone and second helpings. The wedding turned out to be magical! Refined Dining was perfect in every way! read more

Refined Dining was amazing! The food was great, everyone complimented us on our pick of caterers. We planned our wedding very quickly and Kathleen had great ideas for us. The service was awesome. They ran everything perfectly and were very organized. We had our wedding at the Grove and many tables and things need to be moved and set up several parts of the evening. You would never even know it was happening. They moved the night along beautifully. My husband and I are also vegetarians and they made us a special meal as we were serving meat to our guest. They really go above and beyond and the pricing blows away the other caterers. We were on a budget and thought we would have to settle in a few areas but it was the complete opposite. I will recommend them to everyone I know and definitely use them for any event we have in the future! Refined Dining is great and made our day that much more wonderful and stress free! read more