Celebrating another Fantastic Year at Rinuccini

As 2016 comes to an end, we have been reminiscing about the year that has just gone by and the previous 27 years spent here in the heart of Kilkenny City.

We always strive to give a memorable dining experience and place a real emphasis on providing excellent customer service. This was recognised in 2015 when we were awarded ‘Excellence in Hospitality’ at the Glanbia Kilkenny Business Awards 2015 and  ‘Best Customer Service’ in Kilkenny for the Irish Restaurant Awards 2015.

We 152_European Restaurant-Orla Cavaliere, Riccardo Cavaliereare delighted to say that we have continued to receive recognition for our service and food offer this year. We were thrilled to have been awarded Best Wine Experience in Leinster at the 8th annual Irish Restaurant Awards held in Dublin in May. The Irish Restaurant Awards, known as the Food Oscars, are the largest and most acclaimed industry awards, set up to recognise excellence within Irish restaurants.

The year was topped off with a fantastic win at the Kelling’s Gold Medal Awards for Ireland’s Best European
Restaurant. It was such an honour to have been chosen from such an exclusive list of world class restaurants and this award has made us more determined to continue to be the best.

 

Italian Food and Wine throughout the Year

In November we hosted an exciting dining experience with Marco Gavioli, owner of Cantina Gavioli in Tuscany and a long time supplier of Rinuccini. He paired his exclusive artisan wines with a special seasonal menu created by Chef Antonio. The ‘Taste of Tuscany’ evenings saw a delicious seven-course tasting menu featuring Tuscan inspired dishes paired with wines of the region. Marco Gavioli was on hand to introduce his award-winning wines which are renowned for using classic Tuscan vintner’s traditions, along with cutting edge wine-making techniques to make exceptional, high quality wines, exclusively available at Ristorante Rinuccini, Kilkenny.

We have built fantastic relationships with our Italian wine suppliers over the past 27 years and now offer numerous114_0003 exclusive fine wines from Italy, imported directly to the restaurant.

Our commitment to local suppliers is as strong as ever and as such Rinuccini now features on Bord Bia’s new
interactive map featuring 65 award-winning restaurants across the country. The Just Ask map allows diners to easily locate award-winning restaurants close by for a meal featuring the best of local Irish ingredients.

Restaurant Refurbishment

We closed the restaurant for 10 days in March to undertake an extensive refurbishment of our three dining spaces and to introduce a new state-of-the-art kitchen suite hand-made in Switzerland – all induction, open-plan style, giving the team of chefs more space to create our renowned Italian fare

The restaurant now features an new open, viewing area into the kitchen from the bar, while the bar area has been extended, with a number of exclusive Italian aperitivo and digestivos.

The dining spaces have been completely refreshed, brighter paint, new carpets, new art work of Italian landmarks and beautiful new tableware from Milan.  The lobby entrance has also had a complete makeover with hand-made Georgian tiles in keeping with the restaurant’s beautiful Georgian architecture.

Looking ahead to the New Year

114_0084 (1)As 2016 draws to a close; we are delighted to say that it has been our busiest and most successful year to date! We broke all our own records this year, both in terms of customers and turnover, we’ve increased our staffing and while doing all of this we have managed to maintain the highest possible standards. 2016 was a milestone year for us, and much of our success can be attributed to the investment we’ve made, the extensive refurbishment we undertook in March of our three dining spaces, and state of the art kitchen had a massive impact on our business.

So where to in 2017…well some might think with the success of this year we could take our foot off the pedal, but it’s quite the opposite in fact. We will keep striving to be the best we can, and continue to beat our own standards. Also as part of my new resolutions, I’ll be remembering to engage constantly with customers, both old and new, because they are the heart of our business.

May we take this opportunity to wish you a prosperous New Year and we look forward to welcoming you soon to Rinuccini.

Christmas Opening Hours-

  •  Closed Christmas Eve- 18:00
  • Re Opening Tuesday, December 27th- 17:00