An Italian restaurant in Carrickfergus has walked away with two prestigious awards at one of Ireland’s top hospitality events.
Castello Italia at 28 Scotch Quarter in the town, was presented with both the Best Italian Restaurant in Ulster title and the coveted Best Italian Restaurant in Ireland gong at the YesChef Awards 2020 run by NI Media.
This is the second time the business has received the Best Italian Restaurant in Ulster award but this is its first time to take the all-Ireland title.
Fisnik Ujkaj,General Manager at Castello Italia, credited the wins to the efforts of the team at the business.
He said: “We invest a great deal of time and effort into ensuring we deliver an excellent dining experience and winning these awards wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic team. We have a wide range of expertise at Castello Italia and it’s this collective insight and wisdom that comes together to create a fantastic dining experience that people want to enjoy time and time again.”
The gala event, which was attended by over 500 guests from some of the most respected restaurants in Ireland, awarded 24 establishments and restaurant professionals at a ceremony held in the Radisson Blu Hotel and Spa in Sligo.
Shane Smith, Managing Director of NI Media, said their mission is to promote the hospitality industry across Ireland and to shout about the achievements of those who work tirelessly to deliver fantastic experiences for their customers.
“The YesChef Awards are the highlight of our year and it is both a pleasure and a privilege to deliver these awards to the deserving winners. Each and every one of our finalists has been visited by an experienced researcher and to recognise the quality of their visitor experience our researchers have awarded the YesChef ‘Great Food Here’ quality mark,” he added.
Castello Italia, which opened in 2017, was born from a passion for Mediterranean cuisine. Its goal is to offer classic flavoursome dishes synonymous with Italy in a relaxed cafe and restaurant environment set across two floors and overlooking Belfast Lough.
From creamy gelato and wholesome lunches in the cafe area to pasta, pollo and Prosecco in the refined restaurant setting, Castello Italia’s menu has been attracting the approval of restaurant-goers from Carrickfergus and beyond.
Its menu changes seasonally ensuring visitors are consistently inspired by the talent and experimentation of the chefs there.
Mr Ujkaj says the business’ recent awards will set a new point of reference for the team to exceed time and time again.
He added: “Awards of this nature are very useful as they allow us to benchmark our offering against that of other restaurants and this can be a really insightful process. The needs and wants of customers are continually changing and it is critical that we keep up to date with the latest industry developments.”
This is not the first time Castello Italia has been recognised for its dining experience, the restaurant also won the acclaimed Restauranteur of The Year award at the Institute of Hospitality Northern Ireland Awards for Professionalism in June this year. It was also a finalist in the Hospitality Management Team of The Year category at the same event.
For further information check out https://www.castelloitalia.co.