Why it is all worth it...

I have copied below an excerpt from a recent customer email. This was written by a father from Detroit, whose son lives in Alpharetta and celebrated his 30th birthday with us last night.

Here is the email:

"Thanks to you and Sugo, my son Jason's birthday dinner was an absolute triumph. He was blown away by the wine, the food, the service and the friendliness. He could not get over the fantastic finish of the CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino. He is relatively new to the world of wine - about the last five years - but both he and Cas were exclaiming that it was the best wine they had ever tasted. But aside from the wine, he will always remember the overall experience - a triumph of true Italian hospitality. I was dismayed to read in your blog that the Johns Creek location was presenting you with a challenge. I sincerely hope that you succeed in turning it around. Your philosophy is right on. Earlier in my newspaper career (like 35 years ago), I used to review top level restaurants, and, unfortunately, only a few had chefs de cuisine with your passion. It is an emotion very much missing in most of today's restaurant scene. It may be a year or so before I get back to Atlanta, but the first place we'll head for is the Johns Creek Sugo. Feel free to excerpt and share this message any way you want. And again, thank you for taking a personal interest and making my son feel special and treating him like a guest rather than a customer. Considering that we have never met, it was an incredibly generous gesture for you to take such a personal interest -- mille grazie -- Matt Fiorito"

When you work morning till night, six days a week in your business, these are the kind of comments that keep you going, and give you renewed energy to continue the pursuit of excellence.