Elite: Listen to La Nonna!

Great event! Good music, intimate setting, got to meet some very cool Unilocalers! The service kept the wine flowing and the dishes coming. My favorite samplers were the garlic bread and DESSERTS. Oh, the desserts…

What a wonderfully cozy and fun evening filled with excellent food and even a surprise guest (LaNonna herself… and let me say how incredibly spry she is for her age!). The owner of LaNonna, Mario, could not do enough for us. The food was prepared beautifully and served at an enjoyable pace. The restaurant itself is warm and inviting and overall this was one of my favorites! I will definitely be back for that lobster ravioli!!!

Rarely do I give 5 stars but La Nonna’s really deserves it. There’s so much to be pleased with. Ambiance, waitstaff, owner’s and of course the food. Garlic rolls were scrumptious, lobster ravioli was to die for and the Salmon… Lord have mercy, the Salmon dish was divine. I can’t wait to go back. It’s definitely like having dinner at a good friends house.
And guess what else is great? The bathrooms are clean. Omg. I shall return with guests and blab about it to others.
Love you La Nonna’s

La Nonna is an absolutely delicious place. There isnt much else I can say that everyone else hasn’t. My favorite dish was the Chicken Bascaiola and the Lobster Ravioli. The Antipasto al Forno was an amazing appetizer. Oh who am I kidding… everything was fantastic. The food, the atmosphere, the dessert. EVERYTHING!
Thank you Heidi and Thank you Mario & La Nonna!

Absolutely Fantastic!!!
Another great Elite event. This event was at La Nonnna Italian restaurant in Norcross. It as small family restaurant on the corner of a shopping center off of Peachtree Parkway that I pass a million times over the years. I arrived late to this event. I really did not check in since I was the last person to arrive and was looking for Heidi… but Ben (ATL CM) greeted me and seated me and my friend. The restaurant is small and the event had most of the whole place.
Seconds later I saw this old elderly women came towards us and greeted me and my friend. Honestly it took me a minute: I am like WOW its Heidi dressed as «La Nonna Unilocal». She did a awesome job in her costume and fooling almost every one and make us feel welcome and explaining we did not miss much and giving us detail about this establishment.
The restaurant set a side a separate menu for us consisting three appetizers, four entrees and three desserts. The food was served my Mario, his son and a staff member. The food was cooked by Mario’s wife in the back. Since I was a Hour late the only thing I missed was the Appetizers. Talking to the guest at my table there favorites were large grallic rolls and Antipasto al Forno that consist o breaded claims, shrimp, artichokes and stuff mushrooms.
My favorite entrees were:
–Chicken Boscaiola consist chicken breast with tomato, bacon, spinach, shallots served over fattuccine.
–Lobster Ravioli consist real lobster filling and a house made vodka sauce
–Salmon Picata consist broiled salmon served in butter sauteed spinach lemon and white wine

The desserts…
Now the I only had two of the three desserts. Ben and one of the staff were serving the Cannoli that were great. They were smaller then the ones in some people might be used to, but taste just as good. I manage to get some of the house made cheese cake with strawberry and raspberry topping. It was to die for. And I am not a huge cheesecake eater, but I will eat that again. Now did not have the tiramisu it was gone
in seconds, but I heard a positive response from the others .
In addition to the food there was live music played .Last Mario handed every one secret coupons for a visit back. Mine was free appetizer with a meal or something .
Over all I would thank Mario and his staff putting together a great meal and service.
Ben thanks for helping the ATL OTP.
Thanks Again Heidi a.k.a «La Nonna Unilocal» for putting together another Awesome elite event and finding local gems that we would never notice or just pass by.

Terrific fun event at La Nonna! Owner and staff were extremely attentive and gracious. Mario put together an amazing sampling of some of the entrees featured here, and then topped it off with 3 different desserts. My favorites were the garlic rolls and the desserts. My husband declared it the best cannoli he’s had, and he’s a cannoli freak! I liked the tiramisu the best… creamy, flavorful, not soggy… it was good. The array of food we got to try was such a treat (knew I should have worn a dress)… Think I walked out sideways to get through the door! They even had live music, which was awesome. Thanks for such a special treat… great to know about this restaurant for when I’m in Norcross :)

1 word. Deeeeeeeeeeeelicious.
I absolutely adore this place and have already convinced an Italian food lover for dinner soon. :). I don’t know how many times I’ve passed this place to go shopping at the Forum and never once thought about it. Thank goodness for this wonderful Unilocal Event to give me the opportunity to support a wonderful mom and pop’s place.
The atmosphere is sweet and cozy, definitely a much nicer place than the usual mom and pop’s. The owner, Mario was wonderful and very personal with the dishes. I love the fact that they simmer their tomato sauce for 6 hours, the canned sauce is dead to me. I didn’t come home with indigestion and heart burns — thank you.
Everything that was on the menu for that night was absolutely wonderful. I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of Italian food, only because it’s topped with so much cheese and canned sauces to masked the non authentic dishes… but I sure do love me some spaghetti and meat balls.
My favorite has to be the eggplant rollotini, the crunchy home made breadcrumbs, the al dente pasta, the tomato sauce… and the list goes on. The lobster ravioli stole my heart that night… They used real lobster meat and their sauce is probably the best cream sauce I’ve never tasted. It’s perfectly seasoned, not salty and enough creaminess that isn’t over bearing. I could totally sop up that sauce with the garlic rolls and be the happy fattie that I am.
Thank you Unilocal for introducing me to try this place which otherwise I would never have visited. It’s by far one of my most favorite event and Heidi, you are sweet and hilarious. Thank you for making it a fun and welcoming night!

I had so much fun at this Unilocal event! Being a new mom, I haven’t been able to attend many elite events so I was really excited to attend this one!
I arrived at the restaurant promptly at 7 with Priscilla C.,(my plus one) and the place was already packed with Unilocalers! After checking in with Ben at the front desk, we helped ourselves to a glass of wine then sat down. Heidi came by in her super cute outfit to greet us and the first appetizer was brought out shortly after. It was delicious! I’ve been to La Nonna’s several times before but I’ve only tried their lunch buffet so I was so glad that Unilocal hosted an event here.
I really enjoyed everything I tried that night. I was kinda sad that our table was somehow forgotten when the Veal Pizzaiola came out though. I didn’t even realize that they served that dish until I read some of these other reviews. No worries though because I was super stuffed from everything else! Some of my favorite dishes were the shrimp and stuffed mushrooms from the Antipasto al Forno app, the garlic rolls, the lobster ravioli and the tiramisu! Yum!
It was definitely a great night! I got to try many different delicious dishes and met several new people. Thanks to the very accommodating owners and staff at La Nonna and a BIG thanks to Heidi, Ben and the Unilocal staff for putting together such an awesome event! I love Unilocal

Awesome event. Loved meeting Nonna ;) I really enjoyed that this was a bit different. The sit-​down dinner felt very intimate and I met some great new Unilocalers because of it.
I loved the way the food was presented. Everyone had a chance to try all the featured items. And, oh that cannoli. So yummy.
Great job Heidi. Can’t wait to come back and try some more goodies. And what a clever idea to hand out cards that can’t be opened until the next visit. Love that!

Great Elite event at La Nonna!
Between Heidi as «La Nonna,» the entertaining musician, the wine and/​or the great food, it’s hard to determine which truly represented the best aspects of this Unilocal*event. This homestyle Italian restaurant produced a top-​notch meal with many appetizer, dinner and desert courses (and honorable mention to the owner filling wine glasses!) over several hours of food orgy-​like bliss. It’s hard to add to the comments already provided — instead I’ll save the food evaluation for the restaurant review itself.
Kudos to Heidi and the Unilocal*staff at a very successful outing. Looking forward to the next. Photos uploaded soon…

One hell of an event for sure. When was the last time that we had a 3 hour pure food event? Was it long? Nope, you didn’t even realized it. I had a blast from the moment we sat down till the time I left. Heidi, you have overdone yourself on this one. Every passing event, it just gets better. How are you going to top yourself on this one now?
There were a lot of new faces at this event and got a chance to talk to some new people, make some new friends. This is what Unilocal is all about here. Table seating was a bit awkward at first since there was so many people and we did kinda overbooked, but that’s never a bad thing, I welcome all Unilocalers.
And you can’t forget Heidi’s costume. LA NONNA!!! Amazing, she also has the best kisses*
From wine to food, even the constant plate changes! Who does that?! I’ve never had to change my plate after every dish, you know wussup when that happens.
My thoughts about the best dishes: garlic rolls, salmon picata, tiramisu. The garlic rolls were so buttery, crunchy outside and a soft inside with plenty of garlic oil. The salmon picata was served with asparagus and potato wedges. Tiramisu, hands down, best dish of the night for me. Nice and creamy, great flavor, so good, it didn’t last for some people.
Drinks kept coming out, live music kept on coming, and don’t forget that wine. Live music was great. He played the guitar and violin and was just a great addition. Really nice guy.
After all this, we can’t forget Mario. Great person, genuinely a really nice guy. He’s the owner. He came out to talk to us, even took time to talk to us individually. I really appreciate it. He talked about how he opened this mom and pop shop with his wife, how he just opened since December, how he’s trying to do things from the norm and hope that people love it as much as he does. I really appreciate him for having us, treating us so well, even gave us coupons at the end of the night for our future return, he went over the top on this one.
I had a great night, my friend had an even better time seeing how this was his first event, friends had a great night, can we conclude that this was a great event?!
See you at the next one!

Major, MAJOR props to Heidi for putting together yet another fantastic elite event. The venue was La Nonna’s Italian Restaurant, a very lovely «mom and pop» restaurant located in Norcross.
Upon checking in, out of the corner of my eye I saw what I thought was ‘La Nonna’s namesake — an adorable, elderly woman decked all out with her apron, but as she slowly shuffled toward us, offering her kisses*, I realized: Holy crap, that’s Heidi! Amazing costume, and she certainly committed to the role — without a doubt one of the highlights of the night!
The other main highlight of the night was the food — oh. em. gee. — all of the food. It was as Duc L. put it, three hours of pure food: three appetizers, four entrees, and three desserts — not to mention the complimentary glasses of red and white wine. We were in Italian food heaven basically. It was fairly difficult to pick favorites, but I’ve narrowed it down to the ‘Lobster Ravioli, the Eggplant Rolatani, and the tiramisu.
We were served these amazing dishes table by table by Mario — La Nonna’s charismatic owner and his fantastic waitstaff — they were on top of everything the entire night — refilling drinks, clearing tables, bringing everyone new plates and utensils — seriously great service.
Thank you so much to Heidi for putting together such an amazing event and yet again introducing us to a lovely new restaurant — we had such a wonderful experience, I won’t even hold it against her for being Team Nsync,

What a lovely event! This was definitely a night to remember. I think we all walked away with a very intense food coma.
I didn’t expect for us to have a sit down dinner but it was definitely appreciated because we were definitely in for a treat! 10 different entrée samplings which included 3 different kinds of dessert. Wowee… Everything was fantastic from the servers to the food/​dessert itself. It was definitely nice to sit with other Unilocalers and get to know one another. My guest and I sat with Tammi D. and her husband Robert and enjoyed our dinner and drinks.
My favorites were the eggplant rollatini, garlic rolls, and veal pizzaiola. I’m not even a «bread» type of person but loved their perfectly crisp garlic rolls. When asked, our table told the owner, Mario that the garlic rolls could definitely use a bit more «garlic.»
The servers were fantastic at keeping our water glasses filled and the owner himself even filled our wine glasses while the appetizers were being served. The restaurant décor was «cozy» and sweet. It’s a very inviting space and the owner’s wife did a great job. The entire night was pleasant and we all had a great time.
The music was great and the desserts were amazing. I don’t even crave desserts but was fully satisfied with the tasty cheesecake, cannoli and tiramisu.
A HUGE thanks to Mario and his staff at the restaurant, Heidi P., Ben G. and Colleen B.
​Heidi: You looked super cute in your costume last night and we totally appreciated your efforts in putting together such a wonderful event! And most of all, you’ve inspired new Unilocalers to start « Unilocaling» more! Even better, right?!? :)

This was one of the best Elite events I’ve been too so far! Loved every minute of it! Even the live music was perfect! The food, service, hospitality, and beverages were simply amazing! We started with 3 appetizers listed below then hit the 4 main courses also list below. All of these dishes were equally split into 4 for the four people at our table.
Appetizers:
Antipasto al Forno
Eggplant Rollatini
Garlic Rolls
Main Courses:
Chicken Boscaiola
Veal Pizzaiola
Lobster Ravioli
Salmon Piccata
Thank you so much Heidi for putting together such an amazing event (Loved your outfit BTW)! Mario and his wife did an excellent job with the food selections! We all had a great time! I can’t wait for the next event!

free, delicious home made Italian food for 3 hours??? Heck yeah I’ll be there (minus my conscious nagging me about my diet)
I arrived and recognized the shopping center immediately (It is near The Palace (yummy Indian restaurant) and behind an Ihop and directly across from the Target.
I’ve driven by countless times, but never even knew this restaurant existed.
The interior of the restaurant was very casual and homey. There was a large, beautiful fireplace in the middle of the dinning area in the front and that was like the cherry on top for me. It really made me feel like I was eating delicious home-​made Italian food in someone’s house.
We were treated to 3 appetizers: an assortment of clams, shrimp, mushrooms and artichoke hearts topped with breadcrumbs in a light sauce, an eggplant ravioli dish, and garlic rolls.
My favorite was the breadcrumbs, they were granulated in texture that melted in your mouth. If you’ve ever had store bought bread crumbs, you will know the different in texture immediately! We even asked Mario (the owner and he proudly explained that indeed, they were all made in house as well as the tomato sauce — more on that later.
The entrees were a chicken dish, a salmon dish, lobster ravioli and veal parmigan type dish (sorry, I cannot remember their actual names). The chicken and lobster ravioli were my favorites here. The chicken breast was not dry at all! The sauce was this light cream sauce that absorbed the flavors of the bacon so perfectly that it became almost liquid bacon! The lobster raviolis were very generously loaded with lobster (and it was fresh lobster because we got a bit of shell in one of ours, not a complaint. Just acknowledgement that indeed these were not store bought either).
Each dish came out fully loaded and more than enough to feed our table.
Unfortunately, we were weighed down by the amount of carbs and missed out on our chance to taste the tiramisu and the cheesecake, but did get the canoli. It’s different than the other canoli’s I’ve had before which was usually filled with bavarian cream. La Nonna’s was a mixture of ricotta cream, so it was a bit denser and heavier but had chocolate chips inside (like finding a hidden treasure!)
The service was good, but I thought it was a bit tad wasteful to clear your dish after EVERY.SINGLE.DISH. was served. I understand for presentation, it would be nice to have a clean dish, but it’s definitely not a requirement. While the servers were great at refilling drinks, I wish that I didn’t have to ask twice for another glass of wine. After the 2^nd attempt, I just gave up.
During the meal, we were also informed that there is a lunch buffet Tues-​Friday that I am just waiting to jump on when my schedule clears up.
I loved that Heidi dressed up for this event, she totally had me thinking that this quaint mom and pop Italian restaurant had a genuine Nonna to greet us! But according to Nonna ahem, Heidi, I was given permission to go off diet and heartedly enjoy my carb fest (which I so happily obliged!).

Listen to La Nonna! «La Nonna» is Italian for the grandmother. This Unilocal OTP Elite event consisted of a 3-​hour, 10-​dish, seated dinner at La Nonna’s Italian Restaurant in Norcross. La Nonna’s opened December 2011 and is a traditional, family-​style Italian restaurant.
Heidi dressed up as «La Nonna Unilocal» and did a fantastic job, as always, inviting us in and making us feel like family. We had almost the entire restaurant to ourselves. In addition to dinner, drinks (both alcoholic and non-​alcoholic) were on the house and there was live music from a musician who sang and played the guitar and violin. Impressive.
La Nonna’s provided us with a special Unilocal menu for the night. The 10 dishes were:
Appetizers:
Antipasto al Forno — breaded clams, shrimp, artichokes, and stuffed mushrooms
Eggplant Rollatini — eggplant rolled and filled with Italian cheese
Garlic Rolls
Entrees:
Chicken Boscaiola — chicken breast sauteed with a variety of ingredients including tomato and bacon, served over fettuccine
Veal Pizzaiola — veal sauteed with garlic, white wine, and oregano in a marinara sauce, served with pasta
Lobster Ravioli — topped with housemade vodka sauce
Salmon Picata — broiled salmon in butter and lemon white wine sauce with vegetables
Desserts:
Tiramisu
Cheesecake
Cannoli
It was a lot of food. The restaurant was extremely generous. Clams, shrimp, veal, lobster, salmon, wow. Several of us got full halfway through, but we kept eating because the dishes kept coming out. My favorites were the breaded antipasto of clams, artichokes, and stuffed mushrooms. The garlic rolls were great too, just soaked and oozing with delectable garlic oil. Of the mains, I think I liked the salmon picata the best. Healthy.
The desserts were the proverbial icing on the cake. We each got a cannoli. That was more than enough, but then the tiramisu and cheesecake came out. The cheesecake was paired with a fresh berry compote. Good stuff.
This event reminded me of last September’s Unilocal OTP event at Clay Oven /​Dominic’s Pizza in Marietta (
), where we were fed well too. Good food and drinks, great hosts, and fantastic company. It doesn’t get much better than this.
A huge thank you to the owners and staff at La Nonna’s for graciously opening their doors and feeding so many Unilocalers. It was great to learn about this restaurant that I would’ve otherwise not known existed. I doubt anyone left even in the slightest hungry. Thank you to Heidi for putting together what was a magnificent evening and to Ben for coming out OTP to assist. Grazie!

Listen to «La Nonna» and head to this AMAZING restaurant as soon as possible. La Nonna is incredible! Service was great and every single thing I tried was delicious! Some of my favorites were the garlic rolls, lobster ravioli, salmon picata, cannoli, and cheesecake. Honestly, everything was super delicious. And on top of the great meal, they gave us coupons to return. I can’t wait to come back very soon!!! Kudos to Heidi for an amazing event!!!

La Nonna’s went over the top w/​their generosity — hosting the Elite Squad to a sit down dinner incl. 3 apps, 4 entrees and 3 desserts (yes 10 dishes!)… oh and live music from a solo artist who played guitar, violin AND he sang too! What a fantastic event!
My favorite dishes of the evening — Eggplant Rollatini (mmm eggplant!), Garlic Rolls (whoa that garlic oil!), Chicken Boscaiola (I loved the bacon flavor!), Veal Pizzaiola (the marinara sauce was delicious!) and the Cheesecake (best cheesecake I’ve ever had!).
I’ve driven by that strip mall countless times and honestly never take notice who’s in there — other than Panera, Palace, IHOP and Chick-​Fil-​A which have more prominent locations. Thankful this event gave us a heads-​up about this hidden Italian gem. I’ll be back for sure — just slightly sad our table missed out on the gift certificates mentioned in the other reviews. No worries, I’m coming back anyway :)
Grazie Mario, Mario’s wife, La Nonna staff, the musician, Ben G and esp. Heidi P for making us feel very special. And thank you Heidi for dressing up – you certainly won for best Italian costume! :)

What an Elite week this has been! For the second time I was pleasantly surprised and blown away by the level of service and just the overall experience of the event.
Thanks to Heidi/​La Nonna, Mario and his lovely wife for the beautiful presentation of this 7…8(?) course tasting of their menu. Favorites included the lobster ravioli, salmon piccata, and the cheesecake. Oh, and the Cabernet which is a course on its own. La Nonna’s did not disappoint.
I expected this to be another mingle and taste type of event but to walk in and be seated, served and taken care of was a fun surprise. Don’t apologize about the wait on food! That is one thing I enjoy about Italian culture — the leisurely dining experiences and enjoying the company, food and wine. Our table had a great time chowing down and discussing our favorite past events and restaurants in Atlanta. This event definitely earned a top spot.
I’m done eating until Friday. Ciao

«Hey, uh… dad? Grandma says can you turn up the heating? Her feet are cold.» — ParaNorman (2012)
So Goddess Heidi does it again — an amazing event at a fabulous business I had not tried before. And like any great event, I know I will be back again.
Unlike other events, this time we were seated at tables and served an extensive menu of items versus the usual type of event with food where it is serve yourself. It did make for a longer evening, but I don’t think anyone cared. The food was amazing and Mario was amazingly generous with the food, the wine, and even surprise gift certificates at the end of the evening.
So about the food — I was able toe at all but 2 dishes (due to allergies). I loved everything and would probably order any of it again.
Apps:
Antipasto al Forno — shrimp, clams, artichokes, stuffed mushrooms
Eggplant Rollatini — I am picky about eggplant — this was done perfectly
Garlic Rolls — I wanted to eat them all; I was nice and shared
Entrees:
Chicken Boscaiola — mushrooms, bacon, tomatoes, spinach. YUM
Veal Pizzaiola — Zesty marinara sauce — phenomenal
Lobster Ravioli in a vodka sauce — couldn’t eat this
Salmon Piccata — also couldn’t eat this one
Desserts:
Mini Cannoli — who doesn’t love cannoli?
Tiramisu — coffee, chocolate, mascarpone and liquor — I wanted seconds
New York Cheesecake — and I mean really NY cheesecake. Anyone who knows me, knows I rant about this. True NY cheesecake does NOT have a graham cracker crust — and this did not. Creamy, rich, delicious and served with a mixed berry compote. You guys are lucky I did not run out the door with this!
Over all — we are so lucky to get to go to events like this and La Nonna Unilocal (Heidi) made it fun in her costume and handing out kisses and acting a bit «old.» This is why she is so much fun to have as our CM.
Man I’m full — time to pass out and digest. Like the Italians say — Mange, mange!