La Piastra

Use this business for catering often at work and the food gets rave reviews every time! It really is a home cooked meal! The chicken Marsala is delicious, awesome vegan and gluten free items, always something for everyone! The food is always seasoned perfectly. Sweet mashed potatoes are the only other kind I like besides my mothers! (Don’t tell her!) I would highly recommend the pulled pork! Delicious! And the strawberry spinach salad is so good it’s like eating candy! The staff is extremely professional and great! A must!

I wish I could write the noises of enjoyment that were made while eating our meal from La Piastra tonight. I had googled «gourmet to go near Middletown, CT» and La Piastra came up, I was looking for BBQ pulled pork and mac and cheese for my fiancé and I as a kind of special at home dinner. Lo and behold, both of these items were available. I emailed Lauren before the shop opened to see if these items were available for the day and she replied almost immediately offering to put one of each aside for me to pick up later. The shop was easy to find and really cute! In addition to the meal, I found the Chocolate Bomb dessert. It could not have been easier to make (the meal), just preheat the oven and cook both at the same time! The pork was delicious, it was an authentic BBQ, not like a pre bottled sauce. It was sweet but smokey and savory and SO tender. The mac and cheese was perfectly balanced, not too salty not too bland, and that container served us both seconds plus we have enough for sides for tomorrow night. Now the Chocolate Bomb… OH MY GOD. This has got to be the most delicious and decadent dessert we’ve ever had. This is a layer of chocolate chip cookie, then a layer of oreos, then a layer of SLIGHTLY undercooked brownie, topped with chocolate ganache. I’m sure I missed an ingredient there but it is like, the greatest combination of sweetness. We are SO glad that it’s so big because we have most of it left still since it’s so rich. We will absolutely 100% be going back to La Piastra on those nights we don’t want to cook but we want to be fancier than pizza. THANK YOU LAUREN!!! We have found a new staple for delicious dinners!

Where to begin? Lauren the owner is a sweetheart and is a joy to work with. We recently used this caterer for a work function and the rave reviews just keep coming! John, her longtime chef is not only a great chef but he is organized and he arranges the food in a lovely fashion, not just thrown in the foil pans. Food looked as great as it tasted. Everything had a card with the name of the dish for the buffet which always helps.
We ordered several dishes for our buffet lunch including incredible sides like garlic mashed potatoes to die for, green beans almondine that were so perfectly cooked and seasoned for a change that people actually had seconds on GREEN BEANS! Nothing worse than mushy veggies and these were crisp and delicious enough to send folks back up to get more!
Now on to the entrees. We had two chicken dishes (francais and piccata) both of which were rave quality. We had a chili-​pineapple beef brisket that was killer… so tender and yummy! The vegetable lasagna was a HUGE hit (my personal favorite) as was the penne marinara and her salad dressing is so fantastic one of my co-​workers said she would «drink it straight» if she could! Now that is some good dressing! Her yeast rolls were so fresh that people were asking where to buy them!
Round this off with her fantastic cookies and brownie bites and you have a room filled with very happy people! Many of my co-​workers said it was our best luncheon ever and we have used some very nice caterers in the past.
Lauren, keep doing what you are doing. I know I will be calling again in the future for any of my catering needs. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

La Piastra catered a brunch buffet for my wedding in September and we had about 30 guests. The reception went perfect and food was delicious! The chef prepared the food beautifully and our guests raved about the apps, brunch buffet, and desserts.
I really appreciated La Piastra’s excellent communication and wonderful food suggestions. We would definitely recommend La Piastra to our friends and family.

I cannot say enough great things about La Piastra’s fresh and absolutely delicious food. I work right around the corner and this has been one of my go-​to lunch spots for a year and a half now. Everything is made from scratch, super fresh ingredients and not once have I ever had a complaint about anything that I have gotten. Some of my all time favorites: stuffed bell peppers, spicy black bean and walnut burger, their potato salad (seriously, amazing), and just recently their lettuce wraps. OMG. The lettuce wraps. I can say confidently that I have never had lettuce wraps this good anywhere else. Hopefully they will keep this on the menu for a long time, I think it’s going to be my #1 pick for a while!
They have an ever evolving menu, but if you ever want anything, you can just call them up in the morning and tell them what you would like and they will make it for you! Seriously folks, doesn’t get much better than this. On top of that, they have freezer ready meals that you can grab on your way home should you need pre-​made dinners (lasagnas, raviolis, etc).
I love this place. Thank you La Piastra for always being so fresh!

Delicious food, a little overpriced though

My wife picked up some food for valentines dinner because we both work during the day, and I had some meetings later last night and she didn’t want to spend all night cooking.
The convenience factor is definitely there, however, the portion sizes are small for the price.
$ 16 for approx 2 cups of seafood risotto, which had maybe 4 31−40ct shrimp, and a handful of bay scallops.
$ 6 for butternut squash soup, roughly 12 oz.
The food was tasty and reasonably fresh. But if i wanted to drop $ 22, i’m pretty sure I could find a restaurant to serve me soup & risotto for that price, and not have to do the dishes afterwards.
I guess i could have heated & served everything in the containers they came in, but tinfoil doesn’t really ooze romance…

This place has quality take out, but none of the selections really get me me wanting to come back often. The staff is very friendly, and offers samples when you walk in. Your meal prices can add up quickly, and I often find that after purchasing salad, meal, sides, and entrée’s, it’s almost double the price of most local restaurants.

What a find! My sister-​in-​law introduced me to this wonderful food right after we brought our baby home from the hospital and cooking dinner was out of the question. I just wish we lived closer so it could truly become our go-​to food for those nights we don’t feel like cooking. Everything — from salmon with orzo and spinach salad — to the specials like crab stuffed sole to all the sides are prepared in a way that heating them up at home cooks them to the perfect taste. Yummm!

La Piastra is an oasis in a desert of fast food in Cromwell. Why would you want to eat a #2 from McDonalds or KFC when you can stop in at La Piastra to get homecooked food that is tasty, good for you (they carry gluten free items), and wonderful all around!
Lisa, the owner, is almost always in there greeting you at the door with a sample of some of their items. I almost always end up buying whatever the sample is.
Word of the wise, if you haven’t had their apricot chicken salad it is a must for lunch!
I have catered with them, and by far it was the easiest part of planning my meeting. I called up Lisa, told her how many people we had, picked some things off the menu (she guided me towards the chicken salad… THANK YOU) and I was good to go. The day of my meeting, I pulled up and paid. In the box (which they carried out to the car for me!) was cutlery, plates, mini water bottles, a chocolate chip cookie plate, and everything neatly stacked and organized with bread on the side. PERFECT. It was a hit (we were entertaining some European folks at our meeting and they LOVED the lunch!). I will not think about going anywhere else to cater from now on!

We had never tried La Piastra, but from their website, the menu looked pretty extensive and sounded great. We were not disappointed! We had some half trays and also some appetizers, and there were nothing but complements on all of it! The vegetable lasagna was jammed with veggies, and the Chicken Parm was so tender. Yum! Highly recommended! We will definitely use La Piastra again for our next party.

La Piastra has a great selection of delicious food. They have selections for kids, vegetarians and those on a gluten free diet. They also have a great selection of delicious desserts. I like that each item is clearly labeled with a list of ingredients. The staff is friendly and knowledgable of their products. They also have an item to sample daily. I enjoy the strawberry spinach salad, the chicken artichoke lasangna and the whole wheat penne with chicken and broccoli. It’s a great change of pace when you don’t have time to make dinner and don’t want to settle for fast food.

La Piastra is a hidden gem!
Located behind Mortensen’s Ice Cream on Shunpike Road, La Piastra offers pre-​made dinners for catering or take out. Their selection includes appetizers, salads, entrees and dessert — always with a hot sample when you go in the store. The people at La Piastra have always been extremely friendly.
As a father of 3 girls, my wife and I don’t always have the time to get out on the weekends, so La Piastra is perfect for date night at home. Yesterday, my wife and I purchased the Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia with Maple Mashed Sweet Potatoes, along with the Green Beans Almondine, Multi-​Grain Bread and Brownie. We covered the meal with tin foil and put it in the oven for 20 minutes, and it was ready. My wife and I were amazed at how the tilapia tasted — crunchy and flaky — and the sweet potatoes were phenomenal — sweet but not too sweet. It was just as good (probably better) than a restaurant meal and very simple to prepare. The meal easily fed both of us, and the entrée costed $ 12.
We have also had the Salmon with Orzo many times and have always been pleased.
Overall, La Piastra provide restaurant quality pre-​made dinners for a reasonable price. Highly recommend!