‘You have to do new things’: Arlington Heights restaurant expands with private event spaces

Toscana has been doing things the old way — like the baked clams, homemade pasta and made-from-scratch sauces — to keep longtime customers coming back to the restaurant’s west side Arlington Heights location for the past 15 years.

But owner Murat Murati also knows you have to innovate to bring in new people and grow the business.

The restaurant at 1859 W. Central Road recently completed its latest expansion and renovation: a backroom with bar that can host private parties of up to 60 or serve as overflow dining space. It comes a year after Murati opened the 4,000-square-foot International Banquet hall next door for small- and medium-sized parties of up to 150.

Quality, service and reasonable prices are “why I’m still here,” said Murati, who attributed a bustling carryout business for keeping the restaurant afloat during the pandemic.

But, he acknowledges, “You have to do new things.”

“The restaurant will support the banquet, and the banquet will support the restaurant,” he said.

The banquet hall is inside the gutted former Sam's of Arlington restaurant space, which closed after 34 years in November 2020 at the height of the pandemic. It was only months later in July 2021 — still, a precarious time for mom-and-pop restaurants — when Murati came to the Arlington Heights village board seeking approvals to expand next door.

He knew people would again need a place to go to celebrate baptisms, graduations, anniversaries and weddings, and hold business meetings, funeral luncheons and other private functions. The niche is smaller-scale special events.

“It took some confidence,” Murati said. “We really know this area. I know what’s out here. I know the prices that other people are charging and I know what service they do. We’ve got a lot of need around here for the mini-banquet hall.”

A family-style luncheon starts at $34 per person with bread, butter, cheese, salad, pasta, chicken, potatoes and house wine. Prices go up to $90 for dinner and other fare, including meat and fish combinations.

Murati says he and his longtime staff bring the philosophy of personalized service to both the banquet and restaurant operations.

“We pay special attention. We treat it like a restaurant, but it's a banquet hall,” he says. “You know when you go to those banquet halls you can barely see any server walking around. Over here, we take pride in what we do.”

Back over next door at Toscana, Murati is there at least six days a week running the front of the house. His 22-year-old son, Sani, an Elmhurst University student, helps out as a server and host and has introduced social media marketing to the family business. Brother Frank Murati, the executive chef, oversees five cooks in the kitchen.

They have a strong stable of regulars: people who walk over from the Arlington Heights Senior Center and Clearbrook just doors away, judges and lawyers from the Rolling Meadows courthouse, and doctors and nurses from Northwest Community Hospital.

In a shopping center bordered by homes on three sides and a golf course across the street, “We are a little in hiding here,” Murat Murati admits.

“But when people come in and see it and try the food, then they’re stuck with us,” he added.