But Shteiwi said the new location at 4444 Hamilton Middletown Road in Liberty Twp. inside Hamilton Elks Lodge No. 93 offers an opportunity to serve a nonprofit organization that boasts more than 900 members.
“There are more chances to grow here because we have a banquet center that comes with the restaurant and it seats over 200 people,” Shteiwi said. “We’ve been doing a lot of golf outings and weddings and (that’s) just more revenues than we expected.”
Renamed The Spinning Forchetta (which is Italian for “fork”), the restaurant serves numerous Italian specialties, making its own sauces, meatballs and lasagna in house, all from longtime family recipes.
Shteiwi said he’s modified them over the years so “nothing is the same as when we started,” but each tweak is meant to improve a dish.
The most popular items at the Spinning Forchetta are Fettuccine Alfredo, Spaghetti & Meatballs, Chicken Parmigiana and Mama Nella’s Lasagna, named after Nella Leriche, who died in 2015 after 35 years working at the restaurant.
He said he and his sister, Laila Alghanim, never considered replacing or removing anything on the menu.
“These have been our specialties for 40 years. We’re not going to change it,” he said. “If a customer walks in here and sees one thing off the menu, they will notice.”
The banquet center menu features not only Italian dishes, but American dishes, as well.
He said support from returning customers, including Fairfield City Council and Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, has been “overwhelming.”
It means “a great deal” to the members of Hamilton Elks Lodge No. 93 to have a restaurant with a proven track record occupy the space where several other restaurants have come and gone, according to Don Bickel, the chairman of the trustees for the lodge.
“I’ve known Laila and George for a number of years … and for them to bring that quality of food and service to our lodge, means a lot to our members,” Bickel said. “We as a lodge don’t have the ability to provide that service and that quality of food to them.”
Having a restaurant in the lodge allows people to come in from the outside and see its golf course and facilities, he said.
“It gives us a chance to increase our membership,” Bickel said.
For more information, call 513-226-7300 or visit www.spinningfork.net.
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