Meet The Family Behind Wellington’s Popular Italian Dining Spot Agliolio

Story by Mike May  |  Photos by Frank Koester

Not all Italian restaurants are created equal. In fact, some are truly a cut above the rest, such as Agliolio, a family-run group of restaurants with two locations in Wellington and one in Boynton Beach.

Billed as “a fresh take on Italian,” Agliolio’s original location is in the Wellington Plaza, with others on State Road 7 near Trader Joe’s and on North Congress Avenue in Boynton Beach. This Italian eatery aims to make every guest’s experience an outstanding one, which is why customers continue to return on a regular basis.

The husband-and-wife team of Jeff and Donna Duelfer started Agliolio in October 2009. Sadly, Donna passed away in 2022, but Jeff — whose professional background included more than 30 years in the restaurant industry prior to opening Agliolio — remains involved as the CEO. Daily operations are in the capable hands of daughter Stefani Eberhart, who serves as the company’s president, and her husband Nick, who serves as CFO.

Agliolio remains a true family restaurant because of the influence of the late Donna Duelfer, known as “Momma Donna.” She was once quoted as saying, “We want people to enter as guests and leave as friends.” That philosophy remains in place.

“My mom loved to cook and entertain. To this day, we are using my mom’s recipes, and our restaurants are her legacy,” said Stefani, who has worked at the restaurant since the day it opened.

Stefani was the restaurant’s first server and first bartender. At first, she had a day job running a pre-school in Royal Palm Beach and would show up at the restaurant at night. Now, she’s primarily focused on the three restaurants, her three children, her husband and the sizable staff that keeps everything operating efficiently.

“Each employee at Agliolio is truly like a member of our family,” Stefani said.

She knows that the reputation of the three restaurants is on the line with every salad, appetizer, side dish, entrée, drink or dessert that is served, as it was when her parents were in charge.

“We maintain a strict focus on each guest, every visit,” Stefani said. “We try to embody my mom’s presence in the restaurant. She mingled with the guests and got to know them. And we train our team to do the same.”

Clearly, Momma Donna’s presence is still felt at Agliolio, which continues to thrive in South Florida’s challenging and highly competitive restaurant business. It took time and effort to get to where the restaurant is today.

“In the early days, we pounded the pavement through nearby communities, introducing ourselves and handing out takeout menus, inviting guests to visit,” Stefani recalled. “We rose early on Saturdays and Sundays to set up booths at local green markets, then cleaned up and rushed back to the restaurant, hoping to see familiar faces for dinner. Somehow, it worked.”

Today, the Agliolio family takes pride in being an active contributor to the communities they serve, acting as a business partner to many local schools and donating thousands of dollars of food and gift cards to schools and community organizations each year.

The restaurant’s name — Agliolio — is a blend of the Italian words “aglio,” which means garlic, and “olio,” which means oil. Stefani noted that nearly everything on the menu at Agliolio, with the exception of desserts, is made with garlic and olive oil.

Since it first opened in 2009, Agliolio has successfully catered to the wants, needs, desires and appetites of the customers who have walked in the door in search of a classic, tasty, affordable and memorable Italian dining experience.

Keeping with the times, Agliolio offers guests convenient options of dine-in, take-out and delivery. They also have a busy catering division, so if you want a memorable Italian meal for your special event, Agliolio can make it happen. And if you want to buy an Agliolio dining experience for a friend, then gift card purchases are also available.

At Agliolio, the staff, from the employees preparing the food in the kitchen to the servers interacting with guests, truly work together as a team to create a memorable dining experience for every customer.

“We train our employees from the back door to the front door,” Stefani said. “Our team understands that the dishwasher is one of the most important positions in the restaurant.”

One of the most frequently used adjectives on the menu is “fresh.” At Agliolio, the mozzarella is fresh; the vegetables are fresh and locally grown, when possible; the calamari, Scottish salmon and Littleneck clams are freshly caught; the beef and Dutch veal are fresh; the garlic bread is fresh; the chicken is fresh, all-natural, and antibiotic- and hormone-free; and it’s all prepared using California-grown, fresh, non-GMO heirloom garlic and first cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil.

And as for the pasta, it doesn’t arrive in a box. “We make fresh pasta every day,” Stefani said.

It’s made by hand using 100 percent semolina, and sautéed to order with scratch-made sauces. At Agliolio, there are 10 types of pasta to choose from: angel hair, spaghetti, penne, cheese ravioli, linguini, fettuccini, fusilli, spinach linguini, whole wheat fusilli and conchiglie.

For those who want a gluten-free alternative, there’s chickpea pasta, fresh potato gnocchi and a vegetable medley. The highly customizable menu also caters to individuals who are vegans, vegetarians and gluten sensitive.

Meanwhile, there are 20 hand-crafted sauces that you can choose to accompany your pasta, such as marinara, pomodoro, pesto and Agliolio. Two of the newer ones are creamy scampi and creamy fra diavolo.

As you would expect, the thin-crust pizza is second-to-none. There are three types of 10-inch pizzas — original, caprese and white. And to make each pizza personal and special, you can top it off with any combination of 14 toppings.

To accompany your meal, the wine list is hand-selected, the cocktails are hand-crafted with premium liquors, and even the complimentary water service is special, as it’s pure, crisp, chilled and has been filtered five times.

To end your meal, Agliolio offers a selection of award-winning, hand-crafted desserts, which includes zeppole, cannoli chips, chocolate lasagna and tiramisu. Enjoy them with one of eight Lavazza coffee and after-dinner drinks.

Overall, you can probably visit the restaurant every day for a month and not have the same meal twice. When they talk about having endless “pasta-bilities,” they mean it! The menu at Agliolio has depth and diversity, and everything is delicious and delectable.

In keeping with being a true family restaurant, Stefani and Nick try to maintain a family tradition of dinner every Sunday night at the original Wellington Plaza restaurant location with their three children — Bella (13), Blake (9) and Bria (7).

After all, Agliolio’s reputation was built on family dinners, with Momma Donna’s vision of entertaining patrons as though they were guests in her own home. And when you dine at Agliolio, you’ll feel Momma Donna’s presence in their consistent focus on “each guest, every visit.”

Agliolio is open for lunch and dinner every day of the year with the exception of Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The restaurant opens daily at 11:30 a.m. and closes around 10 p.m.

The Agliolio locations in Wellington are at 12793 W. Forest Hill Blvd. in the Wellington Plaza (561-798-7770), and at 2803 South State Road 7 (561-619-5544). To learn more, visit www.agliolio.com.