They came hungry.

La Dolce Casa in Tamaqua donated hundreds of meals to the community last Saturday.

“We’ve had a lot of support from the community and customers,” said owner Alfie Picone. “That’s why I like to give back, I like to give back as much as I can.”

Picone’s restaurant prepared rigatoni with sauce, chicken Parmesan, meatballs and bread.

“Some people showed up around 10 a.m. and I couldn’t make them wait an hour and a half, so we started early,” Picone said. “We gave away 350-plus dinners. We prepared for 300, but with a few cars coming before the time, we went over another 50 dinners, which was OK with us. I couldn’t say no.”

La Dolce Casa, also known as DiMaggio’s, posted on Facebook a few days before the giveaway to help make the public aware.

“It went so smooth. My fear is that it would have been jammed with traffic. I want to thank the Tamaqua Police Department … we took six parking spaces and allowed six cars to pull in and we had seven people bringing food out curbside - right to your car.”

La Dolce Casa is open for pickup and delivery. Picone encourages customers to order through the “Slice” app.