This was my first time at Fratelli's and I was completely impressed! Â The service is exemplary and the food is fantastic. Â I got the chicken marsala with gluten-free penne pasta and I could not tell that it was gluten-free pasta....it's that good. Â This is now my new favorite restaurant!!
Review Source:I totally love the Oceanside location, and was excited to hear that another was opening up closer to my home.
I met up with a friend to have dinner at the San Marcos location, and it's where the old Bruno's used to be. I was a little bummed when I first walked in because I was hoping to see a crowd which would mean that the new location was doing well. I'm sure it is, they'll just have to get the word out a little so their clientele grows! By the time we had finished with the dinner and drinks the place had filled up so that made me happy. When I first walked in, I noticed the place was HUGE! Much more room than they know what to do with! I felt like the larger part of the restaurant had a bunch of empty space and it kind of made it look unfinished, but I don't really know what to recommend for them to put in.
We sat at the bar and started with a glass of water and a glass of their muscato wine. I'm not a total wino and really only like moscato, and it was really good. I was a little disappointed they didn't automatically bring out bread and dip because I was super starving and had to ask for it after we got our drinks, and even then, they only brought out one piece rather than a basket, like I was expecting. No big deal though, bread was delicious and the dip wasn't too oily.
I ordered the fettuccini alfredo but asked for it without broccoli (says it's in there on their menu) and my friend had the vegetable ziti. It couldn't have been more than a 10 minute wait to get our food which was awesome! I couldn't wait to dive into my plate of pasta, but had to ask for some cheese and crushed pepper. The crushed red pepper was in a shaker but the cheese came in a small condiment bowl thing which was cute, but a little wasteful since I only used about 1/3 of the cheese in there. I know it's more work, but it might save them money and keep them from being wasteful to have their servers grind the cheese at the table to the client's request instead of having it pre-done and then having to throw out whatever the client doesn't use. PASTA WAS SO GOOD! I'm not sure what kinds of adjective to use when describing pasta, but whatever good ones you could think of will most likely be appropriate. Serving size was perfect, texture was great, amount of alfredo sauce in proportion to pasta was on point, not swimming in it! My friend loved her meal too! I had a couple of bites of hers and it was yummy but I had to go back to my pasta ASAP.
We didn't order dessert because we were both too full, but I kind of wish we had.
My bill was $25 for the fettuccini and a glass of wine and included the tip, so it wasn't crazy expensive!
Overall, it was a good experience and I look forward to going back! Definitely recommending it to friends!
I do so want a good Italian restaurant and I had hoped we had one. Â The 3 of us dinned there last night. Â My angel hair pasta was great (4 stars) our grandson's Tortellini Pesto, also very good. Â But my husbands Chicken Parmigina was awful. Burned, dried out, not tender. Â He would not let me send it back, but he could not eat it. Â They brought him a steak knife to start (did they know something???) I did mention this to the waiter on the way out and the guy at the door, so hopefully someone will check those meals ($16.95). Â They had no contact info on their website or I would email them directly. Â Hopefully they will monitor their meals, what a waste of money.
Review Source:Woohoo! A new place to try in Restaurant Row!
I have now been here a few times and both times, have been very impressed. Â The service is very friendly all around. Â These people work hard, and it shows. Â Despite being very busy, they made sure everyone was well taken care of. Â Very impressed.
A couple of highlights here -
The bread. Â Their house bread (free!) with the olive oil dip they give you is amazing. Â The bread is soft with a nice crust. Â Incredibly fresh.
Secondly, the pizza is quite possibly the best I've ever had.  I got their pepperoni white pie  - pepperoni, spinach, garlic, ricotta and mozzarella cheese.  The toppings were plentiful and delicious.  The crust was nice and crisp - clearly handmade. Â
Overall, I'm so glad these guys moved in. Â I've been really craving a good Italian place for awhile now. Â Maybe they aren't the cheapest, but for just a little bit more money, you get food that is 10 times the quality of the OG chain.
So we decided to give this place a try....and well that's all they're going to get.
So here goes..
The restaurant was freezing balls, I'm not sure why they had the thermostat set to such a low temperature..the entire time the vent was blowing cold air..and we weren't the only ones complaining how cold it was.
The staff was friendly and fast.
We overheard the gentlemen behind us complain that his food was bland and cold. He sent it back almost immediately. (not a good start)
Our food experience..
The salad had too much dressing on it. (was a little over priced as well for the portion size)
The pizza was soggy and just overall flavorless (we had the whole 9 yards). Price was ok for what you got.
The bread situation was funny..they bring 1 piece at a time out to you for each plate..and then run away. When we tried to ask for more..it took way too long.. our food came out before the 2nd bread piece.
Unfortunately we won't be going back..atleast not for a long time.
What was I thinking? You ever walk in a place and think you should quit while your ahead and just walk out? Well that happened here but instead of following my instinct.....I stuck around. Let's get something straight. I have been with Mrs.Steve M. for over 20 years. She does not cook, we eat out 5 nights a week and have for more than 20 years. I know a little something about dining out, service, quality of food and restaurants.
Hostess was jittery.....no smooth flow in the seating process despite the place being empty. A few people at the bar, 3-4 tables with patrons.
The menu was not what I expected. I was disappointed here and had the waters not come, I would have exited stage left but I was hungry and already tried another Italian place that was closed and didn't want to go back out on the hunt for another. I could tell that this was not going to be a true Italian food experience the way the menu was put together.
Our waiter was nice but he lacked a few brain cells and was clearly no expert on Italian cuisine. We could hear him struggling to explain the menu and some options to a the table next door. After sitting at the table for .10 min, without him checking to see if we were ready he finally came around. .10 min later, we had to ask for bread from someone else since he didn't bring any. The bread was probably the best part of the meal - besides getting the hell out of here.
We started with a Caesar salad. Waiter said it would come on a plate the size of the bread plates on the table, it actually came larger so I shared it. Nothing amazing going on here. Lettuce, some Caesar dressing which was 'ehh' and cheese (which I held). We also ordered the calamari. 1st wrong move (besides staying). Frozen calamari rings and a few tentacles. Tough wouldn't describe how bad these were. It was like chewing rubber. Don't tell me this was hand battered and fried cause it was not, horrible!
I had the chicken parmigiana (airline style). That's with a little wing hanging off the breast for those of you who don't know what that is. HUGE piece of chicken....kudos there but the taste? Nope! Breading was coming off.....chicken was thick, too thick and should have been hammered out thin and was super dry and tough. Moist chicken cooked properly should still be able to be cut with a fork and no knife. Not the case here. The sauce was no good either, a key element to a good Italian place. It was chunky and thick, too thick. You don't want red water on the bottom of your plate but this was like salsa consistency, not sauce.
The above represents our true experience at Fratelli's on 7/8/13, 8:00pm. Our waiters name was Bobby. Going back? Not a chance. Too many other options nearby within 1-3 miles that have a much better chance of providing a satisfactory dining experience for me. Their other store in Oceanside seems to have decent reviews on Yelp. Not sure what happened with our experience but - there it is.
My family ate dinner here a week ago and it was awesome!!!! Â We have 14 mos old twin boys and the waiters and hostesses could not have been more accommodating to our wild bunch:). Â They offered juice and bread for our boys immediately, which kept them occupied:) The best part was at the end of our meal when our dessert came to the table, but we couldn't enjoy it because our boys were done sitting in their high chairs. We asked if we could instead get our dessert to go, and without hesitation, they boxed it up for us and it was just as pretty in the box as it was on the plate when we got home:)
Also the food and wine were delicious! I started with the tomato and mozzarella salad and then shared the BBQ chicken pizza... The best BBQ chicken pizza I've ever had! Â It's a little spicy, but sweet as well because it has pineapple on it. Â Even though we ate it home, the cannoli and cheesecake were delicious too!!
I'd recommend this place to anyone... Excellent service and yummy food!
This is NO Bruno's. i would have given a MINUS 2 stars if I could. I had high expectations for this place as we visit resturant row once a month or so and was so happy an Italian Resturant would finally re open there. Sadly this was a great disappointment.  Started with garlic bread, mediocre at best. It was more like toast with a hint of garlic. Should be dripping with oil and garlic and had neither. A simple green salad  does NOT come with my meal....Your kidding right??? My Chicken Parm was so overcooked I could not put my fork in it.  Exchanged it for spaghetti and meat sauce. Pasta was overcooked and sauce lacked flavor.  Wow, what is going on here. This is a simple dish right??? Being from the East Coast I know a bit about Italian restaurants. Warm Italian bread is ALWAYS present on the table, not here. I'm the DD (designated driver) and like my non-alcoholic beer, but alas they had none. To wrap this up they took my horrible chicken Parm off my bill but charged me for the replacement spaghetti and meat sauce?? Really??? At home I mix a bottle of Classico and Bertolli and a box of pasta and it's light years better then what Fratelli's made this night. The party with me tried to say this is a new restaurant and needs some time, and yes that's true but this is Fratellis Restaurant #2 and should have been great. Far from it. Even Olive Garden or Bucca makes a better chicken Parm. What went wrong......??? How the heck do you overcook pasta.....???  I say send in Robert Irvine to this place and maybe they can figure it out....... This place will surly benefit if your expectations are low. If they are high I say good luck.  We will not be back.....ever, no second chance. I wish we went to our usual place on South Melrose called Nucci's.  Now THAT is Italian......they are alway spot on......
Review Source:My fiance and I have eaten here twice since it's opened (we're not much for cooking!!), and can say great things about both visits. Â
Visit 1 -
Service: Â GREAT! Â No complaints here. Â We felt very welcomed and had a lot of attention. Â
Pre Dinner - We were served bread and an oil/basil dip before dinner. Â The bread was awesome as was the dip, but I felt like one or the other should have been warm... just my personal preference. Also, the bread wasn't presented in a basket or plate.. someone came by and gave us pieces everytime we finished. Â It's a nice touch, except that it kind of interupted our conversation every time he stopped by. Â We also ordered the Seasonal Burrata (caprese salad). Â OMG.. DELISH!! Â By far the best caprese salad I've ever had. Â The tomatoes were sweet and the cheese was phenomenal!! Â Will definitely order again!! Â
Dinner - He ordered the lasagna, I ordered the osso bucco w/ risotto (one of the pricier items on the menus. Â His lasagna was BOMB! Â Chunks of sausage in almost every bite. Â I stole a lot of his dinner :) Â The osso bucco was good, but didn't blow my mind. Â My favorite part of the dish was the risotto... cooked to perfection. Â The dish was significantly more than other items on the menu, so I'm not sure I would order again.
Dessert - We ordered the homemade strawberry ricotta cheesecake. Â VERY good. Â Not too sweet like traditional cheesecake. Â Perfect amount to share and a great way to end dinner.
Visit 2 -
Service: GREAT again! A++++ Â We had the same server (I wish I knew his name), and he remembered us.
Pre-Dinner - We ordered the garlic bread with bleu cheese butter. Â Very good.
Dinner - I made him order the lasagna again (and he happily obliged) and I ordered the Seasonal Burrata as a main course (it was hot out and I wasn't super hungry -- Plus I had plans on stealing his lasagna!). Â We were pleased once again with our choices and would order both items again.
Great bread!!!
I love that they have an organic arugula salad! We try to eat organic at home and it's nice to have options to keep with that when we eat out, but I didn't order it because it was in yet another strawberry and candied walnut salad... (getting boring when I see it so many places), but my boyfriend did order it and he said execution and balance was perfect. I ordered their Caesar since it is a homemade dressing, it's better than a lot out there, but still could have been a little ballsier on the flavors and acid.
My boyfriend ordered the penne kalamata and said it was "F'ing Awesome!!!" I tried a bite and would concur. I ordered the Chicken Picatta. Let me preface this by saying that I am a complete picatta snob, I have worked on perfecting my recipe for years... but I don't always want to cook! Their chicken picatta is one of the only ones I have ever ordered out that I would order again. Subtle lemon and plenty of capers without being overwhelming, well rounded flavors and I enjoyed the addition of artichoke hearts... nicely done! Kudos!
The Creme Brûlée was a little too sweet for our taste, but had an excellent crust. It was served with some plain whipped cream and blackberries on the side and it really needed one of those with a bite to cut the sweet a bit.
The biggest criticism I have would be the wine selection. It's decent but it could really be better, only one of most varietals available for a single glass pour and only possibly were there more in full bottles. There was also a notable lack of any interesting or different wines, just the usual suspects. Hopefully as their business grows it will make more sense to have more of a wine selection.
All in all, we will be back! Possibly with our own wine if they have a corkage option. :-)
While visiting the Oceanside location the week before, we found out that they would be opening a San Marcos location in the space formerly occupied by Bruno's. Â Bruno's had been a San Marcos staple for decades so they had big expectations to live up to.
I'd say that although our visit was not perfect, Fratelli's has lived up to expectations. Â We're very aware that when you go to a restaurant on opening weekend, there WILL be glitches and snafus. Â
Our visit had some minor issues, not worthy of mention. Â However, the co-owner made a point of visiting our table which is a rarity in restaurants, just to check in and see how things are going.
I had ordered a gluten free pasta dish after confirming the restaurant follows safe preparation practices to protect against cross contamination. Â I must admit it came out undercooked and before I could mention something the co-owner came over simply because I had ordered GF and he wanted to make sure everything was ok with my GF meal. Â When he found it was undercooked, he personally took it back to the kitchen and very quickly brought back a perfectly cooked version. Â It was the Chicken Piccata and it was one of the most amazing pasta dishes I've ever had.
If Fratelli's keeps up the same high level of customer service, food quality and attentiveness to their guests I expect to see many 4 and 5 star reviews in the days, weeks and months ahead.
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