Ok food, but they guy is rude. We came right when they opened with young kids and were the only ones in the restaurant during the whole time we were there. Yes our children are very young and were admittedly not the most quiet but from the moment we stepped in he made us feel like we were bothering him. He hadn't received our open table reservation. Very stressed and rude when taking our orders. Rare to experience this (especially here in the Bay Area) and we eat out a lot (with our children). Will not go there again.
Review Source:We had a wonderful dinner there last night. Â Great ambience, the entire menu sounded delicious and the owner was charming. Â We started with the burratta which was incredible. Reminded me of a burratta that we had in Arrezzo, but better! Â We each had pasta dishes, which were perfectly cooked, simple and had amazing flavor. We had the delicious chocolate mousse for a perfect end to a lovely evening. Â Service wasn't fast but based on other reviews we expected that and enjoyed a leisurely meal. Â Definitely as authentic Italian as you'll find. If only they fried zucchini!
Review Source:Just when you think you can't find that little gem of a restaurant, it exists in Ross Common. Â Marco is very creative with amazing salads and pastas, although we have a hard time not ordering the grilled Salmon or Trout because it is so fresh and tasty w/drizzled truffle oil and great side dishes. Â This has become our favorite restaurant in Marin and when you're married to someone named Guido, you take Italian food seriously.
Review Source:Fantastic Dinner. My wife and I ate here last Wednesday evening for the first time. We shared the Arugula  salad, tomato and pesto sauce pizza and the Rusticate pasta dish with shrimp and sausage.  One of the tastiest Italian dinners we have had.  Atmosphere is very nice on the Ross square. We will be back.
Review Source:Where to go for a great, local classic Italian dining experience in Central Marin? Â Trattoria Fresco is our pick every time. Â
It's a very relaxed atmosphere where the service is friendly and the banter with Marco is part of the fun. The food is consistently excellent. Â Marco is very picky on his ingredients and simply won't prepare certain dishes unless they meet his standards - I really appreciate that. Â He's expanded his wine offerings and we're always really happy with what we've picked to go with his food as well.
We have so often left there telling each other how lucky we are to have such a great Italian restaurant so close to home  - thank you Marco!
My family and I have been eating at Marco's restaurant for over 15 years. Â The food is always great. Â Marco is a great guy- he has a quirky sense of humor, which is part of the fun of the whole experience. Â I have often run into him at the Farmer's Market picking up fresh, organic produce. Â When my daughter is home from college, the first place she wants to go is Trattoria Fresco. Â As noted above, it is lightly staffed and sometimes if it is busy, you have to wait a few minutes. Â But never as long as you would wait at a good restaurant in Europe, so just relax, enjoy the vino and have an actual conversation with your dinner partners. Â
-Susanne L. e tutti la famiglia
If you're looking for authentic, REAL Italian food go to a restaurant where the guy in the kitchen is Italian. This restaurant is owned by Marco...Marco is a natural entrepreneur and is really good at what he does so remember this is his place and if he seems a bit eccentric, get over it and enjoy the food and participate in the Italian family kind of treatment you'll get there.
The food is always fresh, top quality and this is the best pasta in Marin..Marco does Italian wine events which my husband and others have attended and really enjoyed.
I've been enjoying this local place for years and wouldn't  think of going any other place to eat Italian food in Marin. Keep in mind I'm a foodie type of person and my last name is DiGiovanna so I know Italian food when I taste it and this is the real deal.
Also remember this is a small local restaurant with a limited staff so make sure you're not in a rush and you're ready to dine Italian style, slowly eating a good meal drinking good wine and giving the owner a hard time like he does to me and others....all in good fun!!
Happy dining and Una BuonaCena.
Janet DiGiovanna
Went here last week and really enjoyed myself. After reading some of the other reviews about the owner being rude and not having regular hours.... that's not the reason why I really enjoy this restaurant. It's more like you're in his kitchen, eating his delicious, fresh prepared food, that he makes for you after seating you and pouring you a glass of wine. He wasn't chatty, true, but that didn't bother me at all. My food was excellent. The decor and the music was excellent. I loved the place, its a great little corner of the Ross neighborhood, and I'll definitely be back.
Review Source:This guy is as close to eating in Italy as it gets in Marin and most of San Francisco. The chef is from Italy. It shows. Everything on the menu is prepared differently than here. It is far better than the US-Italian restaurants.
Reasonable wine list as well.
I hadn't been back in a while and the chef was more reserved than he used to be. Hard times in the industry will do that do you I guess. After throwing out little banter I started to see the old own coming back.
Excellent food. Keep up the good work.
It has been a while since we have eaten here, for no particular reason and we were happy to know it is as good as we remebered it. Â We used to eat here quite often and always enjoyed the neighborhood feel, the simple, yet always well prepared pastas and the charm of Marco, the owner/chef. Â
Saturday night was no exception. Â We went rather late at the spur of the moment, sat at the bar for about 5-10 minutes waiting for a table and sipped a glass of wine. Â We split a caesar salad, nicely dressed with a refreshing lemony dressing, homemade croutons and fresh anchovies. Â I then had the spaghettini al vongole which was perfectly prepared and well seasoned and my fiance ordered the lamb chops with roasted baby potatoes and brussel sprouts. Â I'm typically not a fan of lamb but he insisted that I taste it and it was superb. Â I loved it!!! Â It was not gamey, just perfectly grilled and bursting with flavour.
It's a lovely, low key spot that I highly recommend if you haven't tried it. Â And for the comment about Marco closing whenever he feels like it, well-isn't that the whole point of owning your own business and being the boss? Â It's a restaurant, not a hospital. Â Chill out.
The reason I call myself the *pasta princess* is because I worked in Italy for 5 years and ate in probably well over 100 trattorias, many of them in and around Florence and the Chianti region. Last night's absolutely authentic dinner at Trattoria Fresco was a wonderful reminder of homemade pasta, perfectly cooked meat and delicious wine.
Marco is a superb chef, a warm host, and his selection for us from his wine list (from the volcanic island of Capri) was unique, reasonably priced and a perfect match for our food.
We loved all three pasta dishes we ordered: homemade filled pasta with a tomato cream sauce, orechiette baked with artichokes, potato and cheese, and homemade spinach tagliatelle with meat sauce. For the second course we had steak and lamb chops - these are Florentine specialties and Marco lived up to his city's reputation.
The quiet and tasteful setting in the tiny and chic town of Ross, not far from the College of Marin off Sir Francis Drake Blvd, is easily worth a trip, and a great bit of luck for Marin locals, too.
Very good food in January and a nice, casual, intimate atmosphere. The owner was our waiter.
We regretted not eating at Trattoria Fresco in June of this year instead of Picco in Larkspur which was overpriced and not especially good (although their pizza restaurant next door is excellent).
I had been to this restaurant with my husband prior to tonight and it was a nice experience...no frills, great food, nice atmosphere. Â However, upon returning tonight with my children, the tomato, mozzarella, basil salad was awful...way too much salt, basil was barely there, and they were drenched in olive oil. Â My two daughters had a decent pasta, one alfredo sauce and the other spaghetti and the bread was great. Â The most dissappointing moment was when our VERY NICE waitress was yelled at in front of my daughter's and myself through the kitchen window the chef serves food through. By the chef, Â Marco? or whoever screamed at her and it was a horrible scene. Â In such a small space does he not realize we can hear EVERYTHING!!! Save it! Â I will never take my family there again. Â We only came because Ambrosia was booked solid and I had remembered what I thought was a sweet place, only to see the horror on my girls faces when he yelled at the waitress!!! Â He should be ashamed!
Review Source:I wanted to LOOOOVVVEEE Trattoria Fresco, and I came out liking it, especially the concept, compact yet thoughtful menu and use of local organic produce.  Marco was the only person on staff tonight other than the person in the kitchen, which left us without our wine order for quite some time.  But in the meantime we enjoyed fresh made bread with olive oil studded with olives.  The salad we ordered (Wild rugula tossed with fresh pears in honey balsamic dressing and pecorino cheese) had some rotten leaves, some bunches with the roots still on and a bunch of yellow leaves.  Ok, its organic, I get it but that doesn't mean I want to eat the inedible parts.  And the cheese?  Definitely mozzarella.  It was a lack of attention to detail that was the problem with the salad and kind of put me off.  We both ordered pasta and mine was just so incredibly STRANGE!  The description is "Ear shaped pasta in potatoes onions artichokes provolone cheese topped with truffle oil."  What I received was ear shaped pasta absolutly smothered  to the extreme with mozzarella cheese, topped with garlic and truffle oil and baked onto the plate.  No hint of potato onion or artichoke whatsoever (maybe it was in the pasta dough?)  and just a ridiculous, comical even, amount of cheese.  I'll try something else next time - yes, I'd like another try because my husband's dish was really quite excellent and I loved the causal atmosphere.  Hope to see you again soon Marco!
Review Source:My hubby and I love this place. It is hands down our favorite Italian restaurant in Marin. I really don't understand why it is empty half the times we go, but we tend to go early with our kids and care much more about food quality than ambience. The food is incredibly authentic and delicious. My husband lived in Italy twice and considers himself an authority on pasta (well, as much as you can be without being Italian.). You really can't go wrong with the pastas, gnocchi, and I am also a sucker for the lamb chop. Mangia, mangia!
My only complaint is it is closed on Sundays. Please Marco consider opening on Sundays and closing a different night. We would eat here so much more if you did!
Fresco is simply an understated outstanding restaurant. Â No tacked on Italianate crap on the menu or the walls, just great food (like the Italian food you get in Italy -- that's high praise).
Pasta is the star on the simple menu, and the salads are excellent as well. Â Being situated in the little town center of Ross does wonders to keep the riff raff and obnoxious foodies at bay -- this is a local crowd of regulars who know they've got a winner here.
One of those places you'll talk about for the rest of your life after Marco decides he's had enough and (regrettably) moves on to something else. Â Hopefully that isn't soon.
8pm reservation on a cold Saturday night in Ross. You might have thought it was midnight on Christmas it was so quiet in that town. We walked down from the cabin in our Uggs to TF, hey...it's Marin!
We decided to be difficult, as 5 women wearing Uggs can be, and order family style off their a la carte menu. No problem! Marco (owner?) created this beautiful, bountiful platter with 3 different delicious fresh pastas, succulent slices of chicken and decorated with swiss chard. It was absolutely delicious. We also enjoyed a fantastic bottle of Primitivo at the nice price of $34. Â Desserts were also good, but unfortunately their espresso machine was on the fritz...Or maybe that was a lie? It was 10pm and we were the last diners and holy smokes that town goes to bed early.
5 stars for an overall excellent dining experience!
Go easy on Marco! Â This is a great restaurant and he does an excellent job with little help. Â
I have yet to find pasta as authentic and fresh as Trattoria Fresco. Â Marco always has a nice collection of specials but I usually end up ordering one of my two favorite pasta dishes (the Rusticate or the Boscaiola). Â
In addition to the superb Italian cuisine, this place also has a relaxed yet romantic atmosphere, a great place for a date. Â Since they only have about 12 tables, reservations are helpful.
People don't continue to go back to Trattoria Fresco because the owner is an overly friendly guy who's happy to see you and welcomes you into his dining room. Quite the opposite.
But who cares? The food is outstanding and consistently great. I'll take his not-so-friendly attitude and delicious food over 15 friendly-staffed, crappy food establishments any day.
Started with olives in olive oil with what appeared to be homemade bread - so light. Â A couple of glasses of verdiccio made it possible to read the menu that an incredible number of pasta dishes I want to try. Â We had the Fresca salad of mixed greens with honey dressing and pears .... wow! I had the tortolinis ala Marco... wonderful fresh pasta filled with parmesan and a creamy tomato sauce... and I thought MY homemade pasta was good. Â I've got a way to go. ;-) My bride had the gnocchi with caviar (I know 'em as tobiko) that was killer. Â When we move to Ross we're going to be here a LOT.
Review Source:One of marin's many hidden gems for food, at this place less is more (not to be mistaken with price however; you get what you pay for here). Â The owner and his family specialize in food, that's all they know; they are from Florence, Italy. Â Now the owner from his time going back and forth to Florence operates this small neighborhood atmosphere bistro which somewhat is like good eats in the city. Â The service is good, I always had my water filled and when I needed something it was there in a flash. Â The atmosphere is amazing and intimate, low lights and italian music on the speakers. Â Once I walked inside, I was in Italy...
Review Source:Reading the reviews below makes me think that Marco (the proprietor) was probably in the midst of World Cup fever and was stressed over Italy's standing. Â I can honestly say he is very attentive and friendly (he is not the bubbly-bouncy type that checks on you every 2 minutes - but I appreciate that). Â Try the fresh trout in truffle oil -- it falls apart at the fork and is tender, succulent and savory. Â Marco's menu is fresh, authentic, and incorporates all the best local ingredients, straight from the farmers market. Â It makes you almost feel like you're sitting in Europe -- even though it's just the tiny little quaint town of Ross. Â Plus, you'll probably see local Sean Penn stopping in with one of his friends... ;-)
Review Source:It's true, the owner/waiter/dishwasher/buser is a little odd - he is a no frills kinda guy. Â But he was certainly friendly and the other server who recommended the chocolate souffle dessert was extremely nice and helpful. Â The portions are generous and the food is very tasty. Â Plus the bread to start with the black olives soaked in olive oil is divine. Â The prices are incredibly reasonable and the atmosphere is mellow relaxing, and inviting - especially for upscale Ross. Â I had an all around good experience and plan on going back.
Review Source:Great place, reeeeaaaally good food, intimate setting. Â The owner slash master chef slash server slash busser slash anal self-centered control freak is from Florence, Italy and knows how to make truly authentic, interesting dishes with only the freshest organic ingredients. Â His food is so fresh and SO good that people come back again and again, even though demand frequently exceeds supply and the restaurant often runs out of one or all of its most popular dishes fairly early on in the evening. Â This is a great place to go for an intimate, authentic Italian dining experience, complete with stereotype ornery italian all-in-one restauranteur.
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