Fellini

I’m so sad to find out that Fellini’s is closed — the food here was lovely. Their kale and Beets Caprese were amazing, so were the pizzas and the. I loved the funky décor too.
This bummed me out.

Sorry but not surprised to hear they closed. This was our «go to» breakfast place that was a fave with my son, hubby and many friends. This is one of the few places that served Vegan breakfasts.
The owner/​manager seemed to be very temperamental… very hot and cold.
A friend of mine used to work here and left after being treated so shabbily.
Since most of our interaction was with the servers we could ignore the owner/​manager.
Why aren’t there any decent vegetarian restaurants in the East Bay?
I know there are some in SF, Portland, Seattle, Chicago but why not Berkeley?
There is Herbivore and Saturn but I’m not wowed by either.

Had the crab cakes and chicken parmigiana. Both were delicious, even the 2 rolls of bread they included were good. The restaurant is located right on university ave with private parking in the back. It wasn’t busy at all, but it’s a nice little cozy and private Italian restaurant to go to.

Bottom line: I am a fan.
The food is great. We got two salads (the wedge and spinach salad) which were pretty good, though at the end of meal we were all stuffed and ended up having leftovers so next time I probably wouldn’t order any salads since the entrees are so filling (and giant!). We also got sweet potato fries which were gone pretty much instantly. For my entrée, I got this seafood dish where various seafoods (including scallops, crab, mussels, clams, shrimp etc.) are mixed and and put back in the crab shell and baked. This is served over pasta and spinach. Let me tell you, it was quite delicious and although I was afraid it was going to be kinda small, it definitely satisfying and I even had leftovers! For dessert, we got tiramisu which was cheesier and less coffee-​ish than most tiramisus I’ve had. It was more the consistency of cheesecake, which for me wasn’t a bad thing since I love cheesecake.
The service is great. The chef/​owner (?) is great and funny. The waitress (there was only one!) was super nice and FAST. It was unbelievable how attentive they were especially considering there were only two of them (I would have still been impressed even if there were more of waiters). Even though I was gulping down my water, it was practically always full and they came by on a regular but not intrusive basis to ask if everything was okay.
Yes, it is a bit pricey so I wouldn’t probably come here on a regular basis, but for special occasions this would be on the top of the list.

My one and only Fellini experience was last weekend, having brunch for Mother’s Day. I’ll just go chronologically through our abysmal experience:
Made a reservation 5 days in advance for a party of 7. Arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes before our appointed time. Nobody, I mean NOBODY acknowledged us as we waited for some kind of front-​of-​house staff member to materialize. And waited. And waited. For 15 minutes. The miniscule lobby was overflowing with new arrivals, everyone asking one another, «Um, do we check in, or seat ourselves, or what?»
Finally snagged a passing waitress who told us that «someone will be with you shortly.» From her indignant tone, you would have thought I’d asked if she had a contagious disease.
Finally got our group seated after another surly employee pointed (yes, pointed) to where our tables were, then cruised by 5 minutes later to dump menus on the table and flee. (This was after he denied we had a reservation at all. I had to literally POINT to our name in the book.)
We waited over 20 minutes to order, and another 30 minutes for our food to show up. The waitress didn’t crack a smile once, not even when wished a Happy Mother’s Day. So far, counting the pointless time spent milling around the nonexistent lobby, we had been in Fellini for more than an hour and hadn’t tasted a thing.
Food, when it finally arrived, was just gross. I had the New Yorker, which was two eggs, bagel/​cream cheese/​lox combo, and fried potatoes. The smoked salmon was fine … once I cut off the dried up, semi-​rancid edge. The potatoes somehow managed to be simultaneously greasy AND dry. Quite a feat.
The FIVE DOLLAR glass of orange juice was delicious, however.
Our server never checked back in after the food was delivered, except to toss the check on the table once it was clear we were done. Needless to say, no coffee refills were offered — we had to ask, and the waitress left silently and returned with the coffeepot without saying a word. Took another 10 minutes for her to actually swing by again to take the payment.
I could go on and on about our craptacular brunch experience (more than I already have, that is), but will just conclude with this: Sticky tables, wobbly chairs, flecks of dried food on the silverware, and fingerprints/​smudges all over my glass. GROSS.

My dining partner and I stumbled upon Fellini fortuitously in Berkeley one Sunday afternoon, after finding a parking space and searching for a place to satisfy our appetites soon after. I’ll tell you now that I exited Fellini feeling like I had truly discovered a treasure.
Fellini is a self-​titled South European Bistro. I spent much of my dining experience trying to figure out what this meant – is it Italian (as Fellini does sound Italian), is it Spanish (as they have a «Spanish» night). Ultimately, it seemed to be a most lovely mixture of the two.
Now, I’ve spent some time in both Italy and Spain. And one thing Europeans know that Americans struggle to grasp is that concept of the la dolce vita or the joie de vivre. The food at Fellini is the embodiment of this very European philosophy. From the moment I sipped my fresh-​squeezed orange juice to the last bite – I felt myself wanting to savor each sip and every bite before me.
I ordered the Benedict omelet and my dining mate ordered the French toast. And there was something special about each component of my meal. The omelet was filled with a carefully prepared hollandaise sauce, in just the right proportion. The potatoes were perfectly seasoned and topped with a complementary dollop of sour cream. And then there was the multi-​grain toast. How could toast be special, you might ask? The toast was paired with a side of wonderfully fresh strawberry jam. My dining buddy’s Cinnamon French toast was similarly enjoyable – I had a bite and was left wanting more. I felt myself wondering the following: if Fellini puts this much effort into their brunch, then what must their dinner be like?
I hate to say anything negative about Fellini but I will say that the seating is close and somewhat cramped. I arrived at the end of the brunch-​rush and the restaurant was full. When the food arrived though, none of this mattered, and I easily forgave Fellini for packing its patrons in a bit too tightly.
I’ve read some of the reviews of Fellini — and reviewers either seem to love or hate the place. I think it’s pretty clear where I stand. Okay, so know that as a lover of breakfast foods that I don’t say this lightly – but I had the best brunch I’ve ever eaten at Fellini, and I definitely plan on a return visit.

Great brunch! I’ve been to the Coffee Bar at least ten times, but never the restaurant. My cheddar scramble was quite tasty, reasonably priced, and served with considerably-​above-​average home fries.
I’d definitely visit again to try the lunch menu.

What a lovely place to meet a friend for a brunch!
Great vegan and vegetarian options for brunch (I had the vegan cheddar scramble). coupled with a mimosa= excellent! The bread/​toast is fresh, and the potatoes are delicious with a spot of sour cream *vegan or regular*.
Service was top notch– great manager and waitress. accommodating and attentive.
Also, this restaurant has a private parking lot (a plus on University Ave!)

Wow, what a terrible experience!
We showed up on Saturday night to find the place atypically busy. We waited at the hostess stand until the owner came over. «Three for dinner please,» I said.
He looked around the room: «no.»
That’s right, not, «it’s going to be a 10÷15÷30÷45 minute wait» or «have a seat at the bar and we’ll call you when a table frees up,» but «no.»
There were open tables, but he refused to seat us because «we can’t get to those.»
I’d been to this restaurant on a few occasions under the prior ownership and it was OK. Not great, but OK. The new owner, however, is really unpleasant and I can’t see returning here any time soon.

I stopped here with a few friends on our way back to San Diego from Portland. It was well into dinner time once we drove into Berkeley. We were exhausted and desperate, so one of us called a friend to have him look for Italian food in the area via Unilocal.He directed us here. It seemed like a nice enough place to have a meal in Berkeley, and we thought we were going to get what we paid for since it didn’t look cheap.
One of my friends is vegan and the other is vegetarian, so we were happy to have found a place that catered to their diets so last-​minute. We sat down, took in our surroundings, and were greeted by a very smiley waitress who seemed very friendly. She took our orders and we sat back and waited. And waited. And waited.
Let me preface my criticisms by saying that the restaurant wasn’t particularly crowded that night.
We looked over at other tables and realized that our table lacked the complimentary appetizer bread, standard at many Italian restaurants. In fact, people who were seated after us were given bread immediately. We shrugged this off at first, thinking the waitress must have just forgotten, so we asked about it and were brought some later, well into the wait for our entrees.
We waited for a ridiculous amount of time. We watched as parties seated after us were brought their entrees, piping hot. Now, I’m a patient person. The first time my friend asked if she should inquire about our food, I said, Nah, it hasn’t been that long, I’m sure it’ll be out soon. But after another stale waiting period, I finally gave in. She asked the managerial-​looking waiter about our food. He rather quickly said he’d check on it and came out 1 minute later with our dishes. They had been sitting there. The lukewarm pasta confirmed it. Our dishes had been sitting there, just like the four hungry girls from southern California just on the other side of the wall.
To top it all off, the vegan dish was topped with ‘vegan cheese’ that did not look, taste, or feel vegan. Vegan cheese, to my knowledge, does not brown or stretch in the way that this cheese did. My friend who had ordered this was so skeptical that she put the cheese to the side and ate her pasta without it. We were too fed up to ask whether or not they had made a mistake or if it was truly vegan.
To add to the disaster, the waitress forgot to bring out the beer that one of us had ordered. Needless to say, we could not even fake an enthusiastic response when she came around (for the first time since she TOOK our order) to clear our plates and ask how we liked the meal.
It was just extremely unfortunate that we had chosen to eat here. I mean, we were in Berkeley with so many other options at our disposal. The bad service left a bad taste in my mouth, so I cannot even say whether the food was good or not. If I were to try, though, I’d say it was mediocre at best.
Never have I ever paid so reluctantly for a meal.

Finding good vegan food is hard enough as it is, but finding GREAT TASTING food is even more difficult!
Fellini has the BEST vegan eggplant parmesan ever, imagine big luscious slices of eggplant, with nice crispy breading, not greasy, stacked on top of each other, with delicious melted vegan cheese and tomatoes in between each layer, then more vegan cheese melted over the top! *DROOL*
The pizzas here are pretty good too, I can’t remember which one I ordered, but it had artichoke hearts, sauteed mushrooms, and some other veggies with the vegan cheese, of course… and the server lady recommended I try adding some of the garlic oil to the pizza, so I did… and it was even MORE amazing!
The service is good, we never have to wait for more than a few minutes, even on a busy night, the servers are very attentive & always keep your glasses full & make sure you’re happy with your meal. The food comes out within a reasonable time, and every time we’ve been here, the food is always very consistent, they have a lot of vegan options & that’s especially hard to find vegan Italian food!

We stopped in on a Monday night for dinner, and were pleasantly surprised at their Monday $ 12 Wine Night.
Only a handful of tables were occupied, but each had a wine bottle, so we decided, why the heck not.
The waiter, who I believe may have been the owner, suggested the Zerano Pinot Grigio, to go with the meal. It was a nice table wine from Venice, and I guess we overestimated, because neither one of us could finish the bottle — so the waiter offered to have us take it to go! Bonus point!
We ordered the Beets Caprese Salad which had a good flavor with the balsamic and basil and had a nice amount of baby beets, fresh mozzarella, grape tomatoes, and greens.
Next to share was the Pizza Verde with pesto, spinach, artichoke, asparagus, and mozzarella. The asparagus was a little too tough and crunchy and the spinach was a little too wilted for my taste. But the artichoke and mozzarella were delish :)
If I’m in the neighborhood next time on a Saturday afternoon, I might stop in to check out the aforementioned brunch to see if it’s any better.

Note: This is a review of the weekend brunch only. It’s been a few years since I’ve had dinner there so I can’t really review that.
Lately, my lady and I have been on a saturday brunch-​fest. I say brunch because we usually aren’t out of bed early enough for breakfast. Since I have recently rediscovered my veganess, we looked for a place that we could both eat happily. I never knew Fellini even served brunch, but thank you
for pointing that out.
The place is smaller than I remember it being. However, it wasn’t a problem since it wasn’t very crowded. After staring at the filthy fresh-​squeezed OJ machine while waiting a few minutes to be seated, I was starting to have second thoughts. However once we sat down and ordered, we were both impressed with the quality and the quantity of the food.
I ordered the vegan sausage scramble and we also got the vegan french toast which was delicious. My scramble was excellent. I felt I got short changed on the potatoes but since they were so good, we probably would have eaten an entire plate of ‘em if given the chance. My only complaint was the side of vegan «bacon» I ordered. I was expecting strips but what came out was little round «Yves Cuisine» deli slices of Canadian Bacon. We both had a WTF?! moment. And at $ 4 for 4 bologna looking disks was a ripoff. The coffee was excellent and a nice change of pace from ordinary diner sludge. However, a place that serves a decent vegan menu really shouldn’t charge extra for soy milk. I usually drink my coffee black but it’s the principle of it.
Overall the food was great, servers cute enough, and the prices were reasonable. I’ll be back again, I just won’t be ordering any OJ or «Bacon»…

It’s no secret how much I love this place.
Came here for vegan brunch again on Sunday. Our group of four indulged in two orders of eggs benedict, one mushroom scramble and one pesto scramble. I always want to get the eggs florentine when I come here, but then I remember how good the benedict is and don’t. No regrets. Having never tried the pesto before, I was ultra impressed with how perfect it was. And of course, the potatoes are killer, although the portions of vegan sour cream are a bit stingy (my only complaint). But best of all, he coffee is STRONG and delicious. Excellent service from Jessica, and boy do I love watching the orange pressing machine make orange juice!!!

This is an EXCELLENT option for vegans/​vegetarians. They’re very much aware of the subtleties of those particular diets. It’s not too shabby an option for us regular omnivores either.
The brunch/​lunch is better than their dinner. While their dinner is quite good, it just doesn’t stand out too much. Not on the list for my fave dinner places, but you can certainly do worse.
If you plan on visiting Fellini’s for brunch/​lunch, get their Challah French toast — so freaking good — or one of their scrambles. I liked the omelet I had, but it’s the French toast that keeps me coming back.

Fellini Menu Key:
— — — — — — — –
V — Vegetarian
VG — Vegan
* — Vegan upon request
I do not relish having to ask all my standard vegan questions, not because I’m embarrassed, it’s just simply a hassle.
«Oh, and there isn’t any cheese on that?»
«Is there chicken stock in the base anywhere?»
«Is there any way to make this without egg or is it already mixed in?»
After these and similar questions, more than once I’ve been saddened to find out the server was wrong and I ended up with chunks of chicken or egg in my food anyway. I always have to be on my toes eating at places that don’t necessarily have the best interest of veg*ns on their minds. I by no means am one of those vegans that expects, nay DEMANDS vegan options. But sometimes I can’t find a vegan sanctioned restaurant or I’m out with friends and I kind of have to ask my questions and hope for the best.
It’s just a pain. So when I visit places like Fellini that make it so damn easy, I already enjoy myself much more because I can simply relax and enjoy. No combing the menu looking for something that ‘might’ be doable, it’s spelled out for me right there. And Fellini doesn’t just have one or two VG items, but slew of tasty selections.
From ravioli dishes, a «Happy Cow» cheese-​less pizza, to a pretty good quinoa and spicy black bean dish that I tried myself as well as a risotto I think I’ll get next time. Lots of vegan appetizers and salads too, I could definitely frequent this place and work my way through the menu. Actually, I probably will.
My dish was good albeit not fantastic. The quinoa and vegetables were cooked very well, the flavor could have been a little more robust for my liking. I should have tried the vegan special o’ the night but was distracted by the «spicy black bean sauce». My lovely dinner date was pleased with her food which made me happy, and all in all I’d say a solid 4 star visit. Very polite wait staff and I very much enjoyed the ambiance.
I live in SF so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to give Fellini a go, but it is definitely on my list of top three to try again should I be floating around the East Bay again soon.

I had lunch with a friend that works nearby. Just a note regarding seating two dudes. Guys need as much elbow room as possible. Please don’t sit two dudes at a tiny table across from each other.
Because we were sitting so close, and because my buddy has a propensity to spit unconsciously when he talks, I was unable to finish my meal about halfway through. I watched spittle and foam fly out of ___’s mouth and onto my plate. While this was not explicitly the server’s fault, I dared not eat further for fear of unwillingly swapping spit.
I’d probably try it again with a different lunch partner.

Very comfortable restaurant and great food. I was feeling adventurous and ordered the Quinoa Rotolino, not knowing what to expect. It was really delicious and the service was fantastic.
If you’re vegetarian or vegan there are some great options here. I’m not vegetarian, but was impressed that my vegetarian meal was creative and had plenty of substance and flavor to it.

I could never be a vegan because I love my cheese and ice cream. I could never be a vegetarian because I love my meat. I came here awhile ago after the Big Game because Blake’s was packed and my vegan friend likes this place and he had a coupon. I ordered the Carbonara pasta because I haven’t had it in a long time and was craving it as soon as I saw it on the menu. The guys got vegan Cesar salads and regular Cesar salads. first thing I noticed, okay, they just give you big romaine leaves to cut? How weird!
Finally my big bowl of pasta came out and I was antsy to indulge in this usually rich dish. I however was disappointed, besides the fact that I used real bacon not turkey bacon the last time I made it, my version’s sauce was more flavorful, this one totally lacked flavor and the turkey bacon was very soggy. Maybe I should have gotten a vegetarian pizza instead.
I won’t be returning, but I’ll give it 2 stars for offering Vegan dishes and for having soju cocktails.

I have a lot of vegetarian friends and relatives and I was vegetarian for a couple of years in college myself. However, I was never one of those vegetarians who forgot what meat tasted like, and I never ate tofu and believed it was meat.
I have a loved one who was often times guilty of this trick of the mind. Once we went to a vegan Chinese restaurant in so cal, and we had vegan sweet and sour pork, vegan tin foil duck, and vegan Mongolian beef. It was bad enough that it wasn’t anything real Chinese people would actually order, but made metaphorical by the fact that it wasn’t even real meat. My friend kept saying, «Mmmm. Oh my god! Doesn’t that taste just like duck? I can’t believe that’s not duck.»
Well, he was the only one at the table who couldn’t tell that the firm texture of tofu is nothing like the greasy, tender, succulent breast of mama duck surrounded by crispy skin glazed in a slightly sweet, slightly salty sauce. «This is sooooo So Cal,» I thought to myself. «Everything is fake and no one knows the difference.»
Don’t get me wrong. To me, tofu products are an interesting and valid culinary experience in their own right. They represent a certain culture and its sensibility; just as all foods everywhere do. In this case, vegan pork represents a culture obsessed with appearing to let go of what they perceive to be bad for them, without having to really let go of what they perceive to be bad for them. Pretty consistent considering this food phenomenon comes from the same part of the world that invented saddlebacking. (
)
But seriously, I don’t have anything against textured tofu flavored to remind us of meat any more than I have anything against Southern Californians sewn, stitched, bleached and packaged together to remind us of people. It’s all good. It’s just that I tend to like real things. I prefer my fiction to happen in books, and not on my plate.
Now that I am once again vegetarian I am finding that I still do not like fake stuff. No thank you, Vegan Cheese Burger. I’ll pass, Veggie Hot Dog. So sorry, Tofurkey. What’s the point of being vegetarian if you don’t like vegetables? What’s the point of aspiring to anything you don’t really want to be?
The reason I bring this up is because I just finished having a wonderful vegetarian meal, with my partner, at Fellinis in Berkeley. They don’t have a single fake meat item on the menu.

I began my meal with a Bloody Mary. I always get the Bloodys at Fellinis because they are one of the places that make «real» ones. (There we go with that word again.) Well, they don’t use a pre-​made mix, and they don’t use canned tomato juice with red food coloring and corn syrup in it. The tomato juice is slighty pulpy and tastes like it has an expiration date. (Like it should! Real tomatoes are perishable.) They use real lemon juice and they use enough shredded horse radish that it gets caught in the straw, with little bits of ground pepper, creating a spicy explosion in your mouth when you suck hard and force it out.
Okay. I know how that just sounded.
Moving along…
I ordered their vegetarian Caesar Salad. I know, I know… why order a Caesar Salad if you can’t have anchovies? How So Cal! Agreed! It just ain’t Caesar without the emulsified fish flesh, but I was on a salt kick tonight and I wanted all the succulent I could get.
Amazingly, this vegetarian dressing actually had a briny flavor to it. It actually tasted like they came and mashed up the anchovies right in front of me. «This is amazing,» I told my date. «This actually tastes like Caesar Salad. I can’t believe this isn’t anchovies!»
I gave him a taste. He chewed slowly and then he looked at me like I was crazy. «That tastes like VEGETARIAN Caesar Salad. You’re becoming just like ‘you know who’,» he said. He returned to his own salad as I was suddenly aware of the fact that my mind is catching up to my body, and joined together, they are conspiring against me.
For the last five weeks, whenever I saw sizzling carne asada, or dripping Mandarin duck, or Eggs Benedict with crispy Black Forest ham– my mind would say «no» while my body said «oh hell yeah!» Finally, my body and mind have melded as one and colluded to fix this little problem by tricking me. A trick of the mind!
Oh well. The least I can be is real about it. I have become «you know who». Almost! I still refuse to have vegan «fishless sticks» or «to-​ficken mcnuggets». I shall proudly declare my love for the vegetable by eating it and my love for the duck by… feeding it at the park.
Whether you love chickens, or you love to eat chickens; Fellinis offers real food for real people and it is all delicious!