Fellini’s

I understand that Jackie sold Fellini’s to someone named Melissa. My experience there this evening was horrible. Makes me sad. I’ve been going there for 35 years, and I’ve never had bad food. Service was fair. Food not good at all. I asked for anchovies on my Caesar salad. None. Facacia bread was mushy – very different from the past. I love salt in my food, but my entre’ had so much salt that I was not able to eat it. Literally, not able to eat it. I plan one trip back after a few weeks. If no better, sadly I’ll never return.

The bartender was bjce. Just stopped in for a shot to check the place out. I told her my boyfriend and I were gonna get a shot and tab out. We said 2 royal flushes w Woodford. She made us 2 old fashions as a drink. I told her it wasnt what we ordered. I do not personally like them. She said huh i wonder how i heard old fashions i said idk me too. She gave us our tab. Better skills.

This place had a decent brunch menu. The portions are kind of small but my favorite part is the make your own Bloody Mary bar. The price is good compared to DC, even with Tito’s vodka it was $ 6.25. As far as the food, the foccacia was kind of dry, the grits were not that creamy and the poached eggs did not come out runny. The homemade muffins and the Sunday jazz band is a really nice touch.

Came here for dinner with my boyfriend and his family. Must tries include theirs complimentary bread with olive oil, fried mozzarella and spaghetti with meatballs. The flavor are very spot on delicious and service was great as well. The waitress is very friendly and there is live piano!

Best Chicken Piccata in town and has a good music scene at night. It is a sure must visit in the downtown mall.

This place has been hit or miss for me, depending on the day and time. The orecchiette is by far my favorite, and has been one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever had, outside of Italy! However, the restaurant varies their vegetable options, so the ingredients used can drastically alter the dish. With that being said, this same dish was also one of my least favorites on one occasion.
On some nights, it can be a perfect date night with a nice jazz band. On other nights, it can get much louder, so it just depends on what you are in the mood for! I highly recommend going to karaōke night, with a live band providing the music! Overall, one of my favorite places in C’Ville.

tried this place at the last minute and happened to be trivia night. we didn’t win anything but held our own! delicious pasta dishes and some Italian favorites. good wine list. lively place with small tables and booths to maintain privacy for diners. would visit again.

Huge group, tight seating, good musicians playing jazz piano and saxophones, tenor and alto. If food is as good as music, this place is it. Lasagna, fettuccine, rock fish special, all excellent. Classic Italian, full bar, Peroni on draft, good service, good jazz, what else do you need (more space maybe).

I’ve been to Fellini’s twice, but only for drinks both times. They host an artist during First Fridays and display his or her art on the walls surrounding the bar. They also offered some complimentary wine and snacks. On my second visit, we stopped in for drinks after a gala, and they were charging a $ 5 cover for a band. We grabbed a couple of cocktails, and the band was actually decent. I’ll have to update my review when I actually try the food here!

We had Spaghetti Marinara there. It was the most outstanding and delicious Marinara either of us had ever eaten! Served us as super-​fuel for our show. Yeah! And the staff is super friendly, especially bartender Mike — one of the very very best bartender we’ve so far encountered on our tours.

Just off the downtown mall. Great food. Nice vibe. Caught a Celtic jam band the night we were here. Food is as good as the staff is friendly. Nice wine list. Italian flair. Reasonably priced.

The pasta is very good! Quite expensive for some dishes though. I had a simple half dish spaghetti and meatballs and got one giant meatball. I would have preferred smaller meatballs instead, but it was pretty good. The lemon marscapone cake is divine.

We were visiting Monticello and spent the night in Charlottesville. Looked for a place to eat and Fellini’s looked and sounded good. We were not disappointed. We started with drinks then ordered. We both had a salad, my wife had the beet salad and I had the Greek, both good. Then we split the veggie lasagna. It was excellent… Finished it of with limoncello cake. Again excellent… I topped my meal off with a limoncello drink. Perfect end to a perfect meal.

The food was amazing! It was worth waiting for a regular table instead of a hightop table at the bar. The restaurant space is tiny and cramped, but the bar area (nearly empty of customers) was spacious. The live piano music was entertaining and enjoyable, but it couldn’t drown out the loudmouth idiots at the next table, unfortunately…

After hearing good things about Fellini’s, we finally tried it for ourselves. Everything on the menu sounded delicious, so it was hard to narrow it down. We split the fried risotto cakes to start — highly recommended! I had the orechhiette pasta dish which was fabulous. Another got the lamb shank with risotto, yum. The only disappointing dish was the lamb lasagna. There wasn’t anything wrong, it just wasn’t anything to write home about. I like the atmosphere, especially the fact that they don’t have any TVs (rare for a restaurant these days!). We’ll be back to try everything else on the menu!

I’ve only been to the bar and had the late night menu. Great drinks, friendly bartenders, excellent place to see jazz and live music. Bob Benetta is fantastic!

Small, warm and quaint. I enjoyed my meal and my wine when attending a rehearsal dinner here this past weekend. I loved the wood and brick look and feel. Although very small the meals had big flavor. I had a meat lasagna which was just as good if not better than I have to had at any other Italian restaurant. This location would be perfect for a romantic yet casual date night. Inviting and charming.

I dug Fellini’s vibe. During my Thursday visit, a live jazz band played to the intimate bar area with low-​hanging lights and a moody dining room with exposed brick walls. The service was friendly and the prices reasonable for a sit-​down italian meal (especially with the coupon posted on their website). The food, however, was a bit lackluster. Not bad, just a little plain and uninteresting.
To start, we tried two of every bruschetta (it was a large party, I promise!). The foccacia base had a great chewy texture with a bit of crisp, but some of the toppings brought the dish down. The green olive tapenade, tomato/​basil, and red pepper toppings were pretty uninspired. The walnut pesto and garlic purée were my favorites, because they gave the foccacia a nice kick of flavor. Hard to go wrong with pesto or garlic on bread!
For my main, I got the seafood linguine. The clams and the mussels were plump, fresh, and cooked perfectly. I liked the addition of the cherry tomatoes, which still retained some juiciness. The problem for me was the sauce. Normally a white clam sauce is nuanced (with layers of flavor from the white wine, clams, garlic, and butter), but this tasted almost like straight melted butter. It didn’t make the dish bad (buttery pasta and seafood is still tasty), but it was definitely a dish anyone could make at home.
For dessert, we tried the chocolate hazelnut mousse pie, which I would order again. The mousse was super light (much appreciated after my carb-​heavy dinner) and the chocolate/​hazelnut crust was delicious.
Overall – I wouldn’t necessarily say don’t go to Fellini’s. The options for italian food are pretty limited in the area and my meal wasn’t at all bad. But, don’t go with high expectations.

This is the best restaurant in Charlottesville!
I took my lovely wife here last night (Saturday Feb 15^th) for our 2^nd Valentine’s dinner. I made reservations just to make sure we’d get in. Because of this, we were seated in a cozy corner by one of the front windows. There was a wonderful piano player, which is a great plus for we don’t get this kind of stuff in Roanoke.
They had a Valentine’s dinner menu. I was disappointed they already ran out of duck breast, I went with the ravioli ($ 18.95) with a Peroni, and my wife got a veggie lasagna ($ 16.95) with a glass of Toh. She says this is the best meal we’ve ever had since we’ve been together!
Hannah was our server and she was very friendly to us! Although she had many other tables, she kept coming to check on us, which we really appreciate too.
I say again, this is the best restaurant in Charlottesville!

Brief: 4.5 food, 4.5 atmosphere. I can’t do that on this though so I’ll give it four. Price $$$ but could be $$ to most.
Long: Coming into Charlottesville on a Sunday evening, not much was open. There were the typical places, fast food and a few possibly dubious recommendations from the people working the desk at a Sleep Inn when I asked for a friendly, homey, fairly quiet atmosphere with GOOD food and nice atmosphere for a birthday diner for my mom. But none of them sounded very good. I turned to Unilocal for help — try saying that a few times quickly. We tried to find a few four — five stars that were open but they weren’t. So, we parked in the downtown and asked a local who was willing to help a Hokie. He suggested something else that was also closed. But on the way to the parking lot we noticed Fellini’s #9. It was opened and despite the middlin’ 3 star reviews we gave it a shot. We were glad we did.
As you can see by the photos, we had a good time. A person started playing the piano and when my two boys looked in, he switched to the Peanuts theme, Linus and Lucy. His music was a mix of classical, rock (Yes AND Black Sabbath), and Jazz. Very nice.
We asked for smaller dishes for our kids (8 and 11) and they came up with something for us with no complaint. In fact, they were very good for kids as there were several there in other places in the restaurant and obviously loved the place and the staff loved them. But this is not «a kid’s place» but rather a romantic small place to have an intimate meal with you and your buddies or best girl.
Our appetizer was a pedestrian sounding fried mozzarella but the cheese was quite good and sauce excellent. Frankly, the worst dish of the night was my Pork Marsala. But it was still quite good. 4 star because the pasta was perfectly al dente. I prefer a sweeter Marsala though and the pork, while good, didn’t have as much, uh, porkiness, as I prefer. But my Mom’s Shrimp (fancy Italian name for an ear) pasta was in a very rich cheese sauce and the shrimp was very fresh. 5 star. My wife had a clam dish that she said was wonderful too. My kids simply had noodles with Parmesan but my oldest stole many of my mom’s shrimp.
I had a flight (3) of local beers. All good but I preferred the more fruity heffe. We didn’t order desert.
Seriously, this food, while I’m being critical, was very good. The atmosphere showed me you could become a regular quite easily and enjoy it. There was an upstairs plush but small «good fella’s» type lounge that my kids found very cool. But I like the decorations, wood and nice small lights and lamps they had downstairs.
Cost for the five of us (two kids) was about $ 90 with tip. For Charlotte, that’s probably 2 $ ($$) but for me that’s $$$. Still, I was expecting worse for the day and for being in a city. And that was unexpectedly quite a nice surprise. I mean, three adults and two kids with an appetizer and full course meals sans desert, for under $ 100 is excellent. But I live on a tight budget.