The Fratello’s Bistro

Great Italian food! Authentic !!! I recommend if your passing thru this cute little town to stop here and eat…

Excellent food. Stopped on my way to the desert for lunch. The shrimp salad was exceptional! It had grilled shrimp lightly seasoned with walnuts and raisins on fresh lettuce. For the price perfect and I felt like I ate something good for my body.

The wife and I went there for the first time yesterday. I must say that I don’t want to «ding» any business. I’ll try to be as accurate and fair as I can. I was raised in a Western Massachusetts in a predominately Italian area and had ample opportunity to eat Southern Italian cooking both in restaurants and at home. So, on with the discussion:
I found the term «bistro» to be relatively accurate — «a small moderately priced restaurant.» Fratello’s is small — about a dozen tables,
We had our choice of seats and chose one next to the kitchen window for no other reason than it was not used. The waitress, a young lady asked, before we were seated, if we’d like to order drinks. Nope, let’s get settled but you can bring water.
The young lady brought menus and again asked about drinks. I don’t drink alcohol any longer but the wife asked about wine. «Oh I’ll bring you the wine list» said the girl. My wife ordered a glass of pinot noir. Ten minutes or so the waitress came back to tell us they were out of pinot noir. So, merlot here we are. She then brought us the ubiquitous bread basket, which contained 2 small dinner rolls ($ 0.50 for a refill) and several wrapped pats of butter.
After looking at the menu the waitress came with a «senior menu» which listed several «combo» plates which included side salad, entrée and a scoop of ice cream.
My wife chose veal parmigiana and I selected the lasagna/​meat ravioli combo plate. The salads were the usual lettuces along with a tiny box of raisins (this is after all the «Raisin Capitol») a small plastic container of dressing and a small plastic container of walnuts. Dressing very bland.
The food? Not so good. My 2 meat ravioli’s were the same as those we buy at Costco. The Lasagna was a disaster! It looked like a burrito. I’m used to seeing lasagna layered between sheets of pasta with cheeses and meats. This one was simply a pile of ground meat covered with a layer of pasta, mozzarella and grated cheese. It was about an inch and a half or so wide and about 4 –5″ long, about an inch and a half high — probably 4 — 5 ounces. The «gravy» was lousy by any measure. Thin, watery and not very tasty. I loaded it with grated cheese, salt and pepper.
My wife’s plate contained what appeared to be a processed veal patty covered in cheese and gravy and some rigatoni pasta. Not very much of either product and with the same flavors I mention above. Dessert was a small scoop of spumoni, Hard to screw that up. It looked to me like the foods that come from Sysco the huge restaurant supply company. Ready made raviolis especially as well as the veal patty.
Then came the bill; $ 35.00 plus tip. Considering the paucity of food and assuming that a «senior menu» is normally a few buck less than «regular» plates, $ 43.00 out the door was a heavy hit for what I can say was at best the same as frozen Italian entrees. Even Weight Watchers et all are more flavorful than what we had at Fratello’s.
While it’s «edible» it is by no means a good Italian restaurant I think of all things in an Italian restaurant, the sauces define them, whether it be marinara or bolognese, The sauce here does not make the grade by any measure. The waitresses, 2 young ladies, were personable and friendly The interior is nice save for a few cracked tiles on the floor and a few spots under tables that could have been mopped. I give it 2 stars for the waitresses and 1 star for the food and prices which are much more than they should be.
All in all, we won’t be back there. Sad to say, there isn’t what I consider to be a «good» Italian restaurant within 20 miles of here. Next time I think we’ll head down to Olive Garden for soup and salad,

We loved it when it first opened. But prices are up there. Many people are going to the mediterranean place in town. Last visit was a deal breaker about 3 weeks ago. We have always gotten the shrimp cesar salad. They had a shrimp salad on the special menu… they put shrimp on a regular salad. This needed to be clarified. AND EVERY time they take too long. We go on our lunch break and don’t get our food until it’s time to leave and we have an hour. Won’t be back.

Tried this place twice, and will never go back. Pasta is swimming in water, not much sauce, and prices too high for the quantity of food they serve. Service was really slow and staff was rude. The last time we went there, the water in the bottom of my pasta dish was poured down my daughter’s back! Waitress just said, «Oh, sorry.» Don’t bother.

WE love love eating here I have been going for a few years so I have had most of what they make and all i can say is everything has been great well worth the drive

Great food! Nice atmosphere and good service but the portions were small and the pricing for the size of the portions was expensive. A bit over priced.

First timers… food was ok, beats driving all the way to fresno for some pasta! Got the chicken fet. Needed a bit more salt, but I rather have it that way than too much salt! Salad and bread was good too! We did the take out and got good size portions.

We are from out of town and a group of us ate here for dinner. Half of us liked our food and half didn’t.
Positives: The décor was nice and staff were friendly. They had a senior menu which my parents got. The salad was simple with local walnuts and raisins. The eggplant parmesan entrée was the best tasting. Large selection including burgers?
Negatives: Food portions were small and they charge extra for bread. Pasta and bread seem like cheap items to be stingy about. They don’t make the ravioli or tortallini in house (then again how many other restaurants do).

In town for travel. Everything was spectacular! ! Food authentic and service stellar. So good I am coming back tomorrow! !

Great food for small town resturant. Cozy place and welcoming. The cooks are great and they take the time to make your food like its supposed to be. The venue is small so they aren’t rushed with having to feed 200 people.

Good was really good took my girlfriend here to try it out because we really like pasta and they actually had really good pasta and the place is so Italian themed. Which was good because that’s what I was expecting the food was amazing and the service was good to. It was a little pricy but it was worth it.

This is for food received in August 2013:
I’m kind of surprised this has such high reviews, I thought my experience must have been a fluke and then I looked at the other low review that wasn’t recommended. Like the other reviewer, our portions were entirely too small for the price. Pasta is a cheap meal to make, so why charge an extraordinary amount for such a small portion?
Taste was good, but that doesn’t make up for the small portions.

A welcome change from Olive Garden. Food is good along with the service, We eat here every weelk or so.

Great find, found this gem on our trip home from Disneyland. The pasta was all perfect and the pesto cheese bread was addictive! Very friendly wait staff!

Ate here a couple months ago and ran into a whole bunch of folks i knew from other local towns… they also had found this well kept secret for great italian food! going back tonite and looking forward to another great meal and fantastic service!
things that say spicy are and things that say not spicy are not… classic recipes and great small town service… folks lucky enough to find it just off the highway on accident are the luckiest travelers of all.
a little pricey… but still a good value! good stuff!

My mother and I had dinner at Fratello’s recently, while passing through Fowler on our way to Oakland. I had the Linguini with Clam Sauce, my mother had Lasagna. Both were absolutely delicious! We didn’t expect to find such a good meal in this small town, especially since the restaurant was practically empty. The owner and chef came to our table and was so gracious and welcoming, it was an uplifting moment in an otherwise difficult day. I highly recommend this restaurant and wish it much success.