Fresco

BRING A FLASHLIGHT!!! Or be prepared to eat in the pitch black if you go at night.
This place is probably 3 ½ stars but I’ll give it 4 stars because of the excellent food. I had lasagna and my girlfriend had salmon — we both enjoyed very much. My dish was perhaps the softest meat in lasagna I’ve ever had — I’d really like to know the secret on how the chef got it THAT soft. Their sauce was pretty perfect too, as was the cheese, pasta, etc. Service was okay — no where near the typical bad service of Ocean Drive — but not incredible either. It seems all the waiters are Italian which is kind of kool and a nice break from all the Spanish on South Beach.
So the «cons» you ask? Well, in addition to eating in the pitch black, I ordered the Maine Lobster pasta dish and was informed 5+ minutes after ordering that they were «out» of Maine Lobster. I had a coupon and I can’t help feeling like they told me they were out of an expensive ingredient because I was using one.
Regardless, I would have never ate here without the coupon — and I don’t think they do their best with coupon customers to «wow» them back (they make you tell them you have a coupon prior to seating nevermind ordering) — but I enjoyed my meal enough to recommend it to others. It was quite good but I’d go only when there’s daylight.

Received an email offering a $ 40 coupon for $ 20, so, considering how much I love Italian food, I jumped on it, and in retrospect, I should’ve bought more than one.
Now, I’d never heard of Fresco, and considering that it seems to have recently opened and that there’s only one other review here on Unilocal,I essentially went in blindly. I mean, even the web site is lacking information-​wise. When you try to explore the menu, all you get are a bunch of pictures under each of the four listed sections: antipasti, primi, secondi, and pizze.
The restaurant is on 14^th and Ocean, so as far as locale is concerned, Fresco has a lot going for it and some going against it. For: it’s on the freaking beach. Vanilla Ice’s beachfront avenue, to be exact. Where girls are hot, wearing less than bikinis, where rock man lovers drive Lamborghinis, and, well, you know the rest of the lyrics. Against: it’s on the beach, where parking is as scarce as rain in the Atacama desert. (Isn’t «Planet Earth» awesome???)
The actual restaurant is very cool looking. While there’s the obvious allure of Ocean Drive tugging at you to sit outside, the inside area does not leave much to be desired. The walls are adorned with a number of funky paintings that range in content from Italian words to a particularly festive Virgin Mary; the north end of the restaurant is lined with black couches and benches in front of which are tables, which gives the whole thing an almost morbid hotel lobby look; and there’s a coal-​burning oven right next to the bar, which adds a very nice touch.
Quick side note: the music is pretty fantastic. A wonderful amalgam of trans-​decade hits. In my time there, I heard SInatra’s «My Way,» The Fugees’ «Killing Me Softly,» and the Spin Doctors’ «Two Princes.» Nineties babies unite.
We started with a particularly wonderful and surprising focaccia appetizer topped with mozarella. Now, this is essentially a sauce-​less pizza drizzled with olive oil cooked in the aforementioned oven, and truly, I’d go back for this alone. You could totally order this as your meal if you’re not ravenous, and it’ll only run you nine bucks.
As my main dish, I ordered a pasta dish (don’t remember the name of the pasta) prepared with marinara sauce, tomatoes, basil, and buffalo mozarella. I don’t recall the exact name of the dish, but I’m telling you, read the descriptions, and do yourself a favor by ordering it. Aside from the flavors themselves, I can’t remember the last time I had such al dente pasta. I mean, it was cooked PERFECTLY.
Our meal was coupled with a particularly forgettable pinot noir that cost us about thirty bucks, which is about standard for a bottle of wine in a restaurant of this caliber. And, seeing as how I decided this would be my negative paragraph, I feel I should mention a rather odd tidbit: the menus are absolutely dreadful. Stapled incorrectly, a big magic markered X on one of the pages, «No’s» next to certain selections. I don’t know who dropped the ball on this, but I’ll attribute it to the restaurant just having opened. (At least, I’m assuming it did.)
Final Words: GO. NOW.

SHORT VERSION: Order either bruschetta or a thin crust pizza to share as an appetizer and filet mignon for the entrée.
Went here for a Groupon deal… atmosphere is perfect. we chose patio seating right across the street from the beach! They gave out margherita pizza slices at the entrance & it was delicious… crust was thin & light, with warm cheese and fresh ingredients. If we didn’t order so much food for dinner already, I would have liked to order one as an appetizer to share.
We tried 3 appetizers: Calamari, bruschetta, mussels. Of the 3, the bruschetta was the best (there were 2 types: typical tomato topping, tomato + green olive topping). Calamari was typical, but best when freshly brought out. as it sat, the crunchiness went away and it became soggier. The mussels were also typical of any other place… nothing too special.
I ordered the lobster pasta & the friend that I shared with ordered filet mignon. This was the perfect combo, b/​c we basically created our own surf & turf plate. Both dishes were great, but the favorite of the table was hands down the FILET MIGNON. It was juicy, tender, and full of flavor. It came with a «mini salad» and potatoes. Even the potatoes were amazing. soaked in the juices of the steak. The portions are very generous.
The lobster pasta came with a lobster tail, already cut open for you so all you have to do is pull the meat out and enjoy! It was cooked to perfection. the lobster meat was not too dry, chewy, or salty. The pasta was cooked italian style. and by that, I mean the noodles are a bit more on the firm side (which i like), and not too much sauce… for some people, they may even say the pasta is too plain. But since I prefer «light» pasta, I enjoyed it. But if you like heavy, creamy, pasta drenched with sauce, this dish isn’t for you. The sauce is more of a light garlic, white wine sauce w/​some crushed cherry tomato bits in it.