Fratelli’s Italian Bistro

Diner experience. DO NOT WATSE YOUR TIME!
I’m unsure how this restaurant is still in business. My wife and I chose this restaurant due to its location and we love Italian cuisine and ambiance. The décor and service were nothing like we expected. I’m in utter shock that this restaurant shares the same location as some of the prime eating destinations in Philadelphia. This was a cheap diner experience except that it cost well over $ 100 due to over– charging for low-​income grade drinks and food.
Shockingly, the staff didn’t remove the regular specials and just inserted the restaurant week menu over. The regular special was a $ 25 prix fixe 3 course meal that was almost identical to the restaurant week menu except for offering caeser salad, lobster ravioli, and a dessert but $ 10 cheaper. I could have had my same meal minus dessert for ten dollars less if it wasn’t restaurant week. Disgrace to the city.
If you want box pasta (100% not made in house as suggested by owner) for premium prices, this is the spot. How about bad bar drinks in water glasses for the same price as a martini at capital grille? I will never return here and I recommend for you to save your money or go to another restaurant to actually get your money’s worth. There are so many amazing selections in the same vicinity that you will get premium service, drinks, and atmosphere for around the same price.

Fratelli’s is an upscale Bertucci’s. It wasn’t bad and definitely deserve good. Got Mozzarella Fritta and it was more like Mozzarella Sticks that you would get at a pizza joint. Got two entrees that I probably could’ve made myself. Not restaurant quality. Also the side salads were drenched with Italian dressing. Also the bread was more like sliced Potato bread. Nothing special. The only good part about the restaurant is their painting on the wall next to the bar. Won’t be back

It wasnt impressive as far as ambiance is concerned. The food was pretty good though, but it had some space to improve. The complimentary salad needs a new in-​house dressing!

I honestly hate leaving poor reviews, because I know business owners can’t control everything that goes on in their establishment 100% of the time.
However, I was pretty disappointed with the quality of the entrees.
The good: the salads were quite good. Presentation was good. Dressings were good.
What we ordered:
Atlantic Salmon with Wasabi sauce: Fish was a bit dry. Did not fall apart when prodded with the fork. The wasabi sauce tasted like mayo. Potatoes were good, but nothing great.
Alfredo:
Honestly, for a $ 17 bowl of pasta (no chicken at this price-​point), it was extremely disappointing. The sauce was so unremarkable, they would have been better off using a $ 1.89 jar of Prego. Absolutely no flavor. Watered down.
To make it worse, there were large clumps of uncooked pasta through out the dish.
Now, I understand that this is not fine dining. However, this place is not inexpensive, either. As someone said, you may be better served by going to Olive Garden.

Food was delicious! We ordered the stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta, Gorgonzola Gnocchi, and chicken parm. The entrees come with side salads which were so incredibly fresh. We asked out server and she confirmed they did buy the spinach that morning.
I wouldn’t be wanted our bread to be toasted and the butter a bit softer to spread. The restaurant was also ridiculously hot. We asked for the heat to be turned off– which the staff agreed it was too hot as well.

I went to Fratellis because I was looking for something close to the Academy of Music. I found this restaurant on Groupon, and made the reservation through Open Table. I got a dish with grilled chicken with prosciutto and cheese over fettuccini in a marsala wine sauce. My boyfriend got the shrimp scampi with penne and vodka sauce. My chicken was great, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the sauce. Though that is more of a personal taste thing. I was a big fan of my boyfriends dish, though. The service was great and the seating was spacious and somewhat casual (there were several groups there with children. Certainly not an overly formal atmosphere). I would definitely recommend it and plan on being back at some point !

I came here for restaurant week and absolutely enjoyed it! The ambiance was perfect and they had amazing service. My waiter was hilarious although I do not remember his name. The food besides this was decent. It wasn’t anything crazy tasty it was just normal food. I would definitely go back, it was a great time and the food was good!

I honestly never write reviews but this is merited. My family has been coming here for years after the light show at Macys. However the staff today was so rude I don’t want to ever go back. We arrived at 12 with 4 adults, 4 kids and were told despite 3 open 4 tops, the only place they could fit us was 1 large 6 seat bar
Height table. Purportedly the other tables were reserved but I watched closely and that was not the case. It was pretty clear to me they didn’t want to seat us with the kids, especially in the nice open window seat area. Clearly saving it for what they felt like would be more higher paying customers. We ended up at the high top and felt the entire meal like we were a burden. Listen I understand kids aren’t appropriate everywhere. But this is a very casual sandwich type spot and our kids were very well behaved the entire time. Other things irritated me too… i.e. bringing the kids food not just last but several minutes after everyone else, telling us there weren’t any crayons and then when asking a second time finding crayons somehow, never once checking to see if we needed anything else after dropping the food off etc. Just bad service and worse attitude. Food is passable (basic burgers, mediocre fries etc) but frankly half the reason we come here is bc this is super basic stuff.. that’s why it always felt kid friendly. Until today.

While recently visiting Philadelphia, I was walking around the neighborhood near Reading Terminal Market to try and find a place to grab dinner. I had walked by a few bars that were offering happy hour deals, but for some reason I was in the mood to dine at a place that wasn’t too crowded.
I passed by Fratelli’s and glanced at the menu. After a quick glance, I figured this place was worth a shot. The food was great — I had the veal marsala with a glass of their house cabernet.
Not much else to say about this place — it’s an Italian restaurant. It’s not too fancy, but neither is it a complete dump. I’d definitely consider coming back here.

Nice atmosphere, but the food had no flavor. I had the gnocchi with tomato basil sauce, and it tasted like it was made with no extra ingredients. Another member of our our party got the penne alla vodka. Was not impressed with the noodles or sauce. Tasted like it was just made out of a can, and not made with any extra ingredients. For the price that we paid, I would’ve expected a lot better.

The restaurant was beautiful upon entering. My family and I brought our own wine which was the catalyst for a great conversation until… A roach crawled up the wall. We were compensated for our food and given dessert as a «Sorry» token. The food was blahhh. But the desserts were great.

Great location, casual and low-​key atmosphere, wonderful service, and amazing Penne Vodka. The bread brought to the table was a little disappointing — plain Italian loaf slices with cold, hard butter.

I really loved this place. I bought Groupon and was so pleasantly surprised. We sat outside and our server Samantha was incredibly attentive and sweet.
We had the stuff mushrooms, calamari and lobster ravioli. Every part of the dinner was delicious. I consider myself a bit of a foodie. And I would
highly recommend this place!!!

ordered salmon aurora — sounded great in description with a lobster cream sauce. I had it delivered to my office to lunch-…
salmon wasnt cooked badly. but the sauce was regular tomato sauce & not much of it. Noodles were completely dry w the salmon underneath which was had a light coating of sauce. the side salad was the best part of this 22 $ meal + delivery. Not worth the money.

Wow, where do I start? Do I start at the excellent service or the phenomenal food? We came in a group of four and we were greeted warmly, our waitress refilled our water consistently, refilled our bread, came over to our table and checked on us several times, and accommodated our every needs. I ordered the ravioli and I was extremely pleased. A good portion size and savory taste with each bite. We used a Groupon and she patiently worked with us and walked us through everything. Moreover, it was our two best friends’ birthdays and she surprised us with two free tiramisu cakes with candles. We left happy, satisfied and excited to return again.

Ordered eggplant parmigiana at recommendation of server over the gnocchi. It came with bread and the house salad. The bread was room temperature with rock hard, unspreadable butter. Salad wasn’t bad. The eggplant parmigiana itself was about average. I’ve had better and worse. It just seemed soggy and bland to me.

I wanted to try a new place in the city and I am always up for Italian. I bought a groupon for this place and thought we’d give it a try.
We went at 830pm on a Friday. The place wasn’t busy but had a decent amount of guests.
The hostess was friendly and we were seated right away. The server came quickly for intros/​drink order etc. Staff was very friendly and attentive.
I had a glass of wine (not bad), my BF had a makers mark old fashioned. We noticed there were gnats in his drink and notified the server. Quickly they fixed the drink and apologized and removed it from the bill. (They mentioned because of the sweetness, and the makers mark not being very popular, etc bugs sometimes get in there. I could’ve done without that info.)
For the app we ordered the mozzarella … Mozzarella sticks. Nothing exciting.
For dinner, he ordered the gnocchi, I ordered the macaroni with 5 cheese (or something along that line).
Food took a while to come out. Staff checked in periodically and apologized while refilling drinks.
Dinner was served in large portions but nothing particularly great about the dishes.
We ordered tiramisu and cheesecake to go. Dessert was ok.
While we waited for the check, we saw a roach walk across the floor. :-(
Prices are comparable for the area but I’ve had better from Olive Garden. Overall the place looked nice. Staff was friendly and attentive, but I will not be returning.

My friends and I were trying to find a local bar to hang out during our last night Philadelphia. Most of the bars were extremely full, so we decided to walk down towards Chestnut. During the night stroll, we notice this restaurant bar was still open and decided to walk inside. We only ordered drinks, no food.
Our server, a young lady with long brunette hair (can’t recall her name) was very friendly and easy to get along with. She made sure which drinks belong to who and if our orders were correct. The beers, wine glasses, and several shots we order were not overpriced!!! Also, we were able to meet the owner of Fratelli’s, John! He was extremely friendly as well and has a great sense of humor. We were all able to have a conversation with him and share portions of our experiences visiting Philadelphia. My italian speaking skills were a bit rusty, but John and I were able to have a decent conversation for about 5 minutes in italiano! The vibe of this place was very laid back and welcoming. I would come back here again for drinks and hopefully have a chance to try their Italian dishes.
Thank you John for the AWESOME hospitality during our last night in Philly!

This was by far the worst Italian food I think I’ve ever had. Please just go across the street to Olive Garden and you will have a better experience (and I do not like Olive Garden so this is saying a lot).
First of the ambiance of this place is just slightly more upscale than your local pizza dive. The tables and floors are filthy and the servers are inexperienced.
The food was just absolutely disgusting. We started with the calamari and it was overcooked, rubbery, and tasted like it was frozen (not fresh!). The salads were next and they were soaked in dressing so much that we didn’t even try to finish them. Our entrees were made with cheap ingredients and did not taste fresh. Two of us got sick within 5 hours after finishing our meal here. Needless to say, we passed on dessert.
The food was ridiculously overpriced and the service was not great.
I will never be back and I will be sure to spread the word about this place. I felt like I was ripped off entirely.

This is another place that I definitely wouldn’t have tried without a groupon.
As far as service goes, our waitress wasn’t very friendly. Then again, it was about 2 degrees outside, so I wasn’t in the friendliest mood either. We’ll chalk it up to winter crankiness.
Two friends and I ordered three dishes to share:
Penne alla vodka
Chicken battuta w/​potatoes and asparagus
Spaghetti with red sauce & meatballs
Each entrée/​pasta dish comes with a side salad, which I definitely appreciate, but the pastas were just OK. The penne vodka was better than the spaghetti. The chicken came in one of those wanna-​lick-​the-​plate-​sauces, and the portion was generous.
Overall, I don’t think I’d come back here. There’s too much good italian food to be eaten elsewhere.