Fratelli

Simple stated this place leaves a lot to be desired. The menu, for an Italian places is bizarre, the waiter almost had a heart attack because he had to split the check into 3 payments (and was vocal about this «not being normally done»), the food was very weak for the price paid.
I ordered the lasagna and was not impressed– It was way to salty, way to runny, and for $ 20 not worth the price. My GF ordered the pasta, had no taste, and the cream mushroom sauce looked more like gravy gone bad. The place has a very nice setting, with a rustic look. I would not recommend this place.

We’ve been here 3 times and overall have found this a consistent, tasty, friendly place with a good Happy Hour and excellent wines by the glass, pizzetta, pasta dishes, and desserts. The only place I’d mark them down is the salads, but only because they don’t have a plain green salad that meets your basic USDA vegetable requirement. I’ve tried the beets, yum, and the turnip and fried carrot and mizuna greens salad and that was too fried and salty to be considered a vegetable for my tastes, but everything else was seriously good. I think some restaurants don’t want to serve a plain salad because it doesn’t seem fancy or they can’t charge enough for it. But for some of us, we just need to eat our veggies so we can move on to dessert.
Speaking of which…
The pear tart was fantastic: buttery, crisp, sweet and with varying textures and flavors and a perfect complement of unsweetened crème fraîche. It was a really great dessert. Grazie, big time to the sweet and efficient server for suggesting it. The service is above average for Portland and our wine and water were refilled frequently and our dishes removed when we finished and everything came warm and beautifully presented.
We have been completely happy and look forward to coming back.

All I can say with that sort of response from the owners is that, good luck running your business with that sort of attitude. If they look closely a lot of the recent reviews follow the same trend.
Wish them luck in running the place, I hope they understand n a place like Portland with so much variety and choice, answering comments like that and with poor service, diners will just go elsewhere.

2 stars for the food, and negative 5 stars to the French male server, which brings a total score of 1 star (would be 0 if possible).
Four of us were on a roadtrip to Portland for the Sep long weekend. Unfortunately, most restaurants have been reserved. The rustic décor of Fratelli’s caught our attention, and we were also able to get seats (first sign that we should have avoided this place). For a Saturday night, the restaurant was not busy at all (more than half the restaurant was unoccupied), but it took the server 15 minutes to seat us as he was too busy chatting with the bartender. Once we were seated, it took another 20 minutes before the server checked in again for our drink order. We were a bit frustrated by then as there was no explanation on the features, no water, and no cutlery set on the table. When we ask him for recommendations on drinks, he was not helpful, and commented that he will give us another minute, which turned into 10 before he returned. We were finally able to place the overpriced drink orders after a total of 40 minutes wait from the beginning, and fearing another delay, we did not hesitate to order food at the same time.
The drinks came, and it was only satisfactory. I find it hard to believe that a $ 13 cocktail would taste so bland. Despite my love for alcohol, I held back from ordering a second as I do not want to be disappointed further. Another server notice we did not have bread and brought us some, which was kind of her as her coworker does not seem to know how to serve. The bread was really tough though. Finally the food arrived after another 30 minutes in limbo, and to our surprise, the food was even more mediocre than the drinks. My veal was too well done despite I had asked for it for medium rare, and the lasagne tasted like it came from a microwave package. In addition, the food was luke warm at best — very unappetizing. Our server also never offered fresh grounded pepper, nor did he ever came by to see if we are enjoying our dishes. None of us finished our meals, and we went straight for the check, which was another challenge as the server refuses to look our way as chatting with the bartender and kitchen staff is of his utmost importance. When we finally get our bill, we refused to wait anymore and walk straight up to the bar where he is chatting the night away demanding for the card machine/​change. Apparently, this server seems foreign to the idea of math. He cannot figure out how to add the bills together due to the separate bills, and he kept insisting we did not pay enough while giving us the evil eye. Only when we have given him a lesson in addition twice that he understood that we had paid (possibly more tip than he deserved). He gave us the receipts and proceed to chat on without ever thanking us.
At this point, I question why the owner ever hire such an idiot when he is rude, unfriendly, unresponsive, and cannot understand the concept of simple math. The four of us were so mad that we had to rant all the way to the next restaurant. Yes, we were that unsatisfied that we had to go elsewhere. Thankfully, the lounge we ended up with was amazing, which shall be another review.
For Fratelli’s though, I will never recommend it to anyone unless you are my enemy.

I wish I could add a half star to this rating. 4.5 stars is what I would give.
So my partner and I went to Portland with another couple friend for an early birthday celebration. As we were on our way, we had no idea where we were going to eat. All we knew was that the birthday boy wanted Italian food. About 15 miles out, he announced the place he wanted to eat. It was NOT Fratelli. After parking we walked to the location he had pulled from his memory banks and it was P A C K E D. So we convinced him to go to another place for some cocktails while we found another close Italian restaurant. After searching Unilocal!We settled on Fratelli.
Upon arrival the establishment was pretty crowded and we still had 15 minutes until our reservation time. We opted to sit at the bar and enjoy some vino. At the moment of our reservation time, we were escorted to our table.
Let me tell you, this place is small and they have a limited staff, but they were very attentive and engaging with us and everyone around us.
Our dining order was taken promptly and we ordered some appetizers to get us going. The Appetizers arrived within about 5 minutes of placing the order and our meals arrived within minutes of us finishing the appetizers.
My partner had the gnocchi, I opted for the Flat Iron steak, the Birthday boy chose lasagna and his partner went with a salad. All the meals were cooked perfectly, tasted wonderful and served promptly. After dinner we ordered three desserts to share between the four of us. They were out of this world. After drinks and dessert, the bill came to just over $ 120 for the two of us. I would say the price point is about right for the area, but a little higher than it should have been for the portions.
All four of us thought the food was wonderful and the service great. I make a point NOT to read other reviews before writing my own, and so now that I have written my review, I read some of the recent ones and can only imagine that perhaps there are good nights and bad nights at all places. We will probably go back again. YOU have to decide for yourself if Fratelli is your place to go.

Not often do I find Unilocal reviews to be very far off from my own experience at a restaurant. Seeing the 4 star rating that Fratelli has, my friends and I decided to dine here.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, I enjoyed the rustic/​cozy ambience. We were both glad and concerned that the restaurant was half empty on a Saturday night when other restaurants around town were fully booked.
Not sure if our server was new, or if he was having a bad day, but he seemed unfamiliar with the menu and wasn’t able to make any recommendations.
My lasagna came swimming in a pool of grease. If it looks that bad for you, it must taste amazing, right? No. It tasted just as awful as it looked. I’ve had better lasagna from a microwave.
Perhaps our server knew, he never came back to ask us how the food was.
Unfortunately, that lasagna came second to the low-​light of the night — our sever’s incompetence.
As unenthused as he was to see how our dinner was or take more drink orders, he was also disinterested in taking our money. (At least he’s consistent.)
There was absolutely no redeeming quality to this dining experience. Ok. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. It could be worse. We could’ve gotten food poisoning.

After reading the majority of good reviews about Fratelli, I was looking forward to enjoying a nice Italian meal during my trip in Portland. Unfortunately, I left incredibly disappointed and almost angry. Read on if you wish to read my experience.
My party of 4 made dinner reservations online. We were running late so we made a courtesy call to let them know we were on our way. When we arrived, our table was not prepared and it took them more time than needed to seat us. Mind you, the restaurant was half empty and they had a table of 6 and reduced it to 4 for us. I don’t understand why this wasn’t ready by our reservation time. So we ended up standing by the hostess desk for at least 5 minutes so they can set up something they should have done 15 minutes ago.
Then it just went down hill from there. The service we received from our server was less than mediocre, it was terrible. We waited about 10 – 15 minutes for him to come say hi and get our drink order. We waited so long we were ready to order by the time he got to us. One of our drink orders asked for a side of OJ… You’d expect that a server would return to you and tell you if they were out of something before they actually place the order. Instead, we received the drink without the side of OJ. We asked him where the OJ was and he said they were out… Should we have known this, we would’ve changed our order. We didn’t say anything…
We asked him about some of the Appetizers that we could share as a party and that were also potentially Vegetarian friendly. He was absolutely ZERO help in describing the italian dishes to us. He basically told us to share a salad. We didn’t end up trying anything.
I ordered the Lasagna which turned out pretty bad. It was a oily mess that tasted as though it was previously frozen. I’m almost certain it was because the ground beef was the texture of soft dog food. I’d advise against trying this dish at all costs. The texture was terrible and lacked flavour. We wanted some fresh ground pepper but no pepper was offered. In fact, our server never even came to check up on our food. Our waters were empty, our drinks were drank, and we were prepared to just get out of there. I must mention again that the restaurant was half full and he only had 2 other small parties. We watched him walk by many times without acknowledging our existence. We ate what we could and sat around trying to get his attention. He still did not return and even other servers came by to pick up our dirty dishes. We flagged down another server and requested the bill while we watch him just wiping down the bar table and putting glasses away?! WTF?! We had zero desire to be there any longer. When our bill dropped, we waited another ten minutes so he could take our payment but we got so fed up that we went up to him to pay. It was by far one of the most horrible experiences I have had at a ‘classier’ restaurant. I’ve received better customer service at McDonald’s.
If our service was exceptional, I wouldn’t be bothered by the mediocre food and may give this place another try. However, due to this extremely poor experience, I’m never coming back here again.

Rustic Italian, romantic and casual. Ambiance and superb food and service. Order the combo antipasto with 5 – 6 items and double up on the favorites as necessary. Gnocchi great! Go for any seasonal foods. Good happy hour small plates: saltimbocca chicken wrapped with prosciutto, lasagna beef pork and béchamel. Delicious Piccolini, beef marscapone and truffle. Do not do meatballs. Pork belly is nice piece of meat with beans.

Wife and I walked by this place on a Saturday afternoon and decided to stop for dinner. My wife is always a little bit doubtful on Italian food, but this place wasn’t bad at all.
With the exception of the bread & olive oil, the food was really well done. I’m not sure what was up with the bread. At first I thought that the olive oil had gone bad, but after tasting them separately, it was definitely the bread.
We split some clams which were excellently steamed, and gnocchi that were just the right amount of tender without being too gummy.
My favorite thing, however, was the curried carrots. It comes as a very small appetizer, but after tasting them I think I could have eaten an entire platter full.

Fratellis used to be our favorite relax/​rewind place until they re-​did the inside and discontinued the normal happy hour. I loved so much about it, but the ambiance changed, and it went south. Had to find a new place with a happy hour keeping customer$ coming back… I could even forgive the «off» hours and schedule they would keep in the winter months when they would just close up outside of their normal hours without notice.
Fratellis– reward your neighbors by offering a happy hour like the one that was previously what brought us in, over and over.($) Having a great happy hour, then sticking around for dinner used to be the norm. Sad its gone. The food is awesome… but the program changed…
Food is awesome… but the rest of it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Its was ok, not the best Italian I have ever had.
For a large group they seemed very over whelmed. We went about 7 pm on a Friday night with reservation with 10 people. The restaurant seems flustered with this big of group.
The appetizers of olives, and meats and cheese was great to start the night. But for dinner the staff had trouble getting all our food out at the same time. Some of the pasta tasted dry like it had been out for a while and the staff was very late getting one of ours people’s food out.
I had the lavender gnocchi, which was dry and not as much of a portion as I had hope for. The kale in the gnocchi was great, and something I really like in my dish. Many people at the table felt there dishes were meh, and could have been better.
For dessert I had the donuts, which were good, pair with a yummy chocolate sauce.
I was put off that the restaurant seemed to try and rush our party out by 10 pm. Try to pick up table and clean around us. Making us feel like we were much later than we were and rushing us to finish our evening early.
I probably won’t go back, I feel for a nice meal, the experience of the restaurant is just as important. Which the staff did not provide any thing the a ok experience for our table.

Under « Unilocaled» over delivered simple Italian dishes with exquisite service in a laid back comfortable atmosphere.

I never rated a restaurant 2 stars, but I’m supposed to provide honest reviews… so there we go.
What I liked of the place was the nice low-​light ambiance inside, and the good attempt of the waiter to provide a professional service. Not fully accomplished.
Service: 4 starts
That said, the place badly lack in the layout. Entrance is a long hallway with a very narrow waiting area right in front the restroom.
Place style: 1 star
Wine list was long, but several renowned grapes were bottled by unknown wineries. Glad I found some not so easy to find southern bottles, I’m not a wine expert but I found wine very overpriced.
Wine: 3 stars
Menu was plenty of nicely sounding plates, we were a good party of 6 and tasted each other courses.
I and 2 friends of mine (following my suggestion) had Pappardelle with wild boar… one of my favorites dishes!
…after few bites we looked at each other and said «this is beef»! Now, I’m sure it wasn’t… but it didn’t taste of wild boar at all!
The worst Pappardelle ever. Meaningless.
My gf had the dry-​rubbed pork loin… very poorly done.
Food: 2 stars
Completely disappointed!
After the bad dining experience I ask to some Italian friends of mine about the place and I’ve been confirmed… none of them liked it.
I’ll try going again maybe that was a wrong night or the chef wasn’t in service, it can happen.
Although, I Really value consistency in a restaurant.
For now this is it:
I wouldn’t recommend

Delicious pasta!!!
On the first night moved to Portland, we were recommended this place by an Italian host at another Italian place (they can’t accommodate no-​reservation that night). Start off with the bread and olive oil. OMG. it’s the best olive oil I tasted. It’s so fragrant and light. We had to ask for second serving of the break because it’s so good. The antipasti dish we order had sunchoke, fingling potato as well as pancetta in a lovely aioli sauce. Very unique taste, really brings out the flavor of potato.
Came the main dishes. We had paparadelle with wild boar and grilled pork loin. The paparadelle was handmade and the sauce was super delicious. The pork loin was done perfectly. It came out a bit pink on the inside, but continued to cook to perfect doneness.
The ambiance was casually sophisticated. I saw several tables celebration special occasions, but it’s very comfortable and not up tight.

It was good, not amazing. My favorite part of the meal was actually the bruchette. It had their house cured salmon along with a caper mascarpone and red onion. It was very delicious but short lived. Our past dishes weren’t anything spectacular but we had a nice fine dining experience. I gave three stars because it was yet another «italian» restaurant probably owned by someone who is not Italian or does not know the concept. With real Italian food you do not leave hungry and an empty wallet,.
I think this is the place to go If you just want a classy atmosphere to have a glass of wine and a couple of starters. I would go back just for the bruchette. More of a wine bar then a full on Italian experience.

3.5 stars
Do yourself a favor and go to Piazza Italia. Yes, I am biased, but the place did not blow my mind.
We ordered the chicken liver pâté to start. The presentation threw me off — it looked like two giant… ummm…turds on the plate. And they only brought out three mini crostinis. Places that are stingy with bread annoy me.
We then ordered the polenta, gnocchi, ribeye and ravioli. All were great, but again not mind blowing.
Not memorable.

Pluses– One of the nicest servers ever. Great place for happy hour. perfect mood lighting. Nice music. (too bad about the periodic pandora commercials. ahem) Decent house wine.
Minuses– well. it WAS the bar menu, so maybe not representative of what the kitchen could do, but everything was too oily and too salty– and believe me– for ME to say that means it’s 3x the normal gall bladder’s capacity.
We were psyched @ hazelnut/​prosciutto pizza & it was interesting, but SO rich. (I know, yes, it’s nuts and ham. ok. but the crust was ALSO well oiled. over kill.) Really sorry about the one star review having a cow over not getting to order pizza in the restaurant, but you didn’t miss anything. (and cut people some slack. even if you have an idea how hard it is to run a restaurant, people got their reasons. chill. I’m giving an extra star to make up for that review.)
Chicken Confit was like chicken and gravy over polenta w/​cheez. also just a little too much.
However, I would definitely go back. We heard a lady next table over moaning about her salad– next time I would get that.

Excellent atmosphere and great innovative food. Happy hour specials start at 4:30.
Three of us met for a business dinner. Not busy for a Thursday night at 6:30pm.
For dinner we had Lobster Bisque $ 9 — Excellent, Risotto, asparagus and nettles $ 12 –excellent, gnocchi with chard and kale $ 14– very good, Lasagna $ 19 — Excellent, pappardelle with wild boar ragout $ 22 awesome, roasted squash and spaeztli $ 20 — Excellent.
Desert menu was good but not great.
Wine by the glass is available but of limited selection, Full wine list is good. Corkage fee $ 20. Bar area looked small but fun.
I would definitely eat here again.

Late night search for quiet place for dinner and sidecar for one, I channeled my future BFF Amy M who led me here.
Located off a busy street, Fratelli was exactly what I was looking for. A comfortable restaurant/​bar staffed by a master mixologist and serving up creative Italian cuisine. I took a seat at a small side table near the bar and was quickly greeted by my server. He handed me both the bar and main menu along with a cocktail list. I took a few minutes and studied and after a bit decided on what else? A bourbon sidecar. The bartender personally delivered the sidecar to my table and made it a point it was to my liking and of course if was perfect. It was a team effort as it was the bartender one who actually took my dinner order. He had a few opinions and did a great job and explained some of the food preparations.
I went with the gnocchi with skirt steak appetizer portion. The gnocchi was light and fluffy, pretty much the soft pillows that everyone talks about and are looking for in gnocchi. This dish comes drizzled in a deep dark aged balsamic and served with blots of goat cheese. The skirt steak was an excellent cut of beef and cooked perfectly medium bloody rare. Even though it was an only appetizer portion, I only ate about half but not because I didn’t like it. I was saving room for a cheese course which I am glad I did.
On this night, three hard Italian cheeses and a nice serving of Spanish almonds drizzled in honey. It made the perfect end to a nice meal out.
Overall the service is excellent. The bar is warm and inviting and a great place if you are alone or with a group.

Stuffy service and atmosphere. It truly felt like a nice breath of fresh air leaving the restaurant :). We won’t be going back.
We went there early yesterday to celebrate a special occasion (my brother’s birthday) and were a party of six. We had reservations and arrived at 5:30 pm and the restaurant was almost empty. We ordered two bottles of wines, appetizers, soup, and main entrees. I guess the waiter realized early on (his name was Alfonso judging from the receipt) his gratuity was automatic so decided to subject us to slowness as well as general oddness (he seemed quite put upon when we asked for extra baguette with our soups) and gave us a smarmy reply at the end when he gave us our bill (we had complained of the crappy slow service to another waiter who was very attentive but unfortunately not our waiter and told him of our complaints).
The sad part is the entrees were really good but we had to inhale them since our three year old was getting tired and we honestly didn’t think dinner was going to be a nearly one and three quarter hour affair. It’s so strange because a very large party who had sat down almost 40 minutes after we did were served their entrees ten minutes after we received ours.
With so many great restaurants in Portland and when you spend $ 200+ on a dinner bill for 5 adults, one child… you should avoid the ones with crappy service which we will definitely do. It’s sad because the food was actually ok but it all got marred by a crappy waiter.