Ristorante Fratello

We happened upon this place on a Wednesday night and loved it. The gnocchi and spaghetti carbonara was fantastic. It will be one of our fav spots for Italian going forward.

What a hidden gem! We dine out often, but never knew this restaurant was her all these years.. I tend to use opentable a lot, so it would be great to see this place added. Visited for dinner last Saturday after friends found the place via Unilocal.We were very happy with the food and service. Food was tasty and authentic. The octopus appetizer was excellent, and I cant say enough about the thick juicy tender pork chop I ordered. My companions had pasta and enjoyed it very much. Will definitely be back.

Food was good… service was very poor… we were told when we ordered a side of fries might not be available because the chef hadn’t started the oil — but the person who ordered the burger wasn’t told that… took forever to get our desert order taken…

We have been regulars here for some time, this last week we came in with a party of 8 for my wife birthday (she loves the octopus). The food and service were both awesome. The cat playing and singing classic rock ballads in the background was at the perfect volume and lots of fun too! Full bar with a large screen, perfect for their Happy hour that my wife and her girlfriends take advantage of, is on my list for my next visit.

Great food, great service, amazing atmosphere. We usually come here during the weekdays and decided to wonder in on a Saturday night with no reservations. The bartender was extra attentive and spoke to the owner, who seated us promptly despite their busy night ahead. The food is always fresh, delicious and so satisfying. Even had a band playing on Saturday night, which was great! Absolutely our favorite, hit the spot Italian place!

Small hidden gem in willow glen.
Fresh pasta, pizzas, grilled octopus and caesar salad are phenomenal. We will definitely be back. Lots of wines by the glass, including Italian ones.
Definitely recommend reservations we had to wait 15 minutes and got seated right by the kitchen door.
We brought our 6-​year old, who loved the food but probably won’t bring him back. It has more of a date-​night, over 21 feel. That being said there were other families there with small children and the restaurant didn’t seem put off that we had brought him.
For those of you familiar with Willow Glen, the prices are comparable to dry creek grill or table.

Came here when Phở Wagon next door was closed one night for dinner. My partner and I figured we’d give this romantic looking spot a try. Something new. I don’t recommend this haha. We were not dressed the part and you definitely want to be when coming here. It’s a nice place that serves authentic Italian food. I’m talking we ain’t at Olive Garden no more food. Seriously, you’re not going find any similarities. I tried lol.
Suffice to say, I hadn’t had authentic Italian in so long that I couldn’t decide what to order! They had so many delicious options. All with 1 – 2 ingredients I had to look up. I went with gnocchi and savagely regretted it when my partners pasta was served. Don’t waste your time on petty dishes like gnocchi. Don’t be like me. Get something more adventurous!
They also have happy hour. Review on that to come soon.
Come dressed nicely. Nothing crazy but it’s worth putting effort in if you’re coming to eat here. Parking lot is rather small but it’s normally empty. Right behind Safeway and in front of the Willow Glen USPS

We popped in to Fratello without a reservation late on a Friday night, and it was a little like stepping into a scene of The Sopranos – a scene at Vesuvio, not at the Bada Bing.
At nearly 9:00, the place was packed, and the atmosphere was festive. Having married into an Italian family that takes its food and wine pretty seriously, I can safely say that most of the crowd consisted of Italians who take their food and wine pretty seriously. (For a minute, I thought there might be a Tommy Bahama event going on, but, no, that’s just the way they roll at Fratello on a Friday night.)
We ordered calamari, a beet salad, and pasta – octopus and carbonara. The calamari was average. The beet salad was good but an extremely small portion size for the price. However, the pastas were so remarkable that «just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.»
Seriously though, these pastas were far beyond expectations in every way, and I doubt I’ll be able to order anything else at Fratello ever again. I’ve enjoyed the octopus at Evvia for years, and the Octopus at Fratello might even be better.
Word to the wise, if you want to enjoy some octopus pasta on the weekend, make a reservation.

Thursday night dinner on a «I don’t feel like cooking, let’s try a place in town» kind of night. I had the pappardelle with veal and asparagus, which was fine, though it did not blow me away. Husband ordered the lamb chop special — two thick-​ish chops with an herb rub, which were decent but needed salt.
We hadn’t asked how much the lamb chop special was, but assumed it was probably on the order of the pricier entrees on the menu at around $ 33. Yeah, the chops were $ 40. For comparison, our lamb chop gold standard is Evvia in Palo Alto, where their amazing chops and lemon roasted potatoes are $ 42. We both looked at the bill and said «That wasn’t worth it.»
I wish we felt better about the food value because I want there to be more places we can go on a «I don’t feel like cooking» kind of night, but I can’t get over $ 83 with tip for two for a non-​special occasion dinner and food that was fine, but not fantastic. Probably won’t rush back.

The service is extremely slow. We had to ask to order food. Wait staff disappeared for most of the evening. We had to ask when our food was going to be served as we waited so long.
Menu prices are extremely high. We don’t mind paying for good food but my mother’s veal parmigiana was extremely overcooked. The potatoes were burnt. A Ribeye steak cost $ 80. The wine was outrageously priced and quality questionable.
This was a special occasion for our family.
We were extremely disappointed and won’t be back.

Went here for the first time last night after our realtor had highly suggested it. Needless to say, I was super impressed. The owner was sure to introduce himself after learning that we lived nearby. The atmosphere was cozy and all of the menu items sounded delicious. Our appetizers were tasty and out entrees were even better. I had the veal in white wine sauce & would definitely go back just for that dish, although everything else I had was worth coming back for. All the waitresses were kind and loved to make small talk in passing or while asking us about the food. Overall, I will be back here time & time again. Absolutely fantastic restaurant! (The owner is Carmine and the amount of heart and soul he puts into his restaurant is unfathomable.)

Wonderful dinner last night! Food was outstanding &
Service was very nice!!! This is a real complement to them as we are critical foodies!

I came here for the first time last night on a mission to check off all the claimed Italian Restaurants in the area. Now I love Italian Food and have a different palate than most for the cuisine. I don’t enjoy a lot of sauce and when it comes down to it if you have freshly made pasta with the right chew — I can basically eat it plain!
So that was my mindset coming here. I got the parpadelle and scattoni. Both were great! If you are a mushroom lover, get the scattoni. The veal ragu on the parpadelle was rich, tasty, and not over salted! The portion is the perfect size in my opinion, but my date thought it was on the smaller size.
We also got the spinach salad and the caprese. Something different about Fratello’s caprese is the use of burrata cheese instead of mozzarella. Similar taste, different consistency. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
What I don’t get is why you would go to a restaurant and order non freshly made pasta so my number one recommendation is to try something they make in house!!! I mean anyone can boil pasta, but if an establishment is going to take the time to roll out pasta dough and cut it, you got my business… well you have to do it well too and I would say Fratello’s does do it well.
I did not get dessert, we got 2 appetizers, a bottle of wine and 2 pasta dishes for about $ 100. Pretty reasonable. The service was good, we went on a Sunday so it wasn’t crowded. Only complaint was a loud couple at the bar talking about their business out in the open, didn’t bother us much, but I can see how it would bother others.
Also, complimentary bread was just how I like it, warm, crisp and delicious!
I’ll be back!

Not impressed. Fratellos was nothing special given the prices. I had the lamb chops which were the special of the day. They were chewy and glued to the bones. With every calorie burning bite I thought back to the far superior lamb chops at the Bellagio buffet that slid of the bone and melted in my mouth compared to Fratellos’ chew sticks.
My wife’s rigatoni was average. The bread was okay. When the live musician began to whistle I thought there must be a hidden camera. Unfortunately this was not some orchestrated prank.

Short and to the point. Instant one star for blatant false advertising of Happy Hour.
Multiple large fold up signs boldly stating the different aspects of their happy hour were facing multiple directions outside. These are not permanent, but obviously set up each day. Inside, small print in the menu disallows Fridays. Staff was unable to see how this was essentially a bait and switch.
We got up and left as we don’t support this kind of lazy lying. Food might be good, but this kind of business leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Ambience: the ambience here is amazing — it’s dim romantic and theres an acceptance noise level of people chattering. I came on a Friday night and there was live music.
Price: the food is nice and although some people say its pricey I paid 70 $ for 2 entrees, an appetizer, and a glass of wine — which I think is a totally fair price.
Food: the ravioli was good but I wish I’d ordered the imported pasta from Italy because I loved the texture of it. Also totally loved the caprese appetizer — so fresh!
Service: although I made a reservation I ended up waiting around 10 or so minutes which isn’t ideal but both the hostess and waitress were so amicable I didn’t mind. The servers are also quick to take away plates and such. The food service isn’t super speedy but I like a a leisurely meal anyway.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.

Wow! Where to start? Well, let me begin by saying I haven’t felt much motivation to write a Unilocal review in quite some time. Leave it to a «gem» like Ristorante Fratello, however, to disturb me from my slumber. And by gem, I mean it strictly in the sense of it’s scarcity. Few restaurants distinguish themselves as Fratello did tonight with it’s rare combination of crap food & high prices. You see, in most places the free market works with brutal efficiency– places with crap food are forced to make tough decisions to either 1) shut down, 2) lower prices, or 3) improve quality of the food to match their prices. Only a lucky few (Fratello!) are able to fester and avoid these tough decisions altogether. I won’t hypothesize as to the specifics (geographic, demographic factors, etc.) that enable this to happen.
Never before have I written a review on a restaurant’s takeout, and hopefully never will again. The pizza we purchased, «pizza funghi e salsiccia» looked quite beautiful in the picture (caption said it was from 3 years ago, but I’ve now uploaded one from 2015). The pizza we received however, was at best something I would’ve got at a greasy roller skating rink in the midwest where I grew up, at worst something I would’ve lifted out from under a heat lamp in a mom & pop gas station (also in the midwest). To add insult to injury beyond the lack of cheese, toppings & generally undercooked pie, they didn’t even bother to cut the pizza. Not at all. Not the slightest incision or perforation.
I am a peaceful man, but I need to stop… thinking about Ristorante Fratello is making my blood boil on an otherwise nice evening.
The salad was also pathetic, but other than that, enough said.
Won’t be going there again, and will advise any other fellow Willow Glenners to do the same.

Homemade Fettuccine!!!
It’s not very often that I have pasta, but today it’s raining and we went for a hot lunch. I had the Fettuccine Prima Vera and it was amazing! The bread was also so fresh and amazing. So excited to have a fabulous place like this right down the street from work! They are only open for lunch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, but this is a MUST! YUM!

Best kept secret in willow glen.
This place is great authentic Tuscan, Malfi coast cooking. My husband and I went to Italy this past fall and we were missing the all the great food. Our craving was satisfied tonight.
They were kind enough to serve each entrée separately so we could split it «family style». We started off with a beet strawberry salad. The strawberries and beets were served over fresh spinach and had chunks of goat cheese, nuts, onion drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Second coarse (my husbands favorite) Pappardelle Vitello. The pasta was cooked perfectly (al denti). The hint of truffle makes the flavor pop.
Third and last coarse. Scaloppine di Vitello was delicious. The veal was tender the vegetables were perfect and I liked that the potatoes were browned before added to the mix.
Over all it was a great meal. It was nice to have a bit of real Italian cooking.

I probably am not a good person to judge this Italian restaurant because of what I ordered, but hey, why not give it a shot?
The place is kind of a hidden gem, in a little strip mall that we didn’t even know had anything worthwhile inside. My fiancé’s father frequents this place, so when he was in town, we went along. The inside of the restaurant is very quaint, has a good relaxing vibe. On Friday night (not sure if it is every night), there was a lone guitarist playing, and singing quietly in the corner. It was a great atmosphere.
We ordered the calamari for an appetizer, and also had the bread with oil and vinegar. Can’t go Italian and not overload on bread right! The bread was fantastic, my fiancé tends to over-​do it, so of course we had plenty. The calamari was good, but not my favorite.
Entrees: Here’s where I stepped outside of the box. I ordered the bison hamburger. I couldn’t help it. The whole menu was filled with Italian entrees; things that sounded delish, but I just couldn’t falter from the hamburger. Once I read the description, I couldn’t get it out of my head! When the server took our order, I asked before ordering about the burger, and she confirmed it was great, so I went through with it.
It was great! It was so juicy and delish. And what could be better than a burger served with honey mustard topping? Caramelized onions, and heirloom tomatoes? Perfect. And the side of garlic fries? Amazing. Thinner, softer fries, which I love. (If you like thick crispy fries, these are not that)
Other entrees ordered at our table were devoured. They both ate almost the entire plate, and said they were delicious.
Overall, great place. Had a great atmosphere, loved the live music, the service was great, the food was great too. Only reason I can’t give it a five star is because it isn’t the BEST burger I’ve ever had. But definitely in my top four in San Jose.