Fresco Cucina Italiana

Reviews 6

GA

Gabriel Medina

Fresco: Honestly one of the most authentic Italian dining experiences Ive had since my visit to Italy. If youre skeptical like I am whenever someone says "authentic" in their reviews of a restaurant...then read on. Im always skeptical when someone says that. 1.) The Aperol Spritz is a drink thats extremely common in Northern Italy, and yet extremely rare in the States. The majority of Italian restaurants in America have never heard of Aperol, let alone the infamous Aperol spritz. Fresco nailed the recipe, hands-down, complete with the orange slice. 2.) Nothing is reinvented or made to be a unique dish, like a chef specialty or twist. The menu isnt even listen based on popularity, but rather alphabetically. Everything is traditional and classic, including the typical cuts of pasta like pappardelle and sauces like amatriciana. 3.) The Bolognese sauce had the exact level of sweetness that surprised me in Italy, because it reminded me of Chef Boyardi as a kid. I thought it was silly at first, until more dishes in Italy shared this sweetness in the Bolognese sauces. The secret? San Marzano tomatoes. 4.) What restaurant has an Italian guy playing Napoli music from the 1950s? I digress. 5.) The pizzas here are the original Napoli style, how they were invented. No pies, no coal fire, not thick crust or thin...but traditional. Real pizze. I could go on with more, but I hope I can rest my case (and fingers). I am so excited to have discovered this restaurant tonight and will absolutely be back. The service, quality of food, environment...completely unpredicted in this somewhat rundown shopping plaza. If youre a fan of Italian food...real Italian food, clear your calendar for the evening and come check this place out. You will be happy you did! See you there. ;-)

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AL

Alastair Fynn

Great food! Terrible service.... from the bartender to the table service, the people are simply rude and seem to only notice the few regulars gather near the end of the bar. We made a reservation for 715 and showed up at 710. We were told it would be a few minutes so we went to the bar to order our drinks whilst we waited. We sat and observed an employee at the end of the bar messing with the TV till he found and proceeded to watch a basketball game with a couple eating their dinner. We waited for 5 minutes (at a half empty bar) to even receive a glance in our direction. Meanwhile, directly in front of us, stood a blonde who was less than 2 ft away dusting liquor bottles. It seemed as if she made a concerted effort not to turn in our direction. Each time she went to grab something that was at the front of the bar where we were sat, she only half turned. She seemingly was also unaware of us in the mirror she was facing regardless of the fact that she made eye contact with me twice.... Table service was marginally better. While it was quick and the food came out promptly and deliciously, the server (a young brunette woman) made no attempt at friendly conversation and even walked off without waiting for an answer when she checked in on the food. My mouth had literally just opened to offer my compliments and she then turned to greet a friend at the door. We will never be going back to this establishment. And unless you dont care about service, nor should you

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DU

Dustin DeTorres

After reading all of the awesome reviews, my wife and I were very excited to visit as we live literally right down the street. Fresco is located in an up and coming shopping center right off of Sandlake Rd in the Dr. Phillips area. We arrived and werent greeted immediately and were surprised as it was an early, less busy Thursday night. The bartender ended up asking us if we wanted a table for two and since she seemed to the be the most friendly person so far, we decided to sit at the bar. Im not sure if she just found out bad news about something but she just "wasnt there" mentally. No engagement, no excitement about the menu. Just blah. She also didnt know much about the menu even though she said she had been there since December! Really? We ordered the Italian Wedding soup and Caprese to start and they were both fresh and homemade. We didnt get 25% of the way through and our meals came in on top of them. At this point, we had a bad taste in our mouths about the whole experience. I ordered the Chicken Piccata and she got the Chicken Parm. Both were fresh and above average but it really was ruined by our overall experience. Im never one to write off a restaurant due to ONE experience so we will most likely give this place another try in the near future. When youre so close to SO MANY restaurants in the area, you really need to be on point all or most of the time or find staff that wants to be there at the least.

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DO

Donna Burns

Visited on Friday night 7:30p, 4/1/16. Family of 5...children 10, 12 & 14. Calling ahead for reservation as we did is strongly suggested. We still waited nearly a half hour to be seated. Live music by an incredibly talented artist helped make the additional wait enjoyable. After being seated, we waited another 10+ minutes before I had to ask for water service as we still had not been greeted by our server. So, why the FIVE stars?? The food was absolutely AMAZING...and, our server, Paola, made a great recovery. She was attentive throughout and is obviously a skilled/experienced server. Blame could be placed on management as they were terribly understaffed for a busy Friday night during spring break. Adding a couple of busers would help the entire process. The manager was even too busy to actually LISTEN to my compliments as he whisked past us and asked "hows everything?" His back was already turned while I was raving about the BEST ITALIAN FOOD weve ever had...ever! Had he taken that extra moment to listen, I may have considered giving Fresco Cucina Italiana SIX stars...the food really was THAT good. Although management attempted to be welcoming, it seemed a bit disingenuous during a very busy dinner rush! Call ahead for reservations...but, definitely find your way to Fresco Cucina Italiana and enjoy beautiful fresh Italian food comparable to none!

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A

A Private User

Let me start by saying that the first time I ate here I did Take Out and it was fantastic! Fresh, hot food. Nice portions. Well packaged. On time. Friendly service. This was the second time eating here, but we sat down. Holy Slow Service, Batman. Our server was pleasant enough (and I know in Italy dinner is a leisure thing), but when THREE parties who were sat AFTER you get their food BEFORE you, something went wrong. We were even told that tickets were in order. Its obvious a mistake was made somewhere. One of the 3 parties was larger and the the 2 other parties ordered similar dishes to ours so I dont see why any of them got their food before us. Of note too was that the manager, or possibly the owner, went to tables to ask people how their dinner was and did not stop at our table. This whole experience is not a good one to have for a persons first impression. At least I have good memories from the Take Out experience where I got the food fast and ran out of there faster!

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JU

Jukka Klemola

We went to Cucina Italiana for real wood oven pizzas. The oven was out of service that evening. No sign outside, no warning, no information. We would not have gone inside had there been a sign saying no pizza tonight. After sitting at the table, we ordered drinks. We got drinks. Then we were asked what we would like to have. After that discussion started, we were told the oven is out of service. Also some ingredients for other dishes were missing. I consider that a very uncomfortable service. Wanted to exit but decided to stay as our kids were hungry. We had different pasta dishes, 3 were OK, one average and one not so good. Some of the sides were not really satisfactory either. I expected to get real Italian food, not Americanized versions. I really cannot recommend this restaurant based on the experience we got. Most of the staff are real Italian. That is a plus, worth the second star.

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