Fratelli Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Alexandria

It was a pretty good experience. Bread, salad and vegetables were great. Bread was brought out with olive oil, butter and parmesan cheese. House vinegarette was very nice and seemed homemade. My wife's glass of wine was not brought out after her meal was served. Could have been a miscommunication with the server. The server hardly ever checked in on us, and it was not that busy. Another server sort of took over toward the end. My NY Steak had a decent amount of gristle on it and was not as thick and tender as I would have preferred, but it was adequate. My wife's salmon was pretty good. It was farm raised and we prefer wild caught salmon, but no worries. The cappuccino at the end was very nice. I felt a little rushed toward the end around 840pm, and we were the only ones in there at that point. Our bill was brought to us in the end without us asking for it. It was definitely not a bad place and had a decent vibe. Good music. Real flowers in water and a single lit candle on the table. Cloth napkin. The place seemed like it had some history to it. The experience did not knock my socks off but at the same time, it was not a bad experience for me and my wife. We no longer live in the area. We'd possibly try it again if we lived in the area. We'd probably try some pasta next time if we were to go back. 80 dollars with tip for both of us. Overall, not bad. Had my steak been a little better quality and our server been a bit more knowledgeable, friendly and attentive, then I probably would have given it at least a 4 or a 5 star. It was a Monday night. Again, not a bad experience by any means. Seemed like a good...

This place has a good reputation. Maybe I was there on an off night or maybe I just have high standards. When we ordered as a large group we explicitly said "split checks", this will come up later. We ordered drinks and appetizers before the meals. The drinks were poured heavy, but weren't mixed well. Margaritas came in pint glasses and didn't have salt, mules tasted of whiskey sour and not ginger. The menu had meals of pasta and calamari, which was confused with an order of calamari appetizer. This was corrected, and then meals came out. Turns out the entree was just the calamari appetizer with a side of pasta, which was not as advertised in the menu. The entrees were all singular dishes with a side of pasta, which just didn't feel right. Chicken entrees could have easily been put on top of a bed of pasta with the same sauce for the whole meal. But instead you had a cream based entree with a side pasta with marinara. The side pastas weren't even tossed or mixed, just boiled pasta with the sauce plopped on top. After the meal we asked for the check, and a single check came out. "Split check? Did you mean separate checks?" Yes, yes that is exactly what we meant hours ago when we talked about splitting the check. Couldn't even trust the waiter to "separate" the checks and had to do it ourselves. They couldn't figure out that we included tip when we separated the amounts and wasted more of our time. Maybe it was an off night, but damn do I never want to give them...

I want to say first off the service and wait staff were very good and very friendly. However, everything else was a let down. The entire place from decor to food needs an overhaul. The building inside and out is falling apart. Most apparent in the bathrooms and old style drop ceiling. The linens smell old and dusty.

The menu is standard Italian fare that you'd find anywhere else, but the prices would lead you to believe it was all made fresh. In fact that's even what they say. However the breading on a fresh veal parmigiana is not soggy. The meat in a fresh lasagna is still tender not mushy and grey.

The Italian dressing on the house salad was over powering and almost inedible.

Maybe at one time great care was put into the food coming out of the kitchen but now they seem to be cutting corners with frozen over salted food.

The seasonal veggies were oiled to excess and probably steamed from frozen. No flavor.

The bread in the basket was decent. But the infused olive oil tasted neither like olives or the herbs stuffed in the bottle.

The ash container located conveniently next to the front door ensures a good stream of cigarette smoke wafting through.

This place reminds me a lot of tempo on duke street. So if you like that, you'll love this. But if you want real and fresh Italian food, best go...