Fresco Café — Restaurant in Bozeman

We visited this restaurant on 08/21. I hate giving any place a negative review, but this was not a good time and I doubt my qualms with the food are issues that will be resolved by going back again in a few days. I guess I’ll start with the location — this restaurant is located in one of the loveliest spots in all of Bozeman: adjacent to the creek, shaded by trees, just far enough from the road to hide the worst of the noise, and surrounded by easy parking.

Inside, the restaurant is dimly lit, with warm lighting, outside light, and candles illuminating the space. I love that. I get a fancy upscale vibe from the place (and the prices). It’s a bit cramped and noisy, though, and the person at the table behind us was vaping (INSIDE THE DINING ROOM) like there was no tomorrow; not hiding it or anything. Kind-of rips you out of the fancy / upscale vibe, but whatever as long as the food is good.

It was not though. My SO and I got Manhattan Salad, Caesar Salad, Spaghetti Puttanesca, and Broccolini with Italian sausage (the only thing I managed to take a picture of). I’ll start with the good — the Manhattan salad was excellent. I did not get it with any meat additions as I wanted to see how it was on its own, and it was great.

Now everything else — the bad. The Caesar salad was bizarre — it had tomatoes on it, the dressing was like very thinned mayo, and the whole salad didn’t taste like much of anything (unless you got the version with anchovies — we got one of each and the anchovy one tasted like anchovies).

The spaghetti puttanesca was very simple, not seasoned much at all and hardly more than extremely watery crushed tomatoes with capers and artichoke (some of which had spines still). The sauce was repelled by the noodles — the two would not combine or even touch each other despite trying.

The broccolini with Italian sausage was so unexpected that I had everyone at our table try it to make sure I wasn’t crazy, and the general consensus was “I hope that didn’t actually cost $28”. It was some of the plainest pasta I’ve ever had, swimming in salt water (“Parmesan broth reduction” — just watery salt flavored water) with an unseasoned broccolini and the driest sausage patty I’ve ever had. Paradoxically, dry sausage patty floating on salt water results in something that is both unbelievably dry and unbelievably wet at the same time.

The bread that came with the pasta was like a bake-it-yourself King’s Hawaiian bun with some Parmesan cheese cooked onto it. It was truly bizarre as a side for pasta. Fluffy and sweet, 2/3 of the way soggy by the time the plate got to the table. I am no bread expert, so this may be the norm somewhere — this honestly didn’t detract from much.

So that was the highlights of our visit. The other people we were with said their food was alright, and the servers were great. None of the food issues seemed like they were the result of an infrequent problem — not like “the kitchen ran out of tomatoes so they had to substitute canned white gravy”. This was normal food prepared poorly. And expensively. I will certainly go back at some point — I don’t particularly want to, but I’ll be happy to redo / strike out this review if the...

We're long-time fans of Fresco but our experience tonight fell flat and was WELL BELOW what we've came to expect during the last three years.

FOOD. All dishes lacked seasoning but that was minor when comparing our dishes to those we've come to know in previous years - - so much so that we asked management "is there's a new chef?" Answer = yes, as of a month ago. We were advised it's a totally new kitchen staff. Effectively, a new restaurant start up (my words not his).

Mussels did not have the delightful garlic perfume of yesteryear and, despite the bread included, lack broth/sauce for dipping. Breaded chicken with gorganzola & oyster mushroom sauce topped only 1 chicken medallion and never reached the penne resting below. The penne, therefore, lacked the promised sauce but was, unfortunately, coated with EVOO which seeped down from the included roasted root veggies.

The creamy Cesar salad dressing had NO garlic or lemon flavor and only a slight touch of anchovy. It was also very sparsely dressed.

SERVICE & FRONT OF THE HOUSE STAFF Our server, Laura, was truly top notch. Very accommodating, prompt table attention and stellar wine knowledge. Rated 5 stars.

We spoke with Scott, the on-duty Mgr. He was apologetic but a good listener to our constructive feedback. We weren't looking for any after-meal concession only that he pass our observations on to the owners. We want the old Fresco we've come to know & love back.

Apparently, one of the owners (who is also a chef) has been in the kitchen every night the last week or two but did take tonight off. We can only suggest he keep at it until what the kitchen's putting out approximates past years. Recipes haven't changed, just how they're being executed.

OVERALL. Quite a disappointing evening compared to the many others we've enjoyed in years past. We'll give them a month or two before returning. We hope they regain their earlier reputation as Bozeman's best...

This restaurant is only open a few hours a day and would make a great date spot. You have two choices of ambiance - indoors which is dimmer and sensual, or the bright outdoors with patio seating right by the trees and creek!

The food was amazing! From favorite to least:

Live Mussels - 12/10 very zesty, and the broth was fresh and herby with shallots, thyme, garlic, parsley. We dipped the seafood from our entrees into the leftover broth for the acidity and flavor!

Stuffed Portabello Mushroom - 10/10 there were so many ingredients in this dish it was almost comical but it all worked together very well! Portobello mushroom stuffed with ricotta(?), blue cheese, lump crab meat, topped with chives and lemon zest, with pesto and balsamic vinegar sauces LOL. So much going on but very good. Bacon was a bit salty in this ensemble though.

Fettuccine a la Verona - 10/10 light and fettuccine is in a fresh seafood broth. Plump springy prawns with burrata and has a good ratio of vegetables (artichoke, spinach, lions mane mushroom)

Wild Alaskan Salmon Penne - 9/10 very indulgent with bacon, pesto, caramelized onions and lions mane mushroom under melted cheese. Salmon was fresh but felt under-seasoned on its own. I loved the mushrooms but I didn't love the dry/hard melted cheese on top.

Chicken Parmigiana - 8/10 tomato sauce is very fragrant. A bit bland otherwise.

All entrees came with a soft crumbly bread that I only enjoyed with the mussels broth.

Lovely server and restaurant! Charming location. Big portions, we...