Fratelli Cafe — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Fratelli's is a fairly big café located on the corner of La Brea and Melrose. There's both indoor and outdoor seating - the wooden framework, tables, and benches all give Fratelli's a very modern feel. Once you're inside, there's unique decorations of bicycles propped up. The open ceiling and ability to see pipes and tubes actually works well with the overall modern theme and meshed together with the looming shelf filled with mugs, dishes, etc. They serve lunch and early dinner, but I'm glad that I was able to come for brunch.

Fratelli's is a order at the cashier and sit down at a table type of restaurant, which is nice since you can peruse the menu and pay for your food before taking a seat.

Their breakfast menu includes a good amount of variety - omelets, scrambles, burritos, tacos, French toast, pancakes, waffles, benedicts, etc.

1. Buttermilk pancakes with strawberries ($9.95 with an additional $2 for strawberries) - there were two stacks of pancakes that were topped with powdered sugar. We had thought that the strawberries would be in the pancake batter, but they were served sliced up on the side. For $2, that's not really worth it. Pancakes were sturdier and heartier than most other pancakes (instead of the light and fluffy that I like); however, we found that we actually liked the chewiness of the pancakes, especially with the syrup and butter. It wasn't an overall spectacular dish that I'd order again, but it was great for that Thanksgiving morning.

2. Sweet & Savory waffle ($12.95) - this dish had a Belgian waffle topped with 2 eggs and a side of turkey or applewood-smoked bacon. The waffle wasn't the best Belgian waffle I've ever had, but I thought it was fairly good. It was sweeter than the pancake - and honestly, I'm just a bigger fan of waffles than I am pancakes. Since there were eggs and bacon with this dish, I got a more savory vibe, even from the syrup although I think it was the exact same one as the buttermilk pancakes. Eggs were nothing special, but I did like the Applewood-smoked bacon! Thick and crispy - better than most breakfast places.

3. Green Eggs & Ben benedict ($11.95) - this item comes with hollandaise sauce and a side of potatoes, fruit or cottage cheese. One of the better benedicts that I've had. I opted for the potatoes, and I'm so glad that I did! Most of the potatoes were crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside, giving it a varying texture. But the best part was that there were little bits of bacon mixed in, which added to the taste AND texture. The hollandaise sauce on the benedicts were a little thicker than I'd like, but I thought it had a good flavor - cutting through that egg and eating it with some spinach, bacon, and English muffin was definitely a good bite! Highly recommend this dish if you're looking for something hearty and savory.

4. Coffee was also fairly good!

tl;dr - A great place to grab brunch if you're in the area! My sister had visited Fratelli's with her bf for a late lunch and didn't really like the lunch menu/what she had ordered, but she mentioned that she enjoyed breakfast a lot more. Workers are friendly and efficient - highly recommend the Green Eggs & Ben benedict if you're unsure of...

There was a fair sized line as I drove past. I dropped my passenger off at the corner to put our name in to place us in the que. Yelp for whatever reason was not allowing me to put us in line beforehand. I then began looking for parking which I must say is sparse. It is street metered parking only. We came just a bit after noon. I would imagine it would be nearly impossible to find parking during peak breakfast hours. The wait was 30 minutes. That’s not terrible in my opinion. It’s not great but tolerable. We where seated outside and told one person was to go into place our orders while the other remains at the table. Should I tip my spouse who took my order then? You then have to wait in a second line to place your order after having already stood in the first line. I’m not In love with this process. I deducted one star for the double line business. I ordered the sweet and savory which is 1 small waffle with 2 eggs and bacon $18.00 with a non sweetened peach iced tea $3.50. It was enjoyable but nothing special. My spouse ordered plain brioche french toast $12.00 with a side of bacon $4.00 with an iced peach tea $3.50. They do not have a french toast dish with any protein sides so you will have to order them as an add on side dish which is more money. They are stingy with the syrup. The waffle and french toast was served dry. There was no butter on the plate or even on the side which I found odd. I have never been served this type of dishes without butter. I would have liked more syrup than the small container that I would expect the butter to come in. We asked for butter for the 2 of us and they brought out 3 small packets. I’m like we will need 3 more! Hello? The tea is an average price but the food is over priced for what you are getting. The bacon wasn’t thin but it wasn’t thick ether. Oh! And if you think the price will be the same as what was on the menu online then your will be sorely disappointed! My meal was listed as $16.00 and I was informed after the order was placed that it was actually $18.00! There is NO TABLE SERVICE! If you need a refill on your beverage you are going to be thirsty if you don’t get up and get it your self. It is very much fast food style only there is nothing fast about it. -1 star for being stingy on the plate and lack of service. The host at least asked if we where doing all right when the line died down and had nothing to do. However, non of the staff checked in with us to insure a positive dining experience. If you need anything you have to try to flag someone down. Good luck with that. I did enjoy the people watching. There where some crazy characters upon my visit that where comical to see. God bless that mess! LMAO! Do I feel compelled to do that again? No, not really. The lack of parking, 2 long lines, no table service, me having to serve myself, pricey run of the mill food that I can get at any diner that will actually service my table added up to a fat no thank you but thank you anyway. The most enjoyable thing about my visit was the company I was keeping. This restaurant is over rated. Do...

happy new year! last year had gotten too busy for me at the time to leave this review, but to say the experience stuck with me is an understatement. I went to Fratelli on Melrose, a weekday, wasn’t busy at all, I order my white vanilla bianca on ice and the pancakes, eggs scrambled and bacon. my drink come, there’s a long string of hair on the outside of the glass. I tried not to panic too much and took my drink back up to the bar to show and tell what I had been given. I was met with “Oh, wow, that’s odd” then the guys proceeds to take his hat off to show me he doesn’t even have hair, I ask for a new beverage, they make it again, while constantly commenting on the mystery of this hair…a little later, my food comes, I kid you not, and to my complete surprise, there was another long strand of hair cooked into my scrambled eggs, literally made me want to throw up 🤮😭 I get up, just request my money back, I wanted to get out of there, I paid 31$ in cash, I was given back 21$…I didn’t realize they skimped me 10$ until he gave me my cash back and was going to say something but then the manager or owner of the place comes over and tells me that he “ know how this happened” and “can’t believe it” again expressing the sentiment that NO ONE HAS HAIR THERE, making light of a situation I was taking very seriously 🤮…kind of acts “cool” about it like “aren’t you hungry?” “we can’t just let you leave without eating” as if that was my original plan, but after HAIR was involved in the food and beverage of the place, I felt uncomfortable….he “convinces” me to stay and they will make me a fresh breakfast, against my gut, I did, I WAS hungry and didn’t feel like going back and forth. The new breakfast comes out (no hair this time 😭) But it wasn’t good. the pancakes didn’t look like the pancakes advertised on their site, more like cafeteria or airplane hotcakes and I didn’t even finish it. Just a weird experience all around and it just never sat right with me that they kept 10$ of my dollars for that experience. I expected a full refund and the understanding from them that I did not want to be there after such an experience. I hope this was clear and I wasn’t talking in circles. Thanks for listening. Fratellis Melrose left the worst taste in my mouth 😭 My sister says the new one in Marina Del Rey is better, but...