Fabio On Fire | Panini & Gelateria — Restaurant in Peoria

First, let me just say the food was absolutely amazing. We had lasagna, gnocchi and shared a Margherita pizza with sausage. One bite of the lasagna and I wanted to melt. OMG it was so amazing! My wife had a similar reaction to the gnocchi.

The atmosphere wasn’t bad but the music made it a bit confusing. It wasn’t loud it just felt like it didn’t belong in that environment but it wax easy to block out the music.

Then there was the service…..yeah, about that…..

We were sat in the middle of the restaurant, not a bad seat at all though. It almost felt like the perfect place to sit. You had a decent view of everything around and there was certainly plenty of space. Unfortunately, one of those views was of multiple front of the house staff using their cell phones. We waited about 10 minutes before anyone greeted us and that was just someone bringing bread and water to the table. We believe it was the owner/manager who eventually came and took our drink and food order.

Watching, you could see him all over the place along with one other older gentleman who was helping a few tables. The younger staff, be it as may be, appeared to be a textbook version of what we hear about younger people. They wanted to be in their cellphones and not talk much to the customer.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience and the cost wasn’t that much in comparison to most restaurants. I just wish we had saved room to try some of the gelato because the flavors sounded and looked amazing. I’m not sure we will be back though because of how the service was.

If you have time and patience, this isn’t a bad place at all. We’re usually not given a lot of time away because we have two younger kids at home who get very upset if we’re gone too long and if we’re not home by bath and bedtime, it’s WW3 in our home. If we had more time though, we’d be very open to...

I was excited to try out Fabio’s. I loved Italy and was told this was pretty authentic. Met up with a friend, her first visit here as well. Ordering takes place at the counter, then given a number and they bring it to you.

. We decided to order half paninis. the menus have descriptions in Italian first, thank goodness it was all in English as well. I ordered a half bellísimo, while my friend ordered half Toscano (each were $10). We could have purchased chips on the side, but chose not to. There are bottled drinks in a refrigerated case for purchase, including a specialty Italian carbonated orange. There was limited staff and we waited a bit for our food.

Our sandwiches came, and honestly looked a little boring. But I was sure it was going to be delicious. But the bread was not as soft as paninis I ate in Italy, it was a harder crust (maybe a bit over toasted for my liking). And while the sandwich seemed to have a fair share of fixings, I struggled finding it flavorful. I looked for the flavor of parmigian, or garlic, or even the olive oil. I could taste the (purple) potato. And the ham and mozzarella were fine. Unsolicited, my friend commented similar about her Tuscany panini.

I bumped into an old friend while eating lunch, who has eaten here numerous times and she loves the paninis, so I’m hoping today was just off.

They had a special for the day, not on the menu. It was pizza and I saw someone with it - looked so good (wished I had ordered that).

There was a constant stream of people, so that says something.

We decided to try the gelato, and for gelato made in America, it was pretty good. I got the coconut, friend got the pistachio. Creamy and flavorful!

The place is super cute, as if walking into an Italian cafe, on the streets of Florence… loved...

It was my wife's birthday and wanted to try the other Fabio on Fire Panini style restaurant . It's a much different restaurant than their other place down the road. Smaller, bar chair seating only. More of a lunch type / take out eatery. My brother and sister in law came along for the celebration. We had a bunch of Paninis. Capri $13.95 Bufalo mozzarella + slices of tomatoes + organic pesto + arugula + extra-virgin olive oil Parmigiana $11.95 eggplant + parmigiano Reggiano + bufala mozzarella + basilico + tomato sauce + extra-virgin olive oil Piccante $14.95 Thinly-sliced spicy salami + bufala mozzarella + arugula + wood-roasted, carmelized white onions + parmigiana spread + extra-virgin olive oil Donna Di Cuori $15.95 Mortadella with pistachios + creamy mozzarella + Sicilian pistachio spread + arugula + extra-virgin olive oil Toscano $15.95 Wood-roasted pork belly + provolone + parmigiano spread + fried zucchini + extra-virgin olive oil I had them cut the Parmigiana in 4 pieces so that became out appetizer. I had the Toscano. For me it had too much of a rosemary taste which I wasn't a fan of. Meat wise the porkbelly was tender . I did enjoy Parmigiana Panini. It had great flavor. Everyone enjoyed there sandwhich and thought the bread was the star of the show. The gelato wasn't as good as the other Fabio on Fire restaurant.The pistachio wasn't the same texture. It was disappointing. Would definitely come back for the Pamigiana...