Fortunato — Restaurant in Roanoke

Just walked back to our hotel and had to immediately give Fortunato an immediate 5-star review!

We walked in just after 5 PM (they opened at 5), and we were promptly greeted and seated. We were given waters. Our server, Trevor, ended up being more of a concierge overall as he proceeded throughout our evening to make our meal an actual experience!

Seeing a few other positive comments about the house bread appetizer we started with that. We also ordered two cocktails, as we are in town for our honeymoon and wanted to get a bit tipsy. Our bread was quickly brought out by another server, and then Trevor brought our drinks immediately thereafter. The bread was very tasty and fresh! It had a char to the crust, which I thought was fantastic. It was served with olive oil and a ricotta cheese spread. We are glad we listened to the other reviews because it was delicious! Our first drinks were drinks we picked out from the cocktail menu from our hotel prior to prancing over to the restaurant. We enjoyed both.

For our entrees I ordered stuffed shells. They were great! They were served in a small skillet and, again, had a char on them, which gave them an extra kick of flavor that was very unique! My husband/dining partner ordered the bianco pizza and added prosciutto. He ate half of it, and we are going to enjoy the other half tomorrow for lunch after exploring the Taubman Museum. I did not (yet) sample the pizza, but he said it was fantastic. It smelled great.

Seeing that we were going to order more cocktails Trevor put his mixologist hat on and began to pick our brains a bit for preferences in order to make recommendations. I am generally not picky at all about alcohol (especially when I am a lightweight already buzzed after my first drink! Haha!) My husband was convinced to order a drink that contained gin after first seeming reluctant but then admitting to Trevor he never actually had tried gin (yeah, yeah, we're both a bit sheltered for being in our early-30's! Haha!). He enjoyed the drink! Great recommendation! I tried it and enjoyed how well it was paired. My husband eventually ordered a third drink, again with a recommendation from Trevor. This was not quite to my husband's liking, but he graciously finished it.

We enjoyed the atmosphere of this restaurant very much---there is a nice painting hanging above the kitchen area where the chefs were preparing orders, and the barn doors were neat. The restaurant was quiet, but it was also a Thursday night.

We like Roanoke quite a bit because everyone has been so friendly and quick to strike up conversations (even the panhandlers! LOL!) We chatted quite a bit with Trevor about how he landed in Roanoke, and I have to admit I am tempted to move us here now after enjoying our hike at McAfee Knob yesterday. Trevor tried his hardest to get us to order a dessert, but in the end we stuck with our initial plans of getting flavored baklavas at Cello.

If you are looking for good Italian food in a comfortable atmosphere with good conversation and creative cocktails head...

I dined here last week as a guest visiting from out of town and speaking nearby at Hollins University. Our server was Trevor and from the instant we were seated he was both cool, dismissive of our preferences and abrupt with our party. The food and cocktails (try On the Veranda and Sixth Spice Girl) however were delicious and expertly prepared. However, I ordered the duck ragu and asked for a glass of the Trebbiano to accompany my meal and a glass of the Sangiovese for my husband's branzino. I know food and certainly understand wine pairings, but Trevor felt that it was his "duty to inform me" that if I ordered the Trebbiano it would destroy my duck dish. I told him that while I appreciated his suggestion, on this hot humid evening, I happened to be in the mood for a glass of chilled white with my meal. He again in an even ruder and condescending tone pressed on about how "wine makes the meal" and other uneeded aphorisms... I gratefully accept wine suggestions at each restaurant I dine with, and there are ways servers can respectfully make them. "Might I suggest a fuller bodied white?" could be one way. And I nearly always take their suggestions. But the indignation and rude tone from Trevor disrupted the jovial mood of our entire party. What I found most interesting was that he was so concerned about my wine pairing disrupting my meal and yet after he served me my glass of trebbiano he disappeared only returning to present the final check. Did he check back again to ensure that we were all enjoying our meals? Was there anything else we needed? Water? More wine? Nope. Turns out he wasn't particularly concerned after all. He just needed to make a point. Rude server, and the other server who seemed to be his pal (bald) equally rude made snide comments regarding "taking our own selfies" when asking for a pic. More warmth would have made this experience and restaurant a winner. Owner please make a note and an...

I can’t speak for everyone else’s experience but according to my experience, the food isn’t terrible, but it certainly could be better as it’s just not worth the price they charge or measures up to the hype it gets. Personally, I’d expect more for such a price, especially given what I ordered being pasta. The atmosphere and service was fine but overall this place, in my opinion, is pretty overrated.

I got the duck ragú and it was okay, but not as much flavor as what the description made it out to be. There was also minimal sauce and very little duck meat in my dish.

Upon ordering my dish I was also asked if I’d like to add a salad as if it came with the meal, to which I agreed, only to find it cost extra. I found this to be a little unusual; I’d suggest mentioning that salads are not included with the meal when offering them to customers like this. The salad was also very strange, awkward to eat, and overpriced at $12. It was oversized pieces of soggy and warm lettuce with overcooked pancetta, a little bit of cheese, and some sort of low flavor oil-based sauce

My fiancé got a spaghetti dish. While the pasta itself was high quality, it seemed to have the same issue—very little sauce and a lack of flavor in my opinion.

For appetizers we got the calamari, which was pretty good, but it was over greasy and way too salty. The lamb meatballs, however, were incredible; they were very tender and had a well-balanced flavor—there was a unique sweetness to them that was surprisingly tasty.

If you come here, I’d recommend the meatballs and maybe the calamari on a good day when it’s not too oily and over salty. That’s all I can...