Fresco Italiano — Restaurant in Tifton

We heard the steak is the best at Fresco Italiano in Tifton, Ga, and decided to try it. Being from Dallas, Tx, I know what great steak tastes like, and sometimes the reviews seem to be from locals who don't get out much. At first I thought the steak would be no different than the usual we get at Texas Road House which was as good as it gets in South Georgia, but MAN WAS I WRONG! My wife and I split our meals. The 16 oz. Ribeye was awesome! Cooked to perfection, seared just right, juices flowing, and the taste! They must marinade it for over a week! It reminded me of the scene in the Matrix movie in the restaurant when the guy was eating the best cooked piece of steak and said ignorance is bliss lol. Also had the Lobster ravioli in cherry sauce. We were hoping that it would be close to an awesome Crab Ravioli we get at Pasquale's Restaurant in Buffalo, N.Y. and we were not disappointed! Huge chunks of lobster mixed in what I think is a ricotta cheese mixture inside the ravioli, topped with a great tasting, subtle cherry sauce. We also had the brocolini which is a hybrid tiny brocolli that was good and the creamed spinach that I liked as well. The wife didn't care for the spinach and wished she had tried the baked potato that we heard was good. Our server, Alexis, was the best we've had in years. I'd see her walk by at a distance smiling, then she'd show up with fresh teas at just the right time without us asking, always with a smile and always asking if we were ok, but didn't smother us. As our first time, or maybe because of my birthday, she gave us our choice of dessert on the house and recommended the creme brulee but we had the cannolis instead, which were "ok" but we should have listened to her. Several things to remember are that you must get there early or you'll wait. We got there right at 5pm and there were already five tables taken. We left right at 6:30 and the place was packed. Also, ladies need to take a light sweater. Guys, maybe long sleeves, because it's a bit drafty in places. My wife was uncomfortable and ended up changing her seat, which enabled her to see other things besides the white wall she was facing. We saw people change tables several times. This would be an easy fix if the owner would take the time and bend each little vent upwards. Will we go back? In a heartbeat. It doesn't have the selection as Jonah's in Thomasville but well worth the trip...oh, a bit pricey. With the appetizer and two extra sides the bill was $75 without alcohol for the two of us, plus...

Went in with such high hopes for a great meal after reading the reviews -perhaps we weren't the ideal clientele due to our mix of skin color - I don't say that foolishly nor ignorantly either, I travel the US for work and I've been to many states across our nation and even the tiniest of country towns in our nation, TRUST me i know when I'm being treated poorly due to not being caucasian - poor judgment on hostess and waitresses part - while waiting for a table, we noticed all the non white diners were being sat in ONE particular spot of the restaurant, the lower area of restaurant with the large window where the sun was beaming through and very uncomfortably warm.

Let's move onto the food - the bread that comes to the table was warm and soft, the waitress brought the dipping condiments as an after thought when we had 1 slice of bread left.

No beverages offered for kids besides the bar juicea for their cocktails -the pineapple juice is canned that is transferred to a bottle, even though the waitress tried to convince me otherwise (I worked at a busy bar in my 20s i know what canned pineapple juice taste like and you can surely taste the difference)

The seasonal peach burrata was the best thing we ordered from menu.

The chicken piccata was bland itself with only the sauce having flavor, total miss.

The side of broccoli was pretty standard.

The meatballs with polena was another win.

The alfredo was a miss, it was greasy and lacked the spices that make the alfredo sauce itself, the cheese used was extremely strong and overpowered any other flavor in dish if it had any.

The waitress was probably the biggest issue, she made our experience extremely awkward - she brought the bill, drop it on table, started picking up dirty plates and decided to just stand behind my husband looking over his shoulder to see what we were going to tip her, it was uncomfortable and again extremely awkward especially because I had to ask her to back away and give us a minute.

I understand this next part bears no fault on restaurant - however on our way to car, a homeless person that was clearly on or coming off drugs accosted us, she approached my 4 and 6 year old and she was too close for comfort - we ended up giving her our doggie bag.

Anways if you choose this place i hope you have a...

I wanted to love this place, I have been waiting to try it, but our entire group was very disappointed. I don't like giving reviews based on one experience so I will give them another chance in the near future, however, they need to to hear this..

First, the atmosphere is pretty special. I like the look and the ambiance. The violin player was a little loud, but thats just a minor inconvenience. The lighting is perfect, not bright but not super dark either. It looks like it might have been an old train station.

The service: our service was lacking. It started out good, with the drinks being delivered promptly. But its all downhill from there. We placed our appetizer order and waited and waited. Our friends got theirs around 35 mins later but out meatballs did not come out. Our server came back to our table to take our dinner order, an hour after we first sat down, and our meatballs still had not come out. He explained that our appetizer was delivered to another table and he put in another order for us. I told him to forget it and take it off the bill. A little more than 15 mins later we get out meatballs (which we had told him to cancel). Next were our salads. They brought our two salads, one was the wrong type. They fixed that promptly. We ordered another round of drinks and it took another 15 minutes. Lastly. Our friends ordered two dessert. They got one correct desert the other was not what my friend ordered.

The food: it had potential but was very expensive, delivered luke warm and again, missing items. The shrimp scampi was good, not great. The balance of flavor was off buy I did not hate it, just far from the best I have had. My friends were happy with their orders, well, other than the food being luke warm. I mentioned missing items..... we were missing Brussel sprouts and the creamed spinach. After we made them aware they brought the two sides out. The Brussel sprouts were mushy and bland, like they had been boiled and the spinach was not any better. And both were, yes you guessed it, luke warm.

As I said, I will give them another chance. I believe this could have been just one of those nights. It happens. ...