Al Fresco — Restaurant in Virginia

We met friends for dinner here. They had been before, and while they were not wholly satisfied with the service they loved the food. So we decided to give it a try. Well, I can tell you I probably won't go back until something changes with the service.

Our waitress, Jessica C, was so soft spoken that even standing right next to me, I could not hear her. I should mention that I wear hearing aids and she was literally right above my ear level when she came to the table. She was very disappointed that we did not order drinks, and my husband had to ask twice for expresso, as she didn't understand him the first time - a problem that continued throughout the meal.

We were never offered bread. The table across from us was seated, their waitress greeted them quickly & very enthusiastically. Asking if they wanted bread, and letting them know while she retrieved that, and drinks, they could look over the appetizer menu. Yes, we could hear this from the opposite side of the room! When she returned with drinks and bread she started taking their orders, letting them know which entrees were accompanied by salad. (this was after we had already received our salads).

When our waitress came to take our orders, our friend inquired about ordering the calamari, and if it was just rings or the whole squid. The waitress did not understand the question, and it had to be repeated 3 times!!! She said she would ask, took our order, and the next time we saw her was when she brought out the appetizer... moments later she brought out salads?? No where on the menu did we see that mains came with salads (we may have overlooked it). Had we known there would have been a few changes - I do NOT eat raw onions, yet there were on the salad. I prefer no dressing, yet the salad was swimming in it. My husband would have requested no tomatoes, but they were there. Our friends would have passed on the salads, possibly upgrading to soup had they known.

I ordered the lobster ravioli, it was good but had very little lobster flavor. My friend got the penne al a vodka as she had it last time and enjoyed it. The men got lasagna and both said it was very good.

The waitress seemed to disappear and we had to flag her down for the check, explaining to split it between the two couples. She returned with two checks... one with 2 lasagnas, lobster ravioli, and the espresso. The 2nd check with the penne & calamari. We had to wait for her to return (about 10 minutes) to explain and have her correct the check. About 5 minutes later she came back and asked how the checks were to be split.

All in all, not a pleasant experience for our first time there. I'm glad we had left plenty of time as we had a show scheduled. Thankfully we managed to get to the show on time, but barely as we met for 6:00 and didn't leave the restaurant until 7:30, and it wasn't because we took our time...

I’ve had a couple dud experiences lately so I am excited to write a good review. I try to review outliers and do not review most places. Most places are 3 stars. I’ve eaten at the Chophouse in Grand Rapids and Firehouse subs in Carrollton, GA. Those are two very different experiences at two very different price points but they both met expectations. Neither worse nor better than what you’d expect and both perfectly worth the cost to eat there.

Al Fresco sits in a unique spot in the overall category of Italian Dining. No Italian is particularly cheap but the type most people are familiar with isn’t expensive either. The standard version of Italian provides large quantities of familiar flavor profiles. Lots of Tomato sauce and carbs. The most authentic will use veal in their meatballs. It tastes good and you get a LOT of it. The expensive version of Italian exists to highlight the taste of some unique and costly imported ingredients. The dishes are often simple, almost austere presentations of this olive oil or that particular tomato variety The flavor profiles are bright and acidic rather than meaty. The sauces lighter and cheese has the distinct sharp nutty flavor of real Parmesan and is recognizably not from the US.

Al Fresco is more expensive than the cheap Italian but not by much. The portion sizes are absolutely sufficient without being overwhelming. It relies much more on cream sauces than it does Tomato. The pesto sauce was made with parsley-which isn’t standard but works much better with shrimp than basil would. It also makes use of some very authentic tasting ingredients without bragging about it. The rustico sauce included sausage with an almost gamy funk that sounds bad in writing but that only the best charcuterie has. If it wasn’t imported then at least it was an expensive domestic product like Olympic Provisions. In typical expensive Italian this sausage would have been made to stand alone in a light marinara to show off. Here it’s thrown in with a cream sauce with sun dried tomato over veal. A superb combination that your cheap Italian couldn’t afford and your expensive Italian would be too scared to try.

Whoever the cook is here, they are perfectly willing to step outside formulas. Additionally, they have a good enough handle on their craft that I doubt most of their customers even realize how unique their food is because nothing is jarring. The recipes taste like something that someone has been perfecting for years even if they don’t taste quite like anything they’ve had before.

Go here because it’s good and you actually won’t get anything quite like it anywhere else. The strip mall setting just seems to be where more and more very good restaurants end up and definitely shouldn’t...

I am a BIG pasta lover and needed to find a decent Italian restaurant while we were in town. I read a few reviews to decide what was our best option and stumbled across Al Fresco. I booked a reservation online since we were looking to go out to eat on a Friday night. From the outside it doesn’t look like much but as soon as we walked in… I knew we were about to have our cravings satisfied. We were sat in a quaint little corner and immediately greeted with the daily specials for the evening.

We ordered the following:

✅Mozzarella in Corroza ✅Lobster Ravioli ✅Fettuccine Alfredo ✅Pollo Rustico

We personally loved the Mozzarella. I’ve never been served mozzarella quite like that before. The cheese was so hot and the breading was perfect. The Lobster Ravioli was my absolute favorite. The pink cream sauce was so good it could be served as a soup and how can you go wrong with a lobster mouse piped into a ravioli?! My significant other enjoyed his Apollo Rustico and licked the plate clean. And the BREAD 🤤! They served the familiar olive oil but instead of herbs they mixed it with a balsamic vinaigrette that was truly amazing.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy as much was the Fettuccine. I felt like it did not compare to all of the flavors I tasted with the other dishes. I would have preferred more garlic and a hint more salt. Still, the sauce was creamy.

I would absolutely visit Al Fresco again the next time we’re in town. Next time I want to try the Penne Alla Vodka and Penne...