Fratelli Restaurants

UPDATE: 2015-​04
FOOD
After trying Fratelli’s a second time, I admit my opinion of the food has dropped a bit.
On this second visit I tried their caprese salad which, unfortunately, was a disappointment as the tomatoes were not ripe enough and the bocconcini cheese was too cold and firm resulting in a general overall lack of flavour.
Deciding to try a pasta dish instead of pizza, I settled on spaghetti carbonara (which I’m a big fan of and which I find most places never do it justice). Unfortunately, this was a miss as well with my taste buds.
The other half though stuck with ordering a daily pizza special which was really, really good. (I’m turning into a huge fan of their pizza crust).
So, while tastes can vary, my advice is stick to their pizzas!
(Review adjusted down slightly from 4 to 3 stars).
— — — — — — — — -
The missus is a big fan of the thin crust pizzas at Fratelli’s so she convinced me to try it as I’m also a big thin crust pizza fan.
FOOD
I decided to start my meal with a caesar salad. Unfortunately, this didn’t start my meal off on a good foot as it was quite unremarkable. (Definitely not something I would recommend or order again).
My thin crust pizza order (Salumeria) though was very good. Currently my favorite thin crust pizza place is Tennese Willems but as much as I like it, my one gripe is that the crust is so thin that it cools and dries out too fast (so you need to eat it fast and ideally at the restaurant). At Fratelli’s, the crust is a bit thicker and more moist so it lends itself to a better experience. The sauce and toppings were also quite good. Overall I quite liked it and while it looked very large when it came out, my thoughts that I would be taking left-​overs home were wrong.
The missus ordered one of their white sauce pizzas and while it is her favorite, I have to say I wasn’t a fan at all so be warned that they may not suit everyone’s tastes.
SERVICE
Service was okay. Nothing outstanding but at the same time, no complaints.
LOCATION
The westoboro location has a nice feel to it with its tall ceiling and large mirrors. If I were management though I would put a outer door before the current one as in the winter (this one being particularly cold) every time someone comes in the restaurant, you get a little too much cold air. If you are making a reservation in the winter, I’d go with a table at the back far away from the door.
PARKING
Parking on Richmond can be hit and miss (with more miss than hit) but there are lots of side streets where you should be able to find a spot even if you have to walk a bit more.
—-
While I haven’t tried all of their menu items, at least with regards to their thin crust pizzas I definitely will be returning.

I must say, I miss 749 Bank Street (it was always perfect).
Richmond Rd location is comfy and charming, food is good, worst service though. Sad. I was hopeful, but we will never be back.

The atmosphere is lovely. The music on order the night I went with my wife was, by some magic, a mix of my favourite bands. I really wanted to love Fratelli but alas, at the end of it all, I was let down.
The special kale salad was ok, but was no more than the sum of its parts: the ingredients really didn’t particularly complement each other or come together to form a cohesive whole. Certainly it did not hold a candle to the well known kale salad from that other restaurant 1 km east down the street.
The two thin crust pizzas we ordered were acceptable, but again nothing compared to the well known thin crust pizza restaurant about 2 km east down the street.
In short, I can do better within the area.
In my previous houses, in similar neighborhoods, there’s always been a nice restaurant, run by a friendly and earnest owner who’s always there with a smile and a kind word. The food has been good, but not fantastic, but the price has been reasonable and the feeling of it being my local restaurant made it worth coming back again and again for. So Fratelli, with it’s good-​but-​not-​great food could still aspire to this, were it not for the fact that it was more pricey than I’d expect from my casual local; and the twenty-​something servers, although professional and earnest, were obviously not the owners either so I didn’t get the «greeting by the small-​time restauranteur who really cares about the customers» feeling either.
I’ll come back occasionally –I do live nearby– but this will not become my default go-​to meal place.

Great food. Went out to dinner with some friends and we ordered the rosemary black truffle fries and devoured them!
We also had the mushroom truffle pizza on a gluten free crust and it was very good.
Would definitely go here again.

I came for a fixed-​menu business meeting, as the restaurant has a meeting room in the basement. It had really nice pizzas, great butternut squash, and nice mousse tart for dessert. Service was a bit slow and scattered, but otherwise I enjoyed my meal here.

good wine
good friendly service with good suggestions
every meal comes with bread and bread sticks
I’ve only tried the pizzas (stone oven cooked) there so far, but they are great! especially the mushroom and truffle one.
the pizzas are meant to be personal I think, but they’re huge if they are. I would recommend splitting them.
if you do split them the price is pretty reasonable with their most expensive being something like $ 18? …which would be less than $ 10/​person.
highly recommend this place.

One of my favorite neighborhood spots. The pizza is very good and the appetizers are great. I had the ceasar salad and it was a bit underwhelming they should try to do a better job on that. It was pretty tasteless. However, the sambucca shrimp and fried smelt were both very good. I love their new location, the atmosphere is fun, casual and trendy.

Our fav spot by far, we are here 1 or 2 times a month
My 4 year old askes for it for the fantastic Wood Oven Pizza and her spot at the back by the pizza oven, little back seating area is fun for kids.
The staff is amazing and the specials are always just that, something special.
Great wine list, with a very pleasant atmosphere.

Good atmosphere, drinks, servers, menu. But the food, especially the pizza dough was not good for the price. Do they use frozen dough? Not sure but it was rubbery… The place looks good but definetely does not deliver. I felt bad for dragging my guest to this restaurant.

Nice atmosphere in this cozy Italian joint. The staff are super friendly and bread and oil on the table is a nice touch (would have liked some balsamic!). I was here for lunch and had a Margherita Pizza which i figure is a good enough test of an Italian, sadly they didn’t do too well. It was bland and somewhat rubbery. The person I was lunching with had a Tortellini which was soon scarfed down so I am guessing you should skip the PIzzas and go for the pasta at Fratellis!