07/02/09

HORRIBLE SERVICE, Ok food

by triangleeater

I went to Fratello's for lunch with a friend today after seeing their advertisement for a $7.99 lunch buffet. We were on our way to another restaurant in Brier Creek and should've gone there. Upon entering the restaurant, we were seated at told to go to the buffet when we were ready. The food was sparse and the chafing dishes had metal spoons which were hot from the dish. So, I burned my hand trying to get the first spoon. The salad dressing bottle was broken and there was only one dry looking slice of pizza on the buffet. The server never came to refill our drinks and we had to ask another server who brought the wrong thing. The owner of the restaurant rudely sang loudly while patrons were trying to eat and have conversations. He went to every table and greeted all the patrons, with the exception of me and my friend. Our server only came back to give us the check and to take our payment. The food was not replenished until the owner yelled "fresh pizza" when he brought out more. As we exited (happy to leave and vowing never to return), the owner sat next to the door and still did not say a word to us. I would not recommend this place to anyone. Use your $8 at many of the other good places to eat in Brier Creek. Fratello's was a waste of our Fra-time!!!!

• Pros: Price for buffet, location
• Cons: Service, owner, buffet

06/29/09

honestly the worst dining experience...ever.

by thekim

after walking by the front of the restaurant to take a peak at the menu board of what was being offered on the lunch buffet, someone (maybe the owner) came out and lured us into the restaurant. he was very "aggressive" in convincing us they had THE BEST italian buffet. With hesitation we went in cause he got us to check it out. It was hard to say "no thanks" after walking right into the restaurant to the back where the food was. We decided (against our better judgment) to give it a shot.

It seemed like half the stuff listed on the board outside WASN'T even on the buffet. The chicken was dry, the meatballs tasted/looked like they were made from a frozen pack, none of the sauces tasted homemade and the pasta was overcooked, the salad dressing bottle was broken causing the dressing to make a huge blob on the plate. Not to mention the food at the buffet wasn't being refilled very efficiently leaving empty serving trays - very bad, especially since they don't have a lot of different dishes.

The service was so poor. No one came to take our drink orders until we had already started eating and weren't refilled until we were ready to leave. Our plates also piled up and weren't cleared away until we were finished our meal. How awful to have to eat with dirty plates taking up the rest of the space on the table. The table beside us had the right idea to just drink from water bottles they already had because it didn't appear they got drink orders taken either. It also took them forever just to get extra napkins! You'd think the servers might walk around with things like straws/napkins on their person like most other restaurants.

Brier Creek has so many dining choices so for $7.99/person during lunch, please take my word for it and skip Fratello's all together. It is so far from worth it. Don't even walk by there or you may get caught by the guy luring you into his awful restaurant.

If I could have, I would have given this place 0 stars. Really.

• Pros: nothing
• Cons: food doesn't taste homemade, pricey, HORRIBLE service

05/03/09

Great experience with party of nine

by ldjon4

We walked in on Friday evening around 7PM without any reservations, and the restaurant was very accommodating by placing several tables together to get us seated. The restaurant was half full at this time. Later on in the evening, it filled up to about 80%. Anyway, we had attentive service and ordered two bottles of wine since we were told that they could NOT split our checks based on each person's order. This was a tad bit inconvenient, however it ended up working out. Since we ordered a wine that was out of stock, we ended up getting a break on the second bottle of wine. I really liked the atmosphere of the restaurant. The alternative would have been a 30 minute wait at Brixx Pizza, which is also good and has wine ... but this was way less noisy and crowded on a Friday night. The setting was much more relaxed. Everyone in my group enjoyed their meal. I had the grouper, which was pretty good. Someone else in our group had the chicken dish, which she also liked very much. I was able to sample the potato croquette that came with her meal and that was good as well. I would recommend trying this place out. The price is on par with a chain like Carraba's, but the restaurant maintains that it makes its "authentic" italian food fresh daily.

• Pros: Food, Service, Atmosphere
• Cons: Could not split checks separately