Fratelli

It was a tough decision where to come for my Graduation dinner, but I chose Fratelli in Coatbridge for a couple of reasons.
I had been twice before and each time, I had left full to the brim and absolutely satisfied with my meal and the service combined. I also had to cater for the rest of my families tastes, and my Dad is one of these guys who would turn his nose up at all this nouvelle cuisine rubbish in favour of a big fry up. Fratelli is Italian but the portions are big… really big. It was the perfect place to come, as Italian is probably my favourite food of all.
We booked a table but the restaurant wasn’t busy so we took a table at the windows. The restaurant is large, decorated very stylishly in red, black and white which makes it look really chic. The waitress is absolutely lovely and makes you feel right at home, taking our drinks orders then bringing over a basket of complimentary bread and butter which was great because we were all starving!
The menu is huge! You’ll definitely need a good few extra minutes reading it because the selection is massive. Pizzas, Pastas, Chicken, Steak, Veal and Fish dishes as well as burgers make up one of the largest menus I have seen, and don’t forget the starters. There are easily 30 different starters including prawns, crostinis, mushrooms, mozzarella sticks and melon.
My boyfriend and I decided to share the Antipasto and some garlic bread because I have had the antipasto as a starter just for myself before and I couldn’t even finish half of it! Mixed Italian meats are dressed with olive oil and olives, absolutely delicious. The parma ham was outstanding and the garlic bread with cheese was a huge lump of crusty loaf smothered in gooey cheese. Perfection.
I decided to go for Sea-​bass in a sage and garlic butter for main, having only just discovered the fish on a recent weekend away, and absolutely loved it. The dish came out with two huge fillets, dressed in a beautiful buttery sauce, with a small green salad and a ramekin filled with baby potatoes crisped in sea salt, carrots, parsnips, peppers and cauliflower. It was loads of food but I made a valiant effort to eat it all, but I left a fair amount of fish, I was just so stuffed full! The fish was fresh, the sauce was divine, just the right side of oily, and the potatoes were delicious, I could have eaten them all night. It was a really delicious alternative to pasta or pizza, and just as authentically Italian.
Just because it was a ‘special occasion’ I decided to be super indulgent and have a desert too although at this point I was struggling! The sweet menu isn’t as varied but really I don’t think that is an issue. I had the hot chocolate fudge cake with a scoop of ice-​cream. It was absolutely delicious but I couldn’t finish it and I was left absolutely stuffed!
It really was the perfect meal. Every member of my family enjoyed it, and we all had three courses including two alcoholic drinks, a soft drink and a lovely bottle of Italian white house wine. The bill was under £100, which is outstanding value for money. The service was absolutely fabulous, the waitress couldn’t have been more friendly and we even got a couple of complimentary glasses of wine whilst waiting on our cab.
I think perhaps this is my new favourite restaurant in the area; warm service, outstanding food, fantastic value for money and a relaxed atmosphere. What more could you want?

Utter garbage. Forced to go on family occassions-​each one as deplorable as the last. The starters each time though have been fantastic, but the main meals are dull, bland, and one forgettable birthday, un-​edible. And you wait forever. And you have to stand up and wave at the staff to get their attention. Avoid!

We decided to have lunch at Fratellis, Coatbridge on Easter Monday. We were sadly disappointed. Décor was nice and waiting staff were friendly. However, we had to wait approximately 20 minutes before our order was taken and then another 30 minutes before our starter arrived. (The restaurant wasn’t that busy) When the main course arrived after another 20 minutes we were both disappointed in the food. My husband had ordered the ‘pasta of the day’, which was advertised as a cheese sauce with leek, this proved to be very bland and the sauce was very thin and splashed all over the table and his shirt. I had the salmon with potatoes and seasonal veg. The salmon although small in portion size and veg were very nice but unfortunately the potatoes were under cooked. No waiting staff approached the table after the food was delivered to check if everything was ok. We also overheard other tables enquiring when their meals would arrive. When we had finished our meal, we had been waiting again for some time and eventually decided to leave the table and pay the bill at the bar before darkness fell. Overall, we were very disappointed in our only experience at Fratellis and would not reccommend it to anyone.

I thought that Fratellis was great italian food, very affordable and the location is very easy to get with both train and bus routes near by and very easy to get to be car as previous post stated it is near the main junction for edinburgh/​glasgow. I have been a few times at lunch time after the rush so it is very quiet with the quick service, quick drink service and the food didnt take long. the food is fresh and home made according to the menu and i have to say the spicy italian sausage rigatoni is amazing. The only thing missing from these so called authentic italian restaurants in the UK are cannoli’s (cream filled italian pastries) that i have only ever found in new york, which i would have awarded a 5^th star for, but other than that i was extremely happy with my food, service, car parking, drinks, cost etc.

Excellent food and good service. This restaurant can be very busy at weekends so expect slightly slower service.
In an ideal location and has a few parking spaces at the front and more at the rear of the building.
The menu is very good and has a wide range of pizza, pasta and meat dishes at resonable prices.
A must for an italian food lover!

This pleasantly decorated restaurant is situated on the main road (Whifflet Street) that leads of the A8 dual carriageway –which is part of the main route between Edinburgh & Glasgow, a half hour from any of these two takes you a lovely dining experience. Prices are very much affordable, as the many family groups there on the evening I was there will testify, a varied menu to suit all tastes, service A1, staff attentive & obliging, surroundings pleasant, it is quite a large place, but the service comes highly commended, no long waits between courses, nothing was to much trouble for them, how they managed it at times I don’t know!- one thing is for sure — I’ll be back!