Reviews of Fresno Italian Restaurants
Here are the reviews for a few Fresno Italian Restaurants. If you're looking for an incredible Italian meal in Fresno, Parma Restaurant should definitely be your top choice. Do you love PASTA? If so, you're going to love the Gourmet Pasta
Ristorante Venezia
6640 N. Blackstone Ave, Ste. 106 Fresno, CA
559.438.1264
Location: On Blackstone between Sierra & Herndon on East side of street
Fresnohub Reader Review, submitted Oct 18, 2005: If you think Parma is the best in town, you have not eaten at Venezia or Primavera. For Venezia, I suggest a reservation on the weekends 438-1264. The cuisine is southern Italian and the specials are wonderful. I eat here often and take my out of town guests; we have never been disappointed. The price is also better than Parma, perhaps because they aren't paying as much for the real estate. The only disappointment I've ever had is the desserts which are not made on the premises, but are shipped. Of course, if you are looking for fabulous Italian desserts, ditch the restaurants and go to one of the Italian delis in town.
La Rocca's
6735 N 1st St, Fresno CA
559.431.1278
Location: This Fresno Italian restaurant is at 1st and Herndon.
Fresnohub Reader Review, submitted Feb 06, 2005: great food priced toward the high end. Nice menu with good variety. Some of the best Salmon I have had anywhere, including bay area. Service and ambience average but tolerable. Busy place and a little noisy, but great food and they have a new location soon at champlain and perrin.
Parma Restaurant
7089 N Marks Ave, Fresno CA 93711
559.432.3389
Location tip: This Fresno Italian Restaurant is located in the shopping complex at the NW corner of Herndon and Marks Ave.
Review: Excellent hand-made pasta. We had a lunch special with 3 types of ravioli and they were simply divine! Italian breadsticks, bread and butter comes with the meal. For a Fresno Italian restaurant this good, we are surprise that you don't hear more about it. Perhaps this is due to its non-centralized location in NW Fresno(?)
Anyway, do go to Parma and try it out yourself. On warmer days, you can even sit out on their cozy patio. Give yourself plenty of time to eat here. Service is good but at a relaxed "European" pace. So sit back, enjoy your meal and the Italian conversations!
Update Feb05: We had the pleasure of dining at Parma again. We are very happy to report that the food was even better than we had remembered! We splurged on this special occasion. For starters, we had zucchini with mozzarella cheese and pine nuts, liver pate served with granny smith apple and toasted slice of bread and rock shrimp ceviche. The zucchini was simply delicious, soft, crunchy and flavorful. The liver pate was really good too, contrasted well with the slightly tart apple.
Then came the pappardelle pasta with a creamy white sauce and spinach ravioli. These were just exquisite....oh so good...You cannot go wrong with pasta at Parma! (In case you were wondering like I was, pappardelle is pronounced "pah-par-dehl-leh" and is a long, flat, wide pasta. The word pappardelle comes from the Tuscan word "pappare", meaning to eat.)
The entrees were beef wrapped with bacon and served on top of scallop potatoes with truffle-based sauce and lobster tail with lemon risotto. Again, the flavors were well-balanced and the meat (and lobster) perfectly cooked and soooo flavorful.
The dessert was a puff pastry filled with cream and served on raspberry sauce. What a great way to end the amazing meal.
What we appreciate most about Parma is that the dishes are always well-balanced and never smothered with the sauce or cheese, as you often find in bad Italian restaurants. Pasta is cooked al dente as it should be and the flavors well-matched. A lot of thought and effort has gone into preparing the food. Service was excellent too.
It was really on the best meals we've had! We've tagged along with friends to many Italian restaurants in Berkeley and San Francisco's North Beach, Zagat's list and all and we think that Parma is one of the best Italian restaurants! Parma is definitely the top Fresno Italian restaurant and one of the top restaurants in Fresno so do go check them out. Just to clarify, our reviews are always done anonymously and at our own expense.
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Giulia's Italian Restaurant
3050 W Shaw Ave, #116, Fresno CA 93711
559.276.3573
Location Tip: This Fresno Italian Restaurant is located in the shopping complex at the NW corner of Shaw and Marks Ave.
Review: This is the only Fresno restaurant mentioned in the AAA guide. It received a 3 diamonds rating for being a "popular spot that comes through with good food and service". It does have a nice, romantic atmosphere. But we feel that there are better dining choices in Fresno. Go to Parma Restaurant or check outthe other Fine Dining options. Or save your money and go somewhere else less pricey.
Di Cicco's Italian Restaurant
408 Clovis Ave, Clovis CA 93612
559.299.3711
Location tip: This Fresno Italian Restaurant is in Old Town Clovis, just south of 4th street.
Review: Di Cicco's is a local chain and there are about 9 of these Fresno Italian restaurants in town. We tried the restaurant in Clovis and were not impressed. The food was quite greasy and salty and the marinara sauce was not great either. The prices were not cheap. For that kind of money, we expected better.