Where We’re Eating: Fraschetta

If I were opening an Italian restaurant, I probably wouldn’t give it a name that’s one letter away from a mid-range frozen pizza brand. But that’s not the real problem at Fraschetta, a Main Line newcomer that debuted a few months back. And the problem isn’t bad service or food, either (though we did have to send back the “special” steak for being ridiculously undercooked and terribly underseasoned). The problem, simply, is noise. Some restaurants are loud. Some restaurants are so unbelievably effing loud that the loudness almost ruins the evening by turning every conversation into a shouting match. Such is the case at this spot from the owners of Center City’s Melograno. After my friends and I yelled at each other across our plates of generally good food, and then paid the sizable check (more than $200 for four of us, BYO) with cash, since Fraschetta annoyingly doesn’t take plastic, we all just decided never to go back.

Fraschetta
816 West Lancaster Avenue
Bryn Mawr
610-525-1007

First appeared in the October, 2013 issue of Philadelphia magazine.