Fratello’s Pizza and Pasta in Upland is a small family Italian restaurant that has been open for about 2 years and serves a variety of home style Italian pizzas, sandwiches and pasta dishes at prices that are reasonable and fair. The interior is clean and inviting and although you order at a counter, the food is brought to your table by friendly staff. I started my dinner off with a small Antipasto salad $5.49 followed by two pizzas, the Buffalo Ranch Bird and the Meaty Sam.

The Antipasto Salad consisted of a bowl of romaine lettuce topped with a few slices of salami, capocollo, tomatoes, olives, peppercinis, red onion rings and mozzarella cheese. The salad was tasty and a good start although I would have liked to see more meat in the salad or at least cut it up to look like a larger portion. The Pizzas on the other hand were outstanding! The dough was light, airy baked thin and crispy, just the way I love it while the Buffalo Ranch Bird pizza was topped with crispy pieces of chicken dipped in Frank’s Red Hot sauce with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and topped with ranch dressing while the Meaty Sam pizza was loaded with pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, ham, bacon, mushroom and olives. Both were fantastic and well worth ordering if you love great pizzas! I wish I had one now!!!!!

Next came two pasta dishes, Baked Ziti with meat sauce and Fettuccine Alfredo. Both dishes were $7.29. The Baked Ziti was served in a round aluminum container and baked with a rich tomato meat sauce and lots of melted mozzarella cheese. The pasta was perfectly cooked and the dish was simple yet delicious. The Fettuccine Alfredo didn’t fair as well. The pasta was nicely cooked but the Alfredo sauce lacked flavor but was rich and creamy. The addition of more parmesan cheese that was on the table did help bring the sauce to where it should have been.

Fratello’s offers many sandwiches so I just had to try a few like the hot Meatball Sub $5.50 and the cold Italian Combo $5.99. The Meatball Sub featured homemade meatballs stuffed into a fresh chewy Italian roll and topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. The meatballs were flavorful as was the marinara sauce while the Italian Combo Sub featured salami, mortadella, capocollo, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onions and Italian dressing. This sandwich was also very good.

For dessert, I loved their pizza crust so much; I just had to have a Calzone $7.49, pizza dough stuffed with mozzarella and ricotta cheese and your choice of 3 toppings and baked until golden brown and crispy. I choose the sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and spinach and loved it.

In addition to indoor dining, Fratello’s also has a heated outdoor dining area and various flat screen monitors around the dining areas so you can enjoy your favorite sporting event while munching on some great pizza and sipping a cool beer.