Five Restaurant, Fresno CA

FIVE Restaurant is one of my favorite places to go in town. I had a business dinner tonight with a good friend. For dinner I was going to have a pasta dish but opted for the Sea Bass Special. My guest had Lobster Ravioli. The employees are very attentive without being annoying. You can see Pat, the owner, talking to customers every night.

On 10/08 myself and my husband visited the restaurant for the first time. Dylan was our server. He did a great job. I had the short ribs and he had the 10oz. NY steak special. Food was good. However, we were full from having an appetizer and salad we had a couple of bites of our food and opted to have the rest boxed To-Go.
We were distracted upen leaving and left the food on the table. Once we noticed, about 5 minutes into our drive, we called to inquire if the staff had set it to the side or thrown it away.
We were told by the receptionist who answered that " the busser never saw our boxes on the table. " Sadly, we basically had over $70 worth of food thrown away.and we were looking forward to having it later.

Nice fancy and fairly quiet Italian restaurant. Food was great, I should have gotten a glass of wine.

A dining experience you will absolutely love! Amazing dishes prepared with an experienced staff that takes pride in "EVERY SINGLE DISH"

Excellent food and service! That antipasto board.yum! Great ribeye. Chicken Parm was fork- tender and the red sauce was nice! Vegetables were perfectly roasted.

We tried Five tonight for the first time. Our server, Gina, was friendly and brought us complimentary bruschetta, which was very nice. She never brought us new silverware after taking our used, which is the only reason she isn't getting 5 stars. I made a reservation for tonight. We were seated on the patio with air conditioners. They were loud and it was hard to hear. The noise and heat definitely affected the ambiance. The food was a mix. The bread and olive tapenade was good, as was the Italian Chopped Salad. My husband had the filet. It was tough. His mashed potatoes were watery and needed seasoning. I had a pasta dish (can't recall the name) that was good. The pasta was quite chewy, though, which I am not used to. For dessert, we shared the bananas foster. We usually expect some carmalization on the bananas when we order this dessert elsewhere. At Five, the bananas appeared sliced in the sauce vs caramelized. Apart from this, it was a good dessert.

I wernt to this restaurant with my parents and i was pleasantly suprised with with professionalism with wait staff, quality of the food and cozy ambience. Dillon was one of the best wait staff that i have encountered as he was sensative to our needs, courteous and knowledgeable. For the appetizer we order Caprese salad and Carpuccio which was thin filet mignon. The salad was fresh and filet mignon was soft with nice flavor For the entree we order the Chilean seabass which had just right amount of seasoning and it was delicious. We love the decors and lighting inside of the restaurant which made us feel relaxed. I recommand this restauant and we will return with my siblings and friends.

The drinks were delicious and the atmosphere was awesome. Didn’t get a chance to eat there but I will next time because the food looks good.

The food was good I'll go back and to try more options it was loud inside a little overwhelming but it could just be from a big group.

Love the ambiance of this place. Staff was super nice. Now let’s talk about the food. We started off with bruschetta, Calamari Fritti, and coconut shrimp. Let’s just say there was nothing leftover. Had a Ceasar salad and let me tell you this salad was fresh and delicious. Top off my dinner with blackened salmon. Loved the hint of spice that the poblano and the serrano chili together with the salmon. Can’t wait to visit again and try some steak. I left full and very satisfied. Thank you Marina for a great experience. Kids loved the pizza and the special desert.

Atmosphere was great, service was ok and the food was ok but too salty for my taste. I did enjoy their bread and drinks though, those were tasty.

Made reservations and I'm so glad I did. The restaurant was overflowing with people when I arrived, something I definitely wasn't expecting. It was much louder than I anticipated for the kind of dining experience I expected.

We were walked through the restaurant to an outdoor seating space in the back, the kitchen is visible on this walk, and if the restaurant were less packed I'd feel very mistreated, being taken to an outdoor seating area in the dead of summer.

The seating area was comfortable, all things considered. Speakers played a varied playlist of tracks spanning from the 80s to more modern Harry Styles music, which was a bit surprising, more classic Italian music was more what we had expected. Our server quickly brought us some bread and olive tapenade, I love the stuff but my girlfriend and dining partner would have greatly appreciated some butter.

It took some time before our server could come and take our drink, appetizer, and entree orders, perfectly understandable given the circumstances. She and I both ordered a cocktail, the timbale, and the lobster ravioli.

Cocktails: the cocktails are reasonably priced, they're quite boozy but also loaded with flavor. The pomegranate martini in particular might do with some re-balancing, as it had a very prominent vodka burn.

Appetizer: as previously stated, we had the timbale, the flavors weren't as strong as we had anticipated, but I found it quite enjoyable. The bread served alongside it was quite hard and crunchy, maybe slightly too crunchy.

Entree: my girlfriend and I both ordered the lobster ravioli, it was very good, there is absolutely nothing to criticize about it, other than that we wish it came with a spoon to consume the excess sauce. It was delicious and absolutely loaded with seafood.

It was mid-way through the entree section that I decided to ask for a non-alcoholic drink, as driving ourselves home was the intention, I couldn't further sample the cocktails. While not listed on the menu, the restaurant does offer Pepsi products.

Dessert: dessert was surprising, in a few ways. We ordered the creme brulee and tiramisu. The creme brulee does not come in the traditional circular ramekin, but instead a curvy, river-like dish. The flavor was fantastic, not too sweet, and the fruits on top were lovely. The tiramisu could have done with a bit of added sweetness, but it was a welcome departure from the typically over-sweet flavors from most tiramisu.

Service: Our server was overwhelmed and clearly dealing with negative experiences from other customers, but it's clear that he is great at his job, and he cares about guests' experiences. He did his best to ensure we were enjoying the food, made sure to check on us periodically to see if we needed drink refills or anything of that sort, and food was brought out in a timely manner. There was at most five minutes between our finishing the appetizer and receiving our entrees. When I went to use the restroom, and was uncertain to it's location, he didn't even need me to ask, he gave directions before I could begin to open my mouth.

Facilities: given the packed nature of the restaurant, it is worth affording some leeway to the restaurant, it wasn't the cleanest bathroom I've ever used, but it was far better than the absolute nightmares I've witnessed at other places that were just as busy.

TLDR: Cocktails are good, if a bit strong. Appetizer was slightly underwhelming. Entrees (namely the lobster ravioli) are amazing, desserts can be a bit hit or miss. The servers care and are fantastic people. Make reservations or you'll be waiting. A lot. And definitely try the creme brulee.

Great drinks. Service wasn't very good, server kept forgetting to bring our drinks and more bread, put in food order wrong. Would of been more understanding if it was busy

The chef didn't know how to make a spaghetti, I was served half cooked spaghetti, and Service was super poor, my family arranged a surprise arrangement with the team in the restaurant for our wedding anniversary and I was not done, they had to call in again to remind them to do so.

The food was salty and when we asked for a replacement we never got it. I wouldn’t recommend based on the price point. I would expect more from an upscale dining restaurant… there are many better places to dine in Fresno and less expensive.

I hate the food, atmosphere and area. Been here three times. Two bad meals. Proof that Fresno Woodward people don't really know how to eat. Last time there was a bar fight. Broken glassware and plates and they had to close the restaurant early. Duck this.