I would like to start this review by saying thank you to a few of our readers who have given us feedback on our reviews.  I am thankful to say all of the comments were excellent and will help us make this a better site.   Starting this week we are going to add the price of our meals at the bottom of the review. Even though we have categories with specific price ranges it can still be tough because of the large swing in price on most menus.  If you would like to give us your comments,  suggestions or complete a guest review, please contact us at info@tasteofthefoxvalley.com.  Moving right along to this weeks review!

This week we decided to focus on one of the Supple restaurants, Fratello’s Riverfront in Appleton.  I wanted to focus specifically on this location as we just had dinner on the patio the other night.  In addition, this location is very close to my place of employment, so I have visited the restaurant numerous times for lunch, dinner as well as company Christmas gatherings and happy hours.  For those of you not familiar with the Supple name, Fratellos has other locations at the Fox River Mall, Oshkosh, Green Bay and Milwaukee.  The one new element to this trip was dining on the outside patio which happened to be on a cool summer night.

Atmosphere: One of the draws for me with Fratellos Riverfront is the view. I am a big fan of being able to sit at the bar or at the table and have the ability to look out over the water while enjoying conversation, beverages and food.   The Riverfront location is situated on the Fox River and gives you a good view of the river from just about any seat in the place.  As you can see from the pictures below, the outside seating  is a large brick patio with black metal tables and chairs. Just below the seating area is a short walkway with a black metal railing. Quite often you can get a good shot of bald eagles flying around the river hunting for fish, way cool!

Since we dined outside this visit I do not have any of my own pictures of the interior, only pictures take from the website.  Fratellos Riverfront boasts a  warm and  inviting atmosphere. The dining room consists of a two tiered room with large windows overlooking the Fox River.  The picture below is from the bottom tier overlooking the river.  At the back of the top tier is a large wall of wine behind a glass wall and behind that the kitchen. If you have visited any of the other locations you will know what I mean by a large wall of wine. I would love to have that same wall in my wine cellar, well if I had a wine cellar!

The main dining room is a separate room from the bar area.  Between the two rooms are a coat room, the main entrance as well as the reception desk.  The bar room is attractive, but has some design flaws.  It is a long narrow room with windows on both sides, a large granite bar, pub style seating opposite the bar and long glass shelves showing off the spirits.  The downside to the bar is that the walkway between the bar and seating is very narrow. On a busy night or if you are there for a party it can be cramped.

Food: We started this this meal with “The Big Dip,” which is  a selection of hummus, spinach and artichoke dip.  The various spreads are served with bruschetta, corstini and flatbread.  Everything tasted good and was delivered in a timely fashion. My wife ordered the Strawberry Spinach Salad consisting of baby spinach, fresh sliced strawberries, gorgonzola cheese, pecans and red onions drizzled with a raspberry vinaigrette.  She added blackened chicken for a nominal charge.  According to my wife, the salad was amazing!  A great combination of tastes to enjoy on a summer evening.

I was in the mood for seafood so I ordered the Thai Shrimp Noodle Bowl. This dish came with shrimp, vegetables, mushrooms and udon noodles in a thai peanut sauce. When I was served my meal, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of shrimp!  You know how it is when you in the mood for seafood, your entree comes and there are 4 small shrimp and a boat load of noodles. Well that was not this dish, it was loaded with shrimp and the other ingredients were fresh and cooked to the point where the vegetables were still a little crunchy and flavorful, just how I like it.

Make sure you take a look at the menu link below.  One of the great things about the Fratellos locations is the wide variety of choices on the menu.

Conclusion: Overall its hard to go wrong with any of the Fratellos Waterfront locations. The menu has plenty to offer, the food is fairly priced and the views are great. The only negatives to this visit was service was only ok and the mix drinks were way to weak, seems to be an ongoing trend with us.  Our waitress had to take multiple visits to the kitchen to find a cheese grader that worked, she brought the wrong drinks and they were out of half of the beers that they make at their own brewery. How does that happen?

With our two meals, appetizer, a beer, a mix drink and a few glasses of wine out bill was $60.00.  Should note we were over the 75.00 price range and were able to use the Entertainment coupon.  Bring it along if you plan to dine,  save yourselves a few dollars.

Fratellos Information:
Web Site - Appleton
Address - 501 West Water Street, Appleton, WI 54911 - (920) 993-9087
Menu - download pdf
Email- info@supplerestaurantgroup.com
Google Map

Brian $16-$22, $9-$15, Casual

I just received the following email from the Red & White about a bourbon and cigar tasting event and wanted to pass the information on to our readers.

Hosted by the “Professor of Spirits” from Jack Daniels, John Barrett.  You will sample a variety of Bourbons/Whiskeys while enjoying a good cigar.  This tasting will both entertain and educate.  One part social history, one part chemistry, one part culinary science - all with an entertaining dash of folklore and drama.

Thursday, August 20 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Call for reservations 920-882-2141
$25 per person
Only 40 seats available!

Brian Event

The Red & White is a Wine bar located on S. Kensington Dr. in Appleton, close to the corner of KK and 441. This evening we ventured out to the Red & White with a group of friends after dining at HuHot.  See HuHot review if you are not familiar.  We have been to the Red & White numerous times before and have always enjoyed our visits.  Although we are far from any kind of wine aficionados we enjoy sampling the wine, cheese and indulging in a good atmosphere.

Atmosphere: The Red & White is part of a small strip mall. An attractive brick building with a large Red & White sign above the front door, you cant miss it.  Along side the bar is nice outside seating where you will occasionally find live music playing.

Walking through the front doors you enter the main bar room.  The room is split into two sections, the left side boasts rows of wine and a small section of fine spirits available for purchase.  They claim to have over 1700 labels to choose from and over 7500 bottles of wine on the floor.  The right side of the room has some pub style seating, a large size bar area and dark wood floors to boot.

The tables were very appealing in the dimly lit room. A single light hanging over the table provided just enough brightness to lite the cork filled glass top tables. I wish I could have taken some better pictures of the area but the lighting was not adequate.

In addition to the bar area, a second seating room is available towards the back of the facility.  Some of the decor includes a  plasma television as well as various wine racks stocked with bottles of wine.

Food: Since this is a wine bar there is not too much to discuss.  There is a great selection of wine available by the glass or bottle.  If your not into wine they also have imported beers and domestic micro brews.  The last time we visited Red & White, some great live music was being played on the patio for customers to enjoy.  It was rather busy during our visit, but we were lucky enough to score a great pub style table to accommodate our group of 6.   Since this was a first time visit for our friends they decided on a few different wine flights and my wife and I decided to try something new, a cheese flight.  Our friends thought the wine flights were average but all raved about the cheese flight.

In the cheese flight we had asiago, parmesan and bella.  They were delivered on a attractive black slate plate with green and black olives. There was plenty of cheese here for our entire party and it was excellent.  The only down side to the night was our service, since we have been here in the past with good service we are going to chalk this one up to a busy night.  We waited way to long for drinks as well as our cheese. Then when it was time to leave our bill was completely screwed up.

Conclusion: Even if your not a wine connoisseur there is plenty to love at the Red & White. I would tell you its definitely worth a stop, even thought one of our friends made a comment that the Red & White maybe trying a bit too hard.  They thought it has a decent interior, but that being in a strip mall while trying to cater to a certain customer may be limiting.  Looks like you will have to stop in and decide for yourself.

Red & White information:
Website - red-n-white.com
Email - wine@red-n-white.com
Telephone - 920.882.2141
Address - 2400 S. Kensington Dr.Appleton, WI 54915
Contact form - web form
Google Map

Brian Wine Bar