Filippo’s

Filippo’s is one of my go-​to date spots for a few reasons.
1) If you get the house wine (white or red), it’s $ 7 for the bottle and they are good house bottles. You can’t go wrong.
2) The bread and olive oil is delicious as well, and they will continue to refill it throughout your service (which is really nice, especially if you’re like me and you love your bread).
3) The lemon chicken with gnocchi is very delicious. The sauces that they use are very flavorful, and the chicken pairs very well with the pesto gnocchi. The gnocchi is some of the best I’ve ever had. I definitely recommend it.
4) The bruschetta is wonderful! All of the ingredients taste very fresh and they shape the bread into hearts. The presentation is very nice and you can individually taste each ingredient in the bruschetta (each of which is very good).
5) For college students, this restaurant is a tad pricey but the food is worth it. Usually on a Friday and Saturday night they aren’t too busy, and it gives for me a more intimate feeling.
Overall, it’s a nice atmosphere and the service is pretty good. The food is very fresh and absolutely delicious.

Came here for dinner one night hoping to enjoy some good Italian pasta, but found the food to be average at most. I had the gemelli al pollo, a pasta with grill chicken and mushrooms in a parmesan thyme sauce, but honestly I could’ve ordered a similar dish at Gypsy’s for a much cheaper price. Service was also pretty slow even though there weren’t that many people in the restaurant.

I asked my server which dish she liked better: the ravioli di zucca or fettuccine alfredo; she answered the fettuccine because the ravioli sometimes comes out sour. Props to her for being honest!
Alas, I went with the fettuccine (colored green since it’s made out of spinach), which was DIVINE though very heavy. Definitely pack some pepcid or at least unbutton your pants beforehand to prepare for the onslaught of cream! But still, order the fettuccine. You won’t regret it.
At the end of the day, Filippo’s is a friendly, neighborhood jaunt that I would definitely return to again. Fast, attentive and friendly service always deserves 3 stars in my book.
The food is good but the pasta won’t be the best you’ve ever had. Granted, that’s typical for this neighborhood of Berkeley. Reasonable prices too!

I love fillipos. I’m sad they don’t have the bottomless wine anymore, but they still have great food. I get the chicken picatta, it comes with gnocchi and sautéed spinach, yum! My boyfriend got these salmon skewers last time, they were really good, I especially loved the tomatoes! Their steak is super good too and I love the bread they serve. The service is normally really good, last time it was eh, but the food is consistent and that’s what matters most! Plus, they definitely have things priced right.

It may have been a difficult /​busy weekend for this restaurant (graduation weekend), and it really showed. They clearly forgot about our table-​the pizza was not fresh at all. Being forgotten by the staff made us feel unwelcome and uncomfortable.
Additionally, the gnocchi (under the Specialita) was subpar. The pesto sauce was fair, but the pasta was VERY dry and mushy. I advise anything but that dish.
Lastly, the bruschetta was GREAT — very flavorful and the bread was excellent.

I came here for dinner looking to try any good italian restaurants in Berkeley. I decided to give this one a try because I always passed by it when I went to Icis. I had a pretty large group but they accommodated our size and the wait for our food was average. Majority of the items are $ 11 – 12 which is an average price for italian food. I got the good ol spaghetti and meatballs and I guess I should have tried something more adventurous because it tasted like every spaghetti dish I have had. I did like the bread and olive oil that they provide!
**TIPS**
1) They have great service and are super nice, especially with refilling the bread :)
2) Enjoy!

I had the Penne Pancetta ($ 13) but had the Penne replaced with Fettucine. The fettucine strands stuck to each other, while the pancetta & asparagus was very salty & sour — in a way that did not go well with the soggy/​sticky fettucine.
However, the appetizer bread & olive oil was a good combination. This was my second time visiting, and I don’t think I’ll be coming back for dinner. Maybe for brunch, to try.

I’ve been to Filippo’s a couple of times but usually have not come back too impressed. Typically, Italian restaurants are my favorite place to dine out, usually because they are fancy, cozy, and have really good pasta and bread (my two favorite things!). Unfortunately Filippo’s only does a so-​so job at being a fine-​dining Italian restaurant.
Service: Really good service both times I’ve been here. Definitely make reservations if you have a slightly larger party because they aren’t too big on the inside and typically have a wait time.
Ambiance: Cute, cozy, Italian restaurant. It’s not too cluttered and it’s always a nice place to sit down with family or friends as you eat your meal.
Food: I’ve tasted the bruschetta for a starter. It wasn’t the best because it was very basic (bread, oil, tomatoes), and the bread was kind of hard too. I didn’t enjoy it very much. For a main course I have tried the pesto linguini with mushrooms, which I actually liked. Only thing I would’ve changed was less oil because at the bottom of my pasta bowl was a huge blob of green colored oil. Other than that the pesto was tasty and the mushrooms were a great addition. I’ve also had their pizzas a couple of times, when I share it with a slightly larger party. I have never been a huge fan. For the price that you pay (decently high), you get this super thin crust pizza with barely any sauce (so it tastes really dry) and very little flavor. You are left wanting way more, considering what you paid for. Each time, the pizza was not sufficient for the people who shared it in my party. So I’d stick with the pasta dishes here.
Verdict: I may or may not come back for a dinner, but I do want to come back to try the brunch. I see a lot of reviewers mentioning good things about it and I’m a sucker for breakfast foods!

Remind me to never go back. Inebriated, my partner and crime and I were starving and looking for something quick and easy. We had never been to Filippo’s before so we thought we would give it a try.
We walked in on a Friday night just as most of their normal diners were leaving. Restaurant was half full but tons of servers and bus boys on the floor. I get a drink order in but it is 20 minutes plus before we get to order our meal because our server is deep in conversation with another server at the bar. This was pretty much the service of our night. Everyone in the restaurant received better service than us.
The food was bland and mediocre, not worth eating out for Italian food. We make better pizza and pasta at home.

There are so many negative reviews here about Filippo’s — I think I got lucky when I came here for brunch, as the food was entirely delicious!
We went with the strawberry-​lemon pancakes (how can you say no to that, right?), a side of sausage (mmm), and the Grand Marnier french toast. The pancakes were amazing — fluffy, light, infused with lemony goodness and topped with fresh sliced strawberries, a definite must-​have (made better with a drizzle of maple syrup!). The french toast, however, was utterly exquisite — thick slices of brioche toast, topped with large dollops of sweet honey ricotta, and fresh, ripe strawberries. I tried valiantly to finish it all, but failed miserably — it was super filling, and so delicious!
My only complaint was the wait. We passed the time sipping mimosas, made extra-​strong (quite nice!), but it took a dreadfully long time for our meals to come out, and it wasn’t even prime brunching hour (~3 pm on a Saturday, with a gradually emptying restaurant). I don’t mind waiting for good food, but make it a reasonable wait, please!

I am usually not the fan of dining out in Italian places already, unless it’s gourmet Italian food. I call it the «Olive Garden Test» — meaning, if it tastes about the same as Olive Garden, then it’s not worth my money (you could get pasta soooo cheap at Olive Garden, it’s insane).
While Filippo’s has a nice inside and environment, I wouldn’t say the food is of the highest quality. The bruschetta isn’t bad and the olive oil they have to dip for their bread is not half bad either. However, the main part of the meal — the pasta — really falls short of delivery. I’ve been to Filippo’s a couple of times, since one of my friends likes it lot and it’s not a bad location for large parties.
I had the capellini with chicken the last time. The pasta didn’t seemed flavored too well — not a whole ton of garlic or onion action going on. The chicken was probably the best part of the dish — it was tender and moist enough. However, the pasta just did not seem like it was made with too much love — I felt like I could’ve just bought that cappellini for 99 cents at a Trader Joes.
I would say go somewhere else for Italian food — unless it’s a Friday night and you didn’t make reservations elsewhere.

HORRIBLE SERVICE!
I hate to write in all caps like that, but when a waitor disrepects you and your family, with the outcome of said family walking out of said restaurant, well… Filippo’s: you lost our business!

Very Meh indeed. I was here with a group and service wasn’t great and neither was the food. My food was luke warm when I got it and we frequently had to ask for more bread or more wine or more oil.
To sum up, meh food with meh service.

The food here tastes like food I could make. Not sure what that tells you, but when I eat out I would like to eat food that does not taste like what I could make.
The pasta here is weird. It’s not like any other pasta at any other Italian restaurants. It’s like drenched in sauce, watery sauce.
I give this place 3 stars because I like it better than Gypsy’s, but I don’t know why anyone would come here when Trattoria La Siciliana is down the street, other than maybe the wait time. This is a big restaurant so the wait here isn’t bad at all.

I’ve always wanted to try this place out, and I finally got to for my friend’s birthday dinner. I came here with a group of 16 at 6pm, and we got lucky and got seated almost right away (but we were told that we would only have an hour because another reservation was coming in at 7pm).
After asking the waiter which pastas he likes, he suggested the Penne e Salsiccia, so I ordered that. I was kind of scared ordering it because it had sausages (I don’t like them), but it sounded the best out of the ones he suggested (I felt bad ordering something other than what he suggested). I was pretty unhappy with the dish… It was too tomato-​y for me because of the tomato paste, and the sausages were decent, but too salty for me to eat all of them (my left over = almost half of my sausages). My friend’s shrimp and potato pizza was great though! I would have given this place three stars if I got to try more delicious food, but since only one out of the four dishes that I tried was a hit… two stars… My only other positive experience was the bread and olive oil.
Atmosphere is nice. Service was slow – especially when we were ready to pay… waiter didn’t pick up our check until wayyyy later… and we asked for more bread, but we never got it.
TL;DR — get the shrimp and potato pizza if you’re eating here

Had my birthday dinner here last week and I think everyone had a great time. The reason I picked Fillippo’s for my birthday was (1) convenient location, (2) cute atmosphere, and (3) great prices on a variety of dishes (I am living on a grad student budget). I made a reservation four days before the dinner and reserved the large wooden table with the benches in the center of the restaurant. I was running late to dinner, but luckily some of my friends made it there on time (thanks guys!). The place was packed and it was hard to walk into the restaurant with the masses of people waiting to get a table.
The restaurant was short on menus (for some reason), so the seven of us had to pass around two menus. That was okay and the waitress apologized. Our food was delicious! We all agreed that the garlic-​infused olive oil for the bread was amazing. It took awhile for the bread to get to our table, but we ended up having more than enough. I enjoyed the penne con gorgonzola and it satisfied my craving for gorgonzola. I also tried the risotto and pesto gnocchi. Everyone seems to enjoy their pastas. Another reason I came here was for the endless wine glasses, but no one ended up ordering any alcohol that night. I also just love how cute and cozy this place is, with the hanging lights and candles (although they are fake, light-​bulb candles).

Not truly italian, but much better than average italian. At least the menu is somewhat authentic.
We shared bruschetta which were good but a bit soggy and then I had seafood pasta. Pasta was a tiny bit over cooked for me (but I like undercooked rather than overcooked) and the seafood was just OK with the mussels not too fresh tasting and the rest of the seafood neither good nor bad.
Would probably not go back on my own, but might come with a group of friend.

Caveat: this review is only for drinks and an appetizer (of which I did not eat, so really, just for drinks/​atmosphere/​service).
First off: let me just say, $ 8 bottomless wine with *any* food purchase (this means appetizer, entrée, or dessert), enough said! What an awesome deal.
Three of us walked in on a busy Saturday night, and though the place was packed, we were seated right away. Before we were seated I asked the hostess/​waitress if it was okay if we only order drinks, as we just wanted some wine before seeing a movie down the street. She said it was fine.
Our waiter (wish I knew his name!) was so incredibly nice! He really made the night. He didn’t pressure us to order any food, though my friend got the bruschetta so she could take advantage of the $ 8 bottomless wine. I’ve been to places where ONE glass costs more than that! Amazing. The wine is just their house red or white, nothing fancy, but fine, and I mean, for bottomless wine, who’s going to be that picky? The rest of the wine selection was equally as reasonable. I had a nice Malbec for around $ 5.
Besides the wine I ate the bread which I dipped in a very tasty olive oil herb mixture. Like I said, I didn’t try the bruschetta, but it looked fine (decent portion size) and my friend ate all of it so I assume it was tasty.
No complaints from me. I’d go back just for the nice waiter, and the $ 8 bottomless wine.

Delicious food and great service make for a solid restaurant choice.
We struck out at Trattoria la Siciliana (1 hour wait) so we strolled a few blocks down to Filippo’s and had a great meal. Service was prompt, the food was delish and the price is very reasonable, so left satisfied.

Impromptu dinner with the brother and the
.law — we were initially aiming for House of Curries but since arriving at Elmwood… it was «poppin” that Friday night?! There were lines at every restaurant and it was nice to see…
Bro showed me Filippo’s sign of bottomless wine for $ 7. He said we can go there next time… thus we continued on walking. We got to House of Curries and there was a huge line… I asked my bro if we could check out Filippo’s instead? He was annoyed at the late decision (he was hungry) but he was down so was
.law. We walked backed up.
We got there and fortunately, there was a table for us… not clean but available. They didn’t have a bus boy so it took awhile for one of the servers to clean the table and sit us.
We sat… water and bread came promptly and I opened the menu… geeez there were a lot of choices! We couldn’t decide and kept on hesitating back and forth with what entrée to get.
Finally we narrowed it down…
Me:
— cream of mushroom soup (tons of mushrooms, not too creamy, just right. loved it. though it made me full… opps)
— chicken parmigiana (it was huge! our server even said after that it was by far the biggest parmigiana she’s ever served. It was delicious though. The breaded chicken was just right plus the cheese and the spinach was good. I wasn’t a fan of the pasta that came with it… but nonetheless good)
— house red wine (can’t go wrong with bottomless! Trust me when I say they fill it up when it’s ¼ — it was awesome! I only managed to get 2 glasses… next time… I’ll try to do more damage!)
.law got the mushroom soup and the gnocchi. She liked the soup as well but now so much the gnocchi. She said it was redundant. It’s pasta but I tasted it but it was ok, it does get stuck in your gums… just saying.
Bro got the beet salad and the salmon pasta (forgot which one) but he ate all the beet and the pasta.
Overall… I’m a fan. The prices were reasonable and the servers are good. Though they do try to avoid eye contact… so my bro did that job for us.
My bro did tell me to add this note… they tell people that comes into the restaurant at 9:30ish that they’re closed. My bro was a server and he said that normally, restaurants doesn’t do that … as long as the patrons are in the restaurants before closing, they serve them because it’s business. Thus, to all of you reading this… get there an hour before closing…