Fat Lorenzo's

This is a funky little red sauce place at the southeast corner of Lake Nokomis near many pleasant bike trails and is a very nice place to stop to hydrate and have a hoagie or a pizza. I love the murals and the décor. They draw their crowd mostly from the neighborhood.

 

Fat Lorenzo's has great Pizza and pasta with large servings at a good price its on a very busy high traffic area on cedar ave ,seating outside is a wrap around with lots of noise and cars very close, beer selection is local with summit schells and surly go here for the pie and pasta not a beer destination

I'm a big fan of Fat's. I've gone since I moved here in 2004 and have loved it. It's more a of a treat for me though, or I'd be as fat as Lorenzo.

This is your classic red sauce Italian restaurant- inexpensive, large portions covered in sauce with a mural on the wall and Frank Sinatra singing in the background.

The food is good. They make a great pizza and the Fat's Special Hot Hoagie is my go to.

Since 2004, I've seen their beer improve incredibly. There are no taps as mentioned earlier, but the bottle list was pretty good.

Locals like Summit, Surly, and Lift Bridge, and some really cool surprises. Last time I was there I had a bottle of Founder's Nemesis 2010- something I did not see in any other local restaurants. Their beer supply seems to hang around a bit longer so they have stuff that may have passed through the other restaurants or liquor stores.

Their gelato is pretty good too.

I'll start with this review, but I would like to go back and give it another chance. May have had a bad night.

Beer list was good. Maybe 40 beers on the list, and a nice combination of locals like Summit and Surly and a few regional like Tallgrass. Asked about taps, and was told the bottle list was it. Sitting on the patio, so didn't really look or figure it out. Had a Tallgrass Halcyon and a Summit Honeymoon Saison, both beers I hadn't tried yet, so that was nice. Served in a can and bottle respectively, but brought a pint glass on request.

Food was alright. Alfredo pasta was good, but a bit watery and the garlic bread was nothing special that came with it. A slice of Slim's veggie pizza was good NYC style pizza, but not quite on style. Bit underdone and arrived cold. Which the crux of the issue, the service was slow. Meals come two of us came out at a slightly longer than reasonable, but fine for a busy night; two more of us just ordered one slice of pizza each, which took forever to show up and well past when our dining companions were done eating. And, the slices were cold when they arrived--astounding. Still tasted good, but put a damper on the evening, and I was the only one willing to give the place another try some time in the future. We went there on the strength of the pizza, and that my brother in law had had as delivery.

Sadly disappointed for a place that has a great old school rep. Should probably sit inside. Patio was extremely loud next to Cedar Ave, and I wouldn't sit outside again. Guess there was a reason why the wait for inside was longer in spite of a being a perfect patio night. Hope to get another chance to eat inside and see if the experience improves. Not an exceptional place for beer either, but easily passable if you're there for the pizza.