Italian dinner club on Commercial

[Paul B]

Friends of ours are proposing a night out at an Italian dinner club on Commercial. Apparently this place has dinner, dancing, and a high kitsch value. I don't know the name of it but I was wondering if anyone had heard of it or been there, and if so, thumbs up or down? Many thanks.

[nwyles]

Friends of ours are proposing a night out at an Italian dinner club on Commercial.  Apparently this place has dinner, dancing, and a high kitsch value.  I don't know the name of it but I was wondering if anyone had heard of it or been there, and if so, thumbs up or down?  Many thanks.

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Frederico's Supper Club ?

The owner sings in the band.

[Daddy-A]

Yeah, Neil's got it, except that it's Federico's (without the "R").

SEARCH RESULTS - which prove that most people thought it was Frederico's as well!

Web Site

I've never been, but from what I've been told, you either get it ot you don't ... kinda like Tony & Tina's Wedding.

A.

[fud]

I miss dancing at Latin Quarter. I think they got in trouble when the city decided that if there was dancing there, they needed to get a night club license.

[kurtisk]

I miss dancing at Latin Quarter.  I think they got in trouble when the city decided that if there was dancing there, they needed to get a night club license. 

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I HATE that 'no dancing' thing. It's sooo Footloose and bullshit.

k.

[chrisstearns]

Apparently this place has dinner, dancing, and a high kitsch value.

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"High kitsch" is understating it a bit. My favourite part: Federico's father promenading through the dining room playing his electric mandolin (wireless!). That, and the inexplicable giant sneeze-guard which surrounds the drum kit.

[Edible Vancouver]

I am actually going there for dinner on Saturday for a friend's birthday party. I will report back next week!

Cheers,

Eric

[mzungu]

Nice to see that my high school choir teacher has moved on to bigger and better things. But yes, "Mr Fuoco" is the king of kitsch - judging from the website, the guy hasn't changed too much in 10 years.

[Daddy-A]

That, and the inexplicable giant sneeze-guard which surrounds the drum kit.

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I'm picturing the bar scene in The Blues Brothers where Jake & Elwood sing "Stand By Your Man" behind chicken wire!

A.

[jamiemaw]

Proprietor croons, food less so. Think Ricky Ricardo up front, Lucy in the rear.

[MightyMrQ]

Had my 30th birthday party there.

Possibly the best venue ever created.

It's like Pino Posteraro and Robbie Hart had a Commercial Drive love child.

Don't stray too far from the Asti Spumante, veal chop or the dance floor and you'll be feelin' the Louis Prima/Elvis/Flock-of-Seagulls vibe deep down in your soul.

The Phantom-of-the-Opera number is worth the price of admission alone.

Dressing the part is essential. Nicknames help too.

[*Deborah*]

I always figured that half the fun in that place was going with the proper mindset; you have confirmed this.

Cheers!

[shelora]

Great website. I like the way Federico does that thing with his eyes - and eyebrows - when striking a pose with celebs - like Raveen the hypnotist.

Edited November 4, 2005 by shelora (log)

[Mooshmouse]

Great website. I like the way Federico does that thing with his eyes when striking a pose with celebs - like Raveen the hypnotist.

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'

"Have you seen... the man they call Raveen..." Now there's a flashback.

[Edible Vancouver]

I went to Federico's to celebrate a 30th birthday party this past Saturday. It is a very interesting place to say the least, and like nothing else I have ever experienced in Vancouver.

* The food was good (much better than I expected).

* The wine list was very good and reasonably priced.

* The entertainment was not to my personal taste but everyone who was there (160 people crammed into a space that should really seat about 120) seemed to be having a great time.

* 5.5 hours for dinner and dancing didn’t seem long enough (for most)

* I believe there was only one table that was smaller than 10 people, so this is not really a place to go for a date.

*The perfect place for a group (especially women) who love to dance to old favorites.

Cheers,

Eric

[shelora]

I went to Federico's to celebrate a 30th birthday party this past Saturday.  It is a very interesting place to say the least, and like nothing else I have ever experienced in Vancouver.

* The food was good (much better than I expected).

* The wine list was very good and reasonably priced.

* The entertainment was not to my personal taste but everyone who was there (160 people crammed into a space that should really seat about 120) seemed to be having a great time.

* 5.5 hours for dinner and dancing didn’t seem long enough (for most)

* I believe there was only one table that was smaller than 10 people, so this is not really a place to go for a date.

*The perfect place for a group (especially women) who love to dance to old favorites.

Cheers,

Eric

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No pictures? Eric, I'm disappointed.

[Paul B]

Many thanks for the reports! Sounds like major fun. Now I'm finding out that we might not be able to get reservations. Yikes.

[Edible Vancouver]

I went to Federico's to celebrate a 30th birthday party this past Saturday.  It is a very interesting place to say the least, and like nothing else I have ever experienced in Vancouver.

* The food was good (much better than I expected).

* The wine list was very good and reasonably priced.

* The entertainment was not to my personal taste but everyone who was there (160 people crammed into a space that should really seat about 120) seemed to be having a great time.

* 5.5 hours for dinner and dancing didn’t seem long enough (for most)

* I believe there was only one table that was smaller than 10 people, so this is not really a place to go for a date.

*The perfect place for a group (especially women) who love to dance to old favorites.

Cheers,

Eric

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No pictures? Eric, I'm disappointed.

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My wife wanted me to dance, which meant a lot of drinking ....hence no pictures that were even close to worthy of being posted.

[Paul B]

Well, we finally got to Frederico's on Friday. We had 8pm reservations for eight. Because we had four couples, all coming from the North Shore, and because we knew we would all be drinking, perhaps heavily, we rented a limo, packed a few bottles of sparkling wine in it, and had a very civilized trip over the bridge.

The club was about 2/3 full. On stage was an old boy with an accordion doing Sinatra standards and other ballads. He was, frankly, pretty annoying.

The club has a set meal that you can order if you have over four people. So we all ordered it. This got us

1) two large plates of antipasto. Pretty durn good.

2) two larges plates of pasta, three kinds. This was also pretty durn good, especially the gnocchi.

3) a salad each. Not bad, but perhaps a bit heavy on the bitter greens.

4) a choice of entries each. I had the chicken, which was a bit dry, but certainly a generous serving. Several people around me had the veal, which they liked.

5) dessert, but since I passed on this I don't even remember what it was. Sorry.

The mark up on wine was pretty steep. A bottle of Farneze, which goes for 8.95 in the liqour store, was 24.95. I settled on Yellow Tail Merlot. We went through a lot of bottles.

The accordionist mercifully left and Frederico, a female back-up singer, and Uncle Aldo, a guitarist, took to the stage. Turn on the schmaltz!! Wow, what a kitschy show. He did a couple of medleys of the best/worst songs of the past 30 years that seemed to go on for 40 minutes. He left the stage to come back wearing a Phantom of the Opera mask so he could do a song from that show. He played waltzes, polkas, everything, all with the same beat and keyboard sounds.

But he sort of pulled it off because a) he was so utterly confident of his own genius and b) because everyone got up to dance, even yours truly who, truth be told, cannot resist a polka.

The show ended at 12 and we got back into the waiting limo. The meal and show cost $150 a couple. If we hadn't gone through so many bottles of wine (I lost count) it would have been half that.

As a culinary experience, it was so-so. The pasta and anti-pasta were good. If I were to go again I would just order those items a la carte. But as an experience, it was pretty great. We’re going to take my mother-in-law there for her birthday.

[lauraf]

We did our office ChristmaHanaKwaanzikah party there this December, and the consensus on this board is pretty much it - the traditional Italian fare is good, not great, the show is over-the-top cheese, and as a packaged experience (with plenty of wine) it is awesome with a large group of people. But some people take the dancing very seriously - when I went on a Wednesday night in May the room was less than half full, and when Federico came on, several couples (all Asian, I think) got up in serious ballroom dancing attire - the women complete with those seventies sequined open-toed heels - and tango'ed/salsa'ed/rumba'ed to our wide-eyed delight.

I guess it's one of the only places in town on a regular weekday night to practice for the ballroom dance competitions!

[angeleyes8680]

Federico's came highly recommended to me by a friend years and years ago, and I FINALLY made it there during DOV. It was supposed to mark the beginning of my dineout craze this year. Though upon reviewing their menus we ended up doing their own set menu for $39.99.

It was a 4 course meal meant to be shared between a minimum of 4 people. They were super accomodating. Not only did they do the dinner for four, for just the two of us, they also added a complimentary 5th course, dessert, which was not originally a part of the set menu.

So we began with the antipasto platter. Italian cured meats are an absolute favourite for me, can't go wrong with prosciutto. The platter was very generous. Half of the plate consisted of 4 (i think) different kinds of cured meats. There was boccoccini with tomato, artichokes, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers as well. The platter was definitely enough to fill 4 ppl. I started to feel full after the first plate!

The pasta was actually their Bandiera Italiana ("As in the colours of the Italian flag, a platter of linguine al pesto, gnocchi gorgonzola & penne al pomodoro "). SO GOOD. Crazy carbs. The sauces were nice and light, the pasta JUST coated with enough sauce so as not to get heavy and saturated. the linguine al pesto was definitely my favourite.

Salad was salad.. nice fresh mixed greens. Lightly tossed in olive oil with salt and pepper. I don't know why, but the salad just tasted extra fresh... i'm not usually a salad fan. i'm thinking it was due to the progression of the dishes... the tastes are well planned out and a light salad after our heavy first dishes was perfect to clear the palate.

Main courses were good, though nothing extraordinarily spectacular. we chose chicken and veal and shared between us. the chicken had good flavour, just borderline a little bit dry... but such is chicken breast. I don't really remember the veal, so it couldn't have been that great or that bad. Then again, I think I was just too full by the time the main courses came to enjoy them.

And after all that came our desserts... tiramisu and chocolate mousse from the dineout menu. they were good and suprisingly light after such a heavy meal. but nothing out of the ordinary again.

Now for the venue... we were seated off to the corner right by the front window, which seemed a little odd at first, but then it paid off as the live band got started... at least we could still hear each other as we were farther from the dance floor. Our server, Pedro, was a friendly sweet older gentleman. He took SUCH great care of us. I'd go back just for him.

The place is just super warm and friendly. I disagree about it not being a date place. there is something to be said about intimacy amidst a crowd of crazy happy ppl. Just walking in there makes you smile. The dance floor gets crazy packed... on my washroom breaks, I couldn't get past the crowd. The music is a bit retro though... straight out of the 80's, everything from Phantom of the Opera to YMCA. Still fun... but not the best tunes to be twirled around the dance floor to. Would be neat to see them do salsa or swing nights here.

I had a wonderful experience. I'm definitely looking forward to going again. This is a really nice place with great class AND comfort that is worth repeat visits to.

[PaoPao]

Last night one of our best friends was celebrating her birthday and we headed to Frederico's. She is a classic Italian princess in only the very best of ways and was looking for an Italian supper / night club experience which this place fit the bill perfectly.

We had a great seat by the dance floor at which all throughout dinner a very talented musician and singer sang all the classics with the help of a keyboard and accordion.

We started with Chianti and stayed the course for 3 more bottles throughout dinner. For the appetizers we shared a Prawn dish, the cured meats Anti-pasta, and the bruschetta. Mains for everyone were the Eggplant, Tenderloin, Prime Rib, and the Veal.

All in all I would say the food was alright to good, nothing ground breaking to drop your fork to but decently solid.

Service was excellent and as we had a birthday girl the large cake we brought with given instructions for the surprise was performed beautifully. There must have been ten b-days there last night and people had come to party.

Dancing went till midnight or so on the jam packed dance floor to Fredericos selection of favorites spanning old Italian classics to the new one by Justin Timberlake. He's a talented guy and definitely loves to entertain.

Overall we had a great time and we would definitely recommend trying it. Go Th - Sun though for the live music.