For over 15 years now, Fabio has claimed to serve proper Italian cuisine in the far-off Prachachuen area, where the closest thing it has for competition are the obligatory spaghetti options at faux-Western restaurants. Locals often boast of its value for money, and you certainly get the right atmosphere: dimly-lit and intimate thanks to only a half-dozen tables. The walls are covered with decorative items that scream Italy, like Venetian carnival masks and photos of famous sites. But when it comes to the food, we’ve got serious doubts about their expertise. Most dishes seem pretty far removed from the Italian cuisine we’re accustomed to. The clam chowder (B70), for starters, is completely bland and disappointingly watery. Their beef pepper steak (B185), too, was a disaster on our last visit. Though the tiny piece of meat was tender, the sauce was mixed with so many ingredients, it hardly deserves to be called pepper sauce—nor did any of it really taste of anything. The fusion fare isn’t any better, with the spaghetti chili with fried leaf fish (B140) mushy and tasteless except for a slight spiciness. Despite these severe let-downs, the menu does contain some decent dishes. The homemade French pate with pizza dough (B180), for instance, had us tearing into the dough, with the surprisingly spicy dipping sauce it comes with helping to make it an enjoyable option. Their pizza, like the capricciosa (B275), too, comes with a nice, crispy base, not too thin or thick, while the topping is well-balanced—not the overly cheesy mess you often find in Bangkok. To top things off, their delicious banana flambe (B135) almost makes up for the serious missteps earlier in the meal: moist yet dense, it’s a sweet treat with just the right hint of sourness. When it comes to authentic Italian cuisine, Fabio doesn’t come close, but as a neighborhood diner serving reasonably priced comfort dishes, you could find much, much worse.
