WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A popular South Georgia Italian restaurant is planning to expand into Central Georgia and open its second location in just a few months.
Fresco Italiano is a Tifton-based eatery that will be opening at 1208 Russell Parkway in Warner Robins. That’s the former Ole Times Country Buffet building.
“What we want to do is really not be cookie-cutter with it, but bring something similar to it,” said Chasitie Roberts.
Roberts is the general manager of the first location in Tifton and she’ll be running the Warner Robins location as well. She’s part of the Torres Hospitality Group, which includes Christian Torres, his wife Margarita, and his two brothers.
Roberts says they're all about quality at Fresco Italiano. The family-owned small chain has homemade sauces and 100% Angus beef steaks. She recommends trying those on your first visit.
The steaks are cut in-house and aged 28 days.
“We don’t really do anything to them. Let the steaks talk for themselves. It’s good quality, season it with a little bit of salt, grill it on the grill, and we send it out,” she said.
Of course they also have Italian favorites, like different types of pastas, calamari, and chicken and fish dishes.
The owners are going to renovate the former Old Times building to mimic Fresco Italiano’s Tifton location. Roberts says it’s all about ambiance.
“You want to go have a plate of pasta, spaghetti during the week, but on the weekends, you want to get dressed up, have a date night, have steak dinner. You can do that too,” she said.
People can expect to have a candlelit dinner in the evening for a romantic feel. Roberts says the space will be perfect for anything from a date night to a girl’s night out with drinks at the bar.
“We’re going to have a full bar, but we’re also going to have a wine bar,” Roberts said.
They’ll also have an open kitchen allowing diners to become part of the atmosphere of the restaurant. You'll be able to see the chefs preparing your food while you wait.
"We're going to hopefully add a patio to the back of the restaurant, so we're going to have outdoor dining," she said.
The Torres Hospitality group has hands in several other food service businesses, like food trucks and other restaurants. Roberts says they chose to open Fresco Italiano’s second location in the International City because of the city’s “booming” growth.
“Turning it into a place where everybody can just go and have an amazing experience. Something that Warner Robins doesn’t have, or at least we haven’t seen it,” she said. “So we want to stand out and bring something to them that they really haven’t had.”
The Torres Group is excited to hit the ground running when they open the Italian restaurant in Warner Robins in late spring or early summer. Roberts says dates aren't definite yet.
“This is something we’ve been wanting to do for a while and it fell into our laps, so we’re very excited to come up there,” she said.