Gio & Fran's Italian Eatery/Franny’s Mercato — Restaurant in Meaford

Run, don't walk, to Frannys in Meaford!

When visiting my sister in Port Elgin, she suggested we go to Meaford for an Italian dinner at Frannys. I was shocked when she said it was an hour away...but she told me the food was great, and we wouldn't be disappointed. OK, I said, really not interested in driving an hour for a meal.

We were greeted by a lovely woman who turned out to be Franny, with big hugs and a welcoming smile. We grabbed a table in the eclectic dining room, and scanned the menu looking for something interesting on the menu. After 3 trips to Italy, we had become spoiled with Italian food, and had some pretty high standards.

We started with cocktails, then on to roasted frsh figs stuffed with gorgonzola on a bed of prosciutto and arugala, with house-made fresh foccaccia. Between the 4 of us, our mains included a chicken cutlet with 4 cheeses and penned, the "mushroom love" pasta in a light gorgonzola crema, and wild boar sausage with rapini.

To be succinct, this was an unbelievable meal!

We have eaten at Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy, and those meals didn't come close to the meal we had at Frannys. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone, it was worth...

What would be better than an Italian dinner before a show at the Meaford Hall? On our first visit to Frannie's Mercato, yesterday, my wife and I decided to be brave and order the Calimari appetizer. This proved to be an excellent choice! It turned out to be a truly Italian, very lightly crumbed, fried to perfection, delicacy, garnered with a nice little salad. We thoroughly anjoyed that. For our dinner we had chosen Branzino, a baked European Seabass, that was served whole with rapini, mushrooms and lemon . Utterly delicious! With a glass of white housewine for my wife and a very tasty Italian beer for me, all we needed was a cup of espresso or mocca coffee to round off a lovely meal. The ambiance is simple but tastefull and cosy! The service was excellent! We appreciated getting the full attention and advice from a knowledgeable waitress. And to our surprise, before we left, Frannie, the owner, came by to introduce herself and ask us of our experience in her restaurant. We had nothing but praise! Who had known that there is a five-star Italian Restaurant, right here in Meaford, that could easily outclass the...

We had the pleasure of dining at Frannys tonight and I cannot rave enough about how amazing the experience was. The food was incredible, the drinks were amazing and the owner and atmosphere was out of this world!

The menu all sounded so amazing it was hard to pick what we were going to have. We started with a caprese salad and the crispy gnocchi and were both blown away (we couldn’t hold off on taking a bite before snapping a picture!). Our mains included a veal parm and wild boar ragu, these were both the best pastas that either of us have had at any restaurant. The food is cooked perfectly and you can taste the love that goes into it! We finished with a cheesecake dessert and were blown away yet again, WOW! The owner made the entire experience so great, she is friendly, funny and an all around great host. We wished we lived closer so that we could make this our weekly spot. After finishing we decided that we will be coming back tomorrow night for another amazing meal before heading back home. If you’re in the area I would not miss the opportunity...