Da Franco Restaurant — Restaurant in Bergamo

Good menu, especially the gluten free options, polite staff, fair pricing, nice location and modern toilets that are spotlessly clean and dispense hand soap. Highly recommended. That’s the quick summary, here’s the detail. You could eat in the main square (Piazza Vecchio) but our experience is that such honeypot locations rarely offer a good experience. Da Franco is literally just along the narrow roadway from the main square, set slightly back with outside tables and a nice indoor area too. It gets busy. We visited on a sunnyThursday, 30 October and at 12:15pm there were plenty of tables to choose. By 1pm people were queuing. The staff are engaging and polite with good eye contact and a welcoming smile. The menu is available in several languages including German and English. It’s extensive with many authentic Italian dishes and a long list of pizza. All pizza can be ordered gluten free (senza glutine) for a small €5 price supplement. Several other dishes are gluten free. We had the beef with polenta and a pizza. Both were well presented and tasty which, considering this is a tourist hotspot, is a testimony to the commitment of the restuarant who clearly do not simply view us tourists as ‘cash cows’. The prices are very fair. We used the toilets (i bagni) which were modern and spotless. The soap dispensers were properly filled, something that one cannot always take for granted, and there were paper towel dispensers. The other reviews are reliable since we chose this restaurant because of the previous reviewers feedback. Finally, the little square in which the restaurant sets its outside seating is shady and that, dear friends, is something to be cherished if you have no choice other than to visit in July or August - choose the main square and you will be heated to toast by the intense sun whereas this restaurant will keep you much cooler if you choose to sit outside. A great place for an easy lunch in Bergamo Old Town...

Please do not support this Restaurant run by RACISTS. I was born in Germany and was educated there and in England, but I have a little darker skin than the majority of Italians and curly black hair, since I am of Ethiopian origin. Why this Restaurant does not put up a sign at their window "for only white people" and makes it easier for everyone, I do not know. If I knew that I was not welcomed, I would have certainly not spend my money there and be treated like an animal. Before I entered the Restaurant one waitor saw me walking towards it and unhappy about my presence turned his back towards me. Another waitor also unwelcoming took me to a table. I then tried to get the attention of the first waitor to order my meal. He did not want to serve me and called his colleague to do this job. In the end he had to come himself. I tried to stay calm and friendly, but his hate towards me was written over his face. He was very cold and unfriendly. The food came extremely quickly...The whole time, while I was eating another waitor stood opposite of me, leaning against the wall and staring at me. His look is indescribable, but he made me feel like second class, even worse like a prostitute since that look he gave me had a second intonation. I stared back at him, until he looked away, but 3 seconds later I would find him staring back. I could not wait anymore for the bill to come to my table, got up , paid and walked out. I hope this comment helps for people to be aware and stop supporting this kind of mentality. I will definitely tell this story to put an...

We went to the restaurant to have lunch around 14:45. Once we stepped in the manager told us that they only offered pizzas due to the time it was, but he did not mentioned that they were in a hurry to close, so we decided to stay there. My girlfriend had to go to the toilet and it was crowded, meaning she took 5 minutes to come back. Meanwhile, one of the waitresses came rudely to my table in order to let me know we have to order the food in 5 minutes, otherwise the kitchen was going to close. I kindly answered her that my girlfriend was at the bathroom and as soon as she came we would order straight away. Instead of answering me properly, she looked at another waitress and started to talk to her in Italian. Once we asked for the food, the three waitresses came constantly to the table not to ask if everything was fine, just to push us to finish our lunch as soon as possible. They were on the counter, staring at us quite often with this attitude. Even one of them, was using a toothpick to remove something from her teeth on the main counter of the restaurante. It was very nasty. In conclusion, we had to have the lunch in 25 minutes because they were so impolite that we could just not stay there anymore.

It is a shame because the city is amazing, unfortunately our last meal in Italy was super unpleasant. It would have been as easy as just say that it was late and they were almost closed, but the did...