Pizzeria da Franco — Restaurant in Sorrento

The foods from here are worse than the worst garbage, don’t waste your money, body, time, and health here. The most disgusting pizza I’ve ever tried in my entire trip in Italy, and my first time ever in my entire life for throwing up (with explosive vomiting) for like 10 times (until the entire pizza and their olives came out..) and also having diarrhea for the next few days after eating their foods. If you see this place, you should run as fast as you can to avoid eating their foods and ruining the rest of your trip. The story goes - I went in, ordered, and paid for a Margarita pizza for a take out, then they made me wait for a half an hour. I saw all the other people who came in after me were being served with their foods so I flagged at the staff there that I’ve been waiting for my pizza for a while. The staff brushed me off and said, “it’s coming, just wait” as if he knew it all and I didn’t, so I just waited for another 20 minutes and bought a scoop of their olive pickles they had on displays while trying to kill time. However later on I could notice all the kitchen staff were laughing and talking to each other with no signs of cooking/preparing/packing of my pizza when I watched them for a while, so I brought it up again to the staff that it’s approaching an hour since I been waiting for my pizza, then the staff appeared to realize something must have gone wrong and went into the kitchen and checked with kitchen staff. Turned out, no one in the kitchen knew I was waiting for my pizza and they all seemed flustered and started to look for a pizza to give me. Suddenly one of those kitchen guys grabbed a pizza from somewhere and popped it into a box and handed it to me with a look on his face he is not so proud of what he has just done. I wasn’t sure what that look was exactly about at that time, but later when I came back to my hotel, ate the pizza, and started feeling so sick (with really bad stomach pain and nausea) I realized that look on his face was probably about him packing an old pizza that was sitting around not fresh. No wonder the pizza tasted disgusting, and after a couple of hours of eating them, I was in the washroom puking my life away.. This is how I started my first evening in Sorrento and I could not eat or enjoy any foods even the next few days as well because of the damage done on my body by this place. Now even the thought of having a Margarita pizza makes me gag thanks to this place. Such a terrible experience I don’t want anyone to go through.. They really ruined my trip. Please do yourself a big favour by staying away from this place at all cost. Don’t make the same mistake I made - walking into...

Food: The pizza was delicious. The roast pig and potato one was great, as was a mortadella and pistachio one. Everything there was wonderful. The crust was crispy but not burnt, and tasted amazing. The toppings were delicious but not overpowering, a perfect balance. For dessert we tried their panna cotta as well as a caprese, since they were unfortunately out of tiramisu. The caprese was a dense yet light cake, tasting of chocolate a nutty taste, that was again not overpowering. The panna cotta had a good amount of fruit sauce and was really delicious. Drinks: They did not have anything special, I had a chinotto which washed my pizza down perfectly. They offer a basic selection of soft drinks, beers, water and others. Ambience: The space felt warm and homey, with wooden tables and benches and plenty of people filling the space. A nice place to have a pizza and catch up with some friends. Service: Despite there being a queue to get inside, we didn’t wait longer than a few, maximum 15, minutes to get inside. The service was quick and waiters were all very friendly. They were quite busy and forgot our drinks but this wasn’t even a problem, as another waiter got it for us a few minutes later. The staff were friendly and joking around with us too. Everything is served with disposable items, including plastic cutlery and greaseproof paper under pizzas. This was the only downside, as it was difficult to cut the pizza into additional slices with the plastic cutlery, though I understand that it is done for efficiency. The walls next to the tables also have plugs equipped with USB chargers, making it easy for even foreigners to charge devices. They also offered free wifi, but I didn’t manage to connect to it. Price: The place was very affordable, with pizzas being around €10 for something quite filling. The desserts were also fairly priced, and overall it was a filling and...

Terrible Experience — Avoid This Place

As someone who knows good food, especially here in Italy, I was genuinely shocked by the experience at this pizza shop. We ordered two pizzas: a Diavolo and one with porchetta, potato, and smoked mozzarella (or at least it was supposed to have these ingredients).

When the pizzas arrived, they were served on metal trays with plastic cutlery — something you’d never expect in a proper Italian pizzeria. The pizzas themselves were oven-cooked, extremely heavy, and disappointing. The porchetta tasted old and unpleasant, the potato was completely undercooked, and the smoked mozzarella was barely noticeable. The Diavolo pizza was equally bad — it tasted like it was made with cheap tinned tomato and topped with a few peppers, completely lacking the depth and freshness you’d expect.

After a bite of each, we politely explained to the owner that we weren’t happy. Unfortunately, instead of handling it professionally, the owner was rude, defensive, and dismissive. His exact attitude was, “Well, that’s your problem,” rather than offering any kind of apology or understanding. He even bragged about selling “loads of pizza” because other people apparently say it’s good — but trust me, it’s not.

I recorded the whole experience with photos and video because the behavior and the quality were shockingly bad. I would strongly advise anyone considering this place to stay away. Italy is full of incredible pizza places — don’t waste your time...