Franco Manca — Restaurant in Cambridge

Fantastic food, we (2 of us) turned up without booking and they were happy to accommodate us, had to wait 15mins but that's fine. The service was quick, the waitress whose name I didn't catch was freindly and attentive. There were a couple near us who in my view treated her rudely, no please or thank yous just "this pizza" without even looking at her. But she was just as freindly and nice to them as she was to us. There is an optional 10% service charge but she made it crystal clear it was optional, we were happy to pay.

The food was fantastic, one of the nicest, freshest tasting pizzas I've ever eaten, and I've eaten alot of pizzas. It was a simple pizza with salami, red onion and very fresh basil and it was all I needed. We also had a meat platter starter which was lovely. We also had a generous watercress pesto, enough for two for sure. I had two of their beers, one lager and one pale ale, both lovely.

Considering it was in the middle of Cambridge the prices were very reasonable. The menu wasn't extensive which I liked, means they focus on making what they make the best, they are saying "look we do good pizza, there's millions of 'italian' restaurants of you want other stuff"

I don't often go to Cambridge but if I did, I'd probably go here again.

One thing I'll say which is more a FYI than a criticism, it's quite a small place so if you're very large or something like an electric mobility scooter, you may struggle to navigate inbetween the tables. The only toilets seem to be at the top of lots of stairs so if you have mobility issues, this is something to consider. They have had disabled toilets downstairs somewhere I couldn't see, so all I'm saying it ring up to...

Today is my daughter's two-year-old birthday. We went to Franco Manca for her favorite pizza and ended up feeling shamed and chastised.

We sat in the waiting area for our takeaway order and when the pizzas arrived, I gave my daughter a few bites of the pizzas on her eager request before we stepped out. Before we could leave, the store manager came and made a harsh point that no eating is allowed in the waiting area. Now the point would have been fair if earlier I haven't acquired the permission from the restaurant staff to sneak my daughter some bites there in the first place. The truth is my daughter has been having trouble eating as time and place seriously dictate her willingness to eat, and Franco Manca's casual waiting area just so happened to offer her the right vibe to get her going. For this we have been ever so thankful of the pizzeria and if it weren't for this particular reason, I wouldn't have wanted to impose by asking whether we could eat a bit in the waiting area (or we would have just eaten in if that works for my daughter).

If it is a matter of skimming on service charge (which I am not aware that there is), I am more than happy to pay for whatever we owed; if it is a matter of optics, I wonder how unseemly we could have looked to bag that reproach; if it is a matter of principle, why not put up a sign and specify "no eating in the waiting area"? I felt targeted and treated like a second class citizen perhaps for being a mother or for...

Pizza was okay, although it does seem to really vary based on the day, however service was god awful. Showed up for a reservation, had to wait 15 minutes, then had people who showed up after us with a later reservation get served first.

Following this we were pointed in a vague direction of a table which had no cutlery, menus, or anything. We waited around another 15 minutes for someone to organise this for us. And of course it was another 15 minutes between that and someone taking our order.

Even better was when they brought us bottled water and just never brought glasses over. I figured they didn’t intend for us to drink out of the big glass bottle so had to wait again for someone.

Generally not happy, showing up for a reservation and then having to wait through all this to get your food after about 50 minutes to an hour after you were supposed to be seated… go figure I won’t be going back again.

As I said, Pizza was fine, service was dreadful.

Oh, and side note, while we were waiting, we saw a waiter preparing a salad, picking up the ingredients with tongs and placing them in a bowl, no problem with this until he dropped (what I think was) a couple of olives and just pick them right up and drop them in with the salad. I mean it landed on the side next to a bunch of pepper grinders, not as bad as dropping it on the floor, but this was not in a cooking area and I doubt they regularly clean the wooden pepper mill holder, so I wouldn’t...