Franco Manca Exeter — Restaurant in Exeter

My partner and I had a terrible dining experience here this evening. We were out for a walk when we decided we'd stop by your restaurant for dinner. Upon arriving and after joining the online queue, we realised that we had only one face mask; however, after seeing the hostess graciously handing out face masks to other customers, who had also forgotten their masks, before entering the restaurant we assumed that entry wouldn't be an issue. After having already waited 40 minutes longer than the virtue queue had predicted, we were called to be seated by the hostess. We politely asked her if she was able to provide us with some face masks, upon which she rudely rejected us entry to the restaurant. Upon further discussion and telling her that we had one face mask she reluctantly provided us with an additional mask and permitted us entry. Whilst she was giving us the mask, she was raising her voice significantly as well as ranting within earshot of other customers about how we were at fault and how she should not have to give away the restaurant's masks. Then she proceeded to shout to the queue of people outside, making an example of us, telling them that they must have their own masks to get in (albeit this would have been useful for us if she had done this 40 minutes prior when we first joined the queue). Having already been made to feel deeply humiliated, she further escalated the situation by stopping us in the middle of the restaurant whilst showing us to our seat; once again, she started to publicly berate us to her colleague (whom we presumed to be the manager) with us in earshot which left us standing awkwardly in the middle of the restaurant for some time. Upon finally being seated we were left feeling utterly shocked and completely upset that we would be treated in such a foul manner. We completely understand and fully support the need for wearing face masks and if we had known that we would be denied entry without our own masks we would not have entered the queue in the first place; however, we are disgusted that the hostess chose us to single out when she had previously been hospitable to customers that were in the same situation. The fact that such a big fuss was made over a face mask seemed especially hypocritical seeing as some members of staff were not even wearing their's correctly (not covering their nose) or at all - we saw a chef remove his mask entirely, whilst in the kitchen preparing food, to talk to a colleague.

Overall, we have no issues with the food, the waitresses that tended to us, or the COVID precautions that are in place. However, the way that we were treated by the hostess left us with a very unpleasant dining experience and we are still in disbelief that the Exeter Franco Manca team would allow a customer to be treated in such a...

I attended a Christmas party here on 16/12/22. It was all pre-booked, pre-paid and we of course had to pre-order. Despite this, they did not have a couple of the desserts from the set menu, though they were aware of our choices well over a week in advance. They made no one aware of this until it came to serving the desserts. I had unfortunately picked one that they had decided not to stock, despite the pre-orders and so I made them aware that this was not really on. I questioned why they would wait the entire evening to announce this and said that several of us who had ordered something they didn’t have in stock would have opted for a starter had we been made aware at the beginning of the night or ok arrival, but this did not happen. A member of staff apologised and told me she would speak to the manager… she walked away and started doing other tasks and trying to stay out of view, but did not speak to the manager. I waited for 10 minutes just stood there like a lemon. I then had this conversation with a guy at this till. He said he was sorry and they could cook me something else, to which I explained I did not want to go back and eat a starter after finishing my dinner, and that I would just like a refund for the difference. He refused. Told me a refund wouldn’t be possible. I am not sure how considering I literally paid for something I did not receive, but that was the response. All the while the manager was hovering around and didn’t even try and intervene, which is just super poor on his part. Although the staff may read this and think “oh well, she won’t come back” it’s a very poor reflection of their work ethic and clearly have no pride whatsoever in the job they do.

Not only all of this, but for those who ordered starters, they took almost an hour to come out to tables, all at very different times. The same with the main course, people were eating separately and it was quite awkward sitting and twiddling thumbs while people opposite you on your table were only just starting their pizza while others had finished some time ago. And the whole dessert fiasco was a disaster.

I have spoken with friends who were genuinely shocked at how poor the service was.

All in all, just simply don’t waste your time or money dining here. Absolutely horrendous...

Today's experience at this restaurant left a lot to be desired. This was our second visit to the restaurant. The first time, the pizza was excellent—delicious, fresh, and perfectly prepared.

This time, the staff was completely different, very laid-back—which is fine—but they lacked experience. The restaurant wasn't busy.

We ordered three pizzas and one for the child. The pizza arrived burnt! Burnt and bitter, it was simply inedible. We had added chicken for £3 as an extra option, but we had to search for the chicken with a magnifying glass; there were literally three tiny pieces of what seemed like minced chicken. But... the burnt pizza was unacceptable.

We returned the pizza, and we were offered the choice to wait or leave. We decided to wait. It took a long time, and no one even offered us a glass of water as compensation.

The second pizza was slightly better, but it was obvious that the oven hadn’t been cleaned in a while. The entire staff was watching us for our reaction, which was uncomfortable.

Both my husband and I run two restaurants, and we train our staff to perfection. In this situation... well, this customer would have been pampered to perfection.

Anyway, we ate half of the pizza and asked for the bill. The kid’s meal was supposed to include a pudding, but no one even asked if the child wanted dessert.

Our bill: the chicken, which we had taken off the second pizza, was still added, and worst of all, a service charge was included.

I’m usually very happy to leave tips, but in this situation, the visit to this restaurant was so uncomfortable that I will definitely avoid returning any time soon.

Maintaining a good, consistent standard is no easy task. You need to try much harder and learn more; a customer should leave satisfied, not hungry and disappointed.

Unfortunately, there won’t be a...