Franco Manca Covent Garden — Restaurant in London

Nearly walked back out but the pizza looked good and my feet were sore.

Came in with my wife and 2 kids (8&2) the 2 year old was asleep in the stroller but after the fuss that I will describe she woke up and we managed to seat her at the table and fold the stroller away.

Started off with an awkwardly unwelcome behaviour. The free table at the top of the stairs that we lifted the stroller too (as staff watched) with sleeping child was said to be reserved.

We were then ushered to the lower seating area down a slow and awkward accessibly elevator to a windowless basement with 0 customers and no atmosphere.

We asked if we could sit outside but was told that all the people that where sat at their tables with drinks where costumers from the bar next door and they had no staff to service outside.

Upon returning upstairs I asked before leaving if we could indeed have the original table at the top of the stairs which eventually they said we could have now my child was awake and they moved the supposed reservation downstairs.

Once seated they did take our order quickly and the food came surprisingly quickly. However they now all of a sudden where waiting tables outside serving drinks and food 🤷‍♂️.

The orange juice was in a thimble size tumbler which was expensive for the size and no one offered water until I had to ask the front of staff to bring a bottle.

Pizza was OK, I’ve had better, was very doughy and big crusts. They didn’t give us the kids dessert either. We just paid and left,

Won’t return and...

Don’t bother here ! We travelled here after trying the Franco manca pizza at Tesco and loving it so much and expected the restaurant to be even better. The waiter wasn’t that friendly upon arrival. We asked for garlic bread once seated, which was lovely, but waiter left without asking us for our drinks order , and then waited ages to be asked what we would like to drink. Once our drinks arrived , beer arrived in a bottle even though we asked for on tap , no glass given with the beer , and the red wine was served in a beaker too. Then we had our food order taken and asked for a jug of water. Food came , wasn’t great at all , didn’t eat much of it and had to ask AGAIN for water to come as we didn’t want to continue eating without a glass of water. By the time the water arrived we didn’t want to eat anymore. Not a single check back on the food from the waiters. We stacked our plates up to make it obvious we had finished eating and waited over 20 minutes for someone to come over to collect plates. Someone ( I believe the manager ) came over to collect plates and asked how the food was. I said we didn’t enjoy it. No comment from manager. We asked for the bill , waited another 20 minutes. Ridiculous, left £20 on the table and walked out. Will never be returning. Very...

In late July I made a booking for 23 for a pre theatre meal as part of a work trip to London. The whole experience from booking over the phone to our time in the restaurant was excellent.

Driele, the manager, was so friendly and accommodating when we arrived, and allowed some of the group to come in early for drinks before the meal, even though the tables were still being prepared. She was always smiling and never made any request feel difficult or inconvenient, we had preordered our pizzas to make sure our order was ready and there were a few tricky requests!

We were served by Tayra who was very patient and kind throughout the meal. As we were a big group, there was almost always someone wanting to order another drink or request something, and she was really attentive to the whole group.

The food was delicious and the restaurant has a great, laid back atmosphere. The whole team are really friendly and we had an excellent meal. Would highly recommend for groups...