Franco Manca Waterloo — Restaurant in London

Let's start by saying that I LOVE Franco Manca! I have been known to my friends for catching the train to Brighton just to eat a pizza there because that Branch is my favourite one 😉 I have been to several Restaurants in London and around and I have noticed that either the food or the service is good, these two things cannot cohabit. The Franco Manca in Waterloo might just be the one to break the rules as the service was awful, the food was mediocre and the atmosphere was both. The restaurant is in a great position,(I should have taken some pictures 😩) with large windows overlooking the Cut and a wide dining room with high ceilings and plenty of room for the guests... As we were queuing by the front door we had to wait almost 10 minutes for a table of 6/8 people to be seated as one blonde waitress (sadly ours as well) and a young man were awkwardly moving tablets and chairs in a pretty half empty dining area. When we were finally seated the real wait started because, for the life of me, the woman was wondering aimlessly around, oblivious to the guests! A young couple left without ordering -they were not as hungry as we were - and despite the speakers being nowhere around the window one literally had to shout if wanted to say something,and we were shouting actually, which is always a conversation killer. The boards with the Specials are hung all the way to the back wall so it was impossible to read the contents and despite standing in the middle of the room reading I found the same dishes and ingredients listed on the menu so that was a waste of time. Eventually the waitress had to wonder around and take the order, two drinks and two pizzas and managed to get one item wrong so my food had to be sent back and made again. The toilets were smelly and in need of a good clean -lunch time rush was over and I truly pray that someone did grab mop and bucket before the evening guests arrived.. Pizza was a good size but the toppings extremely scarce and the result was a dry, red focaccia: I had 5 olives and four pieces of artichokes, I am still looking for the cheese 🧀 Overall the impression is that the place is neglected, the Staff forgettable and the food best forgotten.Such a shame because the Franchise is standing for quite the opposite! The only pleasant person there was a tall, dark haired man who reminded me of...

Tasty selection pizza and starters and a lovely restaurant ambience. I really enjoyed my visit to this Franco Manca location and would surely visit again. We knew of the location and decided to try it for the first time for a dinner out on a weekday. We arrived nicely before 18:00 and managed to be seated at a nice table for two.

We were elaborately greeted as we entered and received all of the information needed prior to ordering. Looking at the chef special board was also good and gave some inspiration regarding new dishes and the restaurant decor was aesthetically pleasing too. It was a very large restaurant and I liked seeing behind the counter where the food was being prepared, the staff showed great passion and care about what they do.

The toilets were clean and the restaurant was clean and offered outdoor seating too. As mentioned before, we arrived at a good time without a booking as it got busier during our stay.

The starter was delicious as we had garlic bread to share, a jug of water for the table and then the veg special pizza and spicy salami. Between use we shared some of the food and I was really delighted by the flavour and quality of the pizza. The portion sizes weren't as big as I had expected, but it was still filling.

We then finished our food and were able to pay without waiting too long, and collect a pizza loyalty stamp too. The only reason for my rating being four out of five stars, is the value for money offering. Our meal came to around £26.00 for the two of us, less the optional service charge. For that, we had one garlic bread starter and two pizzas. It was more costly than I had imagined, but we enjoyed the food.

I would eat here again and recommend this location to others, only areas to improve are value for money and staff availability as they seemed quite short staffed when it got busier. Other than that, good food, wide menu offering and lovely location close to Waterloo National Rail Station (4...

I visited here on a Saturday evening a few weeks ago. The restaurant was full, and our party was seated quickly. However, service wasn't attentive from when we sat down. It took a while for anyone to come over to take our order or for us to get water, it was only when I'd signalled for a waiter.

Our food came before our drinks, and one of the side dishes was missing. I'd had to ask for the manager to come over to point out our drinks and a side dish was missing, she then brought these over several minutes into us eating our mains.

We were served by three people over the meal (the manager and two waiters) and one of the waiters seemed in a bad mood. He reached over me as I was eating to remove an empty cutlery pot from the table (which could have waited until we’d finished eating - I’ve done waitressing in the past and this felt like really bad etiquette on his part), he walked away halfway through talking to us, he didn't write down our orders and then when reciting them back to us he'd got one of the items wrong, and we weren't asked how our meal was during or after. I'd also had to wave for someone to come over to sort the bill.

I've regularly dined out pretty much weekly for several years, and this was one of the most disappointing meals out in years. The food was good, but the service was so bad and isn't what I've come to expect from Franco Manca, having visited other branches in London and Bristol. Appreciate it was busy and there weren't many wait staff on the floor, but usually their restaurant staff are attentive and friendly. It wasn't the case here at all, which was disappointing - we weren't made to feel welcome as customers and I would not go back to...