Franco Manca — Restaurant in London

I Love Franco mancas ! It's embarrassing my partner and I go at least once a week.

Bermonsey is , by far thee best!!! I've tried a fair few around London and bermonsey by has the BEST, most delicious CHILLI oil.

I don't get it ... All brances have chilli oil. But whatever they do to theirs at the bermonsey branch, keeps me coming back !!!!

I tried the one in Clapham a few times for take away and finally tried it to eat in .

side note : Eating in is a whole new experience , to take out the pizza. itscrispier and hot af.

But my first time was awful and actually horrified with the service we received!

We were local and it wasn't busy. so francos was a clear option.

When we arrived no one greated us.

After we'd hung around for a while , I caught someones eye and asked for a table of three.

We were seated

No one came back to our tabel for over 25 mins, meanwhile being attentive to other tables.

I had to then ask ... no I had to scan her face for eye contact, of which she tried to avoid at all costs. Finally after a stare down, she came over and ask if we needed anything .... Sighh. I proceeded to ask if we could order our food? (What made it worse is I think she was an acting manger at the time)

When she finally took our orders, she hadn't written it down and had to come back and make jokes that she'd forgotten . .my guests entertained her but after the first reception and impressions, I was beinging to get fustrated with their lack of professionalism and concern for us as customers.

Finally we ordered ... Food came quickly and was tasty as always! ... Still bermonsey is better.

Once we'd finished we had to wait another 30 mins for the bill.

One of the young waiters apologied for keeping us waiting as he was busy cleaning tables when their were customer waiting to be served.

I hate to say it but I don't know why the service was so bad ! It made me question whether it was because we were young and black .

I really hope that in this day and age that wasn't the case . But I certainly won't be visiting the Clapham restaurant again after I left...

Noisy, hot, noisy. They say they can seat 10, just be aware that is not together on one table. I know Franco Manca may not be the venue of choice for a family meal for everyone to meet up at Christmas, but dietary preferences are important for some. I should have known it would not go well when booking as the guy taking the booking heard my name as Johnston - it isn't. It's really noisy, and hot. Dicey if you are a wheelchair user, the benches jut out into the aisle so it is a bit of an obstacle course. Never mind, the toilet is not accessible anyway (wish they had said before making the attempt), so we had to go 2 doors down to a different premises. So take note, if you are considering this branch. The benches completely destroy any attempt to interact with family members on different tables, especially when the food arrives. So not a place for sharing. This became especially obvious when plates for sharing took their time arriving. The pizza that had extra olives on it initially arrived without the other topping, but hey, what's a bit of chorizo between, uhh, friends? Talking of friends, I know my next Franco will be Balham again. It's not hot or noisy and it's a lot nicer. If it hadn't been for the fact that this one is right next to Clapham Junction station - everyone was coming from everywhere - I would be there now.

Anything to add? My daughter chewed out the words,

'the tiramisu is not very good.'

She couldn't give it away.

Don't get me started on the scrum over the bill. All I can say is, we probably won that on a technicality, although not all on our team agree.

Who writes a review in the restaurant? A disappointed diner.

Did I mention it's...

I was really looking forward to eating here having walked past the restaurant on several occasions and thought it looked nice. I couldnt have been more disappointed after visiting with my boyfriend this evening. We ended up leaving after 20 minutes before we even had the chance to order as we were ignored by staff once we had been sat down, by a woman we presume was the manager as she was dressed in a way that suggested superiority from the other staff. We watched as two other tables were sat down and no staff came to any of us. The last straw for us, having watched the staff standing around further up the restaurant, came when customers who came in at least 5 to 10 minutes after we did got served first. This was incredibly disappointing, we were not even offered any drinks in the entire 20 minutes we were sat down. We decided that having made us wait for that long to then serve other people who had been waiting less time before us, that this restaurant did not deserve our business or our money. It would be easier to understand if it was busy or if they were understaffed, but it was just before 5pm and there seemed to be plenty of staff around who could have assisted us. Will not be going back again. Very...