Francos — Restaurant in Wigan

Had dinner here Friday night with my husband. Date night. And I have to say, both he and I absolutely loved this little restaurant. 🍽 I say little, but there's nothing little about it. There are two floors. As you arrive in the door, you are greeted by the owner (I'm being presumptuous, but I imagine he is. Didn't think to ask) who will check your reservation if you have one. Also, on the ground floor, you will find a neat little bar to your right. Draught beer, bottled alcohol & cocktails too. Plus, the usual you'd expect in a bar. To your left, you will spot the ground floor dining area. We chose to eat upstairs. Halfway up, you will find the loo 🚻 Very clean, 5⭐️ Clean loos are a massive must for me. 🍽 You're greeted by the lovely waiting staff and shown to your table. The room has very high ceilings & everything is well laid out. My only gripe and it DID force me to drop a star. The tables desperately need a table cloth of some variety. It was clean and set really well. However, due to the varnish that was used, they were quite sticky. Even our cutlery was partially stuck to it. We did have a giggle about it. The staff did apologise for it, as we were taking our seats. 🍽 I can not fault the waiting staff. They were on ball, friendly, and very well presented. We had three courses, and to my husbands delight, the portions were big. Oh boy, did I regret having my dessert. I thought they'd have to roll me out! We weren't just fed. We were fattened! 🍽 We were blown away by the price, considering just how much food we both ate. I genuinely expected our bill to be another £20/£30 more than it was. We didn't have wine or a load of drinks. That may have been the reason too. 🍽 Why four stars? I'm sorry, but the varnish issue was a big ick for me. Whomever decided to go ahead and NOT cover tables with them being that sticky, needs a good slap. They've done a disservice to the staff and the restaurant itself. 🍽 Would we go to Francos again? Despite the ick issue... Most certainly. Great service. Great price. Great for date night, family meal out or any occasion really. A must...

Handsome building located at the edge of town. Convenient pay and display car park behind. Super friendly staff. Reasonable selection of drinks. Food fairly mediocre. Visited around five times now, and not manage to not disappoint at some level with regards to the food.

Tonight we took advantage of the ‘early bird’ menu, and had pâté for starters, and a truly revolting minestrone soup. The later must of been on the boil for days. It was a tasteless brown mess with burnt bits from the bottom of the pan. Brown Windsor soup anyone? I asked if I could swap it for a pint of beer, but got nowhere! We did order a garlic tomato bread. This was much better. Properly cooked (on a previous visit a pizza was delivered grossly under cooked, and then thrown back in the oven and burnt upon complaint. When I protested, it was my fault apparently!) just lacking a tad in garlic.

The mains where quite good. A lovely chicken breast in a creamy sauce. And a veg risotto. The only minor set back was the woeful veg. Again, give the impression they had been pre cooked and reheated.

Profiteroles for desert. Straight out of the freezer I’m sure. Poor thing was covered in a chocolate cream type topping. Drenched in the stuff. With added chocolate sauce and dusted with cocoa. Soggy, sweet, stodgy. A mess. What happens to the...

Went this evening. Although the food was of good quality and enjoyable, itwas a shame the overall experience was let down by the rushed service. When we finished our starters we noticed how quickly plates were removed, but thought nothing of this. Only to be greeted approx 2 minutes later with our mains. When finished mains we joked at how long it would take for our plates to be removed, not assuming this would seriously happen, I had no sooner placed my fork down on my plate and the time from this to server removing was 15 seconds! Followed by under one minute with a request to order desserts. Felt overall very rushed and as if I was being watched all the time. The speed of what we were expected to eat was made uncomfortable by being peered over by what appeared to be a sentry guard at his station giving orders.I understand it is a restaurant to make money, but a more relaxed atmosphere and giving time to finish and chew your food before being presented with your next course would make the experience...