Culaccino Italian Restaurant + Bar — Restaurant in Franklin

I would have given this restaurant a 4 star had it not been for the General Manager Daniel.

I will start by saying that the food and drinks were delicious and our server Morgan was great. With that being said, our evening was extremely uncomfortable and ended on a sour note thanks to Daniel.

Myself and 4 friends had a girls night out. We made reservations for 5:15pm and all but 1 person was seated at the table within 3 minutes of the reservation time. We all ordered a round of drinks and the bread and ricotta starter. While we were talking, drinking and snacking Daniel (the GM) came by the table, not to welcome us, but to point out that we were missing the 5th person. She wasn't even 15 min late and we weren't waiting for her to start ordering. Daniel said "you are waiting on 1 more? I just want to let you know we have other reservations for this table and you need to be out by 7:30pm" We were never told that we had a time limit when the reservation was made. From the second we sat down we ordered drinks, apps, salads, another rounds of drinks, entrees, all while being stalked by Daniel. He constantly stood by the table looking at us and then checking his watch. This made us feel extremely uncomfortable and quite honestly, unwelcomed. When we were asked if we wanted dessert, one of the girls pulled the server aside and explained that we didn't think we had time for dessert because of the time limit put on us after we sat down. She seemed confused and told us not to worry about it. We ordered our desserts and another round of drinks. We enjoyed the desserts and while we were midway thru the drinks our bills were brought to us, clearly they wanted us out. We were 3/4 of the way thru our drinks, and it was 7:40pm, when Daniel (the GM) came to the table aggressively, placed one hand on the back of one chair, and the other on the chair to the other side. He leaned in and said "I have a group waiting for this table, I have made them wait long enough, you need to leave" and then he walked away. As he walked away I asked for his name and he turned and in a slightly angry voice said " Daniel!, I am the General Manager, THE GENERAL MANAGER!" and then he left. And just like that we were kicked out, not able to finish our drinks, and after spending in excess of $500 for dinner.

There are so many better ways this could have been handled by Daniel, one example would have been "you ladies seem like you are having fun, we have someone waiting for this table, would you mind if we moved you up to the bar for the remainder of your evening" ... He could have even offered a round of drinks for our inconvenience.

Either way we would have happily relocated to the bar, and continued to spend $$ in this establishment. BUT that is not how he handled it, he made us feel unwelcome from the time we sat down until the time he kicked us out.

This was my 1st time at this restaurant and I can honestly say it will be my last. I don't like to give my business, let alone recommend the business, to a restaurant that is willing to treat paying customers in such a...

Oh. My. Goodness. My dining companion recommended Culacinno a while ago, and since I was in Franklin on the day of our monthly dinner, I asked if we could go. I'm so glad they agreed! It's tucked into the corner of this building, so don't miss it! Watch out for the amazing patio spaces on either side of the front door. We didn't sit out there, but the restaurant is nice on the inside, too! Tastefully decorated and full of light.

I pretended barley doesn't exist tonight, friends, so forgive me for the glutenous post! I did not even ask about gluten free.

When I arrived, my friend hadn't touched anything 🤣🤣🤣 they know I like to take photos, so the bread with some kind of interesting whipped butter was waiting. They had a beautiful cocktail, and I ordered an old fashioned. You know I love my old fashioneds. This one wasn't amazing, but it was alright. It was probably about the same as the ones I make at home when I'm feeling lazy and use the syrup mix. The bourbon was a good one, so it's all good. The food was the real star here anyway.

I ordered the octopus appetizer and my companion ordered the ricotta fritta. When I say my octopus was amazing! I tried to get them to taste it, but they have a shellfish issue and don't want to risk it. The ricotta fritta looked heavy but was so light. It's definitely one to get. When our wonderful server was telling us about specials, she mentioned a kale and apple salad that sounded so good that I ordered it. Unfortunately, I don't remember everything that was on it. It was both light and refreshing while reminding me of autumn at the same time. That's incredibly difficult to do in a dish. I applaud them. For my meal, I ordered the ravioli. I wasn't sure which thing to order, but it looked the most interesting and I was intrigued. It was absolutely delicious. It was also not ridiculously large, so I was able to eat everything without feeling ridiculously full. What did probably get me to the completely full stage was sampling a meatball and a small slice of my dining companions pizza. The meatballs were very delicious. The pizza was interesting. It is made from a 72 hour fermented dough or something like that. The dough definitely tastes fermented and different. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it, but I only ate a small amount and it's hard to judge when you are taken aback by slightly different taste thank what you're used to.

For an old fashioned, an octopus appetizer, a special salad, and house made ravioli, $90 plus tip. Pretty reasonable considering the flavor, excellent service, and location!

Will I go again? Absolutely. And you...

Culaccino did not disappoint! I was in town visiting a friend that brought me to Culaccino for dinner on Friday night and it was one of the highlights of my trip. I wish I had pictures of our food, but we ate most of it before I thought to get some. However, I did manage to snag pictures of the menu and outdoor seating area. Lainey was our server and was very knowledgeable and friendly and we sat outside on the patio since the weather was perfect. I was very impressed with the open kitchen concept and I did not find the restaurant to be too cramped or loud as other posters mentioned. I had two cocktails I enjoyed during dinner, Thyme and Thyme again and Smoke and Mirrors. Both were fairly priced and delicious, but the Smoke and Mirrors was by far my favorite. We then ordered the Asparagus fritters for an appetizer in addition to their complimentary fresh bread and homemade ricotta. I debated on my entrée for over ten minutes and discovered that I could do a small plate of ravioli in addition to my veal saltimbocca since I could not decide and they both sounded amazing. While the veal was very good and I would order it again, I wished I had ordered a full plate of the ravioli. They were perfectly cooked and the sauce was mouth watering. I even sopped up the rest of the sauce with some of the complimentary bread. One of my friends ordered the Cavatelli pasta which we were told is a restaurant favorite and the other debated on pizza, which she has had before and loved, but decided to go with their Rigatoni and wild boar special of the day. They both also enjoyed their meals, but I was enjoying mine too much to get the details. We decided we would come back later for dessert after walking around downtown for a bit. When we came back, we sat at the bar and I ordered gelato and my friend ordered the Tiramisu. I am not usually a fan of tiramisu, but theirs was unlike any I have ever had and I really enjoyed it and had a hard time keeping my spoon out of my friend's dessert. My gelato was also very good and we all enjoyed a glass of wine to compliment our dessert.

I cannot wait to go back and visit so we can return to Culaccino and try other items on the menu! This is not your standard Italian restaurant and every item on the menu is like a daily prepared special at a regular Italian...