Francesca's Italian Kitchen — Restaurant in Vero Beach

I originally wrote this as a message or email to the restaurant. However, they do not advertise any way for the public to contact them privately, except by ph. This makes sense, as it seems to be the atmosphere of the place when you are there, avoidance apathy and non communication. So, I am lead to having to make my grievances public. “Hello, I wanted to send a message, rather than post something publicly. Our intent isn’t to defame Francesca‘s, but to give you some important feedback. We had dinner there last night and it was a total disappointment. First, we brought a special bottle of wine for a celebration and was told that you, an Italian restaurant on the beach, do not cork wine. Second we ordered the Arancini and the fried dough on the outside was undercooked. Then we were told by the waitress that not only did you not serve coffee or even cappuccinos-just espresso, but there was no milk or cream for us to put into it. We were shocked and asked if there was no milk or cream in the entire restaurant? How does the chef cook without cream or milk? The waitress said she didn’t know but there was no cream or milk that she had “access” to. We were so shocked by this answer, finally my husband said, “we would really appreciate it if you could find some cream or milk for my wife’s espresso.” The waitress finally brought a little bit of cream in a coffee cup saucer dish. Regardless of the waitress not being very nice, it is hard to believe that in this country you would not have cream or milk for espresso. Finally, we all have children and love our children. However, we were four adults out for a Friday evening and right next to us were 3 young children, left by themselves for a few minutes. I believe they were the owner’s kids. They were given pizza’s to open with no supervision. Since the tables were so close together, we were right next to them with the pizzas falling all over (and almost on my brother’s back) and they were making a lot of noise. Again, we know this is a sensitive subject, but this needs to be said. All in all a total disappointment. We had been waiting since 2021 to try your restaurant and have stopped by numerous times and spoke w/ you when you were closed for customers, but working alone. We were excited about having dinner there. Unfortunately we will not eat at...

We came here while on a visit with my in laws who live in Port St. Lucie. We were excited based on the reviews but were extremely disappointed. Our server was less than friendly. Seemed like it was a bother to serve us. We started off with the rice balls which were delicious. I got the penne with vodka sauce and my wife got the shrimp scampi and my father in law got the bolognese all of which were very good although portions were small. My mother in law got the chicken Marsala which arrived cold and without any sauce. Our server plopped our dinners down and then left and never came back to ask if we needed anything or to check how our meals were. After about 10 min of trying to find her we flagged down another server who went to get her. When she came to the table we explained that the chicken was cold and had no sauce and to please take it back. She said ok and never came back! She didn’t ask if she could heat it up or offer my mother in law another dish. When we asked for the check she said sure with an attitude so my wife said something to her about the fact that she never apologized or tried to rectify the situation. She answered by saying I thought she didn’t want the dish. My wife said no she didn’t want the dish because it was cold and tasteless but you never asked her if she would like something else. She responded with while I took it off the bill. We were so aggravated that we just said please give us a check and then left. So my mother-in-law never had any dinner except for one rice bowl. My family is in the restaurant business and my daughter is a server and we know that when something like this happens, you should go out of your way to try to fix the situation, but she did absolutely nothing. It’s very unfortunate because we do love Vero Beach and go there often for dinner but we will not be going back to this establishment. My wife said something to the hostess on our way out as she asked us how everything was but I’m not sure she will relay the message to the owners. They should be aware of this particular server and...

A disappointing experience.

I made a reservation using Opentable. After checking a few times I found a table “available” at 2:45 for a late lunch. When we arrived we were ushered to the worst table in the house in the farthest back corner of the restaurant located across from the door to the kitchen. There was no one else at any table in the restaurant. I assumed we must have been lucky to get the table and the place would fill up soon.

The food was generally mediocre. One person enjoyed his meal, two of us said our meals were only okay and one meal was practically inedible. The “bad” meal was veal parmigiana which was tough and unappetizing . We told the waitress the meat was tough and she went into the kitchen and came back to tell us the chef said it must have a “nerve” running through it. At that point, we assumed he was going to give us another meal but it never came out. By the time three of us were done eating my husband said he had lost his appetite looking for an edible corner of the veal. We were done and asked for the check. There was no compensation for the meal. We paid our bill in full and left with a bad taste in our mouth.

When we left the restaurant only one other table indoors had two people at it and a few of the outdoor tables had guests.

I would not eat there again and couldn't recommend...