This was my first visit to a branch of Franco Manca and I think the main problem was my expectations had been set too high. It just wasn't anywhere near as good as everyone had told me it would be.
I'll start with the restaurant itself. The layout is poor - the tables are small and packed in tightly, when the restaurant is full it's not easy to squeeze to your seat. The menu is also a problem - although the permanent menu is on a paper placemat, the specials and other items are on a blackboard on one wall. Which you can't see at all from certain parts of the restaurant which was really annoying.
The food wasn't bad. But it just wasn't amazing. To start we shared a couple of 'bites'. The buffalo mozzarella with cherry tomatoes, rocket and pitta was disappointing - never before have I had hard Buffalo mozzarella. The burrata with salami on the other hand was the stand out dish - I'm really fussy with burrata and this was lovely.
For my main I had the vegetarian special - buffalo mozzarella (uncooked) on a cherry tomato base with watercress pesto. When it was served I had to send it back because they forgot the pesto. But it was a good pizza. And this buffalo mozzarella wasn't hard like the starter one was. My companion had pizza 4 from the main menu - it was described as having little tomato, and I don't think we noticed any at all. It wasn't great.
To drink I had the organic lemonade which was horrible. It had a slightly chemically taste to it, and I've never seen fresh lemonade that orange before. I wouldn't recommend.
I'm actually really disappointed. I know Franco Manca has one hell of a reputation to live up to but even considering that the hype lifted my expectations, it could have been much better. I won't be rushing back but I would try other branches. read more