Oh dear! Sorry to see Carol T. had a bit of a mishap but sadly, they do happen----
...but......my experience of Franco Manca has normally been top notch. Everywhere from Brixton Market to Chiswick (I get around) has been top notch Pizza, so when me and the bird went to this one I was looking forward to it.
Firstly, I do agree with Carol T. about a few of her comments;
1. About the charming server, if it's the one I'm thinking about, he's a happy little gay geezer who's always got a smile and a kind word, a credit to the restaurant. So we normally get served by him and he is always spot on and helpful with the order so no complaints there although there was one waitress who served us there who was moody (I ignored this on account of her being Italian) and a bit dippy, but generally service in their restaurants has been good. Our server was very patient to explain everything including, referencing again, Carol T.'s complaint about the extra tomato sauce.....
Which brings me to
2. OK, now I'll confess, this confused me a bit at first but AFAIK all Pizzerias in the known Universe would make some wild Greaseball S*** (as Ray Liotta put it in Goodfellas) claims about the culinary lineage of their Pizzas so who knows how the 'Real' Pizza started or where but...........every Pizza I have tried has been different in some way and it just 'seems' at Franco Manca that Mr. FM was never keen on some Pizzas that drench the base in Tomato so it's always an extra on the menu, but your waitress (the moody / dippy one) should have told you that as well, so I half agree with you there......
BUT
I wouldn't normally do this but your comment "The food itself isn't phenomenal but good enough to go to regularly." left me a bit sort of semi-annoyed for want of a better expression, as I have always found the pizzas there to be stunning. In fact Franco Manca have always been renowned above all else for their food quality and let me use, instead of stunning, phenomenal ,which you said it isn't. I used that word as a few years ago I took a friend of mine prior to major surgery to Franco Manca in Chiswick, when it first opened. Can't remember what Pizza he ordered but the first word out of his mouth after eating a mouthful "Phenomenal"
And my mate, who sadly died last year, was a Savoy trained chef.
Everybody else I've taken to Franco Manca has loved it, everyone, and speaking for myself
,well for me, and I know tastes differ but the pizzas I have at Franco Manca are the best ever, not among the best, The Best! Ever.
The only complaint about Franca Manca is my lovely Czech fiancée Jana lives practically next door so cant resist going there too often and then rather kindly letting me know by WhatApp or sending me a picture of her, as I call it, pizza porn, just to rub it in that I'm not there eating with her Grrrrrrrrr!!!!
Anyway if you don't believe how good FM pizzas are take a look at the pic I took last time.
(PS. I swear Franco Manca haven't paid me to write this - trust me, their pizzas are that good) read more