The Franklin Café

My wife and I visited Apalachicola and stayed at The Gibson Inn. The feel of The Franklin Cafe mimicked that of the historic Inn where it’s located.

The meals we had over two days were all excellent. The Chef deserves the rating I gave!

We had the Shrimp Scampi, Oyster Rockerfellers, Fried Oysters, Crab Cakes, and Oysters on the half-shell. I only wish I could have tried the Key-lime Pie. I didn’t have room either night we stayed there.

Nice job and Kudos to Chef Franklin whoever you are.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Shared a steak/frites and had a caesar salad. Lettuce was a bit tired and the salad was very cold. Steak was cooked more than the rare we had asked for. Not the best tasting meat for what it cost. Fries were OK. Service was great. Restaurant filled up quickly and noise was not a factor. We would definitely give the cafe a second visit and chance! Diana and Denny Nevala

I guess my review is a little biased because we have only eaten here once and it was for their AYCE oysters. The staff was incredible, fun, and kind. Oysters were FRESH!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I want to give this place 5 stars so badly but I cant. The ambience is absolutely beautiful, the workers there are amazing. It’s the food, for me. I’ve ordered fried shrimp (for my toddler) and chicken and waffles and tacos, I cant even remember what kind or tacos and each time I was left underwhelmed. The waffles were too hard, they hurt my gums to eat. The way the shrimp and chicken were seasoned -it was a bit too much for my toddler and the chicken was seasoned too heavily to go with the waffles for breakfast/brunch time. As for the tacos, I just remember them being these flimsy little things that when I looked at them I was like ok…. I could’ve made that. I reeeeally don’t wanna talk crap about their food. This was just my personal experience with what I’ve ordered. Maybe the rest of their menu is phenomenal. I always see large groups come here and have their little drinks outside and stuff.

Truly, beautiful place and very lovely staff. I had a great time each time I’ve gone here, just didn’t enjoy my meals very much.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5

Our party of six arrived at 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon. When we arrived there were six other people in the dining room. We were excited that, with much fanfare on Facebook & press, a new chef had been hired (subsequently we were told the chef would not be working on weekends and was now on vacation). The waitress was pleasant and handed out the menus (dated Nov 2025) and took the drink orders. The drinks were served and the coffee was cold. About five minutes later we placed our orders. The waitress returned in short order and said one of the items ordered was no longer being served. A little while later she again returned with updated menus (apparently they had various variations of the menu - the next day, Monday, a member of our party returned and there was a third menu). We were then notified that an order with a bagel could not be served because they just ran out of bagels (a grocery store with bagels is a short walk away). Finally the order was complete. Mind you there were only six other customers in this restaurant that could serve 70+ people. We waited, and waited for over 30 minutes (still with cold coffee). Of the six meals one was reported a very good, two okay and three unacceptable. We would not recommend this restaurant.

New Years Eve, they must've been shorthanded. The waitress was friendly.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 3

From start to finish it was a special experience. The friendly service was incredible. The food was delicious and perfectly prepared. It's a beautiful restaurant and a must do if you are in the area.

Wonderful ambiance and delicious food. Our server gave top notch service and we can't wait to be back. We ended up doing the Christmas Eve special menu which was delightful.

We had a wonderful dinner, the ribs eye steak was great! New chef, Chris Creamer and the staff took really good care of us! Go to check it out.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The server was knowledgeable and friendly. The food arrived in a timely manner. Each course was great. Caesar salad, Nashville, chicken, appetizer, ribeye, and shrimp scampi. Nice wine selection. The experience was pleasant from beginning to end.

Don't ignore the bad reviews like we did. We're in the service industry ourselves, so we understand how nit picky customers can be when writing reviews, which is why we chose to ignore them and come here anyway. This was a mistake. Everything about this place is awful. I'm not posting this to be ugly, I'm posting it as a service to others so that they don't waste their time/money and can choose a decent place instead.
Edit in response to the director's response to the original review:
As stated, my purpose for posting the review was to help potential customers and new visitors to the area who are choosing a place to eat. Not to help the business improve. But I can provide a few specifics since you have asked. For one, even though the cups were disposable (which is perfectly fine), they were still somehow really dirty. Took forever to even get a water even though the place was dead. Food came out cold and tasted like cafeteria food. The service was the worst part. But despite it being the worst service I've probably ever had, like I said I'm a hospitality worker so I don't feel right sharing those details to their boss or on google. My goal is not to have anyone reprimanded. Just to leave a review that is helpful to the public.

Very disappointing experience…
My husband, daughter, son-in-law, and our two year old grandson decided to try The Franklin Cafe. We were the only guests and after we were brought our coffee and soda and she took our order, we were never checked on again. We never received any coffee or soda refills and after 45 minutes waiting, we were ready to pay for our drinks and leave. During that time, two other couples walked in and they also did not get any attention. When our food arrived almost an hour later, she left without giving us any silverware or napkins. My son in law took them from another table. My husband also did not receive his toast. Our waitress came back once and he asked for his toast. The sausages looked like hockey pucks and the caesar wrap had no caesar dressing on it. Our bills totaled over $100 which I would have been happy to pay if we had good food or service- we had neither of the two. We paid our bill but did not leave a tip which we have never done. Will not be returning.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 2

Service: 1

The crab cakes were poor, very bready. They were sent back and not charged. The Nashville chicken appetizer is basically chicken fingers with hot honey. I thought they might be spicy, because Nashville, but the menu didn't say it would be spicy, so my mother was surprised by that. The shrimp and grits were good, very flavorful. The cafe was frigidly cold so we sat in the bar, which was moderately less cold. I was told this is the “nicest” restaurant in Appalachacola, and it might be, but that doesn't mean it's actually that good.,

We ate at the Franklin Cafe on 10/24/2025. The best thing about our breakfast was our server Austin! He was knowledgeable, polite, and engaging. Did everything he could to make us feel welcome and to make sure we had a nice meal. Just an amazing server. Oh…the food was good too!

Food: 4

Service: 5

Got a hamburger fries and soft drink very good

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4