Francesco's Ristorante & Pizzeria

decided to have dinner at this restaurant after seeing it had won two awards as the best Italian restaurant in Orlando. The place is beautiful, the atmosphere is warm and inviting, and Gina’s service was genuinely kind and attentive.

We tried the grilled octopus, which was excellent—perfectly cooked and full of flavor. The pasta we ordered was also tasty, but I didn’t give five stars for one reason: they cut the spaghetti. It came served in short pieces, two or three inches long, which is something I find unacceptable in an Italian restaurant. As someone with Italian heritage, I grew up knowing that cutting pasta especially spaghetti s simply not done. In Italy and in my family, it’s considered a serious culinary misstep.

That said, everything else was great, and I’ll most likely return with my family to try their pizzas. I’m curious to see how they handle those!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5

Good food at decent prices. Excellent service and nice atmosphere.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

My wife & I had an amazing dinner at Francesco's yesterday. Gina, our server, was great. She was very patient, offering us samples as we picked out wine. The menu was traditional Italian fare. The dinner entrees were so good. Portions were so large that we had leftovers for another meal. Strongly recommend!!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Outstanding service by Christian who took great care of our large party. Food was superb also.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food. My favorite Italian restaurant.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

2 months in the area, the one place you repeat because of the food, you build a Friday family plan around the place’s pizza, you call early to order, you get there in time, you pay for the pizza, pays a nice tip because you like it, and after the 45min wait (35-45 promised) you start to see the orders coming and going, the owner greeting friends, the co-chefs doing the same, pizzas in and out the restaurant, and after one hour from the order you give up because you realize it was either forgotten or delayed.
You are hungry, the family is waiting, bad moment.
Then you call to complain and ask for the money and again, you announce yourself, “the pizza customer” and you get on hold for over 5min, and you call again and only appologies, free pizza the next time, and you realize that is not what you wanted, you just want them to do what they had to do, and we all start the weekend fine, the way you expected.
today was not my day, great job Francesco

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 5

Service: 1

Mila was our server and she was very kind, professional, efficient and poised. She took great care of our group. Our food…amazing. The servings were HUGE and flavorful. A big plus: Darryl (host) was so kind and fun as he volunteered to take many pics of our group in front of the ristorante. He and Mila are great ambassadors of your business. We will return. Grazie !! 🇮🇹

Bad Restaurant Host by the name of Daryl 👎👎👎 I am sooo disappointed the way me and my family was treated, at to me personally my favorite restaurant hands down in Central Florida - Francesco should really take a 2nd look at how their clients are being treated, very sad‼️

Anything on this menu is ridiculously tasteful, has an amazing presentation and flavor, is made with love, and priced extremely fair! Leftovers for days and you can tell the Chef is the owner. Flawless! Hands down there is not a better tasting or better run Italian restaurant is the entire Central Florida area and possibly the State!

Great place, food is delicious!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Delicious treat for a business meeting I. Orlando. My guest suggested and I was not disappointed. 5 star Chef has won awards since the day he opened. Check out Francesca’s. Make a reservation or you’ll be waiting

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Best Italian place in Central Florida.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

My family let me choose anywhere to go for my birthday and this is my favorite place of all restaurants in all of Orlando. Amazing Italian food by a chef that actually works the restaurant, it's nothing short of amazing honestly. We had the fish special which was out of this world we also had chicken parm which was crazy good and our daughter got the Zuppa di Pesce, which this dish was unbelievable. Then we got three desserts, we got the lemon cream cake, again one of the best desserts I've ever had, we also had of course to get the tiramisu and then we finished with profiteroles this was the best dinner I could have asked for on my birthday!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We had another delightful meal at Francesco's. Fabulous wait staff, food is always on point. We ordered chicken parm, salmon bruschetta, sea Bass special and zuppa di pesce. Ceasar salad was delicious. To top it off dessert was profiterols, tiramisu and
Lemon cream cake. Needless to say we ate like kings. This place is a neighborhood gem.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Mussels Marinara, Chicken Parmigiana, Caesar Salad

Was looking for some good home cooked Italian food. Driving around Winter Park/Maitland and landed here. The pasta & gravy was flavorful and not watery, food was freshly seasoned with garlic & basil. Service & Atmosphere was great, definitely will return.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5