Francesca’s Trattoria

Meh. Slow service, crazy expensive prices. Got the 12″ white pizza and my daughter had the 8″ kids pizza. Both were good, but nothing to write home about. The Olive Garden white pizza is better. Complimentary rolls were good too, but Paisano’s complimentary rolls are better. In summation: good but not great, and way too expensive. I won’t go here again.

Food was slightly better than average, service was poor, no other word for it. Botched salad/​soup order, botched entrée order, and place wasn’t very busy (5 – 6 booths, 1 table for 8, bar empty). I can only imagine how it would be on a busy night
$ 30 a plate and $ 50 bottles of of wine, Olive Garden service.
Very disappointed.
Service was terrible.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

What a wonderful restaurant. Not only is the service and food outstanding, their whole team *gets* the importance of family, friends, and being part of the University experience. My niece’s Graduation day luncheon was perfect.

Love this place. Been here a few times and the food is always awesome. Never had bad food once. Got in right away and food came out about average time. I would definitely recommend this place if you want great Italian food.

I’ve never had a bad meal!
Francesca’s is delicious & a fine dining experience every time!

Somewhat templated dialed in meal. Not bad. Not great. Large portions but heavy handed in the cheese and some watery overflow on the plate. Tried 3 desserts which were mediocre. Service was fair. Fair across the board. 2.5 stars

«According to the holy Francescan bible, it is required that they take orders from ‘seat 1′…»
— Rude, Cretin waiter
We initially had great expectations going into the restaurant but we were completely wrong. Upon greeting the waiter, we were met with sass and rudeness. She refused to take our orders unless we did so according to her standards; the kids were not ready with what they wanted to eat which led to her verbally assaulting them to decide what to eat to the point where i was deeply insulted.
Additionally they had wanted to charge us 3.50 dollars per person for sharing food, which is completely asinine.
The service was infuriating the waiter and manager put the entire family on tilt.

Where do I start — our trip was to this restaurant was short and not sweet… and it was literally bc of poor service and a waitress with a bad attitude
We were there to celebrate an anniversary and brought the whole family
I think there were a total of two other tables that had customers there yet it took them forever to get to us, we didn’t even get the starter bread after being in our seats for 15 min
There were some younger kids in the group and when the waitress came to get our food order, she started with one of the teenagers who wasn’t ready to order yet so we asked her if she could start with someone else first and she snapped «this is seat number 1 so I would prefer to start taking orders at this seat»…wait, what!?! I have NEVER had a server who couldn’t take orders from patrons in any order requested
Then we wanted to order 6 entrees for 10 people (which included kids mind you) and she promptly told us about the new «split» charge … We wanted to get more details about this like if 4 people wanted to taste a pasta, would there be 4 fees for that and she rolled her eyes and told us we’d have to talk to the manager about this
We ended up walking out and going across the street to Blue Agave whose promptly served us and took our orders in any order, crazy!
The waitress at Francesca’s had the worst attitude I’ve ever experienced and it causes them to lose a party of 10 real quick

The food was not breath taking. The eggplant parmesan was the best in my opinion. The only reason why I am giving this a 4 stars it is because the service was really good, rather than that, the food is a 3 star.

Waited 25 min for a lame roast beef sandwich and over cooked fries. Bill 18.53. Save your money and time and go to Arby’s it’s better!

We love Francesca’s. Always friendly prompt service even when busy. Menu is huge. Food is always spot on. We have never had a bad meal. Our go to place for Italian in Gainesville

The Fresh house made gnocchi bolognese is gourmet comfort food.
The place is small and cozy with simple and aestheticly pleasing décor. And the personal service was timely and excellent.
I plan on returning with friends.

The Italian food here is top notch. I prefer this place over the other chain restaurants in town. However, this place does feel somewhat more formal in ambience, which is ok with me. I also enjoy how they try to have live music for dinner every so often. I just wish there was more parking sometimes (the last time they had live music, their parking lot was full).

My husband and his brother went up to the gator nationals this year and had to come back 2 nights in a row. They loved it. We will be back next year worth friends.

What a disappointment! I really want there to be a nice place to eat in this part of town, but, alas, this isn’t it. In short, it’s expensive for what it is, the food, service, and ambiance are bad.
First, though it is a freestanding building the décor somehow manages to make you feel like you are in a restaurant in a strip mall.
Second, the service and quality of food is much too low for the cost. I had a pasta primavera for $ 18 that was terrible: it was basically just pasta with olive oil and badly overcooked vegetables. My hubby got the cheese tortillini with an alfredo sauce — also $ 18, but at least not remarkably bad. He also got a side of broccoli which was also badly overcooked.
We wanted to order a bottle of wine, and found the server and bar tender, whom she consulted, completely unhelpful. They didn’t know what the wine was like, and could only provide guesses about bottles were like — I don’t really like to spend $ 35 on a bottle of wine that I can only get an «I guess it’s …» description of. After ordering the wine, the server did not present the bottle to us to confirm she was opening the bottle we requested, nor did she pour only some of the wine for us to confirm it was acceptable. She showed up, opened the bottle, poured the wine and left. The wait staff and bartender are badly in need of some training on the wine the restaurant carries and the ability to serve it properly.
Finally, as others have noted: They have no red sauce that is vegetarian. That is completely ridiculous, making a menu that could have many vegetarian options, including appetizers (of which there are no vegetarian options!), a number of pastas that would normally be vegetarian (manicotti, eggplant rollatini), or even just a cheese pizza leave vegetarians to have to eat alfredo sauce or the primavera, both, as noted above, are disappointing.
It really is too bad. I hate to have to drive to the other side of town to eat a decent meal, but at $ 100 for two people for dinner, I really don’t want to be so horribly disappointed with the food, service, and ambiance.

EXCELLENT! The pizza is absolutely amazing. I also had a fish dinner (forgot what it’s called), but there was sauce and veggies. It was superb! I didn’t think I could find such an authentic Italian restaurant in Gainesville, but I did!
Besides the food, the ambiance and setting are fantastic. Such a cute place!

I hadn’t been to Francesca’s since 2011, but I had to plan a work lunch for 20 people, and I decided to choose Francesca’s. I called a week in advance to make the reservation, and the man who answered the phone was very friendly and accommodating.
When we arrived, our table was already set up and prepared for us; we didn’t have to wait at all to be seated. They assigned two servers to our table, which meant our drinks were always full and no one was left wanting for anything. The service was impeccable.
And of course, the food. I thoroughly enjoyed my eggplant parmesan (nicely cooked and not wet or limp like the eggplant I had at Napolitano’s). Everyone else at the table (many of whom had never been to Francesca’s before) also expressed how delicious their meals were and thanked me profusely for selecting it as the venue. The portions were perfect for lunch, and I believe everyone left full and happy. The prices on the lunch menu are also very reasonable for the quality of food you are getting.
I love Francesca’s and love how they handled my large group. It seemed effortless for them. I will definitely be back on my own and when I have large events to plan. (I’m thinking of hosting my small after-​wedding lunch here!)

I’m not sure where to start with this one. Francesca’s is. .. nice, certainly pretty inside, and meets all the basic criteria for more of a fine dining Italian restaurant, yes, but somehow it always feels quite generic to me all the same. The service is. .. fine. The food is alright but not inspired nor all that authentic or. .. well, it reminds me of a nicer restaurant in a «better» hotel. Maybe even a pretty nice hotel. But it’s that bland white table-​cloth and good wines, fairly-​steep prices approach but nothing that really stands out to me.
This end of town – the northwest – needs a fine-​dining option: it is, after all, aside from Tioga and Haile Plantation (to the southwest) where most of Gainesville’s wealth is concentrated. Francesca’s should fill that need, and they kinda do, but how does it stack up to Amelia’s – especially that Gainesville institution in its heyday? Not well, alas, not so well. Again, it’s alright, but nothing that is especially innovative nor strikes a memory for me. The interior while obviously the product (or victim) of an expensive effort to create a beautiful space somehow felt a bit awkward, dark, yet unromantic to me. Overall, I just felt it wasn’t working. But the food is ok. Maybe a bit better even than ok. If you’re in the area, it’s not a horrible option at all but I would like to see something more distinct.

I really loved this place. There was live music, a great relaxed yet slightly formal atmosphere, delicious brunch cocktails, and sizable portions. Yes, it is more expensive than 43^rd Street Deli; however, I would argue that the food is healthier, more delicious, and more creative.
My brunch salad with walnuts, cranberry, and goat cheese was delicious and gigantic! Also, I loved that they offered more than bloody mary’s and mimosas; my french kiss cocktail was delicious. My party also ordered the salmon cake hollandaise, polenta cakes, mushroom soup, brioche toast, and eggplant entrée. There wasn’t a single complaint about the food other than they were too full from eating it all so quickly. :)
The staff was friendly, attentive, and brought out orders accurately. I will definitely be back.

Bring your pocketbook. Not terribly expensive but more expensive than what I would consider for simple food. Why is that Italian places think they can charge $ 15 for PASTA? Call me a SNOB, but I am not paying for pasta, fresh or otherwise!
I had the Chicken Milanese (you know from Milan) with simple lemon butter and it came with a side of pasta $ 17.00.
The chicken was I KNOW deep fried or OVERLY browned in a sauté pan — the sides were curling up.
I didn’t know why this place gets 4 stars as the serve was also OK … I mean our server brought drinks by hand so when we ordered 4 wines it took 2 trips…
really, fine dining is tray service at minimum.
So I choked up my $ 20 and my wife had a nice seafood salad ($ 15.00)
I don’t see the value and there was not enough parking spaces in the lot… maybe staff should park elsewhere as the place was empty, but no parking …
I really can not say how disappionting this place was …