Sophia Zaldivar Velarde
+5
My husband, my daughter and I were in the area and wanted some italian food. We came across this place and decided to try. We were not disappointed at all. Food was great! And our server was VERY nice at all times. The only thing I would recommend is that your young blonde hostess should smile more often and do not roll her eyes at people since she’s the first impression of your place. But despite that, we would definitely recommend this place.
Because of the positive comments my facebook friends have given this restaurant, we thought we might try dinning there tonight. I have to tell you, we discovered a new favorite Italian restaurant- this is THE Best. The Food, Service, Atmosphere ROCK!!!! Karim was our server, and went over the menu. He suggested a sweet wine choice, took a custom order, was very prompt and welcoming. And the food was the star of the meal - made custom ordered, full favored, using fresh ingredients. We're a Fan, definitely coming back!!!!
My husband and I had been waiting for over a year to try Francesco’s, and when we finally were able to, it did not disappoint! Amazing little place - incredible food, friendly and helpful staff, and lovely atmosphere. Can’t say enough good things about this place! Perfect spot for a date night or special occasion! Very highly recommend- we can’t wait to go back! (*be sure to make a reservation for dinner on a Fri or Sat!)
Adorable place, a little loud because it's always busy, Great food! Our server, Paula, was fantastic!
Incredible food but even better people who work there. Friendly and helpful staff. Every single dish is delicious and Francesco is one of the best chef’s I’ve ever seen. I’ve been 25+ times and I still look forward to it every time!
Chicken Sicilian was amazing very nice place with open kitchen highly recommend. Hidden gem must try.
Chef Francesco is so creative & knowledgable in his kitchen. It is always fun watching him cook, creating beautiful plates & delicious food. Nino pairs wine with whatever you order & loves telling you about the dishes on the menu. The whole staff is there to help you enjoy the dining experience. It is also a lovely place to look at, relax in, enjoy.
Love � love � love � this place! It’s delicious and Francesco is so nice along with all the staff. Pizza was amazing as was the fettuccine alfredo and eggplant parmigiana. Oh and mom liked her Italian wine � too! This is the BEST Italian meal ever!!!
We come here often we always have a great dining experience. I love how attentive the staff is. The food is made with love and it shows. Forget those other chain so called Italian restaurants. This place is priced right and nothing beats seeing your food cooked to order
Had a UCF graduation lunch. Food and service was excellent. Definitely recommend.
Great food, great service and great atmosphere- my favorite place for authentic Italian!
The BEST, and I mean the BEST Italian restaurant I've ever eaten at. It's not easy for me to say this, but their marinara sauce and meatballs are better than my Italian grandma's. Their Italiano pizza is amazing. They have a great wine list that complements the food, delicious coffee, and the best cannoli I've ever eaten in my life. We live in Pittsburgh and usually only get to come to Orlando once per year, so I'm trying to figure out if I can get some of their sauce shipped home bc it is THAT good!! Nice ambiance and friendly service too. I hope people in the Orlando area appreciate what a treasure they have in Francesco's!
Chef Francesco Aiello proudly claims being “Born and Raised” in Palermo, Sicily, and that pride translate into his vision of bringing the real Italian flavor to Orlando, Florida with his Franceso´s Ristorante & Pizzeria. Born in 1976, Francesco had a really different life envisioned for himself. At the age of fifteen, Aiello was a soccer player at his hometown, but with culinary blood in his veins thanks to his father and grandfather, who taught him the love for cooking. It didn’t took too long for Francesco to find his real path, that lead him into the “Instituto Alberhiero” in 1996, an Italian culinary school located at Palermo. But his career really started in 1998, year in which he decided to begin, what he calls an “Adventure”, into the United States.
The Best!. Hands down the best Italian place in town! Everything on the menu is awesome, fresh ingredients and great service at an unbelievable price. Don't go to another Italian restaurant in town as nothing compares. Born and raised in an Italian family, this is just like my Grandma used to cook, but better.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
So much more than pizza. I went here for lunch today for the first time with a friend. We loved NYPD Pizza that used to be in the same location as Francesco's, so we thought we'd give it a try since it was so close by. We were very impressed!
The lunch menu is small, only 11 items, but the prices are good and the portions were large for lunch. All lunches came with bread and a salad also. Our waitress was very attentive and on top of things. I never had to ask for a refill on my drink.
I ordered the chicken parmagiana and it was DELISH! I originally wanted the meat lasagna, but the waitress explained that they had been open yesterday for Father's day (when they usually aren't open on Sundays) and they hadn't had enough time to prep for today. I was disappointed, but once my meal showed up all was forgiven. It was a large piece of chicken with a side of pasta. I didn't think I'd be able to eat it all, but next thing I knew it was gone.
They did a great job converting the restaurant to his new look. There were different options for where to sit, including at the bar or even on the outside covered patio (which will be really nice in the fall). We got there at 11:30 and by the time we left at 12:30 they were completely packed. I think that says a lot for a new restaurant.
I definitely want to try them out for dinner sometime!
Francesco's Ristorante & Pizzeria. This restaurant was excellent and we enjoyed our dining experience.
Rustic Italian Charm. I ate dinner with a friend at Francecso's Ristorante on Thursday, April 17, 2014. We had a 6:30 p.m. reservation and the establishment was bustling both inside the restaurant and at their outside patio.
We started with an appetizer of sautéed calamari which was cooked with garlic, extra virgin olive oil and served in a white sauce (the white sauce was of our choosing as the dish can also be served with the traditional red sauce).
My guest chose the skirt steak which was marinated in extra virgin olive oil, garlic, rosemary and served with arugula salad. I ordered the salmon bruschetta which was a ample portion of grilled salmon topped with tomatoes, basil, garlic, red onions and a reduction of balsamic vinegar and served with asparagus.
The meal was delicious but, if I had to pick a winner between the two entrées, the skirt steak would win by a nose. The meat was melt-in-your mouth perfection and the arugula salad was a perfect complement.
Must Visit. Francesco's is a restaurant you must visit! The food is delicious and the service was outstanding. The pizza is unlike any I've had in Orlando and it was a special treat to watch the culinary team prep our food before our eyes. If you can sit at the bar, you should, so you can watch them hard at work just on the other side of the counter. We didn't know anything about this place before going there and now we can't wait to go back. Go there.
Authentic Italian, charming space. I never write reviews, but this place is so authentic and charming that I can't not write in to rave about it. I went to Italy in '09 and have been trying for years to find real, true Italian cuisine in Orlando, but nothing came close to the real thing. No longer. Francesco's is a neighborhood gem with food that rivals Italy and service that's exceptional. Some favorites: Calamari fritti, spaghetti pesto, penne palerminata, gnocchi, pasta vongole, canolli. If you haven't been there yet, go!
We had chicken parm and the special of the day, a veal osso bucco. The veal was great and my husband enjoyed the risotto as well. Chicken parmigiana was cooked well and flavorful. The table bread wasn't anything to write home about and I would have preferred it served warm. We had a great wedge salad and I really liked the dressing. The profiteroles were amazing, but had I known they were chocolate profiteroles I would have ordered a different dessert.
We've been looking for an Italian place that has good entrees, and we will return here. We like it better than Il Pescatore and Giovannnis, and of course it's better than the jokes on Park Ave. Yes, it's loud and it's lacking in some atmosphere, but the owner came to the table and our waiter was charming. Good wine selection.
Francesco's was a great find in a little corridor of Maitland. We walked in and the ambiance was amazing and the chandeliers definitely came from Pier One Imports. How defined. The musicians were Italian and extremely authentic, it was not just a dinner... But a show! The waiters filled are drinks to the brim every few minutes and it was a great atmosphere all around. Food was excellent and service was terrific and the food is rather cheap for restaurants of this magnitude. Good eat overall.
Really like the pizza. Great salads. Friendly service.
Francesco's is amazing! Went there shortly after they opened a few months ago and was blown away. The bread comes to your table warm and fresh out of the oven, with this amazing olive oil and balsamic vinegar to dip it in. Next, you have to try the house salad with the vinagarette dressing. It was surprisingly really good. As far as entrees go, the margherita pizza is amazing, the chicken parmesan can't be beat, the chicken marsala is a winner, and the chicken parmesan and eggplant parmesan are some of the best I've had. Oh and did I mention that the wine is amazing? Go and try this place! You won't be sorry that you did.
Great Authentic Italian Food. Heard about this place through friends. I have eaten at the other restaurants Francesco has worked at and had to try this out. The food was fantastic and the service was great.
New Year's Eve Day. Took my family there before going out for the New Year. My son literally lives around the corner from this place and has been raving about it since it opened. We started with and shared a pizza, it was very good. The crushed tomatoes made it memorable. Had a couple of bottles of an excellent Italian Pinot Noir. I had the veal and it was cooked to perfection. However the desserts stole the show, the Italian Wedding cake was amazing. It was a great place for our last meal of 2012. Hope to return often in 2013.
Good food at reasonable prices. Had pasta & order a veggie pizza to go- enjoyed both .Great ambience, friendly service . Will return definitely .
Great food for reasonable prices. A friend suggested I try this new restaurant because she and her family were impressed by it. My husband and I love it!! Out of all the places to go for a birthday dinner, he chose Francesco's.. The meals are outstanding with great service and super prices for such a fine meal. Once you go, you will want to go back!!
Love it!. I have been to Francesco's multiple times, and it's been great every time. Their flatbreads are really good, with very fresh ingredients. Their bread is to-die-for...I could have a whole meal of just the bread! I've also had a few pasta dishes, and their desserts, which I heard are homemade by the owner's mom, are amazing. The service is is sometimes a little slow, but still friendly. It's genuine Italian, with a fresh new take on a lot standard Italian dishes. I highly recommend!
Lovely decor and friendly service. Portions are generous. My dining companion and I ordered antipasto and split an eggplant pasta so we would have room for dessert. Service is friendly but could use a little polish-but not so much as to lose the neighborhood feel. Cannot believe they've only been open a couple of months. Definitely would return.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Excellent!!!. We have been huge fans of the Chef and Owner Francesco for many years. He is an extremely talented cook and we were thrilled to hear he opened his own restaurant.
First of all the restaurant is beautiful and has a fantastic atmosphere. The staff was attentive and friendly and the service was excellent. We went on a Wednesday evening but the place was buzzing like a Saturday night. It is obvious that Francesco’s is already a huge success, rightfully so.
We started with the Calamari Fritta which was a nice size portion for 4 of us to share. The Calamari was some of the best I have had in a while and the marinara can not be beat. Two of us ordered the Salmon Bruschetta, which was dynamite. I have not stopped thinking about it and will likely order it many more times before I venture off to other items on the menu. The other 2 in our party had pizza and a Calzone. Both were fantastic.
The wine list was extensive and over all the entire menu had so many great choices. We cannot wait to return. I HIGHLY recommend this place for excellent Italian food.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Real" Italiana" Food. I went to Francesco's at Maitland looking for Italian food. What I didn't expect was that it was going to be such a good experience, having a real Italian style food. First, when you enter the restaurant it looks like if you're entering a nice, cozy, Sicilian place. Very good taste in decoration. So, feeling so well, I get hungrier. Immediately somebody came to greet us (my daughter, her boyfriend, and me) and even though the place was full because it was lunch time, they were able to accommodate us real fast. The service is superb, so I feel even better, therefore hungrier.
I ordered the eggplant parmigiana with a side of pasta, the kind I've never had the chance to taste here in Orlando. The texture, flavor, preparation, right amount of fresh tomato sauce, cheese, were outstanding. Excellent eggplant. My daughter ordered the chicken parmigiana, and also, delicious flavor, tender chicken, right "al dente" side pasta. And my daughter's boyfriend got the Stromboli ...ah! crusty in the outside, smoking hot and tasty inside filled with Italian sausage, pepperoni, among some other ingredients.
The service was excellent, we had fun, didn't have dessert because we were full, so much food there was on our plates. I'm craving the canolis they offer. I have to go back, and soon...
Ruechagorn Trairatananusorn
+5
This place provides a homey, yet elegant, atmosphere. The staffs were brilliant and would give you great choices of food and drinks. The food was so authentic that we really love to visit again and again. The char-gril calamari was perfectly cooked and tasted so delicious. Don’t forget to order their pasta - we really loved the texture and its taste. And their pizza was so good that we really want to come back to try the margarita pizza. There are varieties of wines to pair with your food too. And behold - the portion was so enormous that we cannot finish them all at the table.
Thank you so much for such a fantastic food and service. Will try to come back again soon!
Last night we went on a date to this place.
We absolutely loved it.
From the moment you walk in you can feel a very nice cozy environment… the staff was very friendly and professional.
They had in live music, they go personally to your table, which was a fantastic and totally different experience. Awesome voice from the singers.
They make you feel like you’re actually in Italy.
We started with a grilled octopus, very well cooked and delicious flavor.
and then both ordered Carbonara pasta, which is the actually original recipe as should be, it was perfectly made and tasty!
A little detail that I liked a lot, the menu tells you which is the best wine to paired with the plate.
My favorite part was the Tiramisu, fresh and wonderful. LOVED IT!!
Everything was delicious and It was a great experience!
Always an amazing experience... We went on the 1st of 2 nights of their 20 year anniversary and it was absolutely one of the best experiences I've ever had at a restaurant. Francesco was walking around making sure that everything was perfect... The food and wine was amazing as always!
The food is delicious!! The service is excellent!! I went on a Saturday afternoon and a trio of singers entertained with their Italian music. If you eat little with a single dish, 2 people eat.
![5]( "Recensione")
Hands down THE BEST AUTHENTIC ITALIAN RESTAURANT IN MAITLAND! Chef Francesco and all his staff were amazing!
We began with their delicious homemade fresh baked focaccia bread, served with balsamic vinegar and oil. The bread was delicious topped with rosemary herbs along with flaky sea salt. Next, we had a unique salad made with a base of delicious cantaloupe melon, thin slices of prosciutto crudo filled cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The sweet and salty flavors were exquisite and on point.
Following our salad, we enjoyed their unique homemade star pizza. The dough was made to perfection and the toppings of fresh arugula, fresh parmesan cheese, and balsamic vinegar was outstanding.
Our main meal was grouper with shrimp and clams cooked to perfection with saffron, extra virgin olive oil, and cherry tomatoes, with sautéed spinach and fresh garlic on the side. We also had their renowned Al dente spaghetti as a side dish, which was outstanding. This wonderful entrée was paired perfectly with the grandfather white Sicilian wine.
As for dessert, chef Francesco treated us with a selection of mouthwatering homemade strawberry tiramisu, traditional tiramisu along with a delicious cannoli filled with sweet and creamy ricotta cheese sprinkled with cinnamon. Dessert was accompanied by a hot and delicious cappuccino coffee made to perfection.
The cuisine, the ambiance, the beverages, and the service were all amazing! I can't wait to return to this hidden gem in the heart of Maitland.
Thank you Chef Francesco, along with the wonderful staff Carlos, Ben, Maurizio, Aldo, Kayra, Hector, Nino, Christian, and Jona for your wonderful hospitality. You guys made us feel like family!
The food and services were just perfect! Starting with the calamari which are the best I have ever tried. Pizza for my kids was really good and my risotto was delicious. To finish we got a Nutella cheesecake, and it was really good. A nice thing about Francesco is that they delight the night with a serenade, which we really enjoy.
Thank you to the chef but especially to Jonnas (the waiter).
During our visit to Francesco’s Ristorante and Pizzeria, we highly recommend the best authentic Italian restaurant in Maitland while praising Chef Francesco and his entire staff – Carlos, Ben, Maurizio, Aldo, Kayra, Hector, Nino, Christian, and Jona – for their exceptional service. Our main course consisted of grouper with shrimp and clams cooked to excellence with saffron, extra virgin olive oil, and cherry tomatoes, with sautéed spinach and fresh garlic on the side. We also had their famous Al dente spaghetti as a side dish, which was delicious. The food, the ambiance, the beverages, and the service were all fantastic! I can’t wait to return to this hidden gem in Maitland’s heart.
I was there for my birthday and this was my 3rd time here. The service was good and the food as well. The tiramisu was good but next time less cinnamon it was so powdery on top. But overall not bad. I had salmon and my husband had fettuccine
Ms World Universal Elite
I never tell anyone who I am until afterwards if that because I want the same treatment as everyone else.
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes