Franco Manca (Chiswick)

Amazing pizza, best outside Naples ..and so cheap too ....didn't mind queuing for 15 minutes last thursday ...Organic wine I could have done without. I am going to order the ordinary stuff next time.
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Emily Hunt
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, December 06, 2011

Last week Big Matt who is in to the whole Twitter thing found out about a free gig comic Chris Addison was putting on at the Tabard theatre in Chiswick. It was a run through for a new Channel 4 series called "My favourite year" a sort of look back at the funniest aspects of recent times. I'm not hugely aware of Chris Addison's work but any excuse for a night out on the beer with Big Matt. If you haven't been to the Tabard it is worth a visit, it is a really nice old pub with great beer and a theatre up top. The gig was pretty funny but it was nearly 2 hours long and even the video of Paul Burrell doing a bush tucker trial was getting me hungry. After it had finished we swiftly sought out somewhere to eat.

Matt used to live in chiswick and 10 years ago we would often wander down Chiswick High Road doing all the pubs and ending up at "Lam's". It was always good fun but the best places were up by King St. I've not been down here for a while and it had certainly got more upscale, the new "Chiswick House" in particular looked really nice. However after a couple of beers and it only being a Monday night we decided that pizza was the best option. Matt suggested we try Franco Manca. His pitch was that it was an upmarket version Pizza Express. On walking in the first thing you see is the pizza counter with the large wood fired oven. For a Monday night it was reasonably busy and the tables were quite well spaced out unlike a lot of other places.

The menu itself is quite limited and trades heavily on the quality of the ingredients. Now I know this sort of thing impresses people but when I'm having pizza I don't really care that much that my ham went to Eton and the Mozarella used to sing free form jazz. I'm more concerned with taste, variety and price. I know I'm like everyone else and always order the same pizza but it's nice to know there are another 10 choices on the menu I don't want! Anyway we ordered some sausage type starter which was basically sausage in passata which was OK but without any bread not easy to eat. The pizza's came shortly after and were very good. A good portion plenty of topping and a crisp base. What was good was the price only about £7 per pizza which was great value I would have expected to pay nearer 10. Service was OK, not as personable as I hoped from an up and coming place like this. With beers the whole meal came to under £30 for two of us which was fantastic value. So in conclusion nice food but I'm not totally sold on the concept but the value will bring me back.
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david ginsberg - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, March 29, 2011

On a Friday evening, the queues were long before 9pm, so we went for a drink and returned later, hoping the pizza lived up to its reputation. We ordered two pizzas, wine, water and the aubergine dish on the side.

The wine and water were brought quickly but without glasses, and dumped on the table. We then had to make several attempts to stop passing staff to obtain four well worn glass beakers. Frankly, I wish we had left the £19 wine in the bottle. Thankfully, the menu explains that only a small volume is produced each year.

Pizzas and aubergine arrive quickly - without cutlery. I prefer eating pizza with my fingers, so start to eat it whilst still hot. The sourdough looks the part - like ones I have had in Naples - and my only concern is the concentration of capers in a couple of square inches of the pizza. I go to tear a piece off and my heart sinks. The pizza feels damp and spongy, like a microwaved pancake. As I put it to my mouth, the smell of crisp, yeasty dough is absent. The dough lacks flavour and feels as unpleasant in my mouth as it does in my fingers. The high quality ingredients used to top the pizza are wasted, overwhelmed by the unpleasant bulk of soggy dough.

Neither of us finishes our pizza, although we do grin and bear the wine in an effort to cleanse our palettes. Frankly, I have had better experiences at Pizza Express. Both of us leave in agreement that a stone-baked pizza delivered to our door plus a £5 bottle from the supermarket would have been the preferred option of a pizza aficionado.
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Chris Hemingway
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Sunday, September 12, 2010

Awesome pizza, atrocious service! Warm wine/water/everything because not only the fridge had packed up but so had the aircon (of course this was the hottest night of the year). Because of the amazing pizza I will go back, but if the service is bad again then that will be the last time. Note to owners: at least a basic grasp of English would be helpful for your serving staff.
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ChiswickMeatMan
4 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Has its moments and there's a good chance of it being hit or miss. Pizza is pretty tasty and although a few more toppings would be nice, its still quite good.

Where they suck, is on their salad. How anyone can charge for the pathetic salad they offer is beyond me. So, if you want a pizza, check it out, not much choice but inexpensive if you just stick to pizza. Don't expect a great service or other stuff on the menu.
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Sandy
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Sunday, July 04, 2010

Absolutely overrated place. Fairly good ingredients but the combination of them is not enough to make a good pizza! The pastry was awful; the pizza overcooked and served almost cold. The service wasn’t good neither. The only good thing is the value for money (£10 for a pizza, a beer and service) but again, considering that is nothing special! If you are short of money and not particularly demanding about pizza then a dinner there is ok. On the other hand, if you can spend a bit more and want to try a real italian pizza, then do not go to this restaurant.
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Francesco
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Friday, June 25, 2010

I love pizza and have eaten them, over many years, all over the UK and Italy. So, I would say I know a reasonable amount about what makes a good one and what constitutes a bad one. I had incredibly high expectations of Franco Manca having read all about their Brixton branch. However, I never managed to make it down to Brixton, so after stumbling across the Chiswick branch, I decide to give them a go. The ingredients are clearly first class, fresh and organically sourced but that actual cooking of the pizza was terrible. I was served this tepid pizza that had a charcoaled base. Pizza should be served hot in my book and not lukewarm. Regardless of whether Neapolitan, Roman or Milanese pizzas, the cheese should be melted to a stringy consistency. Mine certainly was not. It was a stodgy, charcoal tasting, tepid disappointment. Judging by the looks on other dinners faces, I wasn’t in the minority in my feelings. Maybe I got them on a bad night, maybe I didn’t. I’m still going to try and make it down to Brixton to try the original. It may just be that the execution, just didn’t replicate. Or maybe the Pizza chef was from Notting Hill and not Naples.
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James
5 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Thursday, April 22, 2010

Great Pizza ! but the waiting staff are totally AWFUL
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Gennaro
5 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 8
Friday, March 19, 2010

Went on a Saturday evening and the restaurant was busy. The pizza was nice but certainly not one I would rate as the best in London. I would have liked the topping to be closer to the edge of the pizza and the pizza was slightly light on topping too. However, the service was not good - the only way to get the attention of the waiters/ waitresses was to grab them as they ran past. They did not come to check on the meal or offer dessert.

The Pizzas are not expensive though and so maybe the best bet is to go when they are not busy as they do not have enough staff for the number of tables (the chefs were often ringing their bells repeatedly to get the pizzas delivered to tables).
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5 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Sunday, March 14, 2010

Up until now Rosso Pomodoro has enjoyed a comfortable lead in the Pizza stakes but Franco Manca has successfully managed to topple them in my opinion, with their superb approach to food.

This is how pizza should always be - hot, silky, crispy, yielding and fragrant and if that doesn't get you knocking their door down, they also offer a pretty little selection of nibbles such as hunks of pecorino with a drizzle of honey or wild boar charcuterie. I particularly like the rustic and slightly unsofisticated but homely and perfumed wines that they promote from a small single producer in Italy.

Although the decor is somewhat utilitarian in parts, the pizza oven is delightful with a pretty little section of floor tiling that makes up for the scary picture of a cow that almost moos at you as soon as you walk in.

A definite must for foodies.
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Cara Arpino
9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Thursday, March 11, 2010