Trattoria San Francesco

I have been dining at Italo Muro's Trattoria San Francesco for 35 years and can guarantee that the food and service are superb. In 35 years, I have seen countless restaurants come and go on this street. But Italo's Trattoria San Francesco has always endured and triumphed. Before I got married, I used to visit London in the summers to see the new plays in the 1980's , especially new Tom Stoppard hits like "Night and Day, " "Jumpers," and "Travesties." When I got married, I arranged with Italo to have my wedding luncheon at his restaurant. When my children were young, and we spent spring vacations in England, we would also visit Italo at his restaurant. This year 2011, with my daughter spending her junior year at the University of Kent in Canterbury, I came over in April and my daughter and I trained into London specifically in order to dine at Italo's Trattoria. They have incredible specials and the food is exquisite--since they are so close to Covent Garden, I always opt for the fresh fish. This is the best restaurant in which to dine, whether you are attending an afternoon or evening theatre performance. The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is right across the street. The Aldwych Theatre and the Strand are just down the street. It's a 5 minute walk across the Thames to the National Theatre. Maybe 10 minutes to the Shakespeare Globe Theatre.
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Lloyd Thomas
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Sunday, May 22, 2011

WARNING: DO NOT COME HERE IN A LARGE GROUP!!!!

We came to San Francesco for my friend's hen night (it was the sophisticated sort of hen "do", not the sort involving pink cowboy hats...) and I simply do not think that this restaurant has the capacity to deal with a group of 20+ people. I suspect that they have a very small kitchen (the restaurant itself is small in size) and they clearly struggled to get the food out and on the table in a reasonable space of time. To give you an idea of the timeframe involved, we arrived at 7.30pm - at their request because they had said if we turned up at 7.00pm, as we had wished - and it took them three hours to serve us just our starters and mains. We never had time to have desserts or coffee because by that point we needed to move on to our next venue.

The food was mediocre, served barely warm and one person found that their chicken wasn't even cooked all the way through. I have lived in Italy (Umbria) and this was nothing like the quality of food that would be served over there.

Even though we made it clear that time was not on our side, the service was painfully slow and incompetent. I was never actually given a menu; I had to share one with someone else! To cap it all, we had to ask for the bill five or six times, which was just plain ridiculous.

Personally, I would say this place is one to be avoided. Let's face it: it's a tourist trap.
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CW
3 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Friday, March 25, 2011

My husband and I ate there last night. The food was very good. We had the antipasto to start and the Veal Milanese for the main course. This is not a chain run restaurant and you could tell that the food was good home cooking. The restaurant had a nice buzzy feeling and was very busy but the staff were very pleasant, polite and attentive - the owner Italo was very friendly and made us feel very welcome. We will definitely dine there again when we visit Covent Garden to see a show and have no hesitation in recommending this restaurant to our friends and family.
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Linda Lower
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, October 14, 2010

Booked a table for 3 last weekend and turned up only to be shown to our seats in the downstairs area which stank of bleach to the point you could taste the smell of it! In the meantime my partner used the bathroom and my mother and I decided to leave as the smell was overpowering. We were then confronted by the owner who accused us of only coming in to use the toilet and that we had had no intention of eating there, unbeknownst to him that my family have been eating there for years and that we had a table booked in advance! The menu looked nice but try to steer clear of the seating downstairs as its foul, otherwise you will be shouted at by the owner in front of a restuarant full of people, Needless to say the 25 years of eating here are over and we shall not be returning!
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supercherub - View all reviews by this user
0 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, June 28, 2010