Francos Italian Restaurant

We eat at Franco’s about once every 4 – 5 weeks. Not regulars, so we don’t get «special treatment. The food is very rich, the dressings are house made.
Some of our favorite dishes are stuffed salmon, the caprese salad, any veal. Never had any steaksl. My absolute favorite — a total throw back — is the Franco salad: massive beefsteak tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, shrimp cocktail, lump crabmeat, artichoke and sweet read peppers. We rarely drink, so we can’t attest to the quality of the cocktails.
The décor is sound-​muting, which is perfect. You can have very private conversations without the table next to you listening in.
The patio is lovely; private and gated yet right on Brilliant.
Vastly prefer the new location.

Simply put: this restaurant has some pricing problems. I ordered a Caprese Salad based on the online menu (which doesn’t list any prices). While I can’t complain at all about the taste of the salad, I paid $ 13.00 for three slices of tomato, three slices of mozzarella, and a sprinkling of diced basil. I’ve had full salads in Manhattan that cost less than that! Once again– the food was very tasty, but I won’t be going back simply based on the prices… If a modest Caprese Salad costs $ 13, I’ll probably have to sell a kidney to afford a bowl of pasta.

The food is ok but the service is the reason behind this review.
Our waiter was Pete and the entire time we were there it was obvious we were an inconvenience to Pete and his evening. He barely stopped over to our table to fill our water. When we requested anything he would walk away and answer as he was leaving. My dinner came with salad but when I asked to change the house to a Caesar he charged me an additional cost of a salad, $ 7 extra.
This is just a brief summary of the service. We will not be going back.

Absolutely incredible. I love the servers, especially Kevin. Try the pasta with clams in red sauce. Surprisingly good flavor. Also, go in and ask for the «giant steak.» The most tender beef in Pittsburgh, better than a steakhouse downtown it is on the menu with a real name, but I forget what cut of beef it is. Lets just call it the «heaven» cut. Fried zucchini as an app is really fun and flavorful as well — it doesn’t just taste like pure breading like other places, and the pieces are the whole length of the vegetable, so it is really fun to eat. Great wine selection as well.

Oh boy. What a disappointment.
Let’s start with the food. We ordered the provolone wheel as an appetizer. The cheese was good and cooked/​melted just right. However, the breading was flavorless, it seemed to me completely unseasoned. The starter caesar salad was good — a generous portion, and the homemade dressing was very tasty. Issues with seasoning continued with our entrees. The meat ravioli was undercooked and under-​seasoned, while the tomato sauce topping the ravioli was extremely salty (I actually ended up scraping most of it off). I also would have liked more filling to complement the hardiness of the pasta. The chicken in the chicken marsala was bland again under-​seasoned, while the sauce was far too sweet. Under-​seasoned food items with over-​seasoned sauces was the consistent theme.
Now on to the service. The service wasn’t great. There’s a hostess, but she never seems to be at the reception desk. Instead, she’s in the bar area talking to people who appear to be friends or perhaps they’re regular customers. Regardless, we and several parties after us arrived to an empty hostess station, and had to wait longer than acceptable for the hostess to notice we were there. A hostess should stay AT the door to receive guests and promptly seat them, especially during dinner hours. We sat at a high-​top in the bar area. The bartender was our server, and this is a bad structure. There was one bartender for the whole restaurant including numerous patrons at the bar, and she also had to service three high-​tops. The tables should have an assigned server, not the bartender — it’s unrealistic to think one person can make all drinks for dinner hour, service bar patrons, AND wait tables. All that said, the staff were friendly and professional once we did receive service.
This is a great location and a great building. The bar area is cozy, and the large deck is awesome. However, the lounge area outside the rest room was filthy. The carpet was dirty, and the room doubles as a hamper location and storage.
I truly hope this restaurant gets it together. I would love to be able to enjoy dinner and drinks on the deck. I will give it another try and hope for the best.