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Villa Francesca
Rating Details »
- Nearest Transit:
-
Haymarket (Orange)
Aquarium (Blue)
North Station (Orange, Green)
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
25 reviews for Villa Francesca
BEST PESTO PASTA I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
unfortunately the pesto pasta was plan C on my nightly list of festivities for the yum yum in the tum tum.
May I please have the Red Snapper? says I .
No.. we're out.... says he.
Oh.. you've run out for the night?
No... just out
Oh... out as in out? forever but it's still on the menu?
yea.. out. it's a Puerto Rico. ship no more.
oh.
OK! Are you out of swordfish?
no.
ok. what are my choices?
a la carte.
oh. really? does one actually eat a swordfish a la carte??? It's not ice cream.
hm. Thanks for the limoncello Mr. Bartender after 4 failed martini attempts.
Come at your own risk! The manager, Tomas bait and switched the price of the veal after the waitress told us it was cheaper until we saw the bill. His response was that we should ask him the price and not the waitress. Then he told her in front of us that she will pay the difference. Rude and illegal!
I'm only giving this place 2 stars over 1 because the service was decent for handling a group of 8 people. Other than that, wow what a ripoff. Come the end of the night, the bill was at least $125 more than it should have been for what we received.
I got the Veal Valdostona, one of my favorite veal dishes that just about any restaurant in the North End offers. It was two very small portions of thick-rolled veal, drenched in a sauce with about 10 tiny mushrooms scattered around the plate... for $29.95!? For thirty bucks, it had at least come with a side of pasta - which it did not. Al Dente just down the street gives you a heaping portion of veal, artichokes, mushrooms and a side of pasta for $19.95. My girlfriend got pesto pasta, for $19.95, which was basically the side of pasta my meal was lacking. Our two meals combined should have been $35 tops.
We ordered two sides each of garlic bread and bruschetta for the table, which consisted of 8 slices total (4 and 4) - 1 slice for each of us. That set us back about $35... for 8 slices of toast! 1 order of each anywhere else would have stuffed everybody at the table.
It's clear that they're bringing in the first-time-North Enders off the street with their location and flashy ambiance. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place. Al Dente or Lo Conte's on Salem Street have it all over Francescas.
My friends make fun of me because I follow up every comment about a restaurant with "Ooh, I heard that place is good" or "Eh, I haven't heard goos things about it." I'm sure many of you are guilty of the same thing. Which is why I was caught a little off guard when a visiting friend pointed out Villa Francesca as a place she wanted to go and I couldn't remember hearing anything about it. I've passed it a lot, of course, but it just kind of blends in to all those other North End restaurants. Nothing special.
That theme continued the rest of the night. Everything was good, just nothing special or memorable at all. One thing I did like, was the ability to order off the menu. I had been looking forward to the North End as a chance to have some Antico Forno gnocchi, so when they were closed for a private party I was super disappointed. Never fear, Villa Francesca will make any typical Italian fare that isn't on the menu. Awesome. Gnocchi was good, but not as good as I've had elsewhere. Everything was a little overpriced for what it was.
A-OK pretty much sums up the whole experience. I wasn't unhappy with my meal, but it didn't blow me out of the water. At least my out-of-town friend was never the wiser to what could have been. And now when someone points it out, I can follow up with a "Yeah, it's okay."
I agree with an earlier review that asked, "With all of the lovely gems that the North End has to offer, why in the world would you come here?"
The food is decent, which means mediocre at best for the North End. Service is consistently sub-par. I would have given two stars, but I took one away for my most recent experience.
We were served a bottle of wine which had gone bad. It had all the tell tale signs: ripped foil on the bottle, a bloated cork with holes in it, a yellow tint to the wine, a sharp odor and a sour tail. It wasn't horrible, but definitely didn't taste the way it should - it tasted like an old wine which had already peaked and begun to decline. I assume the bottle had either been corked or mishandled, maybe left in the sun, which happens every now and then and isn't a big deal.
My date, who had ordered, tasted, and was the first to notice the bottle was bad, was a little shy and didn't know what to do, but I explained the protocol and encouraged her to address the problem with the waitress. The waitress called the manager (Thomas) over and she explained the problem.
Instead of apologizing for the bad bottle and replacing it, he delivered a very condescending lecture to the girl about how he thought the wine tasted fine, how he tasted and selected all the wine in the restaurant, and if we ordered a more expensive bottle (ours was $50) it would taste better, and that he wasn't going to get us a different bottle just because she didn't like it. She was so upset by the time he was finishes that she dropped the issue, which is when I spoke up. After I exchanged a few words with him, he offered to open another bottle to (in his words) prove that the first bottle of wine was okay.
The difference between the two bottles was substantial, at which point in time he agreed that the first bottle was indeed bad and made some excuse about how he tasted too much wine that evening and everything was blending together.
Regardless of his excuses, I won't be going back, and I don't think I'll miss it.
Ah, Villa Francesca. So cozy and inviting. While visiting Boston (I do that now, I VISIT Boston) I ducked in here to kill some time and wondered why I had never bothered to review it before.
It's probably because I once cried while watching a soccer game at the bar. I'm not even joking. It wasn't even the end of the game. I don't even remember who was playing. Some guy scored a goal and tears began to well up in my eyes and trickle out. I just sat there with my head down and one hand on the bar clutching my wine glass and cried for a few seconds. I must've been really fucked-up. The bar tender started giving me worried looks. Probably thought I was going to start drooling next or pee myself.
Anyways, I like slipping in for a drink with friends, or diner with the family. The food is not going to make you change your ways and put you on the good path to heaven, but it's decent, the service has always been friendly, and out-of-town family always seems to love the charm of the brick interior and cozy wood and wine cabinets.
Check it out...and hopefully, there won't be some guy in there crying during a soccer game.
Don't worry. He's not a local.
Inevitably, when I'm in the North End with whomever, they say "Hey let's go there! It's *your* restaurant!!!! hahahahahahahahah!!!"
I swear I have cool friends but they just can't resist.
But I always have to tell them no, because the one time I did go there everything about it was so meh-inducing that I'm not tempted to ever return. The food was drowning in garlic, the waiter was testy, and the ambiance was cheesy. It's overpriced for what it is, and definitely relying on unwitting tourists or North End newbies to get by. I doubt they have much repeat business.
The food tasted ok, but I got food poisoning from my sea food entree! Would not go back in the future, there are better restaurants in the north end! Also, the service was terrible.
Maybe I eat way too much Italian food, growing up in Brooklyn with an Italian mother and around some of the best Italian restaurants in New York, because this was absolutely disgusting and overpriced.
I came here because my boyfriend was stuck in traffic and late to pick me up and I was starving. Well this shows me that just picking any random place without checking on Yelp first is just not a good idea.
The waitress was average but the food was extremely below. Someone in another review described the fettuccine in the most accurate way...."rubbery".
THIS WAS THE WORST PASTA I HAVE EVER ATE. The shrimp were on the small side, but the actual pasta had the worst texture.
I just have to say I will stick to Brooklyn for Italian food and if I happen to want Italian food in Massachusetts I will just stick to Bertucci's.
This actually happened a few years back so it may not reflect the current situation there, though something tells me it hasn't changed. I was just randomly thinking about it again today and decided it was worth writing a review.
So, a friend of mine was visiting me in college and I wanted to take her to the North End somewhere decent. We wouldn't have come here as it wasn't on the main drag except that there was an accident in the sewer that day and the main drag was mostly blocked by the police, so we ended up at Villa Francesca.
We were in college and were going out to eat a lot and she had spent a lot on airfare so we wanted to be economical. There was a lobster risotto we wanted for $24 so to make up for that we ordered a cheap mushroom ravioli and drank water and split desert with no appetizer. When we ordered the risotto the waitress said they didn't have it, but that it was one of their specials and was that ok? I shrugged wondering why she bothered to say anything.
Until the bill came, It was a really nice meal. The food, I thought, was good and the waitress was good if a little pretentious- I even complimented her on her earrings because they were fab. It had good ambiance and it was packed. Then the bill came and they had charged us $32 for the lobster risotto. I pulled the waitress aside and said that she had made a mistake.
Her response? She scoffed, said, "I told you it was one of the specials," rolled her eyes and walked away. My jaw dropped. I waited until she passed by again and asked for the manager.
The manager came by and got into a 15 minute argument with us and yelled at us. English was not his first language and that may have had part to do with why he got so worked up, but booooy did he get worked up. I guess the restaurant gets one point cause the manager was an authentic Italian. He told us that it was a good price for what we had gotten (and it probably was, it was a whole lobster on rice) and I explained that that wasn't the point, it was that the menu was misleading.
He told me that the owner would never let him give it to me for that price- I asked to speak to the owner who he claimed wasn't there and I said that I doubt the owner would think it was worth $8 to alienate a customer- and finally I said that I was never eating there again and that I would tell all my friends never to eat there. And after so much arguing I pulled out my card and said "it's not worth it." He told me angrily, "Fine! But then it's coming out of her tip!" pointing to the waitress, who had protested a few times during our argument, "I told you it was one of the specials!" I told them both that they needed to either change the menus, or he needed to train his waitstaff how to deal with it better and that it was his fault, not hers.
I repeated "It's not worth it" a few times holding out my card.
I guess that's where the language barrier came into play because he seemed to think I meant that the food wasn't worth it, and apparently this mortally offended him, when what I really meant was that it wasn't worth arguing. I was already never coming back.
At that he said, "Fine, it's not worth it!" and stomped away.
I tipped the waitress 15% anyway because it must suck to have a manager like that, but now looking back on it I probably shouldn't have because she was kind of a bitch, too.
After that incident I thought about it and reported them to the Better Business Bureau. I love them- they take every complaint seriously and are very diligent. They tried several times to get into contact with the owner and found that he was completely non-responsive.
Gee, I'm shocked. All I had asked was for a refund of my $8 and, more importantly, that they change their menus. I honestly think they're purposely scamming people and that most people just don't bother to argue over $8.
Moral of the story- never ever ever ever eat at Villa Francesca. They don't have business ethics.
Collectively, I give the place 4 stars because the combination of good things really make each time that we visit a truly special and memorable experiece. Been here about 6-7 times.
The food is delicious. I'm not a huge fan of Italian food, but their dishes are well plated and fufill my cravings. One thing I promise you'll LOVE is their tiramisu. I've had probably 30 different tiramisus in my lifetime and hands down VF has it done perfectly. Always make sure to have room for this dessert.
The wine selection is great, never disappointed and the recommendations and wine pairings from the servers have always been excellent.
Ambiance and Atmosphere is top notch. So many restaurants in the North End pack their places full in such an open space that sometimes you cannot hear the person next to you. Save Villa Francesca for an intimate dinner with your loved ones, for a romantic and intimate experience.
Please, I beg you not to spoil this place if you desire loud and group atmosphere. This is not the place. Part of me wants to keep this review to myself just so we can keep this hidden jewel a secret. But I figured Villa Francesca deserves to be heard.
I'm in Boston every April, and two years ago my BF and I stumbled upon Villa Francesca while looking for a place to have a late lunch. We got there just before they were closing for the afternoon, but we were still welcomed in and had a lovely lunch of salad and pasta.
So this year I decided to make a reservation to eat there the night before the Boston Marathon with a group of friends. Granted this is probably their busiest night of the year, however; the staff was very rude and made us wait at least a half an hour to sit down at our reserved table because two people of our group of 8 had not yet arrived. There was really not a convenient place to wait inside the restaurant, and it was pouring down rain outside, so we felt we were in the way.
The food was okay, but nothing to write home about. I had a nice bowl of minestrone in a clear broth to start. The artichoke hearts in my pasta were undercooked by quite a bit, but the pasta itself was cooked al dente.
I'll try a different restaurant next April; Villa Francesca was not worth going back to.
This Italian restaurant has the best lobster and fettuccine with cream sauce I have ever had in my life.
The calmari was delicious, too . . . with some Classico Chianti.
I will only return for the lobster! Ooooo weeeee!
Not my favorite destination. Food is only average, prices are a bit high, $20.00 martini's I guess typical for Boston. The last time we went (two couples) after a much longer wait then we were told we ended up in the cellar (wine cellar), but it was still dark & depressing. I did have the warm sewer pipe to rest my arm on though! Service fair at best, one person in our small group ordered a soda, when the waitress brought the drink she dropped the small 10oz glass bottle on him, spilling it on him & then the bottle smashed on the floor. When the bill came they actually tried to charge for the drink. When I complained the manager told him to send a dry cleaning bill. After I suggested that was a bit less than we expected, he took all the dinner drinks off the bill. This was no deal either as I was the only one that ordered a glass of wine. The others just drank either water or soda & I had already dropped nearly $100.00 up stairs at the bar for the one round & the tip. I suggested they needed the money more than we did & we left the full tab plus tip. I won't go back though. And they earned this review.
I'm not from Boston, so all I knew last night was I wanted Italian. We tried to eat at Ristorante Fiore last night as the weather was fantastic and we heard about the roof deck. But...they also had a 90 minute wait. So boo.
So we stumbled upon Villa Francesca. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. Food was pretty good - we split a veal dish and a pasta with bacon, cream, and broccoli dish. Only bummer was I was really, really, really craving some sort of pasta dish with a killer meat sauce and maybe a ton of melted mozzarella. Hell, I would have settled for some good classic spaghetti and meatballs. But sigh...nothing even close to it.
So, considering the fact that I was totally jonesing for something and didn't get anything near what I wanted, I'm still giving this place 3 stars. The food was pretty tasty and I loved the atmosphere - windows are open and you're practially sitting outside...good stuff. Service was a little shaky but somehow it was a bit charming - definitely felt like an old skool family-run joint.
Great place to bring family for dinner in Boston. I've eaten here a few times and have always been impressed by the congenial staff and their genuine desire to keep all of their customers happy. This is a great place for taking older kids who might still be picky as well as anyone with specific dietary needs--they are not shy about telling you to go ahead and order off the menu. Great food, nice people, beautiful decor, convenient location. In general you can't go wrong in the North End, but Villa Francesca does offer very genuine hospitality without charging ridiculous prices.
I had a really good meal here with my 2 sisters, brother in law, brother, and mother, and it was fantastic. The service was friendly, attentive, and the food was really good. I didn't get to see the bill, because my sister's husband paid for it, but no matter what it was, it was probably worth it. I loved the entire time in there with my family. I definitely recommend it to anybody looking for hearty, authentic, delicious italian food when you're looking for a place in the north end.
With all of the lovely gems that the North End has to offer, why in the world would you come here?
I went on a Saturday night and was pretty excited to have scored a late reservation at the last minute (especially considering that it was close to Valentine's Day). It wasn't terrible, but it definitely wasn't anything to write home about... The ravioli was good, but the "sauce" seemed like it was comprised of olive oil and, um, more olive oil. I got a fish entree (red snapper, I believe), and I swear that it had been sitting in its sauce since about 6pm (it was 10pm when I got it). It was mushy and brown and tasted awful. The broccoli rabe and risotto accompaniments left a lot to be desired as well. The rabe was tough and unseasoned (can I get a little garlic, please??). The "rissotto" was literally plain aborrio rice that had a translucent glow (and crunch) from sitting under a hot lamp for far too long.
I enjoyed my wine, and the service was courteous, but I will definitely not return.
i like it here. i've come at least 3 or 4 times. mostly with family. the food has always been great and the service decent-very good. it's lovely when they open the windows during warmer months. it's a solid restaurant food and service wise.
once, we had reservations across the street. despite that, we were expected to wait over an hour. because i had been there before, i decided to check to see how long a wait at villa francesca would be. they took us right away. when others won't, villa francesca will!
Wow -- the reviews for this place really run the gamut! But I have to say that I had a great experience there. I might be a little biased because of the fact that the restaurant has the same name as me, but whatever. I thought the escarole and the lobster ravioli were fantastic. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive. The entire ambiance of the restaurant is very pleasant. Unlike most North End restaurants, Villa Francesca actually has a large enough space to accommodate all the patrons it attempts to house. You're not sitting on top of other restaurant-goers and being forced to endure their conversations unlike every other restaurant in the North End. It was a Friday night but we were sat downstairs where it was nice and quiet. I had a great time!
Rubbery fettucine. Typical North End overpriced ho-hum food that I've come to expect.
When we asked for a second helping of bread, they brought us raisin bread We asked for some regular stuff (I mean, raisin bread with a plate of Fettucine Calamari?).. They first claimed they were out of everything else. Then magically some did show up a few minutes later.
Not that we weren't grateful, and we left a nice tip accordingly, but still. Feels like they were giving us the finger there.
Anyway, we just went here because we realized on our walk over that it was Saturday before Marathon Monday (ok, not the best time to go), but we were in the mood, and they didn't have a wait.
One plus, the Limoncello we had came in a nice healthy-sized shot. Can't complain about that. During dinner, also they ignored our empty beer glasses. So, I'm really confused whether they are trying to suck your wallet dry or not.
But this is really interesting reading this review: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
I noticed the waiter named a couple specials that were also listed on the regular menu. Perhaps this is standard practice at this place. At least guys, TWEAK your regular dishes and call them "specials" if you want to mark them up....like Legal Seafoods so famously does.
Eh, there's better in the north end for the buck.
The food is not good here, the veal "piccata" was too liquid and the pasta overcooked. The place is nice because you can sit by the open windows and people watch.
Tourist trap! This place is awful to say the least. They should begin improving their service. I was treated really bad!
Can I say absolutely amazing!!!! We wandered over here by accident and boy was I glad. First, we started off w/ lobsters raviolis! So yummy.The sauce was so creamy and delicious. I had some wonderful bread from the huge bread basket(also it had breadsticks sprinkled w/ oregano)Nest, was my salad. Ohh heaven. I never say that about salad but the house dressing was soo goood. My main course was had veal,shrimp,pork,sausage, in a white wine sauce and ziti on the side. Everything was cooked to perfection. Also, the decor was nice and the open windows were great on a nice warm evening. It was the best dinner I have had out in a long time.
I went here for dinner on Valentine's Day with my boyfriend and another couple. The service was outstanding - some of the best I've had in Boston. The house vinaigrette was really delicious (my boyfriend and I still talk about it to this day, we wish they sold it!). I had the lobster ravioli which I loved and he had a very good fish dish. We had a nice Chianti, as well. We ended the meal with a cannoli that our waiter prepared at our table! Overall, I enjoyed this restaurant a lot and can't wait to go back.
