Francesca Pizzeria

Francesca’s Pizzeria makes delicious pizzas (thin new york style) in addition to traditional italian fare. Family owned and operated with food that is made with love. A hit from the pillowy soft potato gnocchi to the fork tender veal parm to the perfectly seasoned marinara. Its a lovely pizzaria with white linens on the tables — old world gem not to be missed.

Food was quite good. We ordered carry out and they said it would be about an hour because they were really busy… I said ok and showed up an hour later… No big deal… When I walked in though it took about 5 minutes before they had time to talk to me and then they said it would be about 5 to 10 minutes before my food was ready… Not ideal but ok… 25 minutes later it was 5 min and finally I got the food. It was really fresh and good but I’m pretty sure the freshness was because they hadn’t started cooking our food until I showed up…
The place is pretty small and not the most updated décor but the staff I did speak with were super nice…
What we ordered:
Fungi fettuccine in Marsala sauce and veal
Shrimp fra diavlo
Clams in white wine sauce over pasta.
The clams pasta was very simple and not the most flavor, but very good and light.
The shrimp fra diavlo was really good… Lots of shrimp and decent spice”. Not per spicy though.
The the fettuccini was really good… Great Marsala sauce.
I will try it again.

Very good pizza. Good quality and it’s a real family run business.

This place was a huge, excellent surprise.
Most pizza in Boston, as you may know, is pretty lackluster. As a transplanted NYer, it’s been a rough time finding good pizza around town (especially since Il Panino in Central Sq closed down). Luckily Francesca’s makes a superb pie, and they’re extremely friendly.
I also had the chance to try some of their pasta dishes recently and they were fantastic, both the eggplant parm and the pasta with veggies that we ordered were notably different in their preparation and were delicious.

Just moved into the neighborhood. Some of the best pizza I’ve had in my life.

Great ambiance family run authentic Italian restaurant. Very impressed with bongole and stuffed veal. Will definitely come back soon

GOOD FOOD BUT SLOW SERVICE
My kids and I waited an hour for our order!!! We ordered as soon as the waitress came to the table. About 50 minutes into the wait, I heard the waitress say to the kitchen, «Just send out anything that is ready.» Then, I had to go up to the counter to ask the host & waitress when the food was coming because they had not communicated anything to us about the issue.
Yes, it is a «mom & pop» restaurant (which I like). Yes, mistakes happen (which I understand). Yes, it was a busy night (but I did call beforehand to check they could accommodate us). All this is forgivable. What is unforgivable is that when they realized that they didn’t put our order in, they did not come tell me and bring something for the kids to eat. It took a while for the host to come apologize. Since I heard him apologizing a lot to other tables, it did not seem the apology was genuine. My son’s soup was the last item to arrive. How difficult is it to put soup in a bowl and bring it to the table?
The food was tasty and almost as good as my grandmother used to make. Pizza was fresh with a crispy crust, the right kind of mozzarella, nice sauce, and no grease. The pasta was perfectly al dente. My picky son really enjoyed the chicken soup.
I think that they have been in business for a while. So I don’t understand how they have not figured out basic principles of service. Whilst the food is better than average, I cannot recommend based on slow service and the feeling we were treated as an afterthought.

I unfortunatly had a very mediocre experience with the food here last satuday night. Service was great, both waitress and bus girl were excellent. Salad was very good. Appetizer was decent enough for garlic bread, it was a little over buttered but not to the point of it being a problem. We came into a substanial problem with the gnocchi, it was horrible. It tasted like it had spent a substantial amount of time in a freezer. «homemade» and paid 4 $ extra to get it with the chicken parm, red sauce was watery, chicken parm and gnocci were sitting in a puddle of water at the bottom of the plate. 23 $ for bad chicken parm? I am an avid eater of italian food and this was the worst entrée I have had in a while. I will try again 1 more time since this place is right down the street from my house and I will be happy to take this review down if they come out on top. I am pulling for you Francesca’s.

Tried this place as an alternative to Maria di Napoli. Pizza was good, neaploitan style, with a more complex sauce than at Maria’s. Haven’t had anything else on the menu yet. Reminded me of a little place I went to when I was in Cassino.

Every time I am near Francesca Pizzeria on Adam’s Street in the summer you can smell the fantastic food in the air. I finally decided to check it out since my friends who live in the area are moving and there isn’t really anything in Nonantum worth a trip for.
When we entered it was clear that this is a family owned and operated establishment. My experience has told me that family restaurants can be amazing or a complete train wreck. There were very few people there and I’ll admit I was a bit cautious.
Francesca’s didn’t disappoint however. We decided to try their pesto pizza made with olive oil, pine nuts, mozzarella, basil, Parmesan and Romano cheeses. Just the smell when it arrived at the table made my mouth water. The crust was perfectly crispy, light and flavorful and the pesto was as good as anything homemade.
Our waitress was friendly and accommodating and checked on us just enough to keep us happy without being a pest. She offered many suggestions on what to try and made us feel like part of the family. The interior is dated and could use some improvement but it was clean and neat. The tables were a little close together and when it filled up it was a bit difficult to navigate our way to the door but with food this good you expect to have a crowd.
I can’t wait to try something different next time and will be back soon.

It’s a nice little restaurant. Service was good overall. I was disappointed that the 2 dishes (chicken cacciatore & a breaded calamari) we tried to order were no longer available and there was no indication on the menu. The odd thing was there were other calamari dishes available.

Torn between 4 and 5 stars, so what the hey.
Great place for traditional, well made Italian food. It’s not super classy and it’s not too pricey. They just started accepting credit cards so that helps guarantee a return visit. Everything we had was really, really good, and the atmosphere was fun and romantic but maybe a touch too crowded. We got a takeout pizza a few weeks later and it didn’t look as good as the in-​store stuff, but it tasted great anyways. I could really taste the freshness in the pasta.

Old school. Tasty. Don’t go there if your in a rush. Local yocal place– but in a good way. Pizza was perfection.

My boyfriend and I wanted to try a new restaurant, and after reading the other reviews on Unilocal,decided to give this place a try. We should have gone elsewhere.
The décor and restaurant experience were seriously lacking. I felt like I was at my grandparent’s house. The service was non existent… almost as if we were putting the waitress out just in our being there. Horrible service.
The food was okay. My boyfriend’s meal was very good, but mine was far, far too salty. I could have really used a water to wash the salt down, but despite my asking for a water, I never got one.

After reading the reviews on Unilocal,I was ridiculously excited to try Francesca’s. It was good, but not the absolute best.
My husband and I split a large salad, which was kind of pricey at $ 10. I had the eggplant parmigiana, which was on the small side. It was two paper thin slices of eggplant, served with pasta. The eggplant was well-​cooked, but I didn’t love the sauce. It was also fairly expensive ($ 17) for what it is.
I like to leave an Italian restaurant vomit full (i.e. so full I feel like I’m going to vomit). Is that healthy? Absolutely not. But that’s just the way I roll. Because I was still hungry when I left Francesca’s I will probably not be back.

This tiny restaurant has been around for decades. It is owned and run by a local family. The atmosphere is intimate, the waitresses (part of the family) are friendly but with some Italian-​American attitude. The food is authentic Italian cooking like nonna used to make, but maybe better. Try the gnocchi amalfi. The prices are a little high, but the food is worth it.

This place was great. Went there a few nights ago… Waitress recommended the veal since that is what they are known for. I don’t think I’ve had anything better. The tiramisu was great too. Only drawback is the price but we knew that before going in… Seemed like most customers were regulars.

The epitomy of a village eatery. Nothing nearby, and primarily serving the immediate area. Yet you’ll find people that have made a treck to return, possibly they had lived closer at one time. Francesca, the owner’s daughter, is an absolute saint; providing excellent service for many years now. A visit here is like going to Nonna’s house for a family dinner. I can’t say that the food overall is the best around, but certainly it is the best within a fairly large vicinity. Francesca’s is dependable, consistent and never a dissapointment.
Try a carafe of the house red, and the «1000 herb foccaccia».

Real italian. None of that Olive Garden crap. It is located in an old Italian part of Newton. Sons of Italy is close by. You walk in and there are family photos on the wall. The first time I went, there was a man sitting at a table paying the guitar… turns out that was the owner! It is nicely decorated and a great place to take a date. White tablecloths and intimate. We had a caprese salad to start and it was awesome. Fresh hot bread came out with it. Since I hate Greek style pizza, I decided to go with ordering a straight-​up plain cheese pie. Man of man was it good. Real Italian pizza. For dessert we had the tiramisu, which is not like any other tiramisu I’ve had. It is made to order and could be the most delicious dessert EVER. Oh, it is a family owned place and if you go back frequently, it won’t take long for them to know you. A truly awesome place.
P. S. I’ve been back several times and have had more than the pizza, but I am always so tempted to just get pizza. But, the veal parm is da BOMB!

So cute and quaint. Perfect for a date night. Hell, even Al Gore ate there. Which, btw, is kinda surprising considering that this place looks like a whole lot of nothing from the outside. Hmmm?
Anyway, the meat sauce was great… and I never say that. It really had all the right components to make an amazingly tasty Italian sauce. I guess I should have expected that when dining in «da lake.» It has that NorthEnd feel and look without the price. I’ll be coming back. Oh, but beware… it is a Cash Only establishment with on-​street parking.