Signor Franco

5a High Street, Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN1 1UL 01892 549199

Walking down the High Street on a Wednesday night, and we were getting increasingly worried. Strada: packed to the gills. Wagamama: packed to the gills. Carluccio's: packed to the gills. Everywhere: packed to the gills! All of Tunbridge Wells, eating out, all at the same time. We KNEW we should have booked ahead at Signor Franco's!! However, despite the fact they've always struggled to accommodate us on previous outings, on this occasion, there was NOBODY in there! Why on earth would that be? As the evening, and the final bill unfolded, all was revealed.
Hit-and-miss starters: my seafood tagliolini was stunning, but my wife's calamari in salsa verde, although a winner in concept, was just a wee bit "over" and she spent the starter pulling faces at the thumb prints round the rim of her plate. Mains were absolutely great. I had a beautiful sirloin steak cooked in Barolo - the best steak I've had in town, and my wife had a beautifully cooked bream. But get this: that is all we had. So mine was just a slab of meat on a plate. Nowt else. If we HAD gone for sides, it would have pushed the cost of our mains well over the twenty quid mark, and, I'm sorry, I know Barolo is a pricey way to make a sauce but that's still taking the preverbials. Good but overpriced is forgivable; we were heading for a 3 star score, maybe a 3.5, and then the puddings came and we were soon shedding stars like nobody's business. Squirty cream and a mass of something so indescribably bad I cannot even think of something on this earth it resembled, was billed as "profiteroles". Wife's orange liqueur thing was okay, though.
On balance, more hit than miss, but certainly nowhere near worth £111; a good proportion of this was due to us being perpetually plied with wine by the over-attentive waiters, even being refilled when there was no refilling to be done. There's not really that much reason why you would fork out that much money to come here when you can get reliable, fresh and tasty food down the road at Strada for a fraction of the price.
I'm just reading a piece in the Guardian about how many prestige restaurants in the capital are offering special deals to try to beat the credit crunch, and our own Thackeray's is tempting us out of our frugality with a rather alluring mid-week meal deal (my next blog I imagine). Please watch and learn, Signor Franco, because the chains down the road are whipping your ass and this is a great pity.

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Comments

[James]

I kind of feel you've been a bit harsh with this one... especially your comparison to Strada! We've only been to Signor Franco twice in the 4 or so years we've been in TW, but both times we've thoroughly enjoyed it. We last went to Signor Franco just before Christmas and had a delightful meal - yes it is more pricey than the chain places (but then it would be wouldn't it? They're buying in bulk and churning things out with fairly low overheads) but the atmosphere was great and the food delicious. Yes, maybe they should be doing some mid-week offers and yes, I think you might have had a bum-deal with the squirty cream pud, but I'd definately say to people to give it a go - the setting in the little greenhouse bit looking over the High Street is good enough in itself!

[Anke]

Thanks for a very valued comment, James. This is what makes the reviews here so helpful. Thanks hugely for taking the time to comment.
Does anyone else think we need to go again?

[Graham]

Anke's experience of SF sounds familiar to me, so I think it's unfair to call it harsh.

I've been to Franco's 5 times in the last six years and the last two were particularly disappointing in their inconsistency.

The best things about a visit are listening to Franco, or his right hand man, wax lyrical about the specials and also to sit in the area that James mentioned, gazing through those beautiful windows that once graced the Hever Castle orangery.

In my opinion they do meat very well, fish very poorly and the desserts are patchy at best.

[Adam Filkins]

i have to say i was slightly suprized to find a negative comment about signor franco's restaurant.
My wife and i have been there about 10 times in the last 4 years and it has always been perfect everytime.
Yes i know it is more expensive than some of the local chains and admittedly the fish is not always as good as it should be but the pasta and meat dishes are always exceptional, the service is exceptional and while some people might find this too attentive for there liking it is for me one of the reasons i go there.
If you had a bad experience there i think it may have been bad luck as my fillet rossini was perfect and the sepia spaghetti delicious, I had the carpaccio to start and it was served with homemade horseradish sauce and large shavngs of parmesan while my wife had the most delicious looking prawns (so big they resembled young lobsters).
The crespolina and the semi fredo for desert where perfect and i finished off with a 7 year oak aged grappa that was again exceptional.
I realy do urge you to give Signor Franco's a second chance if you felt it was bad the first time but how you could compare the food to Strada is surprizing as i certainly wouldn't rate the food or service in there.

[Anke]

Thanks for your great comment, Adam.
We have been to SFs a few times, and to be honest were underwhelmed most of time. We really appreciate you taking the time to read the blog and especially for leaving great feedback like this.
Does anyone else agree with Adam?

[Rachel]

Have to say, my husband and I (and everyone we've taken there) have always had lovely food and - just as important - a great experience at Signor Franco's... so much so that when the in-laws come to town, it's their first choice for dinner! We're going back this week, so will report again if it's disappointing... but to us it's a classic, classy restaurant with old-fashioned service and proper Italian career cooks and waiters, without the showy, sometimes over-formal (try-hard?) style of, say, Thackeray's. Which is not to do down Thackeray's - we loved our one meal there too - but Franco's is a darn sight more relaxed. They very sweetly do a complimentary Tiramisu on a 'happy birthday' chocolate-scripted plate if it's a special occasion, delivered to the strains of piped 'happy birthday' music - cheesy but charming, and got the conversation going across several tables as we worked out whose birthday it was this time! I'd recommend it very highly - higher than Hotel du Vin, say. Worth nudging it up a star at least...