[golferling]

Went last night. was seated at 6:30 promptly…the one good thing. Waitress, unfriendly,took our drink order, then immediately wanted our food order.
Our table ordered 2 pizzas and an order of chicken marsala, as there were three of us. Also ordered a side salad. Side salad came with about 6 pieces of lettuce, one half of a grape tomato, and a sliver of onion..$2.25. Our waitress did not give us a choice of dressings, just brought Italian on the side. When pizzas came, it was not the ingredients that we ordered. Had waited about 40 minutes then, did not want them to start from scratch. Pizzas nothing special, except, just like most pizzas from this area, they were practically sauceless..tomato sauce must be very expensive now. Consensus…would not bother to go back. a 10 inch pizza, side salad, and an iced tea was $16. and change, not to mention the unearned tip we left for the waitress.

[gomoho]

So I guess it's a good think I've never heard of this restaurant!

[Bonny]

The restaurant used to be Taverna Red in Bailey Plaza on 441.

[BarryRX]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I haven't been there, but there are two reviews on the place on the gourmet clubs website and they are both favorable. No reviews on Yelp yet.

[Bonny]

I had some friends that went and loved it. They posted pictures of there food on FaceBook. Looked delicious.

[jhrc4]

The joint is owned by Pasta Faire, basically the same as Taverna Red...new name same " Joint " . Yet another disaster in the making...The beat goes on, and on, and.....ON

[Bonny]

The owners do have a new partner.

[xkeowner]

For clarity the correct name is Francesco's Ristorante.

Our favorite Italian restaurant is called Francesca's Trattoria which is located in Gainsville and features Northern Italian style dishes. Yes it is a drive but we think it is worth it occasionally.

[rubicon]

Why is it that the better restaurants are some distance from The Villages?

[NottaVillager]

Since they just opened maybe we should give them a little slack to work the bugs out.

[Futurevillager2013]

I just went there tonight. I ordered the New Yorker pizza. It didn't come out the way I ordered it but the waitress was very nice and said it would take another 4 minutes to prepare a new one. Sent it back and the right one came back and it was delicious. My husband ordered veal parmigiana and he thought it was good but not the best he ever had. I would go back because I like the atmosphere, service and food. Last time I ordered chicken cutlet parmigiana and was able to cut it with a fork. I will be a repeat customer.

[jackz]

Went this past week with a club from TV with over 50 people and had our own room. They limited our selections to 4 or 5, which was understandable.

Someone mentioned the salad. It was almost nonexistent. A few tired looking iceberg lettuce leaves, a piece of tomato and two small pieces of onion. My mahi mahi was so dry it was almost uneatable and burned on the bottom with a hard crust. Our pizza was overpriced and was small enough to be confused with an individual pan pizza. Bottom line, 1 and done. We will not return.

[perrjojo]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Why is it that the better restaurants are some distance from The Villages?

Cuz many on a fixed income aren't willing to pay the price. You get what you pay for, I guess.

[coolparrot]

We went with a party of 12 with a reservation. Everyone agreed that the food was good. The service was good only after we complained. When we arrived the waitress took our drink order. we got our drinks and didn't see her again for more than an hour. When we asked her why she said she had customers in the other room that had to be serviced and paid before she could service our table.... Something is very wrong with that picture. When the owner came to our table at the end of the meal, he was told that we were very disappointed he said nothing!!! I hope that they get their act together soon. Most of the people at our were reluctant to go back. Our party of 12 goes out once a week if the service was good we certainly would have gone back.

[DougB]

Originally Posted by Bonny

I had some friends that went and loved it. They posted pictures of there food on FaceBook. Looked delicious.

How are the bartenders?