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    Le Gourmet Chef

    4.0 (1 review)

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    12 years ago

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    Francesco's Ristorante Italiano

    Francesco's Ristorante Italiano

    4.2(389 reviews)
    1.9 mi
    $$

    First, let me tell you little about myself and my wife. We are both retired. Travel extensively…read moredomestically and internationally. Where we travel to, we research the restaurants using various apps. Travel Advisor. Yelp. Google. DuckDuck. We check the number of reviews and what they say. In the reviews about the restaurant. Service. Food. Cleanliness. Quality. Price. After a check mark for each, we travel to the restaurant. Sometimes we check the time and the number of cars in the parking lot. If a few. We leave. If many. We stay. It's what we do. It works well for us. Not wealthy. Love bargains when we can find them. Get excited about a good deal: quality and price. While in Williamsburg, VA we researched and found Francisco's. The restaurant checked all the boxes for us. Not really an Italian food fan for a number of reasons. I'll explain later. The parking lot was full of cars. That was good. We were a little leery because the restaurant was in a strip center and looked very small. When we opened the first door, a woman opened a second door for us and we just knew we were in the right place. OMG! The smells! I wanted food then and there. The venue was small but full of people. Maybe 12 tables in the whole place. The majority against the wall with a few tables in the middle isle. Waiters and waitresses were flying all around. Food was everywhere. We were seated immediately and asked about our drinks. The food smells were killing me. I asked the waitress (Brie) about some of the dishes she brought out. She was direct and explained each dish. The menu's (yes, there were two. One with the specials and one normal). Both were pretty extensive. Also was handed the wine list. While we were looking at the menu, a man came by and explained the menu specials. He explained in such detail, I wanted all of it. We decided on the Arancini Piccolini to start and for our main course my wife and I would share an order of Buco Marsala (one of the specials). I also learned Francesco's had Barberra wine. OMG! I have rarely seen Barberra in a restaurant. BTW, it's not on the Wine list. The man who described the specials came out of the back and asked how we knew they had Barbara. I told him, the waiter Eness told us. I was curious about the shadow boxes in the walls with a bottle of wine in them. The bottles had signatures and a year written on them. One of them was a bottle of Barbera. It was explained to me people come in celebrating their special event (birthday, anniversary, etc). Ask for a bottle of wine. They sign an date it. Goes in the wall. He smiled. Picked out a bottle from the wine rack and proceeded to open it for us. Impressive! Again, we felt like we were at home. The Piccolini came out shortly after that with a side of tomato sauce. Plenty of Piccollini. They were delicious. Dunking each in the sauce and taking a bite. Repeat till gone. After the last one was eaten the Buco Marsala and garlic bread came. I could smell it before it hit the table. The pork was cooked to perfection. Fell off the bone. The pasta was thick and was homemade. Not boxed. The sauce boosted the pork to another level. Not heavy, but light. Again, bite, dip in the sauce. Eat. Repeat. The flavors "hand-shook" with each other. Next we placed an order for Italian Ameretto Disaronno. A delicious cake with liquor on the side. Again, bite. Eat. Drink. Repeat. During our entire meal, the young man, the waitress and waiter would stop by and ask "Any questions? Anything we can get for you? Do you need anything?" I wanted to say, "Stop! This is too much!" But, I didn't. lol. Give me more. After dinner, my wife and I spoke to the young man (Vinnie). Turned out to be the son of owner, Francisco. He asked me about the food. I told him all three courses caused us to have a food-gasm. A few more things. They also serve spaghetti and pizza. Remember I mentioned earlier I wasn't a fan of Italian food? The reason is two-fold. I usually end up getting a red sauce that gives me heart burn and pasta that's been sitting out for a while. Not the case here. We read the reviews online for Francisco's. Many of them gave the restaurant a low rating for such things as bad tasting food. Very poor service. High prices. Phffffft! People!!! These reviews were from two to four years ago. I wasn't around then, but I can tell you the restaurant is far from bad food and poor service now. Bravo to Francisco's (Francisco, Vinnie, Eness, Brie and the entire staff). Roba fantastica!!

    The food was very delicious, the service caring and genuine, and ambiance very pleasant. The…read moreresturant is not huge and would maybe having reservations or getting there early. This was a great find in my family's opinion.

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    Francesco's Ristorante Italiano - Seating area

    Seating area

    Francesco's Ristorante Italiano - B

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    Francesco's Ristorante Italiano - Interior

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    Interior

    Le Gourmet Chef - gourmet - Updated May 2026

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