I’ve come here so many times and it’s always a fantastic experience! the Mac and cheese balls are honestly the best savoury thing on the menu and I order them every single time I come! Drinks are fabulous and such a great variety, and the staff are always friendly and attentive.
It was a Monday afternoon visit for us in Takapuna. We are regular visitor of the places around. This time we thought of stopping at Francs. Highly disappointed with the service and food. Had to eat chicken wings by hand as no cutlery offered. No water given too, has to ask for it. Requested to give serviettes many times. Completely felt ignored. The food is awful too. Was a total waste of time and money. Will never return back.
Went there yesterday ( regular Sunday) around 5pm for a drink under the sun ( beautiful day by the beach). Two of us walked in no one greeted or even noticed our existence. We proceeded to walking to the outside porch area and found ourselfes a table. While no one seemed to come out for service I decided to go bathroom told my friend what I wanted to drink. By the time I came back 5 mins later, friend still waiting for service. Friend pointed to the signage on a black board " Please let us know you are here". It's a bit different from any other bars and restaurants but ok fair enough. I decided to go to the bar myself to grab the menu and bring back. I told the waitress we sitting outside. She came with no menus. She grabbed a menu from the next table which the patrons seem to be engaging in and said,' can I take that? Ill bring u one". We placed the order. I asked her between the Brancott Brut( have tasted) and prosecco ( haven't tasted the one they stock) which one is drier and less sweet. She told me definitely the brut. That's fine I went with her recommendation. Most places will likely give me a taste and let me decide. We waited for a good 15mins no drinks arrived, we waved the same waitress down and enquired. She went to check and came back within seconds of the drinks. I immediately noticed the glass of bubbles is a slight pink in colour, I questioned her ,"why is it pink? I didn't order the Brancott sparkling rose.' which is the other Brancott they had on the menu. She insisted it is the brut. One taste I knew it was the rose. I am a bubbly aficionado and I think the difference of a brut cuvee and sparkling rose is pretty obvious. Knowing how much of a mission to get any service I decided to let it go. We then ordered our 2nd drinks, knowing the confusion first time I opted for a Sav. 15 mins later, no drinks came. We asked her again ( she seems to be the only waitress serving), she knew why we hailed her down. Again within seconds the drinks came, this time as she placed the drinks she mumbled a 'sorry', for the first time. We finished the drinks and clearly no wish to stay any longer, we proceeded to pay. I looked around it seems only 3 staff on the floor, one at bar pouring drinks, our waitress and one taking payments. We told him where we were sitting and what we had, he looked on the computer screen and said it's frozen, he manually calculated the charges and we paid. It is really disappointing customer experience every step of the visit. It is clearly the place is short staff ( not particularly busy) and the staff ( at least the waitress we had, seemed to be the only waitress working) didn't care. Having had a quick read of the rewviews here it seem all other '1-3' reviews were all let down due to the poor service. Clearly it is an ongoing issue. Will not be returning specially when there are quite a few along the waterfront to choose from. I hope this helps other patrons to be aware when making their choices.