Franco's Italian Bistro Catonsville

Franco's was great! The homemade ice cream was beyond delicious. I have a hard time eating out and actually having an enjoyable experience as I have celiacs. But Franco's actually offers several options that are gluten free! The homemade gluten free gnocchi were so good it brought me back to my days in CT as a little girl in our family friends restaurant. Definitely a 10 out of 10 experience.

Ordered the white pizza with meatballs, calamari & chicken parm sandwich. The 🍕 was 9 of 10. The 🔥 in that oven really does a great job on the crust. I didn’t taste the 🐔 parm but the person that ordered it really liked it. They said it was probably 8.5 of 10 but they didn’t really care for the fries. They rated the calamari 8.5 of 10 but I rated it 5.5 of 10. The marinara and portion size was good but I feel like it could use more seasoning. We sat at the bar and enjoyed talking with the friendly staff. We got in about 4:30 or so which is the ideal time because we were able to get seated quickly. The restaurant started to fill up as we were leaving. I’ll definitely be back to try some of the other dishes and definitely some of the other 🍕 🍕.

Franco's is a really nice Italian bistro, offering a good amount of menu items at decent prices. The restaurant has a good atmosphere and was well kept, the pizza oven was really cool. The entrees we ordered were fresh and tasty. There were a few issues we had however despite the good food we did receive. First, the service here was sub par, the waiter hardly stopped by the table and our dinner experience was long and lasted over 2 hours. Some of the staff seemed to just be hanging out around the bar most of the time, even with a full dining room. We did not get many refills on our drinks and we did not receive bread until we asked for it, an hour into our meal. Additionally the bread we received tasted stale which was so disappointing given that olive oil for the bread was good. We will come back again for the good food, hopefully the service will be better.

Really cute casual restaurant with delicious food. They have pretty good serving sizes. My vodka pasta with angel hair was a “whole” size and it came with so much. The calamari had a super delicious sauce and I liked the cuts. The mushroom pizza was Ugh so so good definitely will get that again. Rich flavor piled with arugula is my kind of pizza. Eating the leftovers writing this review.

We’ve eaten here several times, and always enjoy it. I think it makes a great outing for a couple that wants to grab a drink and a slice of pizza or have some great local Italian food. Family dining is also possible. It’s in the heart of Catonsville, on the main street, so the nearby shops offer good continuity and ambience of an enjoyable small town experience. Food: everything tastes fantastic, but often times I have to drink water for hours after eating here because of how salty everything is. It’s not a bad thing, but if you have a sensitivity to salt make sure to ask for low sodium options. Service: the staff are attentive, and upbeat but usually very busy because of the volume of traffic at the bar. It can take several minutes at times to get refills of water, or to ask for items. Atmosphere: Tables are somewhat cramped, but usable. There’s hardly anywhere to stand during inclement weather, while waiting for a table, except at the entrance (which is a small room that you have to share with incoming/outgoing patrons). Restroom access is at the rear of the restaurant, but you have to navigate around the corner which is right next to the kitchen and service carts at times or the flow from the kitchen into the dining room. Because parking is difficult in this location, you can’t wait in your car to then simply come inside unless you’re lucky enough to get one of the paid meter parking spots directly in front of the restaurant.

The service was excellent! The energy in the atmosphere was on point. I ordered Rigatoni Pasta in Vodka Sauce with a side of garlic bread and it was phenomenal. The garlic bread was some of the best we have ever had (shout out to the chef)! My partner had the Meat Lasagna with a side of garlic bread and a Long Island. Thank you Josh for being a great server and making my birthday dinner amazing by providing top notch service.