Punta Arenas: Pizzeria Francesco (March 2017)

Punta Arenas: Pizzeria Francesco - Lots of Fancy Pizza Varieties and Sizes Baked in Their Wood-Fired Oven
My spouse and I dined at Pizzeria Francesco for dinner on a Thursday evening in late March 2017. En route from our nearby hotel Cabo de Hornos to the grocery store, the wood-burning pizza oven positioned in the window of this restaurant caught our attention, and we returned to dine later in the evening. Note that the staff speaks no English, nor is an English menu available. Although we are not Spanish-speakers, we were able to communicate adequately with the staff.
You can dine at an ivory-padded booth or at a wooden table and chairs (with matching ivory cushions) in this busy restaurant that has a fancy tile-covered pizza oven and chef’s counter in the front and a service bar with a glass-fronted dessert case in the rear. The rear wall and the ceiling are wood-paneled also. Framed prints decorate a side wall, many of which contain Spanish versions of commonplace motivational expressions (we enjoyed trying to make the translation). The opposite wall contains colorful chalk sketches on a blackboard-painted surface mounted on a bright-red wall. The chalkboard wall also offers a narrow wooden counter mounted as a bar rail where you can dine while seated on tall stools.
Pizzeria Francesco, as its name implies, serves an incredibly wide variety of artisanal pizzas in several different sizes. We split a large pizza, debating over the size and the ingredients, most of whose Spanish names were completely unfamiliar to us. When one particular word on the menu was foreign to us, our waitress took the initiative to walk over to the chef’s counter and bring back a sample so that we understood. (FYI, “rucola” means “arugula” in Spanish.) Our pizza was filling, and our waitress wrapped the leftovers for us to take back to our hotel. Fortunately, we saved room for one of the yummy desserts, which presented layered ingredients in glass mason jars tied with a ribbon. Alcohol is served, so you can enjoy a drink with your pizza. Credit cards are accepted as payment.
We enjoyed our dinner at Pizzeria Francesco: fair prices, generous portions, helpful staff, and a pleasant atmosphere.











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