Francesca's Bistro

Oh, my Gawd! This guy is a total psycho baby-hater. Don't go. Don't ever go...

I live in Mt. Kisco with my wife and our 3 kids, and we eat out with the kids regularly. The first time we went to this restaurant, it was just my wife, me, and our 5 month old daughter. It was 5:15 on a Wednesday. When we got there, one table was sat, in a dining room that probably seats ~100+. The hostess, for no apparent reason, escorted us to the last table in the back, on the banquet, next to a storage closet. I asked if we could sit up front -- near the window... that whole natural light thing.

They actually gave us a hard time. In the end, I basically sat down at the table I wanted. While we were eating, I was holding my daughter, so, naturally, I had my chair pulled away from the table slightly, and turned a bit, so I could still eat while holding her.
The [Host? Owner? don't really know] came over and asked me to pull my chair in, saying that he couldn't "sell" the table next to us, because, apparently, I was crowding it... I obliged, expecting him to escort a party to the table at that moment.

Turns out., there was no other party. He didn't have anyone to sit there. He was just being a total psycho.

In the end, the food was unremarkable, save for a calamari appetizer they had, that was really good -- and not breaded / fried, which was appealing as we're doing the South Beach diet -- a modified low-carb thing...

So, tonight, we went back -- I had a taste for that Calamari appetizer. This time we were all there... all 5 of us. And, again, they walked us to the back corner. Only tonight, it was only 5:00, and there was NO ONE in the restaurant. NO ONE. I'm not kidding...

I told the hostess that I wasn't willing to sit in the corner in the back. And, then that same psycho host / owner / whoever the f**k comes over, and states -- EXPLICITLY -- that he has a policy of not seating babies in the front of the restaurant.

That's right -- he doesn't seat babies in the front of the restaurant. He said, "It gets crowded; it's dangerous; things happen..." When confronted (by me) with the notion that that was an absolutely absurd policy -- and that we were leaving -- he stuck to his guns, saying, "I have a policy, and I have to stick to it. "

Needless to say, we left, and went to La Famiglia in Katonah -- a GREAT place, by the way. And, I promised myself I'd let the immediate world know what a real live psycho that guy is...

He's got a pizza / pasta restaurant in Bedford Hills, on the border of Mt. Kisco -- voted the most family-friendly town in all of Westchester -- and he doesn't seat families with babies in the front of his restaurant.

And, here's the real kicker -- this restaurant used to be across the street, in the Shop Rite shopping center. Its' former name? Pizza & Brew. And he has the chutzpah to force families with small children to move to the rear of the bus?!?! I don't THINK so...

Don't go... Don't ever go... This guy doesn't deserve to sell one side order of penne... He should pack his things and move to an over-55 community in Sunrise, Florida, where kids are not allowed at all.
No place for this kind of neurosis / psychosis / egocentricity / irrationality / etc. any where near Westchester, the land where people move to BECAUSE THEY HAVE A FAMILY...

Francesca's: May your restaurant be a thing of the past -- some time in the very near future. And, may a more deserving restaurateur, intent on serving his / her community, be given an opportunity to do so... Good bye, and good riddens...