Osteria Francescan - Modena, Italy - who has eaten there?

I believe its Abita that has eaten there, could be wrong

We put it as 1a/1b best meal of our lives with Eleven Madison. I would do the tasting and pairing for sure. I recall the parm five ways dish they are famous for, but our favorite was an Eel swims up the Po (eel with two sauces from different regions along the Po River). It's a dish we would not have ordered off a menu, but we still talk about it.

I would definitely arrive to Modena early for a drink/stroll. The town is very beautiful.

And don’t forget the oops I dropped the lemon tarte for dessert.

I made a post about my meal back when we went with photos, but I think the photos have since expired.

I have eaten eel many times. We had it all over Japan. At Kikunoi (another 3 star michelin), the flavors were very pronounced (texture was even challenging)...we still enjoyed it, but it was definitely more aggressive on letting the particular eel taste drive the dish. I say that because francescana's eel was more muted with the sauces. It was a better texture too. We talk about that eel dish still.

My point is...if there is a place to try it, it's at Francescana.

Well, American Airlines screwed up the first day of my Italy trip. DFW to London flight was delayed an hour, causing us to miss our connection to Bologna. We were supposed to arrive in Bologna at noon today. They rebooked us to leave at 6:30 p.m. tonight, meaning we won't get to Bologna until 9:45 p.m., too late for our reservation at 8 p.m. I just had to call the restaurant and cancel. Did I say that I hate American Airlines? 350 people from our flight are all scrambling to make new connections. Did I say that I hate Heathrow? We landed an hour and a half before our flight, but by the time we taxied and got off the plane and then took the shuttle to Terminal 5, we still had 40 minutes before our flight, but British Airways said we couldn't get through security in time, so they cancelled our boarding pass and we missed our flight. May get to eat at this Restaurant the next time we are in Italy, but hate missing it this trip.

Yeah, lesson learned to never book something like this on an international travel day. We'd be so wiped out from traveling anyway that I don't think we'd truly appreciate the meal.

Sorry the OP didn't get to experience the restaurant.

Gotcha. I tried to book 6 months out last week and nothing was available. Hope you get to Bologna soon!