Eating on my own doorstep for a change (Frankie and Benny's (Guildford))

Member Name: larsbaby

Product:	Frankie and Benny's (Guildford)
Date:	10/02/09 (212 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice food, good service, fair prices

Disadvantages: Rather generic, probably not the freshest of ingredients

INTRODUCTION

Well I've reviewed eateries around the world so I guess it's high time I took a look at my own manor. Perhaps not as glamorous as Vancouver, or as homely as Breda, but Guildford does provide me with a base between forays abroad.

Tiring of our overpriced work canteen, I thought I'd try the restaurant more or less next door to our office along with a couple of my colleagues. As time has gone on, the prices have rocketed as the quality of the food has gone drastically downhill. What was once a decent selection of dishes has been replaces by 2 main dish options if you're lucky, one of them probably being straight from the freezer. I've resorted to bringing my own food in, much healthier and a lot cheaper to boot, but occasionally I get bored of this and this is where Frankie and Benny's came in.

FRANKIE AND BENNY'S

These chains love to put a bit of historical blurb on their websites don't they? Apparently Frankie Guilliani was 10 when he left Sicily with his parents for New York in 1924. Moving in with relatives in Little Italy, he found work and eventually his family opened a restaurant. Mommas home style cooking was the base of the business. Frankie met Benny at school and when Poppa retired, they both took over the business. The rest is history (and a lucrative franchise).

THE RESTAURANT

A brief history of our salubrious restaurant location. The land where Frankie & Benny's resided used to be a Hyundai garage and was left derelict for some time, until Travel Lodge decided this was a good spot to build a hotel a couple of years ago. The front part facing the main road remained derelict for another year or so, until this summer the restaurant sprang up from apparently nowhere, recently followed by a gym upstairs. Located about a 20 minute walk from Guildford train station, near to the A3 and a couple of retail and business parks, the location is a perhaps a little odd, although across the road is a pub and a lot of housing so perhaps this is the market they are after, as well as hotel guests and punters from the business parks looking for a change from the work canteen, such as me.

The feel of the place is, unsurprisingly, what I would describe as period American-Italian diner. The wooden flooring and wooden tables with a black granite effect laminate top lend to this, along with the pictures lining the walls of what I can only assume to be old time American celebrities. Seating came in the form of either dark wooden chairs with cream leather seats, or booths with wooden benches covered with red leather seats. We were sat in a booth and I found the seating to be very comfortable. Another interesting feature was the writing on the top of the beams on the ceiling, denoting dishes in art-deco lettering such as Pizza, Ciabatta and Caesar Salad, which could be construed as quite tacky but which I actually quite liked. Quiet music played which I couldn't quite make out, but I think it was some kind of easy listening.

To the left of the entrance is the bar, which has some seating along with more pictures on the beams and behind the bar, and a fair array of optics. There was also a couple of glass cabinets packed with bottles of wine. I saw a couple of people site on raised seats eating in this area. To the right of the entrance, at the back of the restaurant, was the kitchen, which you could see fairly clearly. I watched the chefs go about their business and I could see when some of the orders were ready, which was quite interesting, along with one flambé which was very interesting. To the front of the kitchen were some busts of men, I have no idea who they could be.
The cutlery, laid out neatly with a red napkin, was impressively clean. One of my friends noticed that each table was quickly cleaned for the next diners once it had been vacated.

THE MENU

The menu is split into several sections. It's pretty long so brace yourselves.

The brunch menu includes traditional breakfast, vegetarian breakfast, steak and eggs, American pancakes and English muffin. Interestingly, the brunch menu is different for Scotland. Or is it? It just seems to have replaced "English muffin" with "toasted muffin"!

The lunch menu consists of appetisers such as soup of the day, mozzarella and tomato salad, bruchetta and crispy coated chicken strips. Pasta and al forno includes penne Arrabbiata, meatballs with spaghetti and penne Alfredo. Pizza includes margherita, American hot, Californian and Calzone.

House specialities seem to be mostly junk food such as BLT sandwich, hamburger, sausage and mash and fish and chips, although there is a chicken Caesar salad in there. Desserts include ice cream, cinnamon waffle crunch and cherry crumble.

The Main menu is split into several sections, some of them including dishes from the lunch menu. Breads are flavoured garlic pizza breads and olives. Appetisers include all from the lunch menu plus chicken wings, prawn cocktail and tiger prawns. Family Platters include a sampler platter of the starters, chicken wings and family skins combo. Pasta El Forno again uses some of the lunch menu plus other dishes such as spaghetti carbonara, pasta marinara and lasagne. Same goes for Pizza; Hawaiian, BBQ chicken, New York Deli and half and half for sharing. Calzone has three options; chicken, mushroom and goat's cheese and meatball. House specialities include chicken dinner, scampi and pesto salmon. House steaks include sirloin, rump, lamb and a mixed grill platter. Burgers include classic hamburger, Cajun black and blue burger, vegetarian burger and black pepper mayo burger. Sandwiches include steak ciabatta sandwich and meatball sub. Salads include club and Cajun chicken Caesar. Side orders include coleslaw, olives, salads, herb potatoes, mixed vegetables, house fries and, rather oddly, a fried egg.

The kids menu includes spaghetti bolognaise, chicken strips, ham and cheese toastie, hamburger and fish fingers. A twist on this in the junior menu which includes dessert and unlimited soft drinks. This is a bit different, focusing more on burgers, BBQ chicken, hotdog and fish and chips. Kids desserts include ice cream, bananas and custard and fruit salad.

Finally the desserts menu includes vanilla, chocolate trio or banana cheesecake, tiramisu, chocolate orange profiterole, and brownies and ice cream.

THE SERVICE

We arrived about 12:20 pm on a Friday, and the place was about half full when we arrived, but as time went on trade picked up considerably and the place was brimming by about 1 pm. Our drinks order was taken about 10 minutes later and served 5 minutes after this, although there seemed to be an error and it took another 5 minutes to get the right ones. At this point our food order was taken and the starters arrived 10 minutes later. Our mains arrived about 25 minutes after this, and we finally left about 1.30 pm. We found service to be polite and efficient. The staff had a good-natured attitude and gave service with a smile, seemingly listening carefully to our requests. The timing was fine when accounting for the fact that the place was very busy, so I have no issues there. It was interesting to note though that the kitchen seemed to be correctly dimensioned for this rush but there weren't enough waiting staff to cope.

THE FOOD

Three of us were dining and two of us ordered starters whereas all three of us ordered a main course from the lunch menu.

I ordered Frankie's Fried Calamari which was perhaps risky as having dined many times with fresh seafood expert Barcelona Boy in the Netherlands, I would have very high standards. I therefore wasn't surprised to find that it was probably from the freezer, although it was well seasoned in a breadcrumb coating and decently crispy without being at all oily, the calamari itself being a decent chewable texture, although not particularly flavoursome itself. Some grated parmesan cheese was sprinkled over the top, which I've never seen before but it wasn't a bad idea. The tomato relish served on the side was pleasantly sweet and was a good dipping sauce for it

One of the others ordered Loaded Potato Skins which were apparently nice, with the bacon bits being quite sizeable, which he was impressed by. He had a choice of toppings to accompany cheddar cheese, from crispy bacon, fresh chives or BBQ sauce with red onion. They looked perhaps a little dry and overcooked but the diner had no such complaints so fair enough!
Of note was the fact that these were both decent sized portions for starters and thus represented excellent value for money.

My main course was the Classic Hamburger, with cheese added at no extra charge. The burger itself was very thick and quite sizeable, served in a bun with some lettuce, mayo, tomato and red onion. The fries were crispy, decently cooked and not at all greasy.

I found the burger to have a good flavour and texture. My only slight gripe would be with the sweet tomato relish on the side, far too sweet for my taste and I contented myself with some tomato ketchup on the side.
Chicken Penne Romana was chosen by one of the others and this was a mild dish, with tomato sauce, chicken breast strips, spicy pepperoni and pancetta bacon bits. This dish was hot when arriving but not scorching. It apparently tasted of pasta being freshly cooked and not just reheated, the ingredients tasting as if the chef had added them freshly. The deep red colour of the tomato sauce complimented the dish, and the basil lent something to the taste. The seasoning was sufficient but not overwhelming.

My friend was the most sceptical of our group before we went there, and he was very impressed with this dish (he was the one who skipped the starter), not least with the size of it, which he considered generous, leaving no room for dessert, and he didn't even have a starter!

My other friend ordered the Californian pizza, which had creamy goats cheese, and a good combination of toppings; fresh tomato, mixed peppers, mushrooms and red onion with mozzarella on a tomato and pesto base. The thin base had a decent flavour to it and again the portion size was excellent.

CONCLUSION

At about £27 between us, I found Frankie and Benny's to be excellent value for money when considering the quantity and quality of food; we were all certainly full up afterwards. The service was friendly and the atmosphere was convivial. I would certainly recommend this place for a treat yourself midweek lunch, where you have to pop in and out. It obviously isn't Michelin grade food but it does its job well for where it's placed in the market and is acceptable enough for me. We had heard not so good reports so for us this was a pleasant surprise.

CONTACT DETAILS

Frankie & Bennys, Guildford
Unit 3, Woodbridge Meadows
Woodbridge Road
Guildford
GU1 1BD
Tel: 01483 307310

Food Served:
Monday-Saturday 10am-11pm
Sunday 10am-10:30pm
Website : http://www.frankieandbennys.com

Summary: Five stars for what it is