The Perfect Venue For A Casual Meal (Frankie & Benny's)

Member Name: FourPaws

Product:	Frankie & Benny's
Date:	30/06/09 (297 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tasty food, brilliant service & polite staff, great value, clean restaurant, relaxing atmosphere

Disadvantages: Limited vegetarian options

Having just returned from a lovely meal out, once again I am going to venture out of my usual comfort zone of reviewing pet related items and attempt to tell you a bit about the meal in question!

With the weather so warm today, quite frankly, I just couldn't be bothered with cooking, but both me and Jason were starving and fancied something along the lines of pizza- yes, I was being so lazy I couldn't even shove a frozen pizza in the oven! However not wanting to venture into town so close to rush hour, we were just about to reach for the take out pizza menu when we remembered the new Frankie & Benny's Restaurant that had opened only recently in our area. So we called our friends, Izzy & Carl, asking if they would like to join us, and that was settled, it was dinner at F&B's this afternoon.

* This review will be based on the Colchester branch *

- ARRIVING -
We arrived at the restaurant at around 3pm and the place was rather empty, finding car parking spaces relatively close to the restaurant was easy and they were both in the shade, which was a huge bonus on a hot day like today. From the outside, the restaurant looked lovely and clean and very appealing- there were several tables outside however as the restaurant is situated on a somewhat busy road, we decided we would eat inside on this occasion.

Upon entering, we discovered the inside of the restaurant was just as lovely as the outside. We were immediately greeted by an extremely polite (and, well, absolutely gorgeous!) waiter and shown to our table. I have to admit, we were quite fussy- wanting a table not too close to the door and also not too close to the kitchen but the waiter was fantastic and nothing was too much trouble, offering us a selection of tables to choose from. I'm not sure whether this would happen on busier days, but even so, it was nice to be able to choose where we sat and once we had a table the four of us were happy with, we were left with the menus and asked if we would like any drinks. Myself and Izzy opted for a coke as we were both driving, whilst the men had a beer each and these were delivered to our table swiftly and correctly, as Izzy had asked for no ice and I prefer coke with extra lemon.

- ORDERING -
Browsing through the menu, we all decided to eat from the lunch menu which is available 11am to 5pm on weekdays only and has three options. Firstly, you can choose 1 course for £5.95, 2 courses for £7.25 or finally, 3 courses for £8.45. Being the pigs we are, we all opted for the 3 course deal, which allowed us an appetizer, a main course and a dessert each.

The lunch menu had a reasonable selection in which to choose from. Myself and Jason are vegetarians so we did find the options for us somewhat limited and annoyingly, there was no symbols on the menu to state what was vegetarian and what wasn't so we had to have a good look through the descriptions of the dishes we fancied to see if they contained any meat. For our meat eating friends however, there was plenty of selection and we all found something we liked with ease.

I opted for the Mushroom Alfredo, which is garlic button mushrooms served in a cheese sauce with a slice or garlic ciabatta. Jason went for the Soup of the Day, which today was carrot and coriander and finally, Izzy and Carl both settled on Loaded Potato Skins, which were filled with with cheese, bacon and red onion. Our Mr Gorgeous Waiter then returned to take our food order and offered us drink top ups.

- STARTERS -
The restaurant wasn't very busy at all, with only us four and another two or so couples there so our food was delivered very quickly. What I like about Frankie & Benny's restaurants is the fact that you can see all the food being cooked and prepared in the kitchen, so you know for sure that all the food is fresh and you can see that the kitchens are lovely and clean.

Our appetizers were brought to us after about 5 minutes and all four were brought at once, which was nice. As I mentioned earlier, I opted for the Mushroom Alfredo and I have to say, it was gorgeous! I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms, infact I've only really started eating them in last couple of months but it was the only appetizer I particularly fancied. I'm very glad I did choose it however, the mushrooms were lovely, very small, full of taste and cooked to perfection, the cheese sauce admittedly was a little bland but the copious amounts of melted mozzarella drizzled over the top more than made up for it! The garlic ciabatta was nice too, although a bit too greasy for my liking and wasn't piping hot.

I had a small taste of the soup Jason ordered and that was also very nice. It was wonderfully rich and creamy and the flavours were strong and complimented each other brilliantly, you got a decent sized bowl full as well as a portion of baked ciabatta, which made the appetizer a tasty and filling dish.

The potato skins Izzy and Carl had looked quite nice too, although obviously not all that appealing to a vegetarian! They both enjoyed them immensely however and commented on how wonderful the fillings were.

- MAIN COURSE -
After we had finished our appetizers Mr Gorgeous Waiter returned to clear our plates away and of course, take our orders for our main course.

Again, the selection on the menu was very good and there was plenty of options including many different varieties of pizza and pasta. Once again, me and Jason did find the vegetarian options a little few and far between but we were expected this as Frankie & Benny's is of course an American style restaurant, and being a New Yorker myself, I know the Yanks aren't too hot on vegetarianism!

Regardless, we all found something we fancied and placed our orders. We were waiting a little longer for our food this time, but still only around 15 minutes which I thought was fantastic

Me and Jason both chose a pizza, he went for the Californian, which was goats cheese, tomato, mushrooms, peppers and mozzarella on a nut and pesto sauce whilst I was rather less adventurous, settling on a Margherita. The pizzas were larger than I had been expected, at 10 inches, but were absolutely gorgeous, they are the thin style Italian pizzas and were wonderfully crisp and packed with our chosen toppings. The creamy mozzarella and lovely fresh tomatoes done the old classic combo proud and the pizza really was delicious.

Izzy had the Penne Arrabbiata, which was a garlic and olive pasta dish. I personally can't stand olives, but she commented on how lovely the whole dish was and how wonderfully rich and tangy the sauce tasted. Lastly, Carl also went for a pasta dish, this time Spaghetti & Meatballs and even to a non meat eater like me, the dish looked delicious. You could smell how rich the tangy tomato sauce was so it must have tasted fantastic, he also wouldn't shut up about how tasty and meaty the meat balls were, so they must have been a hit if fuss pot Carl liked them. The portion sizes on the pasha dishes were very generous and more than enough to provide a very filling meal.

- DESSERTS -
Although absolutely stuffed from our main meal and starters, we all still decided to go ahead with the dessert. Truth be told, me and Iz just wanted to drool over Mr Gorgeous Waiter again, anyway, this time we all went for the same and opted for Brownies & Ice Cream.

We did have to wait a while to get the plates from our main meals cleared and although myself and Carl both asked for drink refills, we had to remind the waiter a couple of times of this and even so, he didn't seem to be in a rush to get them! But with a face like his, we'll let him off. Ahem, sorry, back to the desserts.

Our desserts were delivered pretty quickly, after the long wait to have our plates cleared from the main meal, but god, they were amazing! The brownies were fantastic- all warm and gooey with a very rich creamy dark chocolate sauce drizzled over the top and served with a beautiful and incredibly sweet vanilla ice cream which went perfectly with the brownies. Many would describe them as sickly and both Jason and Carl said they were like eating ''pure chocolate stodge'', but neither Izzy or myself could fault them, they were wonderful, almost as delicious as our waiter. I said almost.

Portion sizes on the desserts weren't quite as generous as our other two courses. This will probably suit most people as after a filling starter and main meal, I don't suppose you would want a very large dessert. I'm just a pig and could have quite happily munched another 3 or 4 brownies.

- TO CONCLUDE -
Overall, a fantastic dining experience. It may not be the classiest or poshest of restaurants but for a causal meal out and a good catch up with friends with delicious, perfectly cooked and filling food, I cannot fault it. As a whole, food options were quite good, if you are not a vegetarian that is, so there should be something to suit most people, with a few classic English dishes such as Fish & Chips thrown in amongst the Italian and American foods and a children's menu available too, which I had a quick look at and it seemed nice enough, I plan to take my god children here shortly.

The atmosphere was lovely, playing quiet music which enabled conversation to still be able to be heard fine and the lay out of the restaurant was nigh on faultless. There wasn't too many tables situated near the doors and entrances to the toilets etc and although by the time we were nearing the end of our meal, the place was getting pretty busy, diners were still placed at tables spread around the restaurant which was perfect as it enable you to have conversations with your friends without having to shout over people or feeling packed in.

The whole place was incredibly clean. Cutlery, plates and glasses were spotless and the floors and tables sparkled, granted, it is a very new restaurant, only being open around 5 weeks, but even so, it was amazingly clean. The toilets followed the trend too, also being absolutely spotless.

The one thing that really made our meal out lovely however, was the staff. No, not because our waiter and the bartender were drop dead gorgeous (although that did help!), it was because they were extremely polite. There was nothing that was too much trouble for them, they were dashing around the place delivering orders and drinks to tables but never once appeared anything other than incredibly professional. A couple near us were complaining about something (no idea why) and getting rather rude but the staff handled it brilliantly in my eyes.

Last, but by no means least, the other thing that really topped off the whole dining experience was what such good value the food was. A three course meal for four adults, with drinks (some of which alcoholic) cost just under £50, which I think is fantastic value for such great food and brilliant service in a nice venue.

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Frankie & Benny's
Tollgate West
Colchester
Essex
C03 8RH

01206 216220

Food Served:
Monday- Saturday 11am to 11pm
Sunday 11am to 10.30pm

Disabled access available
Full menu at www.frankieandbennys.com

Summary: A lovely place for a good catch up with friends over a tasty, good value meal.