A tasty way to spend the evening! (Frankie & Benny's)

Member Name: nykied

Product:	Frankie & Benny's
Date:	08/11/09 (101 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Once you've been to one, you've been to them all.

Disadvantages: See 'sticky pasta' section of review...

I visited Frankie & Benny's restaurant (the one at Clifton Moor, near York) as it was near to the cinema that we were visiting later on in the evening. It's one I've been to a few times before and I'm used to a wait on a Saturday night, especially as there were six of us. However, it being the closest Saturday to Bonfire Night, it seemed that people were either stood wet, cold and shivering round a bonfire or at home calming their pets down due to the fireworks. Anyway, we were seated almost as soon as we walked in.

Frankie & Benny's is an Italian-American restaurant chain and the restaurants are dotted about the UK, usually in a retail park or near a cinema. Each outlet is set up practically the same. They all have the same menu and all play classic music from the 50s. They have CDs available to buy, but they have no idea of incentives, as to buy two, you pay exactly twice the amount you would to buy one. As for the York F&B, the kitchen is open so you can see the cooking going on.

The staff are friendly but the service was nothing special really. The only exception to this is when it's someone's birthday, at which point the lights dim, 'Happy Birthday' and then 'Congratulations' come on over the speakers and the staff take over balloons and a cake for the birthday boy/girl. This happened three times on Saturday and (as is usual with my friends), every time one of them said, 'Oh guys, you shouldn't have!'. Oh, what wits...

The lighting is always fairly low in the York F&B and there are ceiling fans which always seem to be on, no matter what the weather. I was cold but to be honest, I usually am.

They also play Italian language tapes in the toilet area, with key phrases such as 'Two tickets please' or 'Good evening', which is a nice touch. The toilets were clean and tidy. The only issue I had is that the toilet seat was one of those ones that slips when you sit down and gives you a scare. Probably not what you want to read in a restaurant review, but hey! So just as a note, if you do go to the Clifton Moor F&B, then ladies, avoid the toilet that's furthest from the door. I can't speak for any of the other ones though as I only needed to powder my face just the once...

We were immediately given menus and asked about what drinks we wanted. These were brought over very quickly and we were free to study the menus. Or rather, five of us did; one of our party couldn't see the writing. Well, it is written on a red background in darker red writing, to be read in a darkened room. The rest of us needed to lean in to the menu to read it, but I do think that someone needs to visit the optician...

Anyway, once our food had been ordered, it arrived fairly quickly and despite a little hiccough (bringing a BBQ chicken pizza instead of BBQ chicken and ribs) which wasn't an error with the inputting of the order, but the more simple-to-resolve issue of the waiter picking up the wrong plate, everything was fine.

I had BBQ chicken and ribs (yes, it was mine that arrived wrong!), which cost £12.95. It consisted of half a chicken breast and about six ribs, all coated in BBQ sauce, accompanied by part of a cob of corn, coleslaw and a baked potato, although I could have chosen house fries or new potatoes instead of the baked potato. I had to ask for butter for the potato, but I felt that they had perhaps missed it off rather than it being something they didn't serve with it.

Overall, it was nice although the potato was a bit dry and the coleslaw didn't have enough mayonnaise for my liking. The ribs were beautiful and practically fell off the bone and the chicken, once I'd picked the skin off, was soft and moist. I didn't think that it should have cost almost £13 but as a meal, it was something that I would order again.

One thing nobody should have in F&B, in my opinion, is the 'sticky pasta with chicken'. I had that last time I visited and it was awful. It was all clumped together, it was sickly-sweet and the sauce was so overpowering that you could taste neither the pasta nor the chicken. The three people with me at the time also tried the dish and agreed with me totally.

The pizzas available are nice, as is (most of) the pasta (I particularly recommend the lasagne, but order some garlic bread as a side) and the burgers are MASSIVE. One thing I've not tried is the steaks, as I feel that they're a little over-priced. The starters are good but I don't tend to have one as it makes me too full for the main course. Both the place and the menu is very child-friendly (note the birthday above) and there's a separate kid's menu which looks nice.

In all, it cost us £90, which was made up of three starters, six main courses, one bottle of beer and five large soft drinks. For six people, this to me is not a bad price and if you go there during a week day, they do have special offers.

Four stars from me. It's a nice place for an evening out, but it loses a star as it's a bit too dark and sometimes the music is a little too loud and, to be honest, I'm still a little scarred by my 'sticky pasta' incident!

Summary: I recommend at least one visit.