Another fine mess you've got me into Stanley! (Frankie & Benny's)

Member Name: macutmore

Product:	Frankie & Benny's
Date:	15/02/04 (3067 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unique culturistic atmosphere, Good food

Disadvantages: Could be busy, average prices

Frankie and Benny's is a restaurant chain that seems to be expanding throughout the country. Their purpose built premises appear to be springing up rapidly at or near major towns or 'leisure parks' all over the U.K with apparently no expense being spared. The square and modern bricked neon-signed establishments appear, from the outside, quite inviting, almost giving an intriguing idea about what must be inside, since one can't actually see inside their buildings that easily. Only the glossy menu board outside gives clues that the guise is not night club orientated and is actually a bar come restaurant, with American / Italian influences!

We are told that 'Frankie and Benny's' roots began when a guy called Frankie Giuliani was only ten years old and, with his Mum and dad he left Sicily and landed at Ellis Island in New York in 1924. They moved with relatives in Brooklyn?s "Little Lady" ? an Italian neighbourhood. His Dad soon found work, but he?d brought only a little money but a lot of ambition.

The story goes that the family opened a Restaurant within a year and everybody helped with the building and also the cooking. Since each of them had a dish to contribute a great menu was formed based on Mums home style cooking and slowly the business prospered.

Frankie went to a nearby High School and became a friend of Benny who was a third generation American. Then in 1953 his Dad retired and Frankie and Benny together took over the business basically combining the best of American food with the best of those traditional Italian dishes!

One certainly gets to grips immediately upon entry into one of the restaurants with the American / Italian culture mix. Visually the wooden and square décor is perpetrated with 1950?s memorabilia and picture frames with period music invariably being played.

The nicely designed Menu is clear and seems to cover everything from a Calzone Siciliana Pizza to a Ste
ak Ciabatta sandwich. Prices are average to expensive, with the usual (very British) 'rip me off with your drinks' scam taking place- an example of which is that a 'regular' Coke is in fact 'very small' (especially on the heavy rocks) a 'large' Coke is in fact 'regular' and being priced at say, £2.10, although better value than having two 'small' ones (labelled regular) at say, £1.40, by the time you realise that, it is too late. Join the club!

There is a clearly visible and open plan bar style type kitchen where the uniformed gut busting chefs cook and eventually neatly place their finished masterpieces onto the forward facing counter which has waitress access. Great as you watch the dishes slowly get colder before they are eventually spotted and passed on to their happy and hungry punters at the tables. Then is the time, you are given the opportunity to request your sauces in the heat of the moment as it were.

So far I have visited three of their establishments; Basildon, Braintree and Stevenage. All were virtually identical in cosmetics and ascetics with pretty even service and nothing particular to differentiate one from the other. Not a bad thing with a consistent chain perhaps? An interesting and unique aspect is that the music being played giving that authentic 'period' 1950?s atmosphere is in fact available on the menu itself! Yes, you can actually purchase Frankie and Benny?s marketed CD's, either as a souvenir or a play at home (I?m hungry) style dinner theme! It's a great idea, but sadly no prices for these are written on the menu. One expects to pay a tenner for a CD nowadays doesn?t one? Well they are £12.99 with free postage on their website. Not bad I suppose.

Ok so it's hardly 'happy days', but one can almost imagine 'the fonz' walking in at any minute! I just love the fashion idea of the whole joint. It?s relaxing and pleasant, particularly
if you do enjoy your '50's music anyway. Food quality is average to good and pretty consistent. Nice chicken, nice steaks, as it were.

So what don't I like? Well being small premises (although some do boast a seating capacity up to 132), with a perhaps understaffed environment, occasionally you may well have an estimated waiting period for a table at peak times. During this time, you may well be invited not to an apparently visually vacant table, but to the bar itself, where you might be invited to invest in the odd drink (or two at those sizes), before your table is actually cleared -sorry- spotted.

The immaculate and authentic fashionable atmospherics are spoilt by the sight of the 'laurel and hardy' dress code of the otherwise attractive waitresses perhaps, but other than this apart from a sometimes long wait for a bill or desert order (always the case for this model of restaurant perhaps), you can?t go wrong. If you haven?t yet experienced Frankie and Benny?s it really is a ?must do?.

A real plus point is the common facility of actually paying at your table- even with a credit card never actually being taken out of your sight. The waitress using a portable machine that actually wirelessly prints the receipt for you to sign there (and of course add the tips) then at the table (take note of this pizza hut). Top marks and at last no more 'card skimming' fraud!

I'll certainly be visiting again off peak, but I would like to see the odd price busting offer now and again, or perhaps F & B's are just too special to have the need to attract even more of the punters perhaps?

Since you are online you can take a look at frankieandbennys.com, like me you may have already created your own 'restaurants favourites folder' with many other unique flavours!

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