frankie and benny's Archives - Page 2 of 2

March 12, 2013

Hmmm, needed more pasta

Having had quite a good experience with our last visit to Frankie and Benny’s we decided wanting to eat out again to visit once more.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to eat, and at first was going to go with something I had before. Then I remembered that I had decided that this year to make a noticeable effort to try out new things when eating out.

I usually avoid pasta dishes when eating out, mainly as I find that most places overcook the pasta. However as I was willing to try something new, and didn’t really want pizza, I went with a pasta dish, the Philly Steak Bake at £10.95. This is described as strips of tender steak, red onion, peppers and Philly cheese sauce, oven baked with penne pasta and topped with cheddar cheese.

Probably the best way to describe this dish is to ask if I would order it again.

So would I order it again?

No I wouldn’t!

Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t an awful dish, but it certainly was not an outstanding dish. I enjoyed the steak, the cheese sauce was a little too processed for me, however as had anticipated the pasta was overcooked! Maybe it’s just me, I like my pasta al dente, with some bite, this was very soft.

March 2, 2013

Well that wasn’t too bad…

The original plan was to go somewhere else for lunch, but in the end we somehow found ourselves at Frankie and Benny’s. So despite many reservations about the place (and some pretty poor experiences) I was once more sitting down and looking at the menu in Frankie and Benny’s.

As it was a Saturday, there were no special menus or “cheap” lunch choices, so I had the whole menu to look over.

Fancying a starter to share, I chose the Bruschetta, a home made mix of fresh tomato, red onion, basil, olive oil and cracked black pepper served over toasted garlic ciabatta bread, finished with a balsamic glaze.

We also got some Warm Dough Sticks with Garlic Butter. I didn’t get a look in with the dough sticks, but they looked a little overdone to my eyes, but without eating it I couldn’t be totally sure.

I had had the Bruschetta before and back then I said

“I was not that impressed with this, I found the red onion very harsh and astringent.”

This dish was much better than when I had it back then. The tomato and onion was much sweeter and contrasted well with the balsamic glaze. The bread was nice, not over toasted, and overall the dish was rather nice.

Though I like to think I try new things, too often when eating out I will go with what I like and am familiar with. I have decided this year to make a noticeable effort to try out new things when eating out. So looking over the menu I decided to go with a lighter option, I went with the Marinara Pizza, which had large prawns, anchovies and clams on a tomato base topped with fresh rocket.

There was minimal cheese on the pizza (which is kind of what you expect with a lighter option), but there were generous toppings of prawns and clams, and for me just the right amount of anchovies. The scattering of rocket added some nice greenery and more spice.

I really did enjoy the pizza, there was a lot of flavour. Overall I was quite pleased with the meal, it was certainly one of the better meals I have had at Frankie and Benny’s and how it should be all the time. The service was excellent, not in your face, or so minimal that you are constantly looking around for waiting staff.

November 28, 2012

Okay Frankie, not too bad, this time

The last time I went to Frankie and Benny’s I wasn’t that impressed with my Calamari Salad. I decided back then that if I had a choice then I probably wouldn’t choose them as a place to eat. However having been invited out to a family dinner, I found myself once more sitting down and looking at the menu in Frankie and Benny’s.

To be honest I did quite like the idea of a salad with calamari, but remembering my last experience I thought that wouldn’t be such a good idea.

In the end looking over the whole of the menu, I went with the special menu with two courses for £10.95, which is available every day except Saturday.

For my starter I went with the chicken wings: Buffalo Chicken Wings – Large chicken wings tossed in Louisiana hot sauce. Served with a blue cheese dip and crunchy celery sticks.

You got four half wings that were pre-cooked, heated up and then covered in some weird very hot spicy orange sauce. I wouldn’t have called the wings I got as “large”. As for the blue cheese dip, I went without, not a fan of that. As for celery, well I have never seen the point of celery, really don’t like and yes I have tried and I really really don’t like it. I do like chicken wings, which is why I ordered this dish.

I thought the orange sauce was a little too hot and spicy, so much so that it overpowered the flavour of the chicken. For me spicy is nice, but it should complement and enhance the flavour of the food it accompanies, not overwhelm it. If that is what it does, just eat the sauce on its own.

For my main, I did think long and hard and in the end went with a burger. New Yorker Burger – Our 6oz grilled hamburger topped with BBQ sauce, pepper jack cheese, mayo and bacon, piled high with Cos lettuce and fresh tomato in a toasted sesame seed bun. Served with house fries and tomato-chilli relish on the side.

I forgot to ask for salad so got fries instead. The cheese was very gloopy and sticky, but the burger itself was actually very nice and full of flavour. I love the description of “piled high” as there was one lettuce leaf and one slice of tomato. I wonder if they really think that is piled high!

As I didn’t eat all the fries I did decide to have a pudding. with the £10.95 menu you can have a pudding from a selected range for just £2.25 which seemed a lot more reasonable than the cost of puddings from the main menu. As is the case with puddings from Frankie’s it will either be a constructed ice cream style desert or something heated with ice cream. I went with the Hot Chocolate Waffle – A warm cinnamon waffle topped with two scoops of vanilla ice cream, smothered in chocolate sauce and topped with crunchy honeycomb.

It was to be honest what I expected, a warmed pre-cooked waffle with ice cream and chocolate sauce, though not enough honeycomb. It was nice, though quite sweet. I should have ordered a black coffee to go with it to offset that sweetness, actually a black tea would have been nice. Something I learnt many years ago was how nice black tea is with very sweet puddings.

Overall I enjoyed my meal, I think my very low expectations were a big factor in that, I wasn’t expecting high cuisine, sophisticated and lever cooking. What I got was typical chain cooking and it was okay.

August 23, 2012

Don’t overcook the squid!

A recent birthday treat was to go to the new Frankie and Benny’s in Weston-super-Mare. As it was lunchtime, I went for the lunchtime menu special, which seemed reasonable value. For my starter I went with the Bruschetta, a homemade mix of fresh tomato, red onion, basil, olive oil and cracked black pepper served over toasted garlic ciabatta bread, finished with a balsamic glaze. I was not that impressed with this, I found the red onion very harsh and astringent. Normally red onion can be very sweet when raw, however I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would.

The Calamari Caesar Salad came next, which consisted of (according to the menu) lightly fried and seasoned calamari, crispy Cos lettuce leaves, white anchovy, tomato and fresh garlic ciabatta croutons drizzled with our Caesar dressing, topped with Grana Padano and served with a wedge of lemon.

I would probably take exception to the phrase “lightly fried” as the squid had been overcooked to the point where the calamari was crunchy on the outside and quite rubbery on the inside. It wasn’t unpleasant, but I do think that Frankie and Benny’s could do a much better job of cooking the squid. It’s not difficult to cook squid well, however I think that the squid at Frankie and Benny’s is double cooked, it is cooked already and then cooked again when it is ordered. I of course don’t know that for sure. The chef has used the larger outside leaves of the Cos lettuce for the dish, which meant they were more limp than crispy. Overall I did enjoy the salad and it was a good sized portion and value for money.

November 5, 2011

Steak and Fries

After a series of games of ten pin bowling we decided to have a quick lunch at Frankie and Benny’s the chain of American Italian restaurants that you can find across the UK.

I decided to go simple and have the Steak and Fries.

A 6oz* strip sirloin served plain and simple with house fries and a pot of American mustard on the side. Simple but classic!

It was as it was described in the menu, a simple steak, cooked to my liking, tender and with some flavour served with house fries.

A simple but classic dish. Maybe next time I should be more adventurous!