Saturday, April 28, 2012

Frankie & Benny’s Review

Cygnet Park Peterborough

Frankie and Benny's has some fond memories for us. In case you have not been or heard of them, they are a chain of Italian-American diners with a 1950's vibe. I was invited to try out the new menu and decided to combine it for the weekend of Paige and Conors 17th birthday partly because Paige dropped her lip when I said Chris and I were going alone. Conor has a passion for big burgers and Paige loves Italian food.

We had a Little Frankie's in town, sadly now gone. There has been a Frankie and Benny's near our multiplex cinema for a few years. Just recently a new one joined the city as we have a massive new house building program on the outskirts and there was a need for more eating venues.

Chris and I used to pop in for lunch years ago mainly for the great service, good range and I have them to thank for introducing me to my first ever Peroni the ideal Italian premium beer to have with a pizza. My first ever Calzone was first eaten at Frankie's, I love the idea of all the pizza toppings inside the base.

So you want to hear about the food and I also want to mention the service, as a mystery shopper I have an inbuilt search for great service, I am on autopilot whenever I eat out and shop now.

Firstly I decided to book and the phone was answered really fast, the staff member was cheerful, announced the store and her name. I did not mention the review as I just wanted to have a lovely meal and not put staff under pressure.
I did mention that it was my twins birthday and could we bring a cake. She said "Of course if you can sneak it in, I will hide it and bring it out when you are ready!"

I loved this idea.
We arrived at the restaurant which for a Sunday early evening was full of happy looking diners.  Paige's boyfriend Ricky came too to join in the celebration! The music was good, 50's and 60's and added to the diner feel.


We were taken to our table and I was thrilled to see balloons in celebration of Paige and Con, it was a lovely touch.

While we looked at the menus we were brought our ordered drinks. Kia our waitress was really lovely chatting and making sure we were all happy.

We decided we needed starters as they sounded so good.


Ricky and I chose  flat mushrooms filled with mozzarella, garlic and breadcrumbs, oven baked and served with fresh rocket, Grana Padano and balsamic glaze. These were really lovely, cooked perfectly and a lovely light start to my meal.

Chris and Conor chose the  chicken wings tossed in Louisiana hot sauce. Served with a blue cheese dip and crunchy celery sticks. Sorry about the dark pictures, the balloons kept casting a shadow as they swayed!

Chris adored the fiery heat of the wings and love the cool dip, Conor struggled with the heat, he is a lightweight when it comes to hot spice, I had to help him out and I adored the taste.


Paige was impressed with the Dough Sticks and Pepper Jack Cheese she had decided on. She said "Wow look at these Mum, take a picture" I was ordered to take pictures of everything anyway, she loves to keep a record of family days out!

Our table was cleared in good time once we were all finished and we were offered more drinks.

Our mains arrived in just the right time, we were able to chat and the pace of the meal was enabled by great staff.


For my main course I had to have the Calzone, it sounded lovely on the menu. Cajun Chicken Calzone, it had really tender chicken that had bee seasoned with Cajun spice, mushrooms and mozzarella cheese sauce, it was covered with a herby Neapolitan sauce. It was wrapped in the pizza dough and cooked perfectly. It was quite large and Chris had to rescue me with eating some of it.


The guys all opted for New Yorker Burgers, what is it about men and burgers.
Must admit they looked fabulous and the way they all tucked in and ate every bite and murmured they were good too.

Paige loves pasta and creamy sauces, so her main was the New Yorker Pasta, a pepper cheese sauce coated pasta with chicken breast and bacon. I tried a little and it was delicious.

Kia our waitress checked on us to make sure we were all OK and enjoying the meals, topped up drinks and was really courteous.


We all were finished and could not manage a dessert, despite me wanting to try the Yankee Doodle Sundae.

As our plates were taken Kia winked at me and I nodded, Chris had smuggled the cake in. A few moments later the music stopped and a Happy Birthday track started.


As they blew out the candles Congratulations by Cliff Richards started up, it was the perfect end to the meal.

Thanks to Frankie and Benny's for yet another good dining experience and actually going out of there way to make our evening great.
Thanks to Kia who was superb and a credit to the company.

If you are considering visiting pop onto the website, there are some great offers to celebrate the new menu, including £10 off two courses. A £10.95 two course specials menu, Monday Madness and more.

 

Disclosure: My post is based upon material provided free of charge (A Food gift voucher) for review purposes. I have not been paid or otherwise compensated to promote the topic, product or service reviewed in this post.


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