Frankie's Italian Vancouver — Restaurant in Vancouver

3 stars overall only considering the food and atmosphere. The service would be -1 star but that's not really the fault of the restaurant, just the server.

Food overall was mediocre, atmosphere was cozy, but was surprised by how bad the service was. Ivan was our server (according to the receipt) and it took approximately 5mins to flag him down since he was chatting with the other servers (with whom we made eye contact with, but they also didn't bother to bring it to our server's attention) so he didn't notice. Took our orders, but didn't have a good attitude and it felt like we were a nuisance. We had no resos but the restaurant wasn't busy since we went just after opening for lunch.

The carbonara and the chicken linguine was very average, not memorable. Placed down the plates quite hard, but not the biggest deal.

When it came to paying, that was our issue. He brought over the card machine with the receipt for the combined sum, but didn't even ask us prior if we would be paying separately. When we asked for the bill to be split, he was visibly annoyed and told us that we should have mentioned it to him before, since he had to go back to the computer to change it. He came back with the receipt which clearly said "gratuity not included", but when he handed us the machine again, we only had to tap since he had already selected the tips. It was only a table for two, and I've never been to a restaurant in the lower mainland where they include tips automatically with no notice that gratuity is compulsory, anywhere. I'd expect that bigger groups may have tips included, but there is always a notice indicating this, either written, or at least verbally when you order.

I will definitely not be returning nor would I recommend this place. There are much better places in Vancouver. Perhaps our server was in a bad mood that day, but it was definitely a bad enough experience for it to be memorable--- walked out thinking we made a bad choice for our lunch plans. Moreso, I wouldn't expect that level of poor service from a place with +1k...

Updated review: Our latest experience at Frankie's was disappointing to say the least. The hostess offered us a seat on the jazz side, so we accepted. Once we were seated, the server (tall, blonde, accent) looked upset and starting discussing the upcoming reso with the hostess right in front of us. She made it clear that we needed to leave by a certain time, even though it wasn't mentioned at the front. This miscommunication would have been a minor issue since we were going to the Canucks game anyway, however, the service (or lack thereof) makes me want to avoid this place for our next pregame meal.

Our server seemed more concerned with clearing tables than paying any attention to us. Once she took our order, she didn't come by at all. The chicken in 2 of our pasta dishes tasted disgusting (poor quality or spoiled...could not tell). The server did not do a quality check, so I wasn't given the opportunity to ask for something else. Reluctantly, I picked around the chicken and ate some of the pasta since I was starving. She came by to clear our plates, after we had to wave her down for the bills, and should have noticed the chicken piled on my plate. As a former server myself, I'd see that as another opportunity to ask me about my experience, apologize for forgetting to quality check, etc.. but nope, she took the plates and brought us our bills. I don't remember the last time I've zeroed someone on a tip as it's a horrible feeling. But seeing as I wasn't drinking, food was gross, and server treated us like an inconvenience the whole time, I could not justify any sort of tip. I don't think we'll be coming back to this place, which makes me sad cos our first experience was amazing (below). We are Canucks ticket holders so we'll have to find a new place for game days.

Old review: Our server was great, made food and drinks recommendations and provided efficient and friendly service. Loved the margarita pizza...simple and delicious. I'll try a main next time. Might become our regular...

We had an extremely disappointing experience on Saturday night. We arrived early for our 6:30pm reservation and we ordered a bottle of wine, appetizers, and entrees right away as we had a concert to go to afterwards (we did communicate this to our server). My girlfriend is a regular at Frankie's, and was excited to take me there. The appetizers arrived promptly and were delicious, and then they seemed to forget about our entrees. After 45 minutes we asked our server where are food was. Our server looked perplexed and came back and said it would be "a few more minutes". An hour after we ordered we finally received our entrees, and had to send them back as it was time to leave. We ordered the bill and our entrees had been taken off (a given, as they could not expect us to pay for food sent back after taking an hour!) There must be some expectation or standard to being served your dinner in a reasonable amount of time. Communication is essential when food is running behind. The server never communicated the delay with our entrees. We felt more should have been done for us given the fact that we left the restaurant starving! And we had no opportunity to eat until hours later after the concert. Our server claimed that they spoke with the manager, and they weren't willing to do anything to remedy the situation. Nobody from management came over to see us or apologize. Overall I found the customer service and poor reaction to the situation appalling. I would never come back, but hopefully management read this and do better in the future! You have a wonderful location, delicious food (as my girlfriend claims), and this must be matched with a good attitude and...