Frankie & Benny's — Restaurant in England

My partner and I visited this restaurant around two weeks ago for his birthday meal, just two of us. We were waited on by a lovely lady named Angelika (I believe; if I’m wrong I extend sincere apologies for the error). She was so very attentive the whole two hours we were there for.

We had reserved our table a few days in advance, and I’d requested in the notes to be seated at a table either in the corner, against a wall, or in a booth out of the way — as both my partner and I suffer severe anxiety around people. I also mentioned in the notes that it was my partner’s birthday that we were celebrating. When we arrived, she greeted us pleasantly and showed us to the most perfect table in the restaurant — not only in the corner, but against a wall AND in a booth as requested. She told us she had chosen the table herself, but if we wanted to move she would accommodate no problem.

She held friendly conversation with us which put us at ease (we are both autistic, but I in particular get very anxious talking to strangers). She then gave us enough time to decide on drinks (I am very indecisive and struggle with making even simple decisions under pressure) and she was more than happy to stand and wait by the table patiently while I chose what I wanted. Most waiters I’ve encountered in the past either give off body language to suggest their impatience, or walk away from the table altogether — but she made me feel like a human being, which is something I rarely find.

Once we had ordered, drinks came in a reasonable timeframe. I must add that we went on a quiet Tuesday evening, around 7:30PM, so if anybody wants quick service then that’s a good time to go. Food came out hot and fresh, and was beautiful. When we asked for more marinara sauce, Angelika accommodated with no issue.

I did find a hair in my food, which would usually knock my score down by a star — however, all the staff were extremely apologetic, and what made it all-the-more humorous was the fact nobody in the room had hair that matched the strand in the food. We are still trying to figure that one out two weeks later. Also, by way of apology, we were given a discount of £10 from our bill for the inconvenience — something we didn’t expect nor ask for, as we had expressed our understanding at the time, that mistakes and accidents happen.

With dessert, Angelika sweetly put a candle in my partner’s dessert, and changed the music in the restaurant to Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder and presented the cheesecake to my partner. My partner was a good sport about this and thoroughly enjoyed this personal added touch; and it gave me a good laugh and a video to remember for years to come.

Angelika went above and beyond for our visit, and we are so grateful for the experience she provided us with. Even with the hair in the food, it didn’t deter us from visiting again in future, as it was dealt with professionally and lightheartedly.

The birthday boy LOVED the entire meal, and that’s the main outcome I wanted.

Thank you so much to all the staff at Frankie and Benny’s — particularly Angelika. We will definitely be back...

The service was terrible. The 2 stars are for the food alone which was really nice. To begin with, as we were sat another couple got up and left without ordering. I didn’t think anything of this until further into my time here. We weren’t offered a drink as we were sat and nobody offered until ordering the mains. There were 2 FOH staff working and a manager. I will point out at this point, at most during the time we were there, there were no more than 3 tables of 2 people in the restaurant. Starters came quickly, they were great, but were not cleaned for at least 15 minutes after we had finished, despite the server walking past and clearly seeing we were done multiple times. Mains came straight away, we were not offered more drinks, despite both being low, and did not receive a check back during our meal. After we’d finished, we sat again waiting for at least 15 minutes (as well as me getting up to use the toilet, which is usually an indicator to finishing after having food for half an hour) and in the end went and asked for the bill as nobody was coming over and had not cleared our plates. When I’d gone to the toilet, a table of 2 walked out after not receiving any service and sitting there with menus for a long time, bobbing their heads up to try and get the attention of chatting staff. The manager was completely unbothered throughout, the staff were not doing their jobs and it was a genuinely unpleasant experience. I am a hospitality manager and I just couldn’t believe how little the manager seemed to care. There was one member of staff for each table! A defining point for me was when the second table to walk out during our visit were waiting for initial service they did not get, we were awaiting someone to clear our food and the manager and one of the servers standing where we could see, chatting away and the manager bellowing out a laugh for everyone to hear. So much so, that the third member of staff came over to join in on the convo. Now, I am in the industry so I imagine I do see more than others in regards to service, however, it also means that I am more understanding as I know some of my own staff will occasionally miss a check back etc but this was not only poor management but a do not care attitude on all of their parts and generally just terrible service. Not to mention others walked out so it wasn’t a case of me “noticing the little things”. When my partner got up to ask for the bill, the server bought it over. Did not ask if we enjoyed our food, said nothing actually, gave him the card machine and told him to follow the instructions and walked off. Came back after payment and gave us the receipt then walked off again. The food was great as I mentioned and we really enjoyed it. The service let us...

A bit of an odd review to write, as the majority of the issues presented could not have been prevented by the staff working today. We ordered a couple of Calzone pizzas and some fries, nothing too crazy. The pizzas were delivered quickly, and were of good quality - my main issue was one of personal preference. I cannot stand garlic butter (not an allergy, just me being not liking garlic butter), and they were delivered absolutely swimming in the stuff. This wasn't mentioned on the menu, and if it had been I would have asked for adjustements to be made, or ordered something else. I cannot criticize the team working as they have presented the food to spec, it's that the menu wasn't clear about what you get. In addition, we also had to remind the service team about the fries, as they had been forgotten. Our server was OK and was apologetic about the food (I did say it wasn't hers or the teams fault, just me being picky), but the member of staff that took our payment didn't seem to care, even though we were leaving with a full plate of food left. I also wasn't overly keen about the 'pushy' nature of tipping - there didn't seem to be a way to not pay a tip (the staff, whilst OK, did nothing extra to warrant being tipped). You are presented the card machine with option to tip 5, 10, 15 or 20%, but seemingly no way to not pay. This leaves you with the only option to ask the server how to not pay a tip, and you might as well just say to them "You guys aren't particularly good at the job" In all, not a great visit, but not entirely the fault of the venue, less picky diners will probably have a better experience (the food would have gotten 4/5 stars if the menu communication...