Frankie Primo's +39 — Restaurant in Buffalo

Hi

I’m writing this negative review now but hopefully I will be able to take it down and write another more positive review if I can get some help from Frankie Primos!

We initially booked a reservation at the beginning of July because family came in from out of town. We visited the Chippewa location with a reservation. Yes we confirmed we made a reservation at the right location (not NT), however when we got there they said they had no reservation under our name. They also would not allow us to sit outside like we requested even though there were numerous open tables because the hostess stated those were for reservations only. We told her again that we had a reservation but we would be fine with sitting inside. Unfortunately they sat us right next to the kitchen and it was so loud that we could barely have a conversation with each other. The experience continued to get worse with the subpar service as we had to ask three times for another drink for our party member as his was wrong. After the third time and no luck, we went to the bar and got it ourselves. Then our appetizers and salads came out before the bread (that we also asked several times for). The waiter took our alcohol drink orders and those were brought out at a reasonable time however he stated one of the drinks we ordered was no longer available so we chose a different one. The waiter still charged us for this and we didn’t notice until we reviewed the receipt the following day.

The food came and it was for the most part VERY GOOD! We all enjoyed our portions sizes as well as the meals themselves. This was the only good part of our experience as it continued to get worse. Halfway through our meal we received a text message from Frankie Primos stating that we did not show up for our reservation and it was canceled (despite the hostess initially saying she couldn’t find our reservation). We then had to ask for the check a couple times because we were now in a rush to leave as we had prior arrangements afterward.

After dinner we did briefly speak to the manager about the experience and she took down our information to try and reconcile this but we didn’t hear back from her. We emailed and called several times. We left messages and no one from Frankie Primos called us or emailed us back.

I would like to give Frankie Primos a second chance because it may have just been one bad overcharged experience but again I cannot get a hold of anyone to help me out!

Best Regards,

A very dissatisfied and...

Was in downtown Buffalo on a Saturday at noon and headed off to one of my favorite places for first time since pandemic began. But alas, it was closed, only open for Sunday brunch. As I stood and contemplated crying, the hotel concierge suggested Frankie Primo's. I will be eternally grateful. It was fantastic. Sat at a window table (my absolute favorite spot wherever I go), ordered a most delicious Bloody Mary which came garnished with a stuffed olive, lemon and hot pepper stuffed with prosciutto and cheese. It was amazing. There were brunch and entree specials so numerous, it took me quite a while to decide. I finally chose a white pizza with mushrooms, spinach and sun-dried tomatoes. Before that came out I was given warm Italian bread and garlic oil. It was as if I'd died and gone to bread heaven. I'm a good eater, but after the bread organic, I had to box half my pizza. The wonderful waitress who had catered to our every whim and chatted with us so friendly that i felt like a regular even tho it was my first (but far from last) visit, asked if I was interested in dessert. I was so full, but I asked her to tell me about it anyway. After listening to all the tempting options, I had to surrender to her description of a housemate Carmel pudding they called a Budino. Two spoons please. This was a wise choice. I was surprised at how light it was, I was expecting heavy, but I was pleasantly surprised at the light creaminess delivered. And it came with an unexpected perk of two shots of limoncello and sesame cookies. I'm not a big sesame lover, nor do I normally do shots. I'd never had limoncello before. I'll be headed out to buy a bottle soon. It was a lovely sipping desertif. I was so happy I tried the sesame cookie. It was amazing. I will be going back to this gem of a place...

Came here on a whim because the Italian Fest on Hertel was insanely packed and so we were in the mood for Italian. The Sicilian Manhattan was amazing and we followed up cocktails with a couple of appetizers and this is when everything started to go downhill. I make it a point to order a Caesar wherever I go so we chose the full order option of the casa insalate because we intended to share it. When it came out I thought our server brought out the single order instead. This was the smallest salad I’ve ever had in a restaurant and mind you this was the full order. Between the two of us we probably had two bites each. Very disappointing and terribly, terribly over-priced ($14). We also had the arancini and the flavor and cook were good (crispy) yet the entire dish was cold, not even room temp cold. Both the rice balls and sauce were cold. Very weird. Our server promised our entrees would come out hot and they did. We ordered the risotto and shrimp and the gnocchi. The portions were huge (/ major plus) and the food itself was good, not great. Gnocchi should be pillowy soft and they were dense and heavy. The sauce was also watery. Our server Jessica was really the only highlight of the evening as well as the rest of the staff (oh, and the Manhattan) but the food was overall underwhelming and disappointing. For the cost and quality, would probably only come back to maybe try a pizza,...