Frankie's — Restaurant in Lenox

Frankie's is one of those enigmas of the Berkshires that, while serving some of the best Italian fare in the county, also has some room for improvement.

I'll start with what is perhaps the greatest asset -- and the most striking contrast to most other restaurants in the Berkshires: Frankie's serving staff. I can't say enough about how diligent, hard-working, and helpful our servers have been at every visit. From topping off our wine and water to frequent but unobtrusive checking in to navigating special requests, Frankie's staff gets 5+ stars hands down.

The main course dishes -- a wide variety of southern Italian standards -- are also self-assured, interesting, and consistently well-executed. Presentation can be lacking, and prices are admittedly high, but portions are so generous and so delicious as to cast such considerations far from one's mind while consuming them. Every dish is so well prepared that my wife, myself, and our friends have all asked ourselves: why would we ever eat at another Italian restaurant in the Berkshires? It's hard to answer that question until after the evening is long over, and some persisting flaws at Frankie's rise to the surface....

Where is the room for improvement? Really just three areas: saltiness, beverages, and desserts. Our family is not a fan of over-salted food, mainly because it is easy to bring out flavor with more interesting seasonings and components, but also for health reasons. Anyone sensitive to salt will experience an unpleasant day or two after dining at Frankie's, regardless of the dish that was ordered. Every kitchen knows that salt is the quickest shortcut to flavoring a meal -- but the chef at Frankie's tends to elevate this habit to an over-the-top deluge. And because, of necessity, Italian soups and sauces are prepared in advance with long cooking times, there isn't a "low salt" option available for the dishes we otherwise love.

Although the small wine list is actually pretty decent (and some of the Italian reds we've tried are excellent), and the mixed drinks have interesting descriptions, the reality is those mixed drinks seem to be mostly flavored water and a lot of ice, with little alcohol content and no complex flavors. At least this has been our experience. The desserts likewise sound interesting, but really only have one dominant theme: sickly sweet. Even the creme brulee we tried was surprisingly bland, undercooked, and overly sugared. In short, Frankie's would do well to outsource desserts to a competent dessert chef and leave off serving confections that really don't work at all.

The only other hiccup in a Frankie's dining experience will be trying to find parking -- or even getting a reservation -- on a busy tourist weekend in Lenox. If there is any sort of event in town -- a jazz fest or art walk, for example -- then it's probably best to avoid Frankie's altogether. But on any other night, making reservations on Google is a breeze and parking is usually available on the street out front.

All-in-all, we will certainly keep bringing friends to Frankie's if only to show off how a really professional establishment with tasty fare and excellent service is run, especially since that combination is exceedingly rare in these parts. Will my wife and I keeping dining there on our own? If the salt use were cut in half, the desserts rose to the same level as the main courses, and the drinks became more interesting and flavorful, we definitely would. Until one or more of these shortcoming are remedied, however, we'll probably just stick to impressing our friends with a dinner at...

The quality of the ingredients is high; however, it's expensive even by "tourist town" standards. My main issue is the way some dishes were plated. I had the trout almondine. The trout was served on top of the sides, which includes potatoes au gratin. Unfortunately, stacking them this way led to the trout's over-abundant butter lemon sauce soaking the potatoes. Everything on the plate became a mush of butter-lemon flavored food. Also, the trout skin was so soaked in the sauce that it was soft, fishy tasting and inedible. (Good fish should not taste "fishy.") Maybe this is by design and the skin isn't meant to be eaten. I confess I may be ignorant in this regard.

The same problem occurred with the chocolate lava cake dessert. The warm cake was topped with vanilla ice cream which was half-melted by the time it reached our table. It ran together with whatever chocolate "lava" may have been inside the cake, so I couldn't even find the lava.

Simply moving these sides to the side of the plate when plating would solve these problems and make for a much more enjoyable meal.

My dinner companion had the penne pesto. It was average. The pesto was not thick enough to cling to the pasta so a good deal of effort had to be made to get pesto flavor in each bite. It was more like oil with some basil in it.

For an appetizer I had the meatballs. The meat was good and the sauce was very tasty and fresh. I personally prefer meatballs that are a little more "doctored" up. My husband makes meatballs with a lot of garlic and onion as well as some bread crumbs. These were basically just... meat, rolled into balls. I will say the meat was fresh and tasty, so it certainly didn't need any additives. It's more a matter of personal preference as to how you like your meatballs.

Service...

My family is Italian and I am a home chef. Frankie’s blew me (and my partner) away!

First: Drinks. He ordered a twist on a whiskey sour, I ordered the Alpine mocktail (which tasted EXACTLY like gin), and we shared a Love Letter—which absolutely deserves a place in the regular cocktail rotation!

Second: Apps. Warm bread and high quality olive oil to start. Then we ordered the zucchini fritti—first let me say that the platter, not plate, that this was served on was double the size of my head. This could’ve served 6! They were better than any french fry and the marinara dipping sauce was a previous for the stunning sauces in our entrees to come…

Third: Entrees. I am vegetarian and have a dairy allergy. It is exceedingly difficult to find Italian food in American that isn’t dependent on cheese. Enter Frankie’s vegan lasagna, which is second to none. My tastebuds were more than pleased. My ONLY complaint is the use of red peppers, which are not necessary in this exquisite dish; the occasional bite of sweet really takes away from the savory complexity of the dish; please remove them! My partner got the Penne alla Spicy Sausage, the vodka sauce for which was based from the same marinara. It was a wonder to behold and devour both of these dishes!

Fourth: Service. Sapphire was our waitress and she is a gem indeed. Very kind, attentive, flexible, and accommodating. We also had made a resy for 8 and they were able to seat us early when we got there ahead of schedule.

Everything about this place tastes like nonna’s kitchen in the best way. Yet it is elegant and intimate enough for a date night out. I would recommend it to anyone...