Frankie's on Melrose — Restaurant in Los Angeles

This was my first time at Frankie's. With background creds like Carmine's, a 30-year history & a rec from a friend, my expectations were on the high side. Frankie's location on Melrose, & my reservation for 6PM Saturday had me anticipating a traffic & parking nightmare, so I was expecting to use valet. Getting there was a bit dicey, & with no valet in sight, we lucked into one of the six spots in the tiny lot behind the restaurant. This may seem like much ado about nothing, but in L.A., parking is important. Valet would be nice. Frankie's bills itself a "New York Italian restaurant" that gives you the feeling "you're dining at Frankie's home." That may be a bit of a stretch, but the atmosphere is friendly, relaxed & comfortable. Dress is casual even by L.A. standards. The dining room is on the dark side - I had to use my phone to read the old-school menus we requested. I had a reservation but the dining room was almost empty at 6PM on a Saturday, so we had our pick of tables. My guest & I each ordered a glass of wine ($12) & minestrone ($10/cup) to start. (Prices on the published menu on Frankie's site are about seven years old.) The Chianti was ok, the Cab somewhat better. I wouldn't go to Frankie's for it's wine selection. The minestrone was obviously house-made and fresh, but lacked much flavor. I wouldn't get it again. We had NY steak ($40) & the pork chop ($30). Both were very good, perfectly prepared & very generous cuts. We both had roasted vegetable medley as sides, which we agreed was fantastic. The sauces on each entree were unique & flavorful without overpowering the meat. Our server was ready with knowledgeable recommendations & a friendly attitude. I was disappointed they did not have connoli available, so we tried both desserts they did have - tiramisu & bread pudding. I recommend the tiramisu which melted in our mouths, but not the bread pudding which was somewhat heavy-handed and bland. The owner, Frankie made his rounds to greet each table, which was a nice, friendly touch. The service overall was very good, efficient & unobtrusive, allowing us to linger & talk without feeling rushed, even though the dining room had filled up by the time our desserts & coffee arrived. There is a relaxed local feel to Frankie's, which was nice. Overall, Frankie's was a positive experience, though fairly unremarkable in ways. It's impressive Frankie has been able to continue in an L.A. crowded landscape crowded with very strong Italian restaurants, but by the sound of his reviews, he certainly has a loyal following & 30 years...

I am only giving one star because I never had the opportunity to order dinner in the restaurant and here's why. I was visiting my son in LA and after checking out restaurants online, decided to try Frankie's because the online dinner menu was fabulous. I have asthma which is one of the reasons I moved away from polluted air in Los Angeles to Colorado. Anyway, I made dinner reservations for 8:00 pm and we arrived a few minutes early. The place was pretty empty and we had our choice of seating so we chose a large round booth and were handed menus. A few minutes in that place and I began to have difficulty breathing and told my son I sensed the presence of air freshener, probably in the hvac. Upon questioning an employee, my son was told that yes, there was air freshener in the hvac and if they turned off the heat the room would become too cold. So we left. I was very disappointed because I was looking forward to eating at Frankie's. What most people don't know is that air freshener is toxic because it is loaded with chemicals. Why would a restaurant need to add fragrance to its hvac? Isn't the air in LA polluted enough? I know that in Vegas, most hotels/casinos pay lots of money to fragrance design companies to invent special scents especially for a property. The scent is then connected to the building's hvac system and it is then pulsed out into all common areas along with the a/c, including hallways, restaurants, gambling floors, etc. Many Vegas hotel employees have had to file workmans comp claims due to not only smoke, but inhaling chemical-based fragrances. So, while the menu looked great, unless Frankie's decides to remove the air freshener from its hvac, I will never have an opportunity...

This place was recommended to me. I love Italian food so I went with two of my friends for my birthday there. Really wanted to like it but our experience was tarnished by tiramisu and the waiter. At first it was going well, we were all even thinking of coming back and trying more dishes. Cozy atmosphere, delicious bruschetta, attentive waiter, our seafood pastas were good as well, although the shrimp in my shrimp scampi were overcooked and rubbery, but I was willing to overlook that. And of course we ordered tiramisu which is my favorite dessert ever. It was horrible, tasted like butter, and it’s not supposed to have butter at all. We all didn’t feel well after eating it. Plus we were charged $13 for it. The receipt was hand written and I’m still convinced, that a dessert like that at a place like Frankie’s couldn’t have possibly cost that much. Another thing that bothered us was that the waiter included a very generous tip for himself, and when we asked why the service charge is already included in the check and asked to show whether it’s written anywhere on the menu, he lied that it’s been their practice after the pandemic, but when we looked at the menu, it said that they include a 20% tip for groups of 5 or more people, but there was only 3 of us, and he included a much greater tip than that. We all used to work as waitresses at some point so we usually tip generously, which we would’ve had this not happened. He ended up removing the service charge and of course we still tipped, but our impression of this place was negatively affected and we’re never...