Frankies 457 Spuntino — Restaurant in New York

Unfortunately I cannot recommend Frankies to anyone given their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We had to cancel our wedding scheduled for June 20, 2020 due to the shutdown and circumstances in NYC for restaurants/events and also the limitations on gatherings over 10 people. I provided written cancellation to them in accordance with my contract on March 16, 2020. The deposit is fully refundable so long as at least 28 days notice is provided. This is per the contract I signed, as well as Frankies. They confirmed via email my deposit would be fully refunded to me within 30 days. The next day I received an email saying my deposit couldn't be refunded until the restaurant "re-opened." As we all know, restaurants are no where close to re-opening for in person dining, which would have been (potentially) when I could have received my $14,200 deposit back. I went back and forth with their COO Lauren Merkin all throughout March and April regarding my deposit and I even offered her a payment plan. While I tried to be understanding of their small business, they unfortunately did not work with me whatsoever to get me my money back. I offered her an option to pay me only $5,000 within the 30 day time frame and then pay me $2,000 a month thereafter- which I think is extremely generous of me to offer when I never agreed to give Frankies an interest free loan. They had no idea what my financial situation was and basically fraudulently took my MUCH NEEDED $14,200 after I did not receive a check on April 15th. Lauren told me they didn't have the money to give me. Very scary to think a restaurant that holds events spends your money as soon as it is received. They do NOT hold your event money in escrow for safe keeping until AFTER the event concludes. Luckily I was extremely fortunate to have used my Chase Freedom credit card to charge all of the deposits totaling $14,200. I reported Frankies as fraudulent on April 15th and Chase refunded me the money immediately. I just received word yesterday that (of course) I won my dispute and the refund is now permanent on my account. I feel incredibly sad thinking of all the couples who may have paid in cash or by check that aren't as lucky as me.

Frankies looked like a beautiful space to hold an intimate wedding and the pasta was incredible. However, given the extreme uncertainty going forward for likely many years due to this pandemic, I can never recommend Frankies to anyone...

This place is superb. A true gem. I’m a local and have eaten here many times but my most recent visit compelled me to write a review. A waiter forgot one of our orders (it happens in restaurants). The waiter and manager graciously apologised, brought us some snacks on the house while we waited, didn’t charge us for the dish and offered us a nice dessert wine on the house. I wish all restaurants managed inevitable errors like this.

Ambiance: Outdoor area is situated in a walled garden with nice greenery and warm lighting. It allows you to escape the noise of the street and the Subway and almost feel like you’re somewhere in Tuscany. Tables are spaced apart enough that you won’t feel like you’re part of the adjacent table’s conversations. Indoor is more lively and cosy with open kitchen and bar adding to energy. The windows fog up during winter, creating a “warm refuge with tasty food” vibe from the outside.

The food is very good. I’ve tried most of the mains and I go back to the sausage and cavatelli. It sounds like the most unoriginal red-sauce Italian restaurant meal you’ve ever heard of, but it’s hands down my favourite meal in New York. Handmade pasta with brown butter, Italian sausage. Glorious. Folk who’ve lived here 15-20years agree too! For other meat dishes, the lamb ragu and the meatballs are some of the best I’ve had. The sweet sausage and red peppers is gluten free, served with polenta.

For something lighter, the eggplant marinara is perhaps surprisingly a lighter variant vs the typical 8tonnes of bread crumbs, cheese and red sauce production served in many NY Italians. Homemade tomato sauce, nice balanced seasoning. Sweet potato ravioli is also nice and light.

For dessert, give Tiramisu a break for just one Italian restaurant outing and try the stunning Red Wine Prunes and...

This was a convenient meeting place for us to meet up with some friends for dinner. Prices are about $80-$120 per head depending on how you order. Service was mediocre, this is the kind of place that dumps your silverware on the table after appetizers and tries to clear the dishes before the whole table is done. Our table was covered in oil and cheese after this and it was off putting that staff had handled our used forks and left them on the table for our next course, but hey, some places are like this. The lamb ragu was fine but kinda looked like dog food when it came out, the cavatelli was tough and greasy and the gnocchi came with v. cold ricotta on top, for pastas that were $28 bucks each I would expect maybe better, but it wasn’t the end of the world, we ate kinda early and maybe the kitchen wasn’t warmed up yet or they had the b team on cause it was Sunday. We actively ordered less drinks because i disliked our server so much. Also our table must’ve been the worst in restaurant, if you are larger in size or taller be expected to be uncomfortable (sadly typical in brooklyn), one side of our table was inaccesible to our friends because of this and i could tell every time they started the dishwasher cause i was so jammed up against the screen wall concealing it. Casually $400 and 90 minutes later we were like well ok it was nice seeing you to our friends, hugs goodbyes, and then as a couple we walked home agreeing to each other that the food was not very good and we probably wouldn’t go back. Was a gorgeous brooklyn night tho! Caesar...