Frankies

We've eaten in this restaurant quite a few times over the years, under its various identities - anyone remmember when it was the Parisienne Chophouse? The room always cheers me up and makes me feel festive. The food - which isn't really the point - is very much like a ddownmarket New York themed Italian/American place. We were a party of 2 on a Friday night, and there were two or three really big noisy parties, but curiously enough the acoustic seemed fine, and we managed to have a cosy catch-up without getting annoyed by drunks, and the magician decided to leave us in peace, too. . Couldn't fault the service - speedy, smiling waitresses who got things right. My partner's salad arrived without a dressing. My melanzane parmigiana wasn't really mp as I've known it in Italy, being presented in a puddle of gloopy, near-fluorescent cheese and tomato sauce. But, bewilderingly, it tasted fine. The cotolette milanese was authentic, though, and too big to finish. And I recommend a side order of the spinach with garlic and chillies - it's terrific. A good gutsy Nero d'Avola/Shiraz for 12.50 is great value in my opinion, and so was the whole meal, esp given the location.
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Andrew Davies - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Sunday, July 01, 2007

Poor very fatty food, service was very quick but as food was poor we weren't that bothered. Restaurant was very noisy and decor different but ok.

How Marco Pierre White can put his name to this place is beyond me, we would've been better off going to a JD Wetherspoons and saved some money.
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Bailey
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Sunday, June 24, 2007

Happy to find that this was NOT a Frankie 'theme' restaurant - just great Italian food - incidently the best carbonara I've tasted ever - fun and lively atmosphere, interesting European wine list, from which we had reasonably priced Italian (OK) then delicious full Portugese red wines. Generous portions interesting salads and beautifully cooked french beans and spinach meant that we never made it to puddings which was rather sad as Marco Pierre White's 'tiramisu' at The Canteen all those years ago defined what tiramisu should be. The kids had pizza and burgers, sadly with McDonalds french fries - come on Marco - serve hand cut thick fries,; you've got three Michelin stars for goodness sake!! My wife enjoyed her duck immensely, others enjoying veal milanese and pork belly on haricot beans. Hard to fault anything - unusual for me as I generally find restaurants a chore. But then again wouldn't / shouldn't we expect something like this from M P W? I showed my ignorance by suggesting that it took a frenchman to raise the level of Italian cuisine. But MPW is apparantly Italian. Enough said. Enjoy it!
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Elliot Stevenson-Smith
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Sunday, June 24, 2007

My boyfriend and I went to Frankie's last night for the second time, and were SO disappointed! The service was terrible, and the food... our starters were ok, then I made a mistake my ordering the "chicken" burger... I honestly do not know how they could call this chicken - it was processed rubbish. I could not believe it when it arrived at my table, and when I tried to complain I was insulted by being told it was fresh chicken - I can promise you, Jamie Oliver would have had a field day! After the complaint we pretty much got ignored for the rest of the evening. Real pity as last time it was amazing... maybe just an off night? Who knows, but I will never go back there again, and if you do go - don't have chicken!
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Serena
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 0
Thursday, June 21, 2007

We visited the Frankie's in Knightsbridge. The lasagne was great and the service was amazing. It's family friendly and amiable waiters definitely add to the good atmosphere. Would recommend it for anyone looking for great value and a relaxed atmosphere.
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Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, May 08, 2007

We visited Frankies shortly after it opened and enjoyed good food in a lively Bistro atmosphere.Last week we decided to revisit with friends from Dallas who have a teenage daughter. We thought that the menu and atmosphere would be eminently suitable. Our reservation was somewhat early 7pm but was accepted without question. We arrived on time to find total chaos. There was nobody at reception and the bar was completley covered with used plates and glasses. I eventually attracted the attention of the barman who shouted to somebody in the restaurant who eventually showed us to a table. Nobody asked about our reservation for seven people and did not seem overly concerned.

As we walked through the restaurant we passed a gentlemen (?) lying prostrate in the middle of the restaurant sprawled across two chairs speaking on his mobile telphone. My wife recognised Mr Marco Pierre White. Having been seated nobody approached us for at least five miuntes until I waved somebody over for menus and drinks. We were given menus, but no order was taken for drinks.

We had not seen our friends for some time and needless to say ,keen to hear all their news.The music was so loud it was impossible to hear anything without shouting loudly. We then asked if the music could be turned down slightly . Allthough our waiter was somewhat reluctant he said he would try. Nothing was done about it .

The last straw was when they seated a party with two screaming children right next to us Any smart restaurant manager would have put them in the furthest corner and not in the centre of the room. Unable to have any covnersation and no order taken for drinks or food we decided to "cut our losses" and take our friends elswhere. Needless to say it was somewhat embarrassing and upsetting to have to brave the cold and rain have to look for another restaurant.

A very disappointing and short visit to Frankies.
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MONTY WOLPE
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Monday, March 26, 2007

Went there on Saturday evening with some friends. The waiter taking our drinks order at the bar was so rude I thought he must have been a joke. Then for 2 beers and agin and tonic it took 45 minutes. We sat at our table at 8:30 and then had to wait another 45 minuted before anyone came near us to even take a drinks order. The food arrived at 11:30, it was cold and the quality of the meat was very poor. I have never left a restaurant before feeling as though I had just been taken for a ride but this place is ridicuolous. It was half empty but I think themajor problem was that Marco Pierre White was sitting 2 tables away and all the staff where buzzing around him. Bad food, worse service and the the most impolite staff I have ever met. I would rather eat wasps then go back there again!
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Mike
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, March 15, 2007

Maybe they've smartened up their act since the earlier reviews but we were impressed. We visited on a Sunday for brunch and the kids loved it. The staff were friendly and attentive without being intrusive (and the magician a treat for the children). Gone are the 'jockey sized' portions we'd read about with a fabulous roast beef plate, handbag-sized yorkshire puddings and lashings of gravy. We found the menu both down-to-earth and good quality. And, when I ordered burgers medium-rare that's what I got - rich and succulent with a pink seam. Which if you'll pardon the pun, is pretty rare in London where a great many places tend to overcook your burger regardless of what you specify. We also found that their house wine was actually one of the best wines on the menu (without the high price tag). Being about halfway between Harrods and Museums/V&A and a short stroll from the Albert Hall, Frankies was for us a great choice for lunch during a busy family day out. Finally, we were delighted to be given a Frankie's TLC card that gives 20% off future visits. And, I'm confident we will visit again.
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Paul
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 10
Monday, January 22, 2007

I went to Fankies on Sunday evening with a quite a few collegues, All i can say is we were all very dissapointed! The decor was actually very different and gave us all somethign to talk about. BUT... The menu was terrible, there was only about 4 different options and most of these were not available (this was only 9:00pm on Sunday eve).. Service was slow and not exactly friendly! Me and my collegues will deffinately not be going back...
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Simon
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 2
Tuesday, December 05, 2006

I visited Frankies in Putney with 12 friends for a birthday dinner.

They stated they had to shorten the menu due to the amount of people, we where left with 3 starters 3 main courses and 3 sweets to chose from, it was awful.

No vegetable selection, i had to have bass with salad, disgusting, the soup for the starter had grease floating at the top and what was not fir for consumption.

The service was so bad, we had to serve or own wine from the ice buckets set yards away from the table. all in all the worst i have been to in my life, the kebab shop would have been a better option.
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Ivan Pennington
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Saturday, November 18, 2006