Frankie’s 124

3.5 stars for me for this entry in the growing list of Italian places serving zonky comfort food family style. Nothing holds a torch to Carmine’s in New York, but I do enjoy this place. This is not a place to come and see or been seen. Most diners here skew toward the 60 Minutes /​Angela Lansbury crowd, but I think the food is solid and the service good. Here are some of the dishes I have had:
The fried mozzarella: Ten in the order. They come out piping hot and are crunchy on the outside and cheesy good on the inside.
The salad: A nice starter. Be sure to pay a little extra to get the salami and cheese.
Veal parmigiana: A winner.
Chicken Scarpariello: A huge portion of chicken parts, potatoes, and peppers. But unlike every other place that serves this dish, they don’t cheat you on the sausage. There must be three or four full links in the order.
Pasta fra diavolo with seafood: A huge platter of pasta with a ton of seafood and not the cheapy seafood. I have had this twice and the pasta came out cooked right each time (which can be hard to do for this dish).
Burnt-​end string beans: The name says exactly what this dish is, and this dish is good. Good flavor and the burnt ends add to that flavor.
Desserts: I have had the cannolis and the almond cookies (cookies are complimentary) and they are really good.
I appreciate there are other places like this, and those competitors may have a nicer place inside or a slightly better scene. But to me, food and service are more important, and this place beats those other places.

I’d heard good things about this place and decided to try it only to be disappointed. Firstly, the menu is from a very specific part of Italy, so neither spaghetti, ravioli or any of the items you usually associate with Italian food are on it. Now I know this makes me sound super unclassy (I know, that’s not even a word), but there was not very much on the menu I wanted to eat. I had to ask for a special dish from the Miami Spice menu.
I went with a couple of friends and one of their dishes was pretty good, but the other was awful — we think the broccoli in it was spoiled or something. So it was kind of a mixed bag for all three of us. We decided that for the price range, it really wasn’t worth it. It’s all about value right?
I have to say our waiter was extremely friendly and very pleasant which lightened up the experience somewhat. Truth be told it was a Sunday night and the place was empty. I guess that should have been my red flag!