Swankie Frankie

Just read it’s closing on December 20. The article says it’s due to accessibility issues and lack of a drive-​thru.
My two experiences were unsatisfactory due to the food. Both times I was there during lunch hours and the only customer. Maybe it could be due to using stale buns for the overpriced hotdog.
Or the lack of friendliness. C’mon. I tried to converse with no response.
This is a great location. I’m sure the rent was high. But at the end of the day, it’s about the customer experience. I went twice thinking the first may have been a fluke. It wasn’t.

This is a great «quick bite» spot if you’re down in the Ped mall, or if you’re craving a good hot dog. I haven’t branched out beyond the My Way yet, but I highly recommend that one if you just want a simple dog. I appreciate that they have Dirty brand chips – always a delicious, healthier choice! There are a couple of outdoor tables and a long counter inside for seating, but there are lots of benches throughout the Ped mall too. It’s always clean and the service is fast, but with Swankie in the title, I think I was expecting a more upscale/​hipper interior. (Although, to be fair there isn’t much to do with the limited space.)
For Iowa City this is a 3.5÷4 star joint and I will definitely be back again, but when I compare it to gourmet hot dog stands/​restaurants in other cities (for example Pink’s in L.A. or Frank in Austin, etc.) it falls a little short for me.

I have to figure that if you’re hungry for a hot dog, you’re either missing baseball season or just have awesome taste in random hot dogs. Either way, this is a great place to stop if you’re ever craving a hot dog. I recommend «The Good Life.»

I stopped in for my first Swankie Frankie experience last week, so naturally I had to taste-​test the Chicago dog. My first impression: authentic perfection! The relish was dyed green exactly as it should be, there was a hearty amount of diced onions, sprinkled with ample celery salt, and topped with two hot sport peppers — perfect! The pickle spears were a little less crisp than I like which made them hard to bite through, but I’m abnormally picky about my pickles.
My only gripe is regarding the buns. I really think that with a slightly fancier, artisan/​homemade bun, these prairie dogs can truly compete with the big-​city dogs of Chicago.

Just ok! Lots of potential — dog was a bit cold and bun not as fresh as it should be in my view. Great menu — lots of fun choices. Service was quick!

So this is a fun little hot dog place in iowa city. You can get fully dressed Chicago style dogs or dogs with mac-​n-​cheese on it. They were open late and my friend got a veggie dog with mac-​n-​cheese on it. I have not seen such joy on my slightly drunk, vegetarian friend’s eyes in a while. Swankie Frankie made her night.

If you like hot dogs, this is your place!
I loved it, so did my 5 year old niece.
Not a huge selection, but plenty for a hot dog stand.
Recommended!

This place does a lot of things right. Every hotdog I’ve tried here was been first rate. Great hotdog, fresh toppings, great bun — every bit as good as the highly underwhelming hotdog at Chicago’s famous Superdawg. If you have dietary restrictions, you can get gluten-​free buns, veggie dogs, and other stuff like that.
The service has been fine, in my experience. I’ve never been there when it was swamped, but they seem to be reasonably efficient. My only real complaint is that they’re deficient in terms of some of the other menu items. The fries are particularly bad. They are strongly reminiscent of the frozen fries that you cook yourself in the oven. The texture is chewy, and they’re almost completely (or actually completely) unseasoned. I suppose you’re supposed to order their fancy chips, but I’d rather have something prepared fresh than eat chips out of a bag. I recommend skipping the sides. If you’re really hungry, just get a second hotdog.
Swankie Frankie does excel in the critical task of making great hotdogs. I wish the fries weren’t so offensively bland, but most everything else about this place is great.

These are some good hotdogs. Forget about your typical dog with mustard and ketchup. These bad boys are gourmet and they are delish. Just had the Fly Me To The Moon jumbo dog. MMM! Some really good concoctions and all tasty. Only downside is the price. I could easily eat two of these dogs but am reticent to shell out a ten-​spot.
I think they need to start offering daily specials and night specials to get people through the doors. They do have a punch card.

Delicious hotdogs. Even better than I imagined or hoped. Nice and clean interior; decorated & designed to fit the theme. Nice staff. Truly delicious…

I just ordered with OrderUp (that part was great). I got The Frankie and my friend ordered the New York, New York. We thought they were alright. It wasn’t the best we’d had but it was sufficient. We paid extra to have the jumbo dogs and to be honest we were still hungry after we had them. I would think if you pay $ 5ish per hot dog, it should only take one to fill you up.

Tried Swankie Frankie today for the first time and I will definatly be back. The food was served fast, the ingredients we obviously fresh, and the service was friendly. Overall a great addition to our downtown district.

Every town needs a hot dog joint… Yay we have one local, we are a big city!!! Woo
They serve hot dogs, sausages, brats, and veggie dogs wit a variety of toppings to go with them. The do have gluten free buns for those that need them.
The hot dogs taste good in my book, they do a great job with having a lot of options. Take this place as it is, a hot dog shop that does a good job on their product. I myself am a fan since I do get in the mood where I wish I was at a baseball game to get a good hot dog, well they have them on the ped mall so enjoy if you need a quick bite to eat,

Ordered two Chicago-​style dogs, the hot dogs themselves were luke-​warm and the buns were old and hard. I find it difficult to understand how the server couldn’t feel the difference between a fresh, soft bun and an old, hard bun. As I was getting ready to leave a man walked in and went behind the counter, he looked to be the owner so I asked if he was the owner, he said he was, I told him of my experience and he just looked at me and said «oh okay» and went back to putting on his plastic gloves. The place wasn’t crowded, maybe four people were sitting down eating. Pretty sad experience.

I love hot dogs, but gave up eating beef and pork a few years ago, so I was thrilled to find out Swankie Frankie has veggie hot dogs! They’re delicious and this is my new favorite place to eat in Iowa City. Another plus, they have sauerkraut, which a surprising number of hot dog places don’t have.

Excellent. Authentic Chicago hot dog in Iowa City. Others have tried, but Swankie Frankie is the only one to succeed.
A little pricey and no fries.

I think the hot dogs are interesting and tasty. They are slow and somewhat disorganized at making the hot dog though — one person will start and then get distracted and a line builds up… and really it’s just a hot dog, so it should be pretty efficient. It’s also on the expensive side, which is fine, but I wish there was a less expensive option for the kids. They LOVE this place and will go there every day, but they never want any toppings, so I feel kind of ripped off paying $ 5 for a plain hot dog (and my 5 year old can eat two!!).

Friendly staff and talk about an interesting selection. My only disappointment is they don’t have a location with a drive up window. Cause if they did I don’t know if I’d eat anything else. Thinking about it I should probably thank them for this.
I had a Frankie (chili dog) and a Lady is a Tramp. The Frankie was easily the best chili dog I’ve had. Soft bun, meaty chili, perfect onion and smooth cheese. The LIAT offers mild or spicy cheese sauce (I went mild) and crushed potato chips on top. Yum! Both were great.
The space was small but for downtown college town it is adequate.

The staff here are pretty incompetent, both times I’ve given them a shot the owner looked embarrassed at his employees performance the entire time. If you get your order to go they give it to you smashed paper-​thin in some foil, making your hotdog into a condiment-​slathered meat pancake. The «coney island» uniforms the staff wears are a nice touch, I just wish they worked as well as they dressed.
Edit because I don’t know how to reply to the owner’s comment, I don’t work in food service and the business I work for isn’t competition in any way, I just like hot dogs and take customer service seriously, and was extremely unimpressed.

They do variations on hot dogs, sausages, chili, chips, Mac and cheese and various sides. They do it quite well. Best brat I’ve had in a long time. Chili was great. The thing I noticed most was the fresh ingredients. I didn’t know a hot dog bun could be this good… Yum.