Frankie & Benny’s -Watford

The food here was horrible!!!
You will literally need a sledgehammer to cut into the extra extra brunt chicken wings.
The chips tasted like they had been cooked in cold oil!
The nicest part to my meal was the free glass of water.

Very fast service but felt quite cramped. I stopped here with my family for lunch before visiting the Warner Bros Harry Potter Tour so was a little worried about the time we had before having to leave for the tour. However our food arrived very quickly after ordering. The staff did get our drinks order wrong but quickly corrected it without hassle. Definitely worth visiting if you’re in the area and need something to eat.

If there was a 3.5 stars option available on Unilocal,that’s what I’d give this particular Frankie & Benny’s. Claiming to offer Italian American New York style cuisine but clearly with strongly English influenced offerings, this chain restaurant seems to have a bit of an identity problem at times. However, this location is right next door to a Vue cinema, and around the corner from Costco and Asda making it an easy destination location which also offers ample parking. This restaurant is decorated from top to bottom with black and white American photos and features old time rock and roll blaring loudly on the speakers, giving it a fun atmosphere. It’s quite a spacious location and I counted at least 3 large group parties of up to 15 – 20 going on at once in addition to a number of smaller tables of 2 or 4. The open floor plan on a Saturday night made it quite raucous at times, and the complementary balloons being intentionally popped by a group of overly enthusiastic Christmas partiers got a little obnoxious at times. Still, it’s clear that that wait staff at Frankie and Benny’s work their butts off. Our service was a little slow at times, but we were patient given how busy it was and how obviously hard our friendly and capable waitress was working for her tables. The food was decent. Portions were large, and while I was a little disappointed as an actual Italian American from New York that the cuisine really didn’t live up to what it claimed, my calzone was still pretty good. My partner’s burger was a bit blah, but the herby potatoes that he ordered were SO amazingly addictive. Dessert was a combination brownie cheesecake served with ice cream and hot fudge and was perhaps the feature of the meal. Very rich, very yum. I recommend it with the cookies and crème ice cream if they have it. Overall, not a bad experience. I wish the music wasn’t quite so loud, I wish that the food was a litlte hotter and a little faster, and a little more authentic. But that being said, I will be back and I did enjoy myself.