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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder why the hell someone would CHOOSE to go out for dinner at Frankie & Bennies

276 replies

GetOrfMoiLand · 26/07/2010 11:52

It has got to be the worst restaurant on earth.

And it's not even cheap.

Vile food, and every 20 mins the lights dim and 'happy birthday' gets sung out the loudspeakers.

It's up there with Harvester and Bella Pasta in my opinion.

OP posts:
LeQueen · 26/07/2010 15:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DinahRod · 26/07/2010 15:33

Fimbo, if you can ever get over the trauma and venture into Rugby try out Ask, La Casa Loco, The Dun Cow or The Pheasant Eating House, all really good places to dine - that retail site you went to is the pits.

Been once to the local F&B and once was enough. Am no food snob but when you wish you'd gone to Mcdonalds over the road instead, you know it's bad.

LeQueen · 26/07/2010 15:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

xkaylax · 26/07/2010 15:34

I really like it ds loves it and is always asking to go although last time he wanted pizza and it was huge like an adult one hes only 3 and wouldnt have eaten it all so i just thought what a waste. although it was only £3.99 and with a drink so good value.

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou · 26/07/2010 15:35

TBH, I do not understand why a sentient being would want to eat at any chain restaurant. Seriously, why??

They're niether cheap nor cheerful.

KerryMumbles · 26/07/2010 15:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

UnquietDad · 26/07/2010 15:35

Because small children are rarely welcome at the more upmarket ones?

StuckInTheMiddleWithYou · 26/07/2010 15:43

There are many more restaurants than either hideous chains or swanky places...

In my home town, there are a number of restaurants that my family has been going to for years - not one of them is posh or a chain.

Most cities and large towns have a plethora of local and often family run Italian, Indian, Chinese and even if your lucky pub restaurants.

Crazycatlady · 26/07/2010 15:55

Well I just had the misfortune to be taken to eat at a Strada by a client from out of town. The service was appalling and the penne arrabiatta was terribly bland.

If Strada is one of the better chain restaurants then I'm scared about how bad a F&B could be!

I've never actually seen one though, let alone eaten in one.

For what it's worth, my small (and sometimes loud) toddler is very welcome in just about any restaurant I take her to. Clearly I wouldn't turn up at Le Gavroche with her of an evening, but local family run restaurants are always eager to please and very welcoming... cheap Italian/Asian street-food type places are great and even the restaurant up the road that has a Michelin star was fine about her being there at lunch. So I just don't see the need to eat anywhere that crap.

MrsC2010 · 26/07/2010 15:55

What type of food is Frankie & Bennie's? I don't think I've seen one.

Fimbo · 26/07/2010 15:59

Thanks Dinahrod, doubt we will be back though, we must have been looking in the wrong place!

LetThereBeRock · 26/07/2010 15:59

I like some chains and I eat in them because I want to and I like them,and yes I know there are a lot of restaurants which aren't chains and I eat in them also.

I particuarly like a local chain,there's about 5 of them,of restaurants here that a family friend owns.They make lovely pizzas in a proper pizza oven.

ilovemydogandMrObama · 26/07/2010 16:01

We went into a F & B about a year ago because it was on our way somewhere. Lots of balloons, so we went in. The manager runs to see us and says that they hadn't officially opened, but would we like to have a free meal and then comment on the food service? Me, DP and the DCs had a lovely meal.

Wouldn't pay for it though.

ExitPursuedByABear · 26/07/2010 16:05

The local cinema is on a retail park and the only food choices are a Mexican or F&B. It stinks of greasy chips and is ghastly, but when Cinema parties have been held it is the only place to eat, without having to ferry the DCs elsewhere - hence a captive audience which presumably means they do not need to bother to improve. On the occasions I have had to go, I have not touched the food, but I do have quite a weak stomach.

MadameOvary · 26/07/2010 16:05

LeQueen - I would have reported them for their clearly lax (or non-existent) food hygiene.

Never been to an F&B's, DD's older siblings appear to have gone to them on a regular basis tho.

I went to my local Toby once, when I was desperate as DD was still very small and had fallen asleep and I couldn't face lugging her buggy up the stairs. The food was average (I was too hungry to care tbh (blush)) but the staff were lovely, sat me at a nice safe spot, watched DD while I got my food and while I went to the loo, and kept checking to see if we were ok.

Lots of people started arriving soon after and I could not believe how much they piled on their plates - mountains of mashed potato, veg and yorkshire puds. They looked like they hadn't eaten for a week!

Earthymama · 26/07/2010 16:11

I love cooking but would love to be able to go out locally for food occasionally. There is nowhere nearby that actually cooks anything rather than warms up some shite pre-packaged stuff. We have 5 fast food outlets, one independent pub, one chain pub and none of them can produce anything edible. I love the idea of having real pizza without sugary red sauce.

Actually there is one excellent veggie cafe in a nearby town that is only open in the daytime so limits my access to food I or DP haven't prepared!

I am not at all a high earner but I cannot bear spending my money on horrid food. So I save my pennies and go to a lovely cafe in Somerset about once every two months.

Why is it acceptable to feed children crap? To teach them that additives etc are food? Surely they should be given fresh, tasty food?

QueeferSutherland · 26/07/2010 16:13

Lola-

LeQ-Food poisoning takes a lot longer than 1.5 hours to hit. More like 12-24.

Who was dissing Nando's? It's the food of kings! I have been lucky enough to dine in some of Europe's best restaurants, and I'd rather have a hot 1/4 chicken with corn & fries any day.

My DH once took me to Chiquitos. I actually cried to the sound of a mariachi band at the grimness of it all.(I may have been pg, in retrospect.)

thefirstmrsDeVere · 26/07/2010 16:20

We never go out as a family. We are certainly not foodies.

I thought it might be a nice idea to take the little ones out to F&Bs.

O M G

The food was fine (as I said, not a foodie), the staff were quick and friendly but it was the loudest most wired place I have been since my clubbing days!

We were in and out within an hour. Me and OH came out in a sort of daze and the kids were like ferrets on speed.

NEVER again, NEVER!

Sidge · 26/07/2010 16:24

Oh I don't mind our local F&Bs. The food is fine (open kitchen so you can see they cook it not just microwave it) and the service has been fine on the occasions I've been.

Mind you after two pitchers of Woo-Woos I could have eaten the chef and been none the wiser...

EveWasFramed72 · 26/07/2010 16:25

I have small children, and I still hate chain restaurants...always have. It freaks me right out that the food served in a chain in the US is EXACTLY the same as food in the same chain in another country. Fake food, in my opinion...plenty of nice independent pubs around where children are more than welcome!

Crazycatlady · 26/07/2010 16:27

Totally agree with whoever said Nando's rocks... chicken in a pitta, hot, with pineapple and extra salad, peri peri fries and corn. Mmm Mmm Mmm...

I made the mistake of getting 'extra hot' last time though and couldn't speak for the best part of an hour.

Their olives rock too.

porcamiseria · 26/07/2010 16:30

crazycat

I LOVE Strada, I can be a bit up-my-arse and would never grace some places but Strada rocks!

ruthosaurus · 26/07/2010 16:32

I don't mind the ones where the food is okay and reasonably priced (Pizza Express, Wagamama) but we went to TGI Friday yesterday with my SIL and, really, that place has got a bloody nerve charging a tenner for a beefburger. And the chips were full of black and green bits, and none of the 14 waitresses seemed to be able to see us.

My SIL loves it there, but I can't fathom why. She complained about it the whole time we were there but I think she goes because it's conveniently near her house.

But it is soooooooooo horrible. Even the view out of the window is shit: you can see the sliproad to the M1, a roundabout, the carpark and Meadowhall from where we sat.

DollyTwat · 26/07/2010 16:32

I am lucky I have managed to brainwash convince my kids that F&B is shite. Even they will say it's poo on a plate if anyone suggests it. They didn't take much convincing tbh the one in Cheltenham serves the most vile shite I've ever tasted

Crazycatlady · 26/07/2010 16:38

Well I base my Strada experience on one meal in one branch porcamiseria so it's not exactly a wide-ranging survey I'll admit.

It was disappointing though - really bland sauce and the pasta didn't seem that good quality. Shame, I was really looking forward to a big steaming bowl of spicy arrabiatta, mmmm. Will have to go home and cook it myself for dinner instead. At a cost of approximately 25p rather than £7...