Frankie & Benny's Specials Menu Review

I was recently asked if I'd like to receive a voucher to try out the new specials menu at Frankie and Benny's. Never one to turn down free food I snapped it up. I've reviewed Frankie and Benny's in the past and it was a good experience, although that hasn't always been the case and I've found the kind of service and food you get can depend on how busy the restaurant is. Not withstanding the above, I've never had a truly terrible experience there, certainly nothing to stop me ever going back that's for sure.

I decided to use my voucher after work with a friend as I don't have a Frankie and Benny's that close to my home but one is handily situated only a few minutes drive from my office. Going after work, at 5pm meant it was incredibly quiet, in fact we may have been the only ones in there but it certainly filled up as time went on.

As our voucher stipulated, we had to choose from the specials menu.  The specials are available all day from Sunday to Friday and you get two courses for £10.95. If you want an extra course it's just another £2.25 so rather good value on the face of it.

First up were the starters.  The choice was BBQ Chilli Wings, Warm Dough Sticks & Dips, Crab Bruschetta, BBQ Pulled Pork Potato Skins and Cajun Blue Cheese Mushroom Crostini.  I opted for the Cajun Blue Cheese Mushroom Crostini whilst my friend chose the Warm Dough Sticks.

The dough sticks were lovely, served warm however the garlic butter dip was quite disappointing and not what we expected at all. It was more like a pot of tasteless oil.  My mushroom crostini, whilst not looking particularly pretty was in fact rather delicious. 

Next were main courses.  There was a good selection on the menu - Cajun Mushroom Pizza, Double Pepperoni Pizza, Meatball Siciliana Calzone, Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, Ranch Burger, Philly Chicken & Bacon Wrap, Veggie Gnocchi Bake, BBQ Pulled Pork Pasta Bake, Chicken Carbonara Bake, BBQ Burger, Chicken & Bacon Ranch Salad and Bacon Bolognese Bake. I chose the Meatball Siciliana Calzone and my friend had the Chicken & Bacon Wrap.

We were both happy with our mains, the calzone was HUGE and I may have been easily defeated if it weren't for the oozy cheese and the super soft dough that kept me coming back for me. Really tasty and I'd have it again. My friend also enjoyed the chicken wrap and said that it was very tasty.

Everyone's favourite part...desserts. On the menu they have Apple & Raspberry Crumble, Salt Caramel Cheesecake, Mint Choc Waffle and Banoffee Brownie.  By this point we were both a bit stuffed so decided to share a dessert. We had set our heart on the Banoffee Brownie however they had no brownies so we had to settle for the Salt Caramel Cheesecake.

The cheesecake was nice but not really to my tastes. It felt a bit mass-produced but my friend enjoyed it. I however would definitely choose something else next time. Hopefully they'll have the brownie!

Our whole meal for two came to £29.25 - that was two starters, two mains, one dessert and two glasses of coke and I didn't think that was too unreasonable.

All-in-all it was a good experience and pleasingly the specials menu had plenty of choice - even the fussiest eaters should be catered for there. It was good value and the food we had was generally quite tasty with only the garlic butter being a let down.

Disclosure: For the purposes of this review I was sent a £30 VIP voucher to try out the specials menu. I have not been told what to write and all words and opinions in this blog post  are my own.