Frankie & Benny

Finefoot

ryoden wrote: »

We went to F&B last night, a group of 8 of us for a birthday. The evening started well at 7:30, went to our booked table. The place was a bit noisy for normal conversation but meh..
The burger was ok but no better than a weatherspoons burger consider it was more than twice the price.

Anyway after going to bed I was woken at midnight by my wife running to the toilet with extreme stomach pains followed by the squirts. WOW mild food poisoning to finish the night off great... I guess I was glad i didnt have the salmon fishcakes.

Needless to say we wont be going again.

Well, I am ill every single time I go there. I have now stopped. I wont let my children go either.

Snarf999

Went to F&B last weekend, we'd been a few times to the one in Camberley and it'd been good every time. Went to the one in Whiteley though, got drinks quickly, then ordered mains. They bought all the mains except one of the children's meals which didn't come for about another 5 mins (we complained and got that one free). Then I also realised that the BBQ chicken with their "signature" BBQ sauce didn't actually have the sauce on it! Eventually got the waitress, however no real apology, just a little pot of BBQ sauce to pour on.

Desserts went the same way, once again the same child's dessert was at least a few minutes behind the others. They seemed woefully understaffed in the kitchen as the place was full. Have to say that although we like F&B, I'm not sure we'll be going back to that one (plus the fact there's a TGI's just down the road!)

Tozer

Finefoot wrote: »

Well, I am ill every single time I go there. I have now stopped. I wont let my children go either.

How strange. If I was ill just once I wouldn't go back.

So why did you?

TEDDYRUKSPIN

ryoden wrote: »

We went to F&B last night, a group of 8 of us for a birthday. The evening started well at 7:30, went to our booked table. The place was a bit noisy for normal conversation but meh.

Ordered our meals, waited about 15 mins. Finally what I assume was the manager or head waiter came back and said they had run out of pizza? How the hell does a restaurant run out of pizza at 7:45pm especially when 1/3 of the menu appears to be pizza based (folded or flat). Anyway 3 of us had to re-order, got burgers for a quick pick (whoopee £9 for a burger and chips). The burger was ok but no better than a weatherspoons burger consider it was more than twice the price.

The evening went ok after that, despite the lights going out for three birthdays around the place. Anyway after going to bed I was woken at midnight by my wife running to the toilet with extreme stomach pains followed by the squirts. WOW mild food poisoning to finish the night off great... I guess I was glad i didnt have the salmon fishcakes.

Needless to say we wont be going again.

Your wife should have gone to the hospital to obtain a medical certificate. I completely hate restaurants who have poor hygiene and cause food poisoning.

Frankie and Benny's have gone down hill. I hate it when the place is empty and they force you to the bar in order to spend money. This is poor service. I have to admit, the waiters / waitress are'nt that bad. I have noticed most of them are usually polish people.

Service is slow but the food is'nt fabulous anyway. It is rather expensive but the food is second rate american food. Anyway, if you don't like it, don't go there again. Simple as that.

I disagree that you have to complain at the start or in the middle, if the food is bad. As above, it is known that some of the chef's in these restaurants will do something dodgey to the food.

All I would say, if you complain - just get the food removed from the bill and just move on.

Whitewillow_2

I complained about the service in my local F&B about 4 years ago, to the manager, and got my entire meal, plus any further extras i cared to order for free!
That fact alone, despite sometimes their food not being entirely up to scratch has kept me going back there! Complain at the time, what do you have to lose?

Finefoot

Tozer wrote: »

How strange. If I was ill just once I wouldn't go back.

So why did you?

I thought it was perhaps the food I chose.

woody01

The final straw came when we asked to sit at our usual table only to be told we couldn't as that area had been cleaned

How 'common' do you need to be to have a usual table in F&B's

TEDDYRUKSPIN wrote: »

Your wife should have gone to the hospital to obtain a medical certificate. I completely hate restaurants who have poor hygiene and cause food poisoning.

Frankie and Benny's have gone down hill. I hate it when the place is empty and they force you to the bar in order to spend money. This is poor service. I have to admit, the waiters / waitress are'nt that bad. I have noticed most of them are usually polish people.

Service is slow but the food is'nt fabulous anyway. It is rather expensive but the food is second rate american food. Anyway, if you don't like it, don't go there again. Simple as that.

I disagree that you have to complain at the start or in the middle, if the food is bad. As above, it is known that some of the chef's in these restaurants will do something dodgey to the food.

All I would say, if you complain - just get the food removed from the bill and just move on.

How do you manage to constantly post such drivel?

Who says it was the restaurant that casued the 'two bob bits'?
and as for saying what the chef's do to food, i think you are lucky you hide behind a screen name as i am sure if they knew who you were, coupled with banding false allegations around, a lawyers letter would be arriving at your door.

All these complaints about F&B's when it is just a tarted up McDonalds is ridiculous.
If you want to eat out, why go to somewhere like it anyway.

Spose if you lot go there, i don't have to put up with you in the nice places

underlay_guru

Hi,

2 minutes to wait IMO is not much of a complaint, but i've had so many issues with F&B's over the years, I haven't got a clue why I ever go back!

Last time I went to Frankie Bennys around 18 months ago, we were greeted by the waitress standing outside the front door on an unofficial break, sucking on a Benson & Hedges as we walked in. She then put out her fag, hurried in and preceded to serve us, without washing her hands or having a polo mint, with her rotten 'freshly smoked ciggie breath' beating down on us! 10 minutes after we ordered, we were then approached by the same waitress who explained they couldn't cook us any food as they had decided to send the chefs home early due to trade being quiet....it was 7.30 on a saturday night. I then glanced at the name badge of the incompetent, smoking waitress: she was the MANAGER! Concequently we have never been back, but stupidly I never made a formal complaint either....I suppose i'd rather just tell all my friends in the area to avoid it rather than writing letters to head office like a moaning minnie...

The time before that at another branch, another waitress whipped my plate away while I was still eating. When I told her I hadn't finished, she said that she had been walking back and forth waiting to take our plates away for the past 15 minutes, and she was geting a bit impatient with us....I got a free coke as an apology -again never went back. I know I should have complained, but hey-ho - Im British...! I later found out that the staff in some other restaurants play some sort of 'P*ss the customer off' game when they are bored on their shifts: where the winner is the member of staff who can produce the most disgruntled customer...maybe she was doing the same?!!!

tim_n

http://www.consumerrightsexpert.co.uk/HowToComplainAboutYourMeal.html

Quote:
In the event your food is badly cooked, or undercooked, the restaurant is in breach of the law for failing to provide food of a satisfactory quality. For such something like this you would be entitled to some form of compensation. This would cover the cost of the particular dish and arguably a sum to cover the disappointment and distress it caused. However it wouldn't extend to the full cost of the meal. If the rest of the meal is fine you're not entitled to walk out without paying. Complain to the manager; if that doesn't help, complain to the owner and also Trading Standards (https://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk)

CharlieChap1979

Oooh, Katie, what comps you enter?? I want in on that!

NOTE TO PEOPLE WHO DON¨T COMPLAIN:

I agree with many on here, i used to be sooo shy, too small to say to the waiter actually this isn´t nice. I followed a process and now i get what i want.

I started by working out, is the food bad or is it just that i don´t like what i ordered? So, i establish that there is actually a problem, or nothing to complain about. When I know i have something to complain about I said to myself, the waiter didn´t make it, i´m not a judge, i´m a customer, he just works here, he just wants me to be happy and for him to get paid at the end of the week.

So i nicely said the waiter "hi, sorry to be a pain but this meal isn´t as nice as it should be, point out my problem in a factual sense - i.e the steak is well done, i wanted medium, or the vegetables are mushy, they should be firm (important as saying "it´s crap" doesn´t justify the problem). The waiter will then be 1) so bloody happy that someone was nice to him about a complaint and 2) empowered to go straight back to the kitchen, and say in there, "need you to do another cos this one is....." the cook has no argument. The waiter will be so pleased that you were nice it´ll be his mission that you get the best service and if he has the power to do anything valuable for just one person that night, you´ll get the good treatment.

I´m sure you´ll get what you want because the waiter was nice to the cook, not the usual "this pillock thinks the steak is burnt" Ok the cook says and you get an extra topping on the new one, and, knowing from your reaction you won´t be coming back again anyway, will still be as close to burnt as saleably possible and with the extra topping. No cook under pressure (i jokingly expect) will, when told be an irate waiter that his cooking is crap will feel, oh no i´m so sorry, i´ll do it really good this time and please pass on my apologies to the agrieved customer. Not likely.

So, confirm in your head it´s not what it should be
ask the waiter over nicely and explain why it´s not what it should be
Wait for the good food and honest, genuine unsolicited apology to come back from the kitchen, with round of drinks and possibly discount on meal. You´ll get the good service because they hope you´ll still come back next time.

Easy..

If anyone else goes through this process but quicker, let me know!!