I've not been blogging for all that long so I'm yet to come across this kind of a predicament. I don't know whether it's me but I don't get to go out for a nice meal out very often, so when I do I expect quite a high quality of service. And my last trip out didn't quite meet my expectations.
As a kid i remember going to Frankie & Bennys and loving the atmosphere and especially the song that used to play when it was someones birthday! Yet going back again on Valentines day with my boyfriend i was left very under whelmed. We arrived early, so decided to sit at the bar for a drink. The service was slow and they seemed more concerned with serving tables than the actual bar itself. Around 20 minutes later i got my drink, which was just concentrated juices mixed with a splash of vodka, not great. Then we were moved to our table by a lovely hostess and greeted by our waitress Sophie who was nice but rather over friendly and very scripted. We ordered our food and some more drinks, which this time came within minutes. The food was also very speedy. We had a chicken strip starter, which was nice, you cant really go wrong with fried chicken.
Then for mains i had the rigatoni manzo, which consisted of pasta tubes, meatballs, bacon, chicken and a sprinkling of cheese, pretty much my heaven. I mean it was nice but it lacked seasoning and was just an okay meal.
Then my boyfriend ordered the mac n cheese calzone with a side of corn on the cob. He said it was good, but having pasta in a pizza dough was a rather strange combination.
We finished our meal and the waitress came back with another scripted line and then stamped our bill with a service guaranteed stamp once we said everything was okay, which to me was a very strange thing, ive never had that happen to me before. Overall i found the whole experience rather average and i just feel it could be so much better because the menu and cocktail selection is incredible! I can get a lot better food at a much cheaper price elsewhere. The bill came to around £40 and i just didn't think it was good value for money. Chain restaurants in general really need to up their game as independent places are taking over and their food is a lot fresher, tastier and the service is alot more authentic! Loose the robotic service, season the food and lower the prices just a bit, then this place would be perfect and defiantly a place i would go back too!
I had a similar experience at F&B's recently! It was very average and overpriced for what it was in my opinion. The food was nice but nothing more than what I could cook at home (and I'm a seriously amateur chef!)
ReplyDeleteI also noted the robotic-ness of the staff which is a shame. One thing I couldn't get over was them charging almost £4 for a side salad! Might just be me, but I thought that was ridiculous. At my local student bar, they serve great food all day and a lot of the mains are 2 for £8 so paying that for a little bit of salad on the side left me pretty surprised!
Yeah like it's not terrible but it is just average! And way too over priced for what they produce!
DeleteThere are so many independent restaurants and cafe's in Manchester that offer MUCH better food for a similar price - and you don't mind paying for great food!! I would prefer to go somewhere where you know the food is freshly cooked and not mass produced!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a lovely Valentine's Day despite that! xx
www.rockonholly.com
Yeah some of Manchester's restaurants are far superior, but yeah it was a lovely day though
Deletegreat post,the robotic service bit is very interesting as i have seen it before as i do waitressing for years now.You described it great by saying over friendly and very scripted,yep some people are told what to say and how to say it but in all honesty,everyone should be themselves.When i am serving my tables,i am always myself with my own personality,i think if you are not,it shows as you have proved. I enjoyed this read and it is very well written and as you know,i love your blog xx
ReplyDeleteYeah that's all I wanted a little bit of personality to make it seem like it was genuine service. Thank you Hollie I was nervous to post this so this really helps.
DeleteI've not been to F&B's in years - for pretty much the same reasons you've outlined. There are so many nice places to go in Manchester now, that will cost the same, or less, and you'll get an awful lot better food and service, it's almost as if these independent places want you to come back!!
ReplyDeleteHope you had a nice Valentine's and next year, don't give F&B another chance ;) x
Yeah I agree so many better places, I'm not too fussed about going back again anytime soon haha
DeleteI thought similar to you when I went, I thought it was so overpriced for what it was! I definitely think it's too expensive for what it is!
ReplyDeleteJasmin Charlotte
Yeah it's so expensive! For fairly average food and service
DeleteI haven't been to F&B's for a while now as I think there are a lot more better places out there to experience. It might sound mean but I hate it when they dim the lights and put on the music and do the whole "Happy Birthday" song like I'm trying to eat here and I can't see in the dark. Thank you for such an honest post, people are sometimes to often to say they had a great experience and I think it is good if we are honest especially for service and products we are paying for with our hard earned money.
ReplyDeleteKirsty
http://cosmeticsbeautyrainbow.blogspot.co.uk/
Yeah I'm a bit the same now, I loved it as a kid but not so much anymore! Thank you I was nervous to post but I'm so glad I did!
DeleteI've found F&B service to be extremely poor, a few months ago I went for breakfast with the boy and the restaurant was half full yet our food took over an hour to come and was stone cold. There was no apology, we were ignored for a further hour when trying to get the bill. It was horrific, we aren't going back. It's a shame as I used to love it there but the last few times I've have been to different ones have all been awful.
ReplyDeleteHannah xx
thatthoughtfulgirl.blogspot.co.uk
Oh god that's awful! I just hate how mediocre it is and they can get away with it because of their name.
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