CHEAP, cheerful and simple is what you get at Frankie & Benny’s, down at Aberdeen Beach.
As authentic Italian-American experiences go it’s not a million miles of the mark.
But with our almost two-year-old son, Elliot, along with us, simple was what we were looking for.
We’ve been to F&Bs loads of times and we knew what to expect – the place was packed, with very few empty tables to be found.
To a rock n’ roll soundtrack, we were led to our table where the high chair was already waiting – which we thought was a nice touch.
The place is very family-friendly – one of the reasons we picked it in the first place – and tables come complete with kids menus, colouring-in books and crayons.
Great for the kids and better for the grown-ups who want to eat in peace.
For starters I went for the loaded potato skins (£3.95) which were pretty good – three decent-sized jackets with cheese and BBQ sauce.
Karen had the bruschetta (£3.95) which got good pass marks – not too oily and not too dry.
Elliot tried to eat the crayons.
For the main course I picked the BBQ chicken bake (£8.95) while Karen opted for the vegetable risotto (£9.25).
My dish was good but a little different to its description in the menu: penne pasta – check, BBQ sauce – check, baked cheese crust – no sign of it anywhere.
Still it did the job, the sauce was really tasty and it was a good-sized portion.
No one can make a mess of vegetable risotto so Karen was perfectly happy with her food – plenty of vegetables in a not-too-thick sauce and, again, loads of it.
Elliot’s chicken pasta looked more like a slightly smaller adult portion – the chicken pieces were pretty big for what is supposed to be aimed at a young child.
But it was free – courtesy of it being Easter Sunday – so no complaints!
He nibbled away happily, between decorating mum and dad with pasta pieces.
The service was a little on the slow side but forgivable, given how packed the place was on this busy Sunday.
A couple of cokes and milks later and the bill came to a very reasonable £32.83.