Blog 2 the follow up

To be fair, professional food critics go to a certain style of establishment a place where their readers are likely to indulge. These guys normally read the Independant and drive 70 grand Range Rover's. I dont have £80 to spend on a bottle of vintage 1990 rioja, therfore as a consequence the places I choose to "review" in the loosest term will be places the "everyday" man or lady will go.
So today October 18th is my 29th birthday so to celebrate we go for a short drive into Kettering and go to Frankie & Benny's. I havent been to a F&B for a while but that said I cant recall a bad meal just there are better places around. Friday lunch was quite busy we waited patiently and we were eventually sat as a table of 2 despite clearly having a baby. is a baby something to be overlooked? Would it have hurt to just say 2 and a small one, 2 and a high chair or even just a table for 3? Any acknowledgement would have been nice rather than Grayson being dismissed completely like its a burden having chosen to eat in their establishment. The manageress who sat us offered us a couple of drinks we promptly recieved our diet Coke's. Drinks were good as expected wet and cold. The range of products available is quite extensive and something that at Harvester, as a brand we are challenged to explain the menu. Its something you maybe dismiss on occasions but in actual fact it wouldnt have hurt her to have said look this is drinks this is main menu and this is the lunch time menu which has different courses on different offers. All meals shown are discounted and are the same size portions. However this wasnt the case. We directed ourselves around the menu and ordered starters and 2 mains of which my choice the New Yorker Calzone was on the lunch time meal deal which I didnt realise, the waitress kind of made me feel like I should have known and there was a moment of feeling uncomfortable. That said she disapeared off and our starters arrived a sharing plate of dough balls and dough sticks With a lovely seasoned cheese sauce. The mains arrived after our starters were finished within good time. A chicken  breast sandwich in a ciabatta with fries and coleslaw. I had the previously stated pizza. Which came with a rich tomato sauce over the top. The calzone was a weird thick pancake like pastry not conventional and certainly not "good different" I had a side of fries. The meals were if at all to be picky very salty nothing extraordinary quitw average. Maybe this is the reason its been so long in between visits sadly quite forgettable. A further ice cream and coffee later we recieved our bill after what felt like an age. Because of the lunch time offer (unexplained) 3 courses and 2 drinks came to a respectable £39. For a lunchtime meal the food was just about filling if it was a evening meal I wouldnt want to pay the actual price plus an evening drink. The best part of Frankies & Bennies is 100% the atmosphere good music, dimmed lights and relativly friendly albeit uninterested staff. 

For me FB's is a 5/10