Frankie & Benny’s

Really not happy with Frankie & Benny’s during my most recent visit for 1 reason: the wait.
Came here at around 4 PM after watching The Hobbit III at the cinemas, so we didn’t arrive at peak dinner hours or anything, yet it was an absolute disaster.
1. When we walked in, there were 2 people already ahead of us waiting to be seated. I don’t know how long they were waiting there but they were quickly fed up and left. That should have been some kind of red flag for us there.
2. Ordered drinks, took the drinks 10 minutes to arrive.
3. Took 20 minutes in total to flag someone down to take our order.
4. After ordering, the starter came in half an hour. Our mains came out 40 minutes later.
5. Ordered a refill on our drinks, didn’t come the first time so we had to order them a second time.
The only stage in the dining process that we didn’t have to wait for is when we asked for the bill.
To be honest, I’m not faulting the actual employees at all. Something was obviously mismanaged here because I noticed they only have 2 members of staff available to serve the ENTIRE large dining room. The staff were not messing about, they were genuinely constantly doing something but when you have 2 people serving approximately 10 – 15 tables it’s never going to work out is it? I’d be more forgiving of this mis-​management mishap if this was some sort of mom-​and-​pop independent restaurant, but it’s not.
Granted, the food was lovely. I always opt for my Lamb Shank from Frankie’s Favourites whenever I visit, and it’s consistently spot on. However, it was not worth the wait at all. I won’t be back.