Frankie & Benny’s

I was here for a friends birthday and there were aboout 20 of us. It took them a while to remember where they’d put our table so we all stood in the door in the cold while we waited.
I did not order a starter as I have a small appetite and was anticipating my main meal to be generous (as it is when you go to similar places). I ordered a pasta in a creamy sauce with mixed mushrooms. It was last to arrive, even though my friend had ordered garlic bread when she was half way through her meal. The shallow bowl I received was about half full, and I hate to say there was very little flavour in my meal. If I could have gained a waiters attention, I would have questioned both the lack of flavour and the small size, however after waiting till some of my friends were already half way through their meal I was more focused about filling my empty stomach!
Friends had to ask twice for drinks they had ordered and one sent their meal back as the meat was not cooked through.
I didn’t order desert because, even though i was still hungry. If desert was to be anything like my main meal, I did not feel it would be worth it.
The music was obviously one CD, as we heard the same songs about 3 times the whole night. They also seemed to have problems with the lighting, as occasionally all the lights would flicker off for a second before coming back on.
Some poor person in a horrible bear/​mpuse/​teddy (??) costume came over with a cake to a recording of happy birthday for my friend. I accept that they must deal with birthdays everyday but where is the gesture in wishing someone a happy birthday if it is done in such a lacklustre way?
They added a service charge to the bill as there was a large number of us. It is a shame we were not treated better as I feel we would have tipped ontop of the service charge had we been well looked after, yet most of us found the service lacking.
I feel there are definitely other restaurants offerring similar food at a similar price better than here.

Standard Frankie and Benny’s fayre is available here in Watford, accompanied by very efficient and well-​timed service. The décor is standard faux-​rat-​pack and the music matches. Both lunch and dinner-​time diners will have their meals regularly punctuated by the lights going out and ‘Happy Birthday’ being played on the PA system as a cake is paraded out of the kitchen by a waiter in a very tired and flea-​bitten Goofy costume. Of late the staff have stopped physically singing Happy Birthday and replaced it with a recording. This is a blessing for those with any musical sensitivities; the singing was painful. Toilets are hit and miss, and you may be hemmed in on both sides by tables filled with tweenage sugar-​junkies and the accompanying din. If all that doesn’t have you running for the hills, the steaks and burgers are good and the ice creams are worth saving space for.