Restaurant Review: Frankie and Benny's Ipswich

Restaurant Review: Frankie and Benny’s Ipswich

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Last week on our trip to Ipswich we did a bit of exploring on the day that we arrived and decided that eating dinner near the hotel would be the easiest option for us. We stayed at the Novotel hotel which is situated across the road from a leisure complex called Cardinal Park where there was a Frankie and Benny’s restaurant. Erin usually eats quite early but we figured we could eat a bit later if the restaurant was only a few minutes walk away.

We had our table booked for 5pm and at this time the restaurant was pretty quiet so we had nearly our pick of where to sit. We chose a nice big round booth so that Erin would have plenty of space to spread out. She was already getting a bit grumpy due to missing her nap so we wanted to make sure she was as comfortable as possible. We were given just enough time before being asked if we wanted to order drinks and if we needed a bit more time to look over the menu. The menu at Frankie and Benny’s has so much choice so there was quite a lot to look at. There’s a range of options from burgers to grill to pasta dishes so there’s bound to be something for all tastes.

What impressed me immediately though was the children’s menu. There was a choice for small eaters and big eaters with prices of only £4.99 and £7.99. As Erin generally doesn’t tend to eat too much at restaurants we went for the small eaters menu for her. This included a drink, main with 2 sides and a dessert. Erin had the choice from a huge 13 mains and as she’s a bit of a fussy eater she asked for plain spaghetti. Although not on the menu on it’s own, our server was more than happy to do this and brought out some bolognese sauce separately. Erin also had corn on the cob and fries as her side dishes.

Frankie and Benny's small eaters meal

When we ordered, we explained that Erin was getting a bit tired and could we have her food as soon as possible. This was absolutely no problem at all and it came out in less than 10 minutes. If you have a toddler who hates waiting like Erin then you’ll understand how much of a big thing this can be. Erin could get on with eating her food without waiting for our meals at the same time.

Right now Frankie and Benny’s are giving away free Slime with every child’s meal which also comes with a collectable toy! There are 5 to collect!

Frankie and Benny's small eaters meal

Our meals didn’t take much longer to arrive and they were so impressive! John had gone for a double chilli cheese burger with fries and as you can see from the photo below, it was pretty huge. John said his burger was tasty, juicy and absolutely delicious. Of course, this wasn’t the easiest of burgers to eat and I wouldn’t recommend trying to pick it up unless you want to wear it as well!

Frankie and Benny's chilli cheese burger

After a lot of deliberating, I chose the footlong hot dog with fries. I don’t really know what I was thinking because look at the size of it! The different in price between a regular hot dog and the footlong is only £2.41 so I thought it would be silly not to. Underneath the hot dog is a mountain of fries so this is definitely a meal for someone with a big appetite. It’s safe to say I didn’t even nearly finish this but I probably could have if I hadn’t been saving some room for dessert.

Frankie and Benny's large classic hot dog

Once again, there was plenty of choice on the dessert menu and I wanted more than 1 thing! You can have anything from waffles, to sundaes to various cakes and pies. In the end, I went with an old favourite which was chocolate fudge cake and ice cream; something I think you can never go wrong with. The cake was warm and moist with plenty of fudge sauce. Unfortunately for me, Erin decided she liked the look of my cake and probably ate 1/3 of it!

Frankie and Benny's chocolate fudge cake

John went for something he knew he would really enjoy too and that was the chocolate brownie sundae. As you can see, Erin decided she also liked the look of that too so we all had to share our desserts with her. The sundae was just the right mix of brownie, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, brownie ice cream and it even had some crumbled Oreos in there as well.

Frankie and Benny's chocolate brownie sundae

Erin’s meal included dessert in the price and she chose chocolate brownie and ice cream. As you can probably tell though, Erin wasn’t interested in her own dessert because ours looked better but she was nice enough to share it with me so at least I got some of hers as well. I thought the portion size for a ‘small eaters’ dessert was absolutely spot on and it was a nice thing to finish off the meal.

Frankie and Benny's small eaters brownie and ice cream

We all thoroughly enjoyed our meals at Frankie and Benny’s. All of our meals were delicious and the portion sizes were fantastic for the prices. Something that also helped to make our meal such an enjoyable experience was the service. The woman who served us was so friendly and welcoming and she was fantastic with Erin. She completely understood what we needed and had no problems when we asked for things to be a little bit different to suit Erin better. Nothing was too much trouble and that made such a difference to us.

We hadn’t been to Frankie and Benny’s with Erin before but we will most certainly be back, especially as we have a branch closer to us in Norwich.

You can find your nearest Frankie and Benny’s restaurant here!


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Restaurant Review: Frankie and Benny's Ipswich

8 thoughts on “Restaurant Review: Frankie and Benny’s Ipswich”

  1. We never go to Frankie and Bennys but visited one in Wembley for some breakfast a while ago and it was quite nice. It looks like you had a good meal!

  2. I’ve not been to a Frankie and Benny’s in a long time, forgot how much I used to enjoy it! I love how they served Erin quickly and that kids get slime, great idea.

  3. It’s been so long since we’ve been to Frankie and Benny’s, I don’t think we’ve ever been with the kids. I like the sound of their kids menu though – I’m sure even my fussy eater would find something he likes!

  4. That burger made me drool early in the morning 🙂 We have never tried eating at Frankie and Benny’s but this post definitely made me to visit there soon.

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