Frankie And Bennys Chingford (from East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

THE Frankie and Benny's restaurant chain has expanded rapidly during its 12 years in existence so I decided a return visit to the local one in Chingford was well overdue.

The Guardian last reviewed this establishment nearly two years ago, and I was interested to see if standards had slipped as is so often the case with these expanding chain restaurants.

In fact now regarded as one of the fastest growing restaurant operations in the country, with over 150 sites across the UK - Frankie and Benny's has built up a reputation of delivering good quality family food at reasonable prices.

In fact the lunch menus with main dishes which are priced at £4.95, two courses at £6.25 and £7.45 for three course with unlimited re-fills of soft drinks available for an additional £1.95, look very reasonably priced.

Last time out this eaterie in Chingford received a glowing endorsement for the quality of food and service, but was said to lack a romantic touch with so many noisy children catered for.

But I don't really think Frankie and Benny's has really gone looking for that market.

In fact their restaurants are more like stepping back into 1950s New York, from the clatter and chatter of the open kitchen to the bottle lined bar.

Cosy booth seating and tables are surrounded by walls filled with family snapshots showing life in Brooklyn's Little Italy.' Combined with the classic 50s music, a mix of American swing and beat, they definitely provide a fun and friendly atmosphere for all to enjoy.

In fact on our visit early on a Thursday evening it was nice to see the place full of happy smiling families enjoying each other's company.

For starters my girlfriend chose the BBQ chicken wings (£4.25), while I went for the mussels in a spicy tomato and pencatta sauce (£4.75).

Both proved to be delicious and set us up nicely for our main dishes of bacon cheeseburger (£8.55), with a side order of onion rings (£2.75) and meatballs on spaghetti (£8.25).

At this point I should add the meatballs had my taste buds oozing and was even better than what I've experienced at some more refined Italian establishments.

My partner was equally happy with her main course, although with such large portions we were feeling rather full.

We did however decide to share a banana cheesecake (£4.25), which left us both with a pleasant and refreshing taste on our palates and topped off a very nice meal.

What i am going to quickly talk about may not bother most people, but it certainly intrigues me. Since all the Frankie & Bennie chain resturants have opened in the south east where i live, i have noticed a sudden change with the sound systems used in the resturant. Usually when you spend lots of money putting a good sounding speaker system in a resturant, you want to keep it that way to make good use of it. However, Frankie & Benny resturants in the south east of london have decided to swap the very well sounding 'Bose' (www.pro.bose.com) speaker system for a much cheaper 'RCF' (www.rcfaudio.co.uk) cieling speaker system. Now i have no idea why some standard cieling speakers have been put in place of a very reliable 'Bose' speaker system that is placed all around the walls in all of the resturants in my area. To be perfectly ohnest, i only discovered this when i walked into my local Frankie & Bennies and noticed the music didn't sound as good as it used to. Then i looked at the wall beside me and noticed that no sound was comming from the 'Bose' speaker on the wall. Then noticing that, i quickly looked around to see where the music was actually comming from and there were these hideous looking white 'RCF' brand speakers in the middle of the cieling. One of the reasons they do not compare to the sound of the older system is because the bose system used subwoofers placed inside the cieling which gave the music a well needed boost for the rich bass sounds that F & B needs for the type of music they play. Where as the 'RCF' ceiling speakers cannot compete on their own because they are small round speaker without any other sound reinforcement. It is also a little bit annoying, because they have just simply installed the speakers over the eating tables, without thinking about the bar area of the resturant, which the 'Bose' speaker system used to cover for and i know for a fact people like to listen to music while they are having a drink beside the bar. I would like Frankie & Bennies to understand the point i am making in order to make the resturant as good as it used to be sound wise. All they would simply have to do it get rid & sell the new 'RCF' ceiling speakers and hook back up the older and more better sounding bose system which all the resturants i have seen have still got installed. They are simply not connected. Thanks very much for hearing my point of view and hopefully it may be taken into consideration. Yours truely, Harrison Maguire.

What i am going to quickly talk about may not bother most people, but it certainly intrigues me.
Since all the Frankie & Bennie chain resturants have opened in the south east where i live, i have noticed a sudden change with the sound systems used in the resturant.
Usually when you spend lots of money putting a good sounding speaker system in a resturant, you want to keep it that way to make good use of it.
However, Frankie & Benny resturants in the south east of london have decided to swap the very well sounding 'Bose' (www.pro.bose.com) speaker system for a much cheaper 'RCF' (www.rcfaudio.co.uk) cieling speaker system.
Now i have no idea why some standard cieling speakers have been put in place of a very reliable 'Bose' speaker system that is placed all around the walls in all of the resturants in my area.
To be perfectly ohnest, i only discovered this when i walked into my local Frankie & Bennies and noticed the music didn't sound as good as it used to. Then i looked at the wall beside me and noticed that no sound was comming from the 'Bose' speaker on the wall. Then noticing that, i quickly looked around to see where the music was actually comming from and there were these hideous looking white 'RCF' brand speakers in the middle of the cieling.
One of the reasons they do not compare to the sound of the older system is because the bose system used subwoofers placed inside the cieling which gave the music a well needed boost for the rich bass sounds that F & B needs for the type of music they play. Where as the 'RCF' ceiling speakers cannot compete on their own because they are small round speaker without any other sound reinforcement.
It is also a little bit annoying, because they have just simply installed the speakers over the eating tables, without thinking about the bar area of the resturant, which the 'Bose' speaker system used to cover for and i know for a fact people like to listen to music while they are having a drink beside the bar.
I would like Frankie & Bennies to understand the point i am making in order to make the resturant as good as it used to be sound wise.
All they would simply have to do it get rid & sell the new 'RCF' ceiling speakers and hook back up the older and more better sounding bose system which all the resturants i have seen have still got installed. They are simply not connected.
Thanks very much for hearing my point of view and hopefully it may be taken into consideration.
Yours truely, Harrison Maguire.

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