Beef Brisket
Frankie & Benny's

Frankie & Benny's

Clarks Village, BA16 0BB, Mendip, United Kingdom

Pizza • Steak • Seafood • European


"We popped in on a Sunday after some shopping. Coffee shops in the area were packed, no tables busy but we needed a respite after some shopping with our 11 month old baby. We stood at the door waiting to be seated which felt like an eternity. When we got in with our baby who was sleeping in the pram we were told that there was nowhere to pop the pram while he was sleeping but he could be popped in a highchair no problem at all. No checking how old he was etc (he was under his rain over not visible) what if I needed to breastfeed once he woke up? Or if he was a newborn the parents just wanted a bite to eat? There was adequate space for a pushchair, fancy turning away a family with a sleeping child. While I completely understand that you don’t wish to place a child next to friends couples dining out it’s a little unfair to turn away people on the basis of what are your restaurant regulations or whatever you want to call it do what’s morally right surely? Anyway the host was lucky our child decided to wake up at that moment because we were about to walk away considering the rather unwelcome greeting. We were hungry. Once we were seated it was all great from there. They managed to get a £50 lunch out of us! Myself my partner had black blue burgers which were cooked lovely came out within 10 mins of ordering. Our waitress was really lovely very friendly toward us smiley at our baby. Our baby had fish goujons with veggies fruit chocolate pot for dessert. He thoroughly enjoyed it. The highchair was a bit low for such a small baby so would be better if they got some with trays to avoid mess help out baby eat be more supported but he was excited either way. The high hairs were definitely more suitable to toddlers as opposed to infants. Generally a friendly service once we were there felt full satisfied so thank you to the lovely waitress for changing our experience. Just a quick fyi to the restaurant in general not all babies are loud cry. If your younger clientele aren’t happy with children in the middle of the day then maybe they shouldn’t be popping into a family restaurant?"

Vine Eno Gastro Pub Limited

Vine Eno Gastro Pub Limited

Vine Street Great Bardfield Braintree, Essex CM7 4SR, United Kingdom

Bars • Steak • Coffee • English


"Last weekend my wife’s family held a gathering of sorts at the Mulberry Tree in Braintree. The food was possibly the worst I’ve eaten and was as far from being reasonably priced as it could be. All the little locals are now owned by chains and we pay our hard earned for frozen nuggets and chips sat with groupon vouchered benefit family’s glued to their phones whilst their half bred kids run riot and then there’s the staff of whom we are an inconvenience to. So when my sister in law and her boyfriend of whose family supply most of the genuine restaurants in the Essex and Suffolk areas with their meat instead of brake bros, they happened to mention the Vine in Great Bardfield. With my 10 year old son racing locally and friends attending to spectate we soon got talking about lunch? We happened to mention the Vine and once the track action finished we were quickly making our way to sunny Great Bardfield. The Vine looks like a traditional pub from the front and has parking accessed via the side entrance. There was a large garden with tables and play area for the kids to play. The restaurant itself is small with a quirky feel and the staff not only very welcoming but they can talk by opening and closing their mouths. There is no pre booking (according to the website) and we arrived unannounced as a group of 7 and got seated right away. The menus were clean and the food has different names so you can read it and not opt for the usual default setting so many of us so often do. We opted for Disco Brisket and The classic burgers, fries on the side with additional onion rings, mozzarella bites and a double portion of chicken wings. The kids had burgers too and this is where things for me set the standard as my youngest of whom is on occasions fussy with his food ate the whole thing before insisting it was the best burger he had eaten. I have to agree as do our friends. The portions were large enough to request a box for the chicken wings to take home, of which when asked the staff were obliging. We had an extremely nice meal with drinks and the bill was a little over £100. The Vine not only exceeded my expectations but has set the bar for other restaurants to catch up or end up as yet another curry house. Cannot wait to return for what will be an adult only evening and my only negative comment was not trying the desserts. The nearest ice cream to us is a drive to Thurrock or to Snugburys in Cheshire so a milk shake or rare flavoured ice cream would be 10/10"

Smokehouse

Smokehouse

18 Wood Street, WF1 2ED, Wakefield, United Kingdom

Pizza • Steak • Burgers • American


"Came with big family party for my birthday. Extremely disappointed, starters were ok but all came at different times, had to ask a waitress where one was as everyone else had finished theirs and she just looked absolutely clueless as to why we were talking to her. New waiter didn’t even know what dishes he was bringing out and looked at us to answer for him, fair enough he’s new but come on, train your staff the basics. Didn’t get free bottle of wine even though we ordered tapas. One blonde girl walking around just playing with her hair and we didn’t understand the point in her being there, she didn’t do a thing all night, she just looked like she’d got lost. We didn’t get asked if we wanted a drink the whole night, had to keep asking where our mains were, an hour and 45 minutes later they arrived and my ‘jerk’ chicken burger was so bad, the bread sopping wet and falling to bits and the chicken was just plain chicken breast with none of the **** cut off it and slightly seasoned. the ‘manager’ said this was cause the chef had put ‘loads of sauce on it’ but there was no sauce at all, bone dry chicken, didn’t put any spicy sauce in like I asked and when I requested it they brought me a squeezey bottle to do it myself. Cajun chips came plain and when we told them they just sprinkled some Cajun seasoning just on the top, meat was all fatty and sparse on the bbq combo dish, boneless chicken wings were just chicken tenders!!?? The ribs had no meat on at all literally just bone, curry was cold and plain with no flavour to it at all. Everything bang average, staff unbelievably immature, very badly trained with no customer service skills or communication skills. The managers response when we told him all this was ‘I can only apologise’ so we had to request for money to be knocked off our bill, which they did- fair enough but we had to really push for this. Feels like they hire very young staff and don’t bother training them. Honestly a very, very poor experience and would never go back or recommend to anyone. Don’t ignore the bad reviews they’re all very accurate. The only member of staff I appreciated tonight was the girl with the dark hair who first took our order, she was the only one with any customer service skill or any sense."