Frankie Pestos

Where to start... I guess I will start by saying that I was excited to go to Frankie Pestos this week for a couple of reasons.  First, Todd invited his friends Kendra and Jordan to join us this week, and - let's be honest - it's just plain awesome to meet new people. I hope they enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs.  Frankie Pestos also appealed to me this week because by some act of randomness, it was one of the few places in Kingston that I have yet to go, and to be honest - hadn't heard all that much about... 

New people, check. New food, check.

And, now I suppose that I should get to the nitty-gritty.  Frankie Pestos is in a primo location. Seriously - primo. (Is primo Italian for prime?  Sounds like it, so I'm going with it.) Like other restaurants on our adventure, it is right "in the thick" of it all. On the corner of Johnson and Ontario streets, this restaurant is close to its competition, downtown attractions including the Market Square skating rink (now open for your enjoyment!) and shops. While parking can sometimes be a pain, for those who like to wander around downtown, it isn't a complete deterrent.  The restaurant is an Italian Eatery with a variety of pastas, pizzas and main course dishes (find the restaurant menu here). Owned by a second generation Italian, Frankie Pestos opened in 1993 and is self-described as a "perfect compliment of old and new Italian traditions in food and wine".  I'm not an expert on old or new traditions from Italy, so I can't be the judge of that, but I will give an honest opinion of our night... and sadly, it wasn't exactly the "perfect compliment" of anything...

First impressions? The restaurant is nice-enough... The decor left me feeling somewhat confused. Partly because I wasn't sure if I should be dressed up or dressed more casually, and partly because I wasn't sure why a restaurant would have the need for so much fake foliage. Flowers, leaves... you name it, they've got it - near booths, above doors, in the fake Juliette balcony (yes - there is a fake balcony; complete with a clothes line... perhaps patrons have spilled wine and needed a wash in the past?), and even in the bathroom. And, now that I've said bathroom, I feel like I need to address that topic as well. Partly because it was really, really hot in there, while the rest of the restaurant was quite cool... I'm not sure why, and I didn't want to ask... and partly because a drawback of many restaurants downtown is that floor plans are smaller - causing a need for owners to get creative.  Kitchens are often seen in basements, and bathrooms are sometimes on different floors as well.  This is my pet peeve - and not just for Frankie Pestos - but for so many of the restaurants in downtown Kingston. A lack of accessibility... getting into the restaurant is often a feat in itself - add to that the impossibility of maneuvering anywhere within the restaurant and having the misfortune of not having the freedom to use the facilities... accessibility issues really need to change in this city.

But I digress, and as I said, Frankie Pestos is not the only downtown establishment with this flaw, so I won't hold it against them (for too long, anyway!). Perhaps I will move on to discuss our overall experience. We were greeted promptly and politely at the door and shown to our table, from where I could see that there were only a handful of patrons visiting for the evening. Our server, Colin, was very polite and attentive - checking in quickly and often throughout the service. Expeditors also assisted with the service, which was helpful in getting items out to our table to everyone at the same time. Once drinks were ordered, a basket of toasted bread was delivered for us to share. This is always a nice gesture, but it was cold, so it wasn't enjoyed as much I think the gesture intended. Beyond that, here's a summary of what we ordered:

Tonia and I shared bruschetta to start, and Kendra and Jordan shared calamari fritti.  The calamari got positive reviews from all who tried it, and while the bruschetta was decent, it tasted more like a pizza (surprising or expected from an Italian restaurant?) and I was shocked by the amount of grease on the plate from the moment it arrived. I think that if I was serving the plate, I would have looked at it first. After looking, I'm sure I would have wiped the grease from it... An oversight?  Perhaps... but sadly, we would discover that other dishes would arrive greasier than expected.

Other orders...

Carrie: Canadese pizza: tomato sauce, pepperoni, sausage, pancetta, sliced red and green peppers, mushrooms and mozzarella; served with caesar salad.


Tonia: Nonna pizza: tomato sauce, charbroiled chicken breast, roasted sweet red peppers, mozzarella, feta cheese, and basil pesto; served with caesar salad.

Samer: Pollo Con Salsa al Pesto: a lightly breaded chicken breast, pan seared and topped with goat's cheese (which Samer asked to have removed), roasted red peppers, and pesto sauce served atop roasted garlic potatoes and seasonal vegetables; served with garden salad.

Todd: Amalfi: spaghettini tossed with baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, and artichoke hearts in olive oil and basil-pesto sauce, baked with crumbled goat cheese and served with caesar salad.

Kendra: Pasta Vongola: fettuccini pasta, fresh clams and red peppers, tossed with spicy white wine butter sauce; served with caesar salad.

Jordan: Vitello Parmigiano: lightly breaded veal parmesan topped with tomato sauce, baked with mozzarella, bocconcini and parmigiano, served with a side of fettuccine Alfredo and a caesar salad.

And our thoughts?  Sadly, not great ratings...

Carrie: 1.5 forks. The caesar salad dressing was nice... but beyond that, things weren't as good as I'd hoped for. When the bruschetta arrived, Samer said "looks like pizza!"... and... it tasted just like cheese pizza, which would be okay if I was expecting a (greasy) cheese pizza - but I wasn't.  The pizza I ordered - not very tasty. The mushrooms didn't taste very fresh - in fact, for the first time in my life, I had mushrooms that tasted like fungus... and the sausage not only had a funny flavour, but was very cut very thick and didn't seem cooked.  I picked those off, and still couldn't finish the pizza, and what I did eat, I ate because I was hungry. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my plate when I stopped eating because I so rarely leave with food on the plate unless I am absolutely STUFFED.

Tonia: 2 forks. Tonia also thought that the caesar salad dressing was nice, but that it didn't make the salad phenomenal by any means. The pizza-like bruschetta was also noticed by Tonia (we may be harder to please since we have had really good bruschetta elsewhere), and she thought that her pizza was lack-lustre. The chicken was too chunky and was dry as a result.  Also, her pizza arrived luke warm.

Todd: 3 forks. The garlic bread to start was cold, which was disappointing. While Todd said that his meal was fine overall, he also commented that it was something that he could have made at home.  Todd used the term "fine" 5 times while trying to comment, which is "fine" by me... I, too, was somewhat lost for words.

Kendra: 2.75 forks. Good caesar salad, and Kendra liked the calamari and the dips that came with it. The food was a little cold when she got it, and Kendra said that the clams were over cooked... as a non-eater of clams, I had no idea what they should be like, so I asked, and Kendra said that they were "crumbly" and shouldn't be.  One clam even pulled a bit of a disappearing act - having left its shell on its own, Kendra was left to search for it in her pasta.  

Jordan: 2.5 forks. Jordan said something that many of us talked about at some point in the night: "I ate it because it was in front of me"... he did, however, like the calamari.

Samer: 1 fork. Samer's salad was "sucky" - limp and tasted old.  He was disappointed with his main course as well, stating that it was very greasy (another plate with grease puddles)... the chicken tasted like cheese (which he doesn't like, so he purposely ordered it without) and overall wasn't very good. The vegetables were pretty good, but there weren't very many... At the end of his meal, Samer asked "does anyone want to go out for wings?"

Overall Rating... 2.1 forks... 

I will admit that this week, the writing did not coming as easily to me because I very honestly didn't enjoy my experience, probably wouldn't go back, and don't enjoy writing negative things... But I promised myself to be honest through this entire process.  That said, since visiting and sharing my experience pre-writing with friends, I did hear some people say they were surprised, or that while they may not have been to Frankie Pestos before, they have heard good things about it.  Maybe we went on an "off" night?  Maybe there were different cooks... Maybe our tastes are just really different from other people...? Who knows. 

Sadly, my favourite part of the meal: the candy with the bill!

What I do know is that while I probably won't go back, I think there are Kingstonians who will - and do.  I will just enjoy spending my money elsewhere.

Restaurant Wilson makes another appearance!

Oh. And in my type-a-ness (which my friend, Grant, likes to refer to as my type "anus" in reference to my being an ass at times), I looked up primo on Google translate.  It really is Italian for prime.

Next week, we are headed to The Works!  Another chain... but fairly new to Kingston, and worth the stop!