Frankies Sputino Visited 3/24/2012 3 Forks

Frankies Sputino 570 Hudson St., (between 11th St & Perry St), Manhattan, NY 10014

There are 2 other branches of Frankies in NYC: one in Brooklyn and another one in the East Village and I had really liked both of those locations.  The food was great and the atmosphere was nice and homey.  So when the West Village branch opened not too far from Aarti's apt, I was definitely hoping that it would be similar to the other two locations. 

This one was just not the same.  First off, the place is much bigger than the other two locations which makes it less homey and comfortable feeling.  It was pretty crowded when we walked in at 7:30pm on a Saturday but we were able to get a seat in 20 minutes.  The other thing that bothered me about this place was that it was LOUD.  I mean I was literally screaming at Aarti and she was sitting 3 inches away from me.  But strangely enough I could hear every word of the table next to me and they were 3 of the douch-est guys I have ever laid eyes on, so that also kind of made dinner a not so fun experience. 

But on to the food.  The menu was actually a bit more limiting than I remembered it to be.  There were only 6 kinds of pasta but they did have a good variety of appetizers and crostini and antipasti.  Aarti and I shared the Bufala Mozzarella & Arugula ($13) and I got the Tagliatelli & Mushrooms with Mascarpone and Butter ($16) while Aarti got the Sweet Potato & Sage Ravioli in Parmesan Broth ($16).  The mozzarella was perfectly moist (ok, that actually sounds kind of dirty but I don't know how else to describe it) and the arugula was salty and heavily dressed with olive oil, but I wished that it came with some slices of tomato or basil.  We did have to wait a bit for the next round of food, which to me was a bit weird because pasta shouldn't take that long to make.  I generally enjoy a more tomato based pasta but I do love mushrooms which was why I chose the Tagliatelli.  The pasta itself was solid and you could clearly taste the butter in the sauce.  I wished that there were more mushrooms in it because the few that I had were really flavorful and cooked perfectly.  I did enjoy my dish but it wasn't mind blowing pasta.  It was a solid pasta dish but there's something about a butter sauce that just wasn't super impressive.  We also split a tiramisu ($9) which I thought was a bit too heavy on the ricotta and not enough of the spongey-cake to it.  I've definitely had better tiramisu else where.  All in all, it's a fine Italian restaurant and maybe it was the annoying table next to be that didn't make me love this place, but I just remember the other locations being a lot more endearing.  Total bill: $89 total without tip and tax. 

Photo Credit: Yelp