Frank's Restaurante Italiano Pizzeria

3054 Stony Point Shopping Center

Richmond, Va

SCORE CARD

Sauce: 8

Comments: Oh, the sauce. No one used a can opener with this sauce, and if they did I want to know where they got it, and where I can get one. It was mystical, something only written about in Greek Mythology. It was nice and smooth and evenly spread throughout the entire pizza, and not just sauce soup in the middle. it also wasn't chunky. No one likes surprise chunks. Surprise chunks ruin days.

Cheese: 8

Comments: When I pulled the first slice away from the pizza, I was at war with the cheese tentacles stretching from the pizza pan, to my plate, and I gladly lost. It's the kind of warm gooey cheese that you have to consciously chew to make sure there isn't some left in your mouth when you try to swallow it. Some may not like that, but I like a challenge. It was no cheese found in the Kroger dairy isle next to the baby yogurt.

Dough: 8

Comments: It was the perfect transportation for the cheese and sauce to my mouth. It was firm enough to hold my pizza, but not hard to chew. It was a nice accent to the pizza and didn't take away from the room in my stomach set aside for pizza insides. 

Service: 4

Comments: I'm bummed about this because the first time I went I got the Frank's male cheerleader who seemed like we would like nothing better than to sleep on the stoop and take the morning shift, lunch shift, and dinner shift, without taking any breaks. This time I was greeted by some lady that didn't talk, she just grunted and we assumed that meant "follow me". She set the menu's on the table and left. After about 10 minutes we got a new waitress to take our drink order. She came back a few times before taking our dinner order. We ordered an appetizer of fried calamari, but it came with like 7 pieces of calamari. It was delicious by all definitions of the word, and the "special" dipping sauce blew my mind, but it was nothing you should expect to fill up on. The salad was only a few pieces of lettuce on a plate, as well. 

When dinner came out, everything we ordered came out at different times, and the other orders were extremely small portions. I'm talking 5 pieces of ravioli on a plate, small. That being said, it was the best tasting ravioli I have ever had, or had dreams about. So I can only complain but so much.

It was a bit overpriced for the portion sizes, but if you're paying for flavor, you're getting a steal. 

Decor: 5

Comments: It had those mustard yellow walls that I see in almost every Italian restaurant,t hat I don't understand. The random pictures in random sizes, Greek God wall mounts, non matching decorative plates, and Christmas lights have got to go. BUT the tables were adorable and well finished wood with no cheesy tablecloth and they had some pretty awesome cast iron decor. They had a cast iron "gate" that separated the entry and the dining area, and cast iron lighting that was really welcoming and modern. 

I'm a little confused about why they needed 4 fans in a 20x40 dining area, but I'm not asking questions. They weren't turned on, and were more clean than any fan I've ever had.

Overall: 6.6

Comments: I feel bad about this overall number because it's only lower due to decor and service. I didn't go to feel cozy and get a massage, I went to feel the heaven on my tongue, which I did. So as far as taste goes, I will go back there every night for the rest of my life, if allowed. But as far as service and decor, it has a lot more potential than it's living up to.

Note: 2nd pizza in 2 days and my girlfriend is yapping that I'm going to get fat. So I'll succumb to her moaning for a couple days. But expect a new pizza place to be rated by the end of the week. "The man" can't hold this down.

This Pizza in all of it's Glory