Frankie's Place: Great Start, Then Downhill (Michigan Restaurant Review 16)

We concluded our visit to Harbor Country in Michigan by eating dinner at Frankie's Place, recommended as the best upscale (important for us) restaurant in the area. Steve especially wanted to get a recommendation because in previous visits to this area he'd found the "best" restaurants to be awful.

Frankie's Place started out like it would be the perfect experience. We sat on a very nice outside terrace at a spacious table, since the maitre d' wanted us to be in the shade. Our first course consisted of a lobster martini and prosciutto wrapped mozzarella. The lobster was one of the best dishes either of us has ever eaten -- the lobster tasted totally fresh and flavorful, and the creamy potato accompaniment was perfect. The prosciutto was also good, although it suffered in comparison to the delicioius lobster. We shared a bottle of wine from Malbec, which had just the right amount of fruity bouquet without being too sweet. Had we stopped right then, this restaurant would have gotten a perfect review. But, alas, we kept eating.

First, we should note that, with each passing minute, the weather got more humid and more bugs chose to join us. The food also trended downhill. Steve ordered the mini-iceberg salad a la carte (even though a mixed greens salad came with dinner). He should've stuck with the mixed greens, because the iceberg lettuce was wilted, and it included "some sort of terrible prune-like thing" (a direct quote from Steve). Even the blue cheese dressing, which Steve usually loves, was pedestrian. Lisa's mixed greens salad was better, but not particuarly inspired.

Then things really tanked. We both ordered the filet mignon because it was bone-in, which usually assures the best tasting meat and is a favorite of ours. However, these filets, charitably, had some problems. First, they were not cooked right. Steve's was way overcooked, and Lisa's was a bit undercooked. (We both ordered medium rare, which is the only way to eat steak.) The steak was slathered in some kind of sauce which was definitely not good. And the meat had very little flavor and a lot of fat, which unfortunately added only calories and not taste. Not only that, but by this time the bugs must have thought we'd called an insect convention, and they flew in from all parts of the country to finish our meals. We opted against dessert.

The bathrooms at Frankie's were actually quite nice and bug-free. Both bathrooms were very clean, and had automatic towel dispensers that really worked and marble counters. The only flaw was that the towels and waste baskets were not near the door, so you had to touch the door handle to exit (really neither of us has OCD).

We've heard Frankie's is a new restaurant, so maybe the entrees will catch up to the appetizers and the bathrooms. (Lisa would return on our next trip outside Chicago just for the lobster martini, but would sit inside.)

The total bill was about $180 with a bottle of wine and would have been closer to $130 with wine by the glass.

Our rating for Frankie's Place, 16038 Red Arrow Highway, Union Pier, Michigan:

5 of 10 Steak Knives; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes; 5.5 of 5 Bug Zappers (definitely eat inside)