Frank & Dino's

This place is such a gem. I came here after graduation with my family and friends and they were able to experience several of the finest Kentucky bourbons, as well as the delicious pastas and appetizers we ordered for the table. I highly recommend dining in this fashion. Many of these dishes can be shared and served family style. Previously, I’ve come for dinner with a friend, and order the stuffed salmon. Everything was wonderful. Every time the quality of the food is fabulous! The drinks are tasty, and you can even catch live music here some nights. Such a great time!

We went here to celebrate our engagement in early February. It was absolutely wonderful. The staff were so friendly and helpful. My fiancé had called ahead and made some special arrangements and we were greeted at the door with them. The food was FANTASTIC. They gave us free champagne and desert. Also, I have celiac and they had wonderful gluten free options. Best Italian food in Lexington! The atmosphere is upscale and fun.

Excellent choice for any meal. I visited for lunch and was impressed by the service, portions, and food quality. This is a beautiful restaurant that gives off a fine dining atmosphere. Wait staff was amazing. Attentive. Prompt. All about service. Food was of great portion for a lunch and some of the best pasta with vodka sauce I have had. Ordered cannolis to go, they are great just like everything else. Right in the heart of downtown Lexington. This place is a must see.

This is a good restaurant! If you go in, PLEASE order the fagottini sinatra. Honestly one of my favorite pastas. I am always a sucker for the gorgonzola and pear combo, and they executed it perfectly in this pasta. 👌🏼 The pesto gnocchi was fine and the service/atmosphere were both great. I had the Gun Runner cocktail and enjoyed that as well. They also always serve fresh baked bread which is very good.

Starting with the bread all the food was fabulous. The only criticism I have is if you're sitting by the windows you're looking at a pretty rundown part of downtown. But the entrance way, the service, and, the most importantly, the food and bread is fabulous.

Dining at Frank & Dino’s was like stepping back in time. From the moment we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted warmly and genuinely by the hostesses and also by whom I assume was the manager, who checked on us throughout our dining experience. The atmosphere was elegant and sophisticated. It felt like an old world charm vibe. I ordered the rigatoni bolognese, which I wasn’t amazed by the flavors and was slightly underwhelmed, but it was still delicious and very filling. The pasta itself tasted as though it was homemade, which I appreciated that! The calamari was divine! I loved the white linen table cloths, it adds such an elegance and makes one feel like they are getting a royal treatment. The service was impressive! Overall, I was highly impressed and our family enjoyed our time there!

Waiter was a good enough guy but unfortunately the overall service was not. Each issue was someone’s else fault and at no point did our waiter take accountability or offer an adequate solution. Bread +butter was great, fantastic even. Fagottini Sinatra was one of the best dishes I have ever had. Our entire table tried it and everyone was impressed. Veal Parmesan was on point as well. Rigatoni Calabrese was subpar. The sausage was burnt & overcooked in the first attempt. The waiter called for the manager and the manager took the sausage back to the kitchen and a couple of new sausages came out about 10 minutes later.l After dinner, we requested some additional beverages but they were never brought. The waiter took about 20 minutes to visit the table after we had finished. At that point he asked if we wanted dessert. Knowing the night was heading in the wrong direction, we still somehow managed to order chocolate mousse and tiramisu. Another 20+ minutes go by and I eventually flagged the waiter down to cancel the desserts. He goes to the back, bags up the desserts and brings us the bill. Of course the desserts were still on the check, because, at this point, what else would you expect ? $289.00 pre-tip, for 2 appetizers, 4 entrees and a kids meal + 2 desserts of course. We tried the desserts when we got home… underwhelming to say the least, not worth ordering. All in all, a couple of dishes were good enough to return but given the couple of opportunities to make issues right by the guest & failing to do so, makes this the first & last stop in for our clan. First time in a very long time I can remember not tipping 20%+. Lots of potential with this place… maybe just need better leadership in the back and front of house?? Feel free to contact me about my exeperience.

I ordered the rigatoni. The sauce was terrible definitely out of a jar, and meatballs were out of a box. I had better at Fazolis and did not have to pay $35 for the entree. Very disappointing. Although the restaurant is Italian owned the food is not authentic Italian. Perhaps they got lazy because they didn’t think anyone would notice the difference. I paid $300 dollars for something I could have gotten at Olive Garden.

We were in town for the Keeneland Spring Meet and ate here. What an amazing experience at Frank and Dino's. The food was amazing. The service was outstanding. Valet parking. Great drinks. The lobster ravioli and the gigantic meatball are my favorites. Definitely would eat here again.

Great food, great service. Lovely atmosphere. The ciabatta bread was fabulous, delicious cocktails, good wine, all of the food was excellent, we particularly enjoyed the stuffed friend zucchini flowers.

OMG!!!! My kids took me to this restaurant for an early Mother's Day dinner. This was my first time going and I was pleasantly surprised. I love their attention to detail. I enjoyed the live music where the musician played several instruments and sang. Definitely a one man band. I ordered the lobster ravioli. It wasn't as hot as I would like, but it was still good. The kids both had penne pasta with vodka sauce. My son ordered the gluten free penna but did not have enough sauce. He ordered an additional Alfredo and said it made it better. I was expressed and would definitely recommend.

Always love stopping in here when I'm in Lexington. Classy and classic Italian restaurant. Great pastas, strong selection of chicken, veal, and such...and if you enjoy pasta fagiole (and you should), theirs is among the best--perfectly seasoned, balanced ingredients, comfort in a bowl. Yes, it's a bit pricy, I've seen other comments on here, but so are many places. The atmosphere and elite service part of what you pay for (especially when they have live music going). If you're going for dinner, a reservation is a good idea. I've had better luck sneaking in at lunch.

My boyfriend and I went on a Sunday during lunch and the food was great. The sauce tasted fresh along with all of the food. Our server was great and very nice as well. Beautiful Italian theme on the inside.

Your experience starts at the door with the convenience of valet parking. Big plus for downtown dining. Professional, courteous staff, and a nice atmosphere round out the pleasant ambiance. I found the dining arrangements a bit crowded but not enough to overly influence the dining experience. To say the wait staff was attentive, would be an understatement, as it was borderline intrusive at times. Our waiter appeared table side more than once to clean even the crumbs from the table following bread service. It was nice I suppose but it made me feel a bit as if I were a child who had somehow been naughty and allowed crumbs on the table. Still the food was delicious, and the portions were plentiful. The noise level (which is always important to me when I dine with family or friends)... was tolerable but a bit loud. Still, the taste and quality of the food and the joy created by a sharing a quality dining experience with friends is enough for me to rate this as one of my favorite dining experiences since moving to Lexington eight years ago. Bravo.

Lovely evening at Frank & Dino's! Our party loved the service, wine, Sinatra entree and salted caramel brownie sundae. A beautiful restaurant for a business dinner. Paid parking lot or garage across the street.

Frank & Dino's is an absolute FAVORITE that we need to visit more often. There is no way to give them anything other than for everything -- Food, Service and Atmosphere! Always make a reservation though!

Came here with a medium size group tonight for dinner. John was our server and is very good. Thanks John! I've been in Kentucky for a week now, and had not had a mint julep, so I ordered one. We all had cocktails and a bottle of wine. The mint julep was great. I did not have a chance to take pics of everyone's food, but we ordered chicken parmigiana, clams & pasta, chicken Marsala, a veal dish for me, and a pasta dish named after Frank Sinatra. Several people in our party ordered the Sinatra pasta dish and raved about it. Two orders of brownie dessert, a glass of port and two limoncellos rounded out our dinner. A very nice dinner and great service all around. Thanks!

Outstanding appetizer, main entrees and desserts, to go along with great service and music. This Hoboken born guy also enjoyed seeing the Sinatra photos on the walls.

Our group was in the mood for a sit down Italian meal and chose Frank & Dino's in downtown Lexington. The service was excellent, and I cannot overstate this. This was their re-opening night after a few days shut down from a hurricane. The food was delicious and the portions were large.

Top shelf food and service every day, every time. Natalie is the best. Try the gnocchi!

Had a great time at Frank and Dino's absolutely love the veal parmigiana and the vodka sauce. I wish I didn't eat so much so I could enjoy the tiramisu.

Great atmosphere. Went here for my birthday and they had ample room for our party of 8. I got the Sinatra pasta it was great. The chicken parm was huge and also great. All of the cocktails were great.

We stopped in for our 40th wedding anniversary. A little trip to explore Lexington and relax. We had an easy walk from the Sire Hotel (highly recommend). Service was very good. Our waiter, John, was quite a character. Staff did an excellent job. My husband ordered the rigatoni and meatballs. It was very tasty and an enormous portion. I had Chicken Piccata with linguine. The chicken was perfectly prepared. The piccata sauce was excellent. I could have mopped the entire plate with bread to get all the sauce. Music from Frank and Dino was playing. Beautiful restaurant. Seated at a quiet table. Thoroughly enjoyed our meals. Oh and the carrot cake was delicious!

Went to Frank & Dino's with friends to celebrate New Years. I sarted with a Gambino Prosecco. The small bottle gives you two glasses. I chose the Pollo Piccata --- two chicken breasts with a nice lemon and caper sauce. Instead of a side of pasta, I had the mashed potatoes, a nice creamy portion. We decided on Tiramisu for dessert (with four spo)ons). It was light and airy and not overly sweet Our amiable wait staff, Claire and Ben, took excellent care of us. A wonderful lunch with friends to end 2023. 1

Nice food and ambience overall. Service was very good. One of the better restaurants in Lex. Recommended.

We recently had a very good meal at Frank and Dino's while visiting Lexington from out of town. Given the name and rat pack type themes on the menu, it actually lowered my expectations a bit. However, atmosphere was fun and busy, services was really good, and the food was very good to great. The Sinatra pasta and the Carrot Cake were both hits.

Was here with 5 friends. The vibe was immaculate- house red wine and the Fagotini were next level.

Absolutely great food. Highly recommend. The wait staff was my only issue. They were a little slow due to the time we ate and they were constantly at our table. The Bus person was trying to clear our table and we weren't even done yet.

The food was excellent as always. Service was impeccable, as always. And the ambiance of the place is just fantastic. The live music sets it over the top to really make the night.

Great atmosphere! Impeccable service! A little on the load side, the saxophone, but the food spoke for itself! Our family party of 5 was very impressed!

Exceptionally delicious meal! Everything we had was great - the large meatball, carpaccio salad and lobster ravioli. It was a very busy night but our servers did a great job and taking care of us. Will definitely visit again!

WORST SERVICE EVER!!! Took an hour just to get started with the drinks‍. The couple next to us were waving waiters down and didn't receive any acknowledgment! The food was cold and the drinks were hot . Unacceptable ! Very bland, very unseasoned, and very disappointing.

I'm not quite sure how the establishment has such a high rating. The food is designed to be pretty but after that, I'm not sure I'd describe it as edible. The drinks were watered down. Service was dependent on who came to the table. Our primary server was great, but other staff less so. The food... no excuse. The charcuterie platter was expensive for a few pieces of cheap cheese and sparing slices of meat. The Giant Meatball had to have been 50% breading and the Veal Pam while huge came out soggy, not crispy, tasting of cheap breading and excessive amount of cheese. The manager came by each table to ask how things were and when my dining companion said not good, he just said great like he was on auto drive and went to the next table. Expensive and unacceptable. Skip at all costs. Plenty of much much nicer and less expensive places in the downtown.

Frank and Dino's have finally joined certain other Lexington restaurants in ripping off their customers by shrinking their portion sizes and still charging exorbitant prices. I have been going to their downtown location for over a year as well as picking up carry-out orders for my family. This evening I picked up their Rigatoni Calabrese for my wife and daughter. It seems they have decided to cut the amount of protein in this $39 pasta dish by half. Of course, they didn't cut the price to reflect this. When I called to complain, the manager said they just realized they have been adding too many meatballs and sausages to the pasta.. My daughter has been ordering this dish for over a year, and they only just realized. What a load of garbage. Do they really think their customers are that stupid. Anyway, we won't be returning as there is always Giuseppes and they don't con their customers.

The food was amazing!! There were several people at the table and we shared. The portions were nice and shareable.

Food is excellent. Service is very attentive to a customer's needs. Ambiance is very good.

The service at the bar was great! Super friendly and efficient. The bread served was amazing!! I shared the meatball with my partner and it was so big and delicious I couldn't even eat my entree' afterwards.

Went with a group of friends who were visiting from out of town. The service was great. Our waitress was attentive, making sure we had plenty of bread and our drinks were filled. I ordered the chicken piccata with mashed potatoes. It was delicious. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the sauce was just the right amount of lemon tartness. It was very difficult trying to keep enough leftovers for another day. As for my friends, they also really enjoyed theirs. One friend in particular raved about the Fagottini Sinatra. Guess I need to make another trip!

We made reservations, definitely more upscale vibe than casual from what people were wearing. Food was really good but service was very slow. Our waiter forgot things several times. We had to ask for olive oil three times and bread twice. I got the rigatoni bolognese which was delicious and plenty of food too! Tiramisu wasn't bad, a little too on the wet side for me but still good.

We've been for dinner as well as brunch. Brunch was fine, but we definitely enjoyed the pasta for dinner more! Service is always great!

We had dinner tonight and it was fabulous! We had the meatball for an appetizer and it was delicious! I had the Veal parmigiana and my husband had the chicken Marsala both were delicious and our server, Alisha was great! Can't wait to come back again!

Graduation weekend at UK...our reservations were at 8:45 pm and we were seating promptly. I was looking forward to the food because of all the avenues reviews- especially the bread. It did not disappoint. There was no olive oil, just pats of cold butter. It was still delicious! The meatball was huge, as promised. I ordered the Pollo Parmigiana, also known as Chicken Parmesan with the side of linguini. My son ordered the Fagotinni Sinatra. I thought the food was good, but not delicious. The portion was huge! I was super excited about trying this Italian restaurant, but I'm not sure I would classify it as superb. The vibe was very chill and it was definitely busy on a Friday night. The server was helpful. Would I recommend this place? If everything else is booked, then yes.

Look no further for an amazing Italian experience in Lexington! Truly could not have been more happy with the service, presentation, taste, and variety. I only wish we lived closer to be able to try other things! Would be a must stop when back in town. I still dream of the ravioli. It presents a little bit of an upper class vibe for attire, but still could be pulled off with a smart or business casual. I could definitely see Frank or Dino eating here.

Best place in Lexington! Food is superb, staff is superb, and the room is elegant yet comfortable. Service is first class. I always go here as often as I can when I visit Lexington. Keep up the great work, F&D!

This was a spur of the moment decision. I was a little sad about that, because we missed a great opportunity to actually get dressed up and be fabulous. The attire ran the gambit from casual to office casual and straight up fancy. All are welcome. This is a reservations recommended restaurant, however, we were able to walk in and be seated. An hour later, that wouldn't have happened. I just really want to express my gratitude to the owners of this eatery. It was so nice to walk into a wonderfully decorated restaurant with a fabulous bar, live jazz, and the best service we've experienced in a very long time. It was a major throw back to the days when fine dining was available everywhere. Sadly, these spots are far and few between since CoVid took out a huge swath of the finest, individually owned restaurants. Only the chain restaurants were able to survive, leaving foodies with a full menu of mediocrity. We ordered the carpaccio appetizer which was out of this world. It's been a long time since I've found this item on a menu, so I was thrilled to be able to introduce my husband to it. Ask for extra bread when you order it because it's not served with bread and that's the only place carpaccio belongs!! We both took the plunge on the veal chop and the veal picatta. It's been a hot minute since I've seen veal on a menu and the fact that it was cooked properly and tender was an A+. After dinner, we enjoyed delicious cappuccino and espresso with our dessert. We were there for about two hours, and it was the most relaxing evening I've had in months. The live saxophone player was fantastic and the manager stopped by our table a couple of times to check in on everything. Our waiter was pretty much flawless. There were a variety of specials on the menu that evening that sounded delicious and creative. Because it was our first time, I went with what I know and love. I wish I could say that everything was perfect but perfection is a very high bar. While the veal in my piccata was perfect, the dish contained an over abundance of lemon and capers. I'm a picatta affectionado and have enjoyed this dish many times in many fabulous Italian restaurants. Both the lemon and the caper flavors are supposed to be very slight, background flavors due to the very mild flavor of the veal. In this case, the only thing I could taste was lots and lots of lemon. I love lemon, so if I tell you there was too much lemon, there was too much lemon. My husband's veal chop was served undercooked. Raw veal is not appropriate in any situation. We were disappointed with the bread portion, which was tiny with only two small pieces of bread on a plate. A basket would be much more appropriate (especially considering the price point). I saw waiters running back-and-forth dozens of times, with more bread to the same tables, including ours. The brownie dessert was just okay. I really wish we had gone with one of the Italian specialty desserts, all of which sounded wonderful. If it were not for the issues with the entrées, this would have been a five star review. We spent about two hours enjoying this lovely restaurant. Iced tea, wine, appetizer, entrées, dessert, coffee and tip ran us about $200. We will definitely be back to this wonderful restaurant. It's the perfect place for a special occasion. It may seem expensive, but when you consider the fact that any run-of-the-mill chain restaurant dinner for two will run you $50, it was worth every penny. Bravo!

Went here on a Sunday night to celebrate a birthday. My reservation was made through Open Table and we indicated that we were celebrating a bday (the bday boy's favorite Italian in the city). Upon arriving at the restaurant and being seated, nothing was ever mentioned by any staff about the birthday. At the end of the meal, we were asked about the dessert menu and that's when we mentioned to our waitress that it was his bday. She said Happy Birthday but nothing special. We ordered a dessert and paid for our dessert. I've yet to have any restaurant accommodate a birthday, anniversary, etc with something special based on a note on Open Table (even though I have a friend that always receives special acknowledgement when they're celebrating something). Anyhow, that's a pet peeve of mine... no sense in adding that to a reservation if it's not going to be acknowledged. We ordered a bottle of wine to share and munched on the bread as we explored the menu. I must say, the menu was a bit overwhelming but plenty to choose from, I guess. I ordered the Fagottini Sinatra dish and added chicken to it. It was ok... not the greatest. Kinda felt that the pear and gorgonzola sauce flavors paired together just weren't working for me. I believe the birthday boy had the Orecchiette Con Salsiccia E Cime Di Rapa dish which he liked but it was spicy (I could be wrong on exactly what he ordered but I remember it being too spicy for me). From what I remember, it wasn't only the pepper flakes but also the sausage that was spicy. Neither of us finished our dishes and got the leftovers to go. The waitress prepared those in the to-go containers away from our table and then provide them back to us in a bag ready to go.

What a charming and romantic place to be! We went here for our anniversary and our server was so awesome to bring out an anniversary dessert for us! One of my favorite appetizers was the massive meatball! It was delicious!

Ok, normally a business does not make me feel compelled to leave a review. My experience tonight was different. Frank and Dinos... the hype was real. Everything was good until it starting falling apart. Let me start with the pros. 1. The bartenders were fantastic- I didn't catch her name but she was working her ass off and made sure I was never without a a drink. The old fashion was a delicious choice. 2. The ambience is excellent. Lovely restaurant in a lovely part of town. Now here's some downfalls. 1. I ordered the "frank and Dino's" salad - and it was delicious. Until I literally chewed on a metal bolt that had come off a piece of kitchen equipment and into my salad. The manager offered me the salad at no charge, which is fine, but most high end Italian restaurants I've been to in Chicago wouldn't have let me leave with paying a penny. 2. They Are charging 20-30+$ for pasta dishes, and they are using boxed pasta. That is just straight up unethical. The pasta showed up piping hot, but the meatballs and sausage were less than room temp. The kitchen needs to tighten up. Also, the portions can be less, as well as the price, and increase the quality. Overall, a solid place with the POTENTIAL to be amazing.

Love the food and service. Wish the bar stools were about 6" shorter, they come to my mid chest!

Delicious, excellent atmosphere, lovely service, mildly overpriced! The interior was so lovely--through and through, such a fun experience. There was a jazz musician, everything was beautiful, the service was so incredibly kind. Was a little underwhelmed by the wine menu. Our food was fantastic, I tried several dishes across our table and every single sauce was phenomenal. Authentic without being tacky. All in all, a great experience, and I would recommend, but it is a bit pricey, particularly since they import pasta instead of making it in-house. Regardless, the flavor is amazing, and I will be returning!

I dined at Frank & Dino's for a celebratory birthday dinner. This was my first time dining here and I was absolutely blown away by the delicious food, service, and ambiance. My friend and I shared the calamari as well as the stuffed lobster ravioli special and we were pleasantly surprised by the large portions. We individually got the chicken piccata and the penne alla vodka. Everything was cooked to perfection! Will definitely be back!

Had a memorable experience at Frank and Dino's. Loved every minute of our visit, waitress was amazing, food was amazing, drinks were amazing. Couldn't have asked for a better experience.

I came for a midweek early happy hour with only 2-3 patrons in the bar area. The bartender was very nice and I had asked for a happy hour bees knees. It wasn't at all a bees knees and she had said "oh try this, I put honey on the bottom" I felt bad cuz she was excited to serve me it but i did not like it at all. I drank about 3 sips and never finished it. It was served on the rocks, honey only hardened in the bottom of the rocks glass then topped with ginger beer. It wasnt horrible, it was just over diluted then had bubble ginger beer? It was not what I was expecting when I ordered a bees knees. It was a gin mule with honey on the bottom. Not the end of the world really. The thing that was a negative experience is she asked me at the end if I liked it since I barely drank it. I politely said it's ok it's not my favorite. Then she proceeded to ask me if she wanted me to remove it. I said well if you want me to pay for it I will, but no I did not enjoy it, I'm sorry. And she continued to charge me. And again I did say, "you can charge me if you want" but I've been working in restaurants for a LONG time. The right thing to do was to remove it from the bill. It wasn't the price that was the problem it's the principle. I left the drink full. I also got the happy hour eggplant parmigiana and that was alright. Was a little like warm but i did come mid day. Not sure if it was fresh or just heated up. Just overall was a little dated ambience and not a place I'd likely to return for my future HH meetings

Service was great with a really cool atmosphere! Food was very good and presented very well!

The food was amazing!! I highly recommend the pollo parmigiana. My husband got the piccata and loved it too. The place we were seated was pretty crowded and tight. But the ambiance was very nice. We came in a Friday night at 7, and although they were busy, the service was quick! We can't wait to go back.

This upscale Italian restaurant is probably the best restaurant I've dined at in Lexington. Though named after two very famous Italians, the name sounds more hole in the wall than elegant contemporary restaurant, though it's the latter. It's a beautiful long restaurant with a large bar at the front, tables along the large windows and banquettes in the middle. It was Sunday so it seemed they were seating everyone on one side. It's a nice sized restaurant. The staff were friendly and the service was good. Though our waiter wasn't the friendliest he very attentive. They started us off with delicious complimentary bread, that paired well with our appetizers which was clams in a delicious broth. It was great sopping up the sauce with that perfect Italian bread (exactly like great French bread). A couple of Cesar salads that was average but better than most. The meal only got better with the entree's, my wife and daughter got penne pasta fra diavolo, that's a staple for them at Italian restaurants and they loved it. I got the special, two filets with a barolo reduction, shrimp and an exquisite mushroom risotto. Simply amazing. Probably the best Italian in Lexington if you're basing it on the food.

First off, they have a 23oz meatball. And it is delicious. If that isn't enough to get them 5 stars, I really don't know what is. But beyond the meatballs, they also have delicious chicken parmesan, served with tasty pasta. The Gnocchi /w pesto is absolutely worth a mention as well - it is fluffy, rich and herbacious. Nice atmosphere and a great staff top it all off