Coast to Coast is an UK-based American style restaurant, that’s part of The Restaurant Group, which also owns Frankie & Benny’s, and Chiquito. The one we visited was based in Norwich and we took advantage of the Meerkats Meals 2 for 1.
We’ve eaten here a couple of times now, together and separately with friends, this meal would be minus the kids but we were keen to investigate the menu, see what’s available for them including our fussy eater Son. We also looked around to see what kind of atmosphere it had, suitable for kids? friendly etc.
The restaurant is in an American style with a bar on the side, sport being played on TV, and a selection of different size tables. We sat on a weird curved row that went through the middle and was one of the main walkways, these were all 2 seater side on ones that flanked the walkway. they were fine but at the same time odd as you feel a little parched and not very cosy. For families, they would be placed either on a lower of platform area in a traditional style table.
Coast to Coast, The Food…
The starters were similar to our normal selections, this for us is not only some of our favourites but also a good way to compare to other restaurants. Boo had Halloumi fries, Halloumi has become one of her favourites, not because of shes vegetarian etc, just simple the taste and style.
These were larger Fries than a normal “fry” however they were very tasty, with a seasoned but breadcrumb style coating. I had Calamari, almost my favourite start in any restaurant, these were a spicy twist to them, which for me was absolutely fine as in some restaurants done poorly can be a bland taste, with perhaps a lemon. But the spicy wasn’t overly spicy, something I can’t deal with, so mild but still lots of flavours.
Our Mains followed, Boo had Cheeseburger, ill be honest its nothing fancy as she is a bit of a “plain jane”, no spice and limited flavours. The Burger was ok, pretty standard as were the chips provided, not thrills but I appreciate there are other options available to enhance the burger. I went for chicken and Ribs, like Boo it also came with Normal chips and Coleslaw, again these were fine, I do like coleslaw and this for me gave it a slight lift, especially with the chicken and ribs coming.
As for them, they were tasty to some extinct, I was disappointed with the amount of BBQ Sauce on both, especially the Ribs, this lets the flavour down. I had to use the condiments to keep it going, these ribs though were easy to get off the bone, not falling off but still easy.
Deserts were actually the high point, I had the Key lime Pie, so few places do it so for me, I normally jump all over it as an option. It was refreshing and delightful and went down extremely quick, I would have preferred more lol. For Boo she opted for something a little different for her, Brownies and Marshmallows. These also came with chocolate sauce and strawberries, first impressions were a little out of proportion with each other and taste.
The Marshmallows were heated along with the brownie, this provided the obstacle as it was impossible to cut and stuck to anything. The brownies were fine but there wasn’t enough in comparison to the Marshmallow, the strawberries aren’t in the initial name, and I’m not surprised as there wasn’t nearly enough, to the point that I’m not sure why they were there.
There were kids in the restaurant so it would suggest that kids could eat there easily, the menu includes Chicken strips, pizza, burgers and more unusual things like Mac n’ Cheese, and mini Fajitas. This provides very different options for different kids, but what is a good plus point is the Junior menu has an option to buy the meal, Soft drink and scope ice cream for a set price. There are several different options with the ice-creams so it’s not just simply a scope.
Overall…
Overall it is a good place to eat, personally, the service was up and down, a little long for how busy they were, the seating wasn’t perhaps the best and I’m not sure how the pay the Bill service using an app etc.. works, especially as we had a meerkat offer, there wasn’t really any guidance from the Staff.
The food itself, on the whole, was good, ups and downs as above but the biggest problem I had with it was the price, normally paying the prices with no offers seems very expensive for what you get, it is just simple American food. The danger with some of the prices is it puts itself in a slightly higher standard restaurant or more food on the place.
But neither delivers on that, however taking advantage of offers, like 40% off mains or Meerkats then makes this a solid restaurant. The kids choice is actually quite a good variant compared to other places, again perhaps the meal price is a bit high compared to other restaurants, and looking at the dishes around the place I don’t see the value.
That sounds great, I especially like the look of the brownie and marshmallow dessert. It’s always a shame when the service is on the slow side though isn’t it?
It’s good to read this sort of honest reviews as it gives a person a good perspective of the restaurant and its menu. I like the sound of the halloumi fries.