Ed's Easy Diner in St. David's Shopping Centre, Cardiff. A little bit of Americana here in the UK, although Ed's started in Soho, London over 25 years ago. Its interior lures you with shiny chrome and a red and white colour scheme.
There are neon lights a plenty, a retro jukebox from which you can select your favourite 50's classic (and the money goes to charity) and the chance to blow the diet and indulge in comfort food as pleasing to families as I suspect it is to students suffering from the night before.
Leaving aside the risk that listening to "Tell Laura I Love Her" might dampen your enthusiasm for giant portions burgers and steaming hot fries, the atmosphere when we went (a Saturday lunchtime) was buzzing. Incidentally why do so many of the 1950's classic love songs involve dying horribly in accidents? Just a thought.
What I love about Ed's is that is does not pretend to be something it is not. Aside from a nod to 'gluten free' and a small selection of salads, this is food to expand the waistband and reassure you that ice cream does indeed solve many of life's little problems.
The staff (clearly unaffected by the more mournful ballads) were cheerful and upbeat. There was a queue outside and a fast turnover.
Drinks arrived swiftly (diet coke, sparkling water, lemonade and milk) in generous sized glasses, whilst the kids were kept occupied by the obligatory kids menu / puzzle sheet.
The kids menu differs from the others we have tried (for example, Prezzo and Carluccio's) in that menu choices are priced individually. A Junior Burger, Puppy Dog (junior hotdog) or Chicken Tenders are £4.45 and come served with a choice of Fries or Salad. Desserts are Junior Sundaes (two scoops of ice cream with a choice of sauce) at £1.95 or there are junior milkshakes (£2.05) or a choice of soft drink and milk. This is slightly more expensive in that drinks are not included but the main and dessert comes to a pretty average £6.40.
Caitlin had the Chicken Tenders and Ieuan chose the Puppy Dog. Both dishes arrived piping hot with generous portions.
Ignoring the fact that Dr. Ranj would probably have palpitations if such a meal were a regular occurrence, the kids dug in.
The Husband chose the monthly special burger - a Cajun Burger (regular at 5oz) at £6.95 with an extra order of classic fries - £2.95, onion rings at £3.45 and coleslaw - £1.
In his usual style, this was made short work of. The quality of the burger was perfectly acceptable and a step above the standard burgers served by other well known fast food restaurants. The salad garnish was fresh and the cajun mayo was well spiced.
I had the Pulled Pork Sub Plate - £10.95 - BBQ pulled pork in a large sub roll, chunky fries, BBQ sauce and coleslaw. The roll was smothered in cheese sauce.
This was absolutely delicious. The pulled pork melted in the mouth and the onion rings are deliciously sweet. I could have done with marginally less cheese sauce but the BBQ sauce was tangy and the coleslaw fresh.
On to desserts. Ieuan has a passion for chocolate brownies so he had an adult size portion of Brownie Points (chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and Hershey's Chocolate Sauce) - £4.65, whilst Caitlin and I had a strawberry Junior Sundae each (£1.95) and the Husband had his favourite, pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream at £4.95.
Obviously I couldn't leave Ieuan to eat all this unsupervised and I can report that the brownie was moist and gooey and just the right temperature.
The ice cream and strawberry sauce were good quality and did not have a synthetic taste.
The Husband reports that his pancakes were hot, tasty and went down a treat.
We had a great time at Ed's Easy Diner. It's a fun dining experience, ideal to give the kids an occasional treat. The place was clean and the staff were lovely. One small comment, there are no toilets (you know me by now!) on the premises, however, a quick scoot back out into the shopping centre and round the corner brings you to the public toilets which were, on this occasion, full of young girls preparing themselves to see One Direction later in the evening. Ieuan was most impressed by this. We would certainly visit Ed's again although I really hope someone has told Laura he loves her by then.
Further information can be found at www.edseasydiner.com. We visited as guests of Ed but the opinions in this review are our own.
There are neon lights a plenty, a retro jukebox from which you can select your favourite 50's classic (and the money goes to charity) and the chance to blow the diet and indulge in comfort food as pleasing to families as I suspect it is to students suffering from the night before.
Leaving aside the risk that listening to "Tell Laura I Love Her" might dampen your enthusiasm for giant portions burgers and steaming hot fries, the atmosphere when we went (a Saturday lunchtime) was buzzing. Incidentally why do so many of the 1950's classic love songs involve dying horribly in accidents? Just a thought.
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| I may be hiding in this picture somewhere |
What I love about Ed's is that is does not pretend to be something it is not. Aside from a nod to 'gluten free' and a small selection of salads, this is food to expand the waistband and reassure you that ice cream does indeed solve many of life's little problems.
The staff (clearly unaffected by the more mournful ballads) were cheerful and upbeat. There was a queue outside and a fast turnover.
Drinks arrived swiftly (diet coke, sparkling water, lemonade and milk) in generous sized glasses, whilst the kids were kept occupied by the obligatory kids menu / puzzle sheet.
The kids menu differs from the others we have tried (for example, Prezzo and Carluccio's) in that menu choices are priced individually. A Junior Burger, Puppy Dog (junior hotdog) or Chicken Tenders are £4.45 and come served with a choice of Fries or Salad. Desserts are Junior Sundaes (two scoops of ice cream with a choice of sauce) at £1.95 or there are junior milkshakes (£2.05) or a choice of soft drink and milk. This is slightly more expensive in that drinks are not included but the main and dessert comes to a pretty average £6.40.
Caitlin had the Chicken Tenders and Ieuan chose the Puppy Dog. Both dishes arrived piping hot with generous portions.
Ignoring the fact that Dr. Ranj would probably have palpitations if such a meal were a regular occurrence, the kids dug in.
The Husband chose the monthly special burger - a Cajun Burger (regular at 5oz) at £6.95 with an extra order of classic fries - £2.95, onion rings at £3.45 and coleslaw - £1.
In his usual style, this was made short work of. The quality of the burger was perfectly acceptable and a step above the standard burgers served by other well known fast food restaurants. The salad garnish was fresh and the cajun mayo was well spiced.
I had the Pulled Pork Sub Plate - £10.95 - BBQ pulled pork in a large sub roll, chunky fries, BBQ sauce and coleslaw. The roll was smothered in cheese sauce.
This was absolutely delicious. The pulled pork melted in the mouth and the onion rings are deliciously sweet. I could have done with marginally less cheese sauce but the BBQ sauce was tangy and the coleslaw fresh.
On to desserts. Ieuan has a passion for chocolate brownies so he had an adult size portion of Brownie Points (chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and Hershey's Chocolate Sauce) - £4.65, whilst Caitlin and I had a strawberry Junior Sundae each (£1.95) and the Husband had his favourite, pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream at £4.95.
Obviously I couldn't leave Ieuan to eat all this unsupervised and I can report that the brownie was moist and gooey and just the right temperature.
The ice cream and strawberry sauce were good quality and did not have a synthetic taste.
The Husband reports that his pancakes were hot, tasty and went down a treat.
We had a great time at Ed's Easy Diner. It's a fun dining experience, ideal to give the kids an occasional treat. The place was clean and the staff were lovely. One small comment, there are no toilets (you know me by now!) on the premises, however, a quick scoot back out into the shopping centre and round the corner brings you to the public toilets which were, on this occasion, full of young girls preparing themselves to see One Direction later in the evening. Ieuan was most impressed by this. We would certainly visit Ed's again although I really hope someone has told Laura he loves her by then.
Further information can be found at www.edseasydiner.com. We visited as guests of Ed but the opinions in this review are our own.
