John's Family Restaurant: 5/23/13

For this post I actually went with my grandfather! After work one day I decided to meet him at a restaurant owned by a local Greek family that my family has been going to for years called John's Family Restaurant, or John's for short. John's is fairly close to my office (a 15-20 minute drive) and it's only 10 minutes from his house. Now, this restaurant features good ole home-cooked meals and is not a common place for food critics to go, which is one of the reasons I chose it.

Here's the sign for John's Family Restaurant on Westinghouse Blvd.

Batter and crispiness: B-
-The batter on these tenders was very light that it was basically non-existent. Therefore, it did not have much taste to it. I think the tenders would have been better with more batter. One surprising aspect of the tenders was that they were quite crispy considering the lack of batter. I gave this category a B- because the tenders tasted good, I just wish they were modified slightly.

Tenderness and juiciness of chicken: A-
-I gave this category an A- because the chicken was clearly high quality, especially considering the moderate price, and the meat was above average when it came to juicy.

Portion size/presentation: B-
-The meal included 6 small tenders, a large soup of mashed potatoes, banana pudding, and a biscuit. Just thought I would note, you can choose any 2 sides to go with your meal and the sides change daily.

Side: C+
-Sadly I was slightly disappointed with my sides. The mashed potatoes needed salt, but they were smooth and creamy (I prefer my mashed potatoes to be this way rather than lumpy). The banana pudding was average, but I wish there were more banana slices and wafers to offset the large amount of pudding. Hands down the best side was the biscuit. I am not sure if you can tell this from the picture or not, but it was cooked to perfection so the outside was crispy and the inside was fluffy. I should definitely ask for more biscuits next time.

Reheating: D+
-This meal did not reheat well. The chicken tenders became chewy after microwaving and slightly soggy. However the mashed potatoes tasted almost the same as they did when I first had the meal.

Description:
-Fried chicken tenders with your choice of 2 sides. $6.95

 

 My chicken tenders with mashed potatoes and a complimentary biscuit. I always get mashed potatoes at John's.

Overall I would give the chicken tenders at John's Family Restaurant a B-. The whole meal was very flavorful and when you put everything together (the tenders, mashed potatoes, banana pudding, and biscuit) the meal was filling and there was enough for leftovers! Needless to say I will definitely be back to this restaurant. Not only is it a normal dining establishment for my family, but the wait staff is very helpful and it is always nice to be recognized at the places you eat.

Until we "meet" again,

LB 

PS. As always, if you have any recommendations of restaurants with good chicken tenders, please let me know.