Almost everyone that’s been into Blackpool has seen the ominous looking doorway to the West Coast Rock Cafe on Abingdon Street, but few that I have spoken to have actually been in.

I’m one of them. Well, okay, I had been there once before over 13 years ago. But I had a 2-for-1 voucher so I thought, last Thursday, that I’d give it another go.

Approaching St. Johns Square via Abingdon Street, town looked utterly dead. It was as if the population had been exterminated. Birley Street spotlights scanned across the pavement seeking out any survivors but we made it past and approached the entrance to West Coast Rock Cafe.

It’s easy to draw incorrect conclusions from the outside appearance. Looking like the door to a boudoir of iniquity may be off-putting to some, but once you reach the top of the stairs and enter the restaurant on the first floor your prejudgements are tossed out of the window.

We were welcomed by a member of staff immediately and were directed to a table looking out on to Birley Street. As a side note, I hope the Council are going to get rid of those blacked out windows at the old Harveys when they turn it into offices because it looks like some sort of prison building.

Anyhow, the place itself is nicely done out, it’s clean and the staff are very friendly (they even smile!). Most tables have a view out of the window and there’s a big plasma screen TV on the wall for those that can’t bear looking out upon what looks more like post-apocalyptic Moscow than a regenerating seaside town. There is classic and modern rock music on the sound system but then you’d kind’ve expect that wouldn’t you?

Given the state of desolation in town, there were still quite a few people in the restaurant, including a large family party. As the 2009 Blackpool Restaurant of the Year it’s obviously a popular place even on cold, midweek, February evenings.

The menus are physically very large so if you’re on a table for four, it’s better to place one in the middle of the table and for your group to look at it that way unless you want to surround yourself with a laminated barrier. What’s on offer? As the only Tex-Mex I can think of in Blackpool I wasn’t surprised to see a full range of burgers and steaks as well as your standard Mexican faire – but surprisingly no chilli on its own. They also do build-your-own pizzas and offer a basic pasta selection as well.

We ordered two chilli and cheese nachos to start with and were informed by the server that the starters were so big that we’d never be able to eat two so it would be a waste of money. She did say that it took no time to make this starter so if we wanted another once we’d seen how big one portion was we could just ask her. Excellent.

The bowl of nachos was large, though I’m not sure it justified it’s price tag of £4.90. We did decline the second bowl, though. It was very nice, the chilli having a definite jalapeno kick to it.

I was tempted by a massive steak, but for main course I opted for the cajun chicken sizzler and my girlfriend had the chilli pork sizzler. Both of these cost £13.90 which again is nudging toward the pricey side of a main course in Blackpool. However, you do get what you pay for (and we had a 2-for-1 voucher anyway).

The helpings were extremely generous: the meat came on a skillet mixed with peppers, mushrooms and onions; there was a seperate bowl of wild rice, guacamole and three tortillas. If you’ve ever been to a Sizzler pub, you’ll know the skillets I am talking about except there you get your whole meal on them. You also get the usual Mexican condiments such as sour cream and salsa.

Unlike in some other restaurants, there was plenty of meat and it wasn’t just a skillet of peppers. Suffice to say I was impressed by both the portion and the taste of the food and I would certainly have it again, however having tried some of the chilli pork (more of a sweet chilli than a mind blowingly hot one) I thought that tasted heavenly as well.

The tortillas were soft and fresh and the meat was neither undercooked nor annihilated.

I should also mention that the cutlery and crockery were clean and not stained or blemished as is annoyingly the case in lesser establishments.

For dessert we opted for another bottle of wine as we were full up from the plentiful food. Like in most restaurants and bars, a bottle of wine was around the £13 mark and we had a few bottles of a sweet Californian rosé which was chilled and gluggable. Pints of lager are around the £2.80 mark, which is about what you’d expect.

It was a pleasant evening all in: my girlfriend hadn’t been there before and we agreed that we would definitely be returning. Good service, clean, good food; can’t ask for much else (apart from a supply of 2-for-1 vouchers).

You can see everything they do on their website and apparently there is a residents discount card so I’ve signed up for one on there.

http://www.westcoastrock.co.uk

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 11:52 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.