We went out for dinner at the 99 restaurant on Saturday night after running our weekend errands. I had never been to a 99 restaurant, and I was interested at the prospect of trying something new. After taking in a belly-full of food, I have to say I was pretty pleased with the restaurant. I had the “New England Fried Shrimp” dish, which had fried shrimp, french fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce. For drinks, I had the strawberry iced tea. Both the food and the drink get a thumbs up from me. The rest of the table got the “Shrimp Toscana” dish with a mango iced tea, and a “Kickin’ Shrimp Skewer & Top Sirloin Steak” dish with a Mango Mai Tai, which according to the menu has “Malibu Rum, Disaronno Amaretto, mango, pineapple and sour mix expertly mixed together for a taste of paradise.”
The service was also good – 4.8 out of 5 stars from me. They were very friendly and enthusiastic, and we got our food quickly, which was great because we all had such low blood sugar by that time =) . The only problem was that our waiter, while being top-notch with everything else, somehow missed the starter dish that we’d ordered. I guess he didn’t hear us because he was busy writing down our drink orders. But we didn’t mind that much because he entirely missed the order, so it’s not like we were charged money for food we didn’t eat. Plus, we were so full from the entrees alone that I think we were thankful we didn’t have more food we had to stuff down.
Overall, good first time experience at the 99 restaurant. I would recommend this to anyone who’s looking for a casual place to eat. One thing though – I believe that 99 restaurants are strictly a New England franchise. I checked their website to see if these restaurants only existed in the U.S., and was surprised to find that not only was it limited to the U.S., but it was limited even further to the New England states…and New York. So if you’re ever in the area, and you’re looking for casual dining and simple food, the 99 restaurant might be a good place to hit.