Friday, December 9, 2011

Big Ant's Fish and Chicken--East Palo Alto, CA



With Jenny craving some fried food last weekend, she discovered Big Ant's in East Palo Alto through an internet search. And, on the surface they seemed to have a lot of possibilities. When we got there, though, we discovered otherwise. We soon found out they didn't have catfish, prawns, dark-meat chicken (or an entire breast) and weren't able to satisfy a second order of macaroni and cheese.

The food we were left with, though, turned out to be a good value. For $11, we got the ten-piece chicken and snapper (five pieces each) which came with a side of macaroni and cheese, which we gave to the kids. The chicken, which was a bit dry, came in the form of strips. To Big Ant's credit, though, the chicken and fish were only lightly coated. We also got a side of greens, which included chunks of pork, and a super-hot basket of fries.

The boys devoured the macaroni and cheese and were disappointed they ran out. They both said the dish was pretty oily. The fries were about as good as they get. Just as with the other fried items, they were made to order. So, it took a short while to prepare them (about six or seven minutes), but they came out hot and crisp and we jumped all over them.

If I happened to be in the area and had a hankering for a good deep fry, I could see myself going back. The biggest drawback for me is the lack of predictability. For a restaurant to be missing such a huge chunk of its menu is a problem. If I'm thinking fried catfish at Big Ant's, it should really have the catfish in stock, otherwise I'd get pretty disappointed. It's a bait and switch of sorts.

Don't worry about fighting a crowd to eat here, by the way. There was plenty of room when we went at around 6:00 on a Sunday night.

Big Ant's Fish and Chicken
2150 University Ave
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
(650) 630-3683