Wednesday, Jul. 16, 2008

Wanda’s Family Dining makes you feel right at home

By Melissa Winn

mwinn@star-telegram.com

The Food: Family-style home cookin’

The Story: Wanda’s Family Dining has been open since 1982.

The Hits: The fried catfish and the chicken fried steak though I wouldn’t say it’s limited to just that; that just happened to be what we ordered.

These daily lunch specials are a steal at $5 and there are quite a few selections to choose from, including the catfish, hamburger steaks and chicken. Each comes with choice of two sides, rolls and a salad from the salad bar can be added for 50 cents. Hard to beat, right?

My partner ordered the fried catfish with turnip greens and O’Brian potatoes, which are crunchy, soft-fried potatoes. Sounds contradictory but that’s the best description I can give it. I ordered the chicken fried steak with cole slaw and the O’Brian potatoes.

Honestly, I am not a big fan of cream gravy. I know that sounds sacrilegious to a lot of you but I prefer brown gravy. That being said, the cream gravy at Wanda’s changed my mind. It was smooth and didn’t seem to be as heavy as some of the others I’ve had in the past.

The chicken fried steak itself had a nice crust on it and was flavorful.

My dining partner loved his catfish and turnip greens. He said the greens tasted fresh and, come to find out, they were. He said the tartar sauce wasn’t "too vinegary" and didn’t overpower his fish, though he ate half of it without the sauce because the fish was so tasty.

The rolls that came with the meal were also good. There were stick-shaped hushpuppies as well as two large, pillowy-soft rolls.

Aside from the lunch specials, Wanda’s also serves sandwiches ranging from a grilled cheese to a club sandwich ($1.95 to 7.95). They also serve ribeye and sirloin steaks ($13.95 and $14.95, respectively) and chicken.

For the early risers, Wanda’s serves breakfast any way you like it.

The Misses: Unfortunately, for me, the sides weren’t as spectacular. Though homemade, the cole slaw was a little too sweet and while the O’Brian potatoes were good, the jalapeño peppers in them made the after taste a bit odd. Given a second chance, I probably would opt for the baked potato or french fries instead. My dining partner agreed about the potatoes.

The Setting: A combination between a diner and a BBQ restaurant comes to mind. There is a rather large, open dining area with either booths or tables. The tables are a deep green with advertisements and pictures on them, which makes for interesting reading as you wait for your food. There is also a television mounted by the door though the sound is turned down.

The wait staff is attentive and friendly, recognizing regular customers and almost writing their orders down before they say them.

The Details: Located at 1503 Fort Worth Highway in Weatherford. Open Monday through Saturday from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visa and MasterCard are accepted but a sign at the register showed that Wanda’s no longer accepts checks.

Take-out orders are welcome but a 10 percent gratuity is automatically added to the bill. 817-599-7421.