A few weeks ago my sister, her little baby, my daughter and I, all headed on down to Zaks Waterside Grill & Bar on Barrack Street, Norwich as we were kindly being gifted a meal so we could try out their food.

We were so looking forward to dining at the Zaks restaurant as we knew they have a great reputation for serving delicious food.

It was my sister’s first time at the restaurant but my daughter and I had eaten there before as we had visited when we had Spree discount vouchers (If you live in Norwich you must take a look at the Spree voucher book that you can buy. Afraid I’m not sure if Zaks are in this years book or not?)

The day we had booked to go to Zaks the weather was absolutely dreadful! It was tipping it down and we had to get the pushchair out of the car and my nephew into it. We parked the car in the Zak’s car park and we were literally right outside the entrance….didn’t stop us getting drenched though!

We weren’t really sure which entrance to go in as we saw a flat bit of pavement that led to a single patio door – we thought this would be the best door to go in because of the pushchair but we saw someone was dining at a table close to the door and as we didn’t want to make them move for us to get in so we then went round to the Bar entrance (which I believe is actually the main entrance). There was a bit of a step here so after maneuvering the pushchair down the step and into the doors – we entered the warm, welcoming Zaks restaurant! We were immediately greeted by a member of staff, I’m not sure of her name, but she was ever so friendly.

She kindly showed us to our table and gave us our menus to have a look through. Oooh, there was so many lovely meals on the menu to choose from. Zaks are well known for their burgers and I LOVE burgers …. it was a match made in heaven! 🙂

My sister and I took quite a while looking through the menus as we couldn’t decide exactly which meals to go for. If we’d wanted we could have browsed the menus online before heading out to the restaurant but knowing us we’d have still changed our mind when we got there! My daughter on the other hand knew what she wanted the minute she sat down! Zaks Mak ‘n’ Cheese!! Her macaroni cheese would be accompanied with a slice of garlic bread and as she was having a Junior Meal Deal she could also have a drink and a scoop of ice cream for the bargain price of £5.95.

In the end we decided what we wanted to eat and this is what we went for:-

Starter to share —> Cheesy Nachos £6.95   (A bed of crispy corn chips topped with jalapeno cheese sauce, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos and crisp iceberg lettuce)

Side Orders —> BBQ Beans £2.45  and Homemade Creamy Coleslaw £3.25

My Sister’s Main Meal —> Cheese Burger De-Luxe + Bacon (C+B)  £10.15 (Zaks 100% Beef Burger with cheese and bacon,  garnished with tomato, onion, dill pickle, lettuce and mayo) This came in a toasted sesame bun with a choice of potatoes……my sister went for curly fries.

My Main Meal —> PHILTHY DELPHIA £10.45 (Zaks 100% Beef burger stacked with a 3 oz steak and a double dose of Monterey Jack cheese then topped with fried onions) This came in a toasted sesame bun, with mayo, a garnish and a choice of potatoes……I chose to upgrade (extra £1.50) to Sweet Potato Fries.

Our starter of Nachos was a very generous portion and it was really tasty. There were plenty of cheesy tortilla chips to share and I loved the addition of the lettuce, sour cream and dips. We opted to not have any extra Jalapenos as we were not brave enough!

The main dishes were huge! I love it when you get a decent size meal …some restaurants don’t have very big portion sizes but Zaks is not one of them. They serve you a meal that looks delicious and that tastes as good as it looks!

My sister really enjoyed her Cheese and bacon burger with curly fries and she was surprised at the size of the burger. She was very pleased with her menu choice. The curly fries are so divine! You really must try them if you visit Zaks. Then again…my sweet potato fries are amazing as well…you’ll just have to try those too! 😀

My Philthy Delphia burger was actually the same meal that I ordered last time I visited Zaks and the reason I went for it again this time was because I could still remember how tasty it was last time! I loved the fried onions and salad garnish. The best bit was the fact that I got to have beef burger and steak plus it was smothered in yummy Monterey Jack Cheese!  The burgers are a bit too big to be picked up and eaten – so my sister and I were both ‘refined’ and cut our burgers up into bitesize chunks.  I really enjoyed my meal and will be hard pressed to order something different the next time I visit Zaks – I don’t like always sticking to the same food but if it tastes nice I can’t help but order it again.

My daughter loved her child’s size portion of Mak ‘n’ Cheese and I am not surprised. It was delicious and very moreish. The garlic bread was equally as lovely.   This meal can be ordered in an adult size as a main meal and I think you’ll be tempted by it. It’s real comfort food and perfect for cold Wintry evenings.

Our side dishes of coleslaw and BBQ Beans were really nice and very generous portion sizes. These are definitely suited to sharing and are a great price!

By the time we had all finished our meals we were well and truly stuffed! It was very unlike us but we didn’t really have room for dessert! We did have a little bit of space though and so my sister and I shared some Homemade Chocolate Fudge Brownies with ice cream £5.25 and my daughter had Junior Buttermilk Pancakes topped with chocolate sauce (this would cost an extra £1.50 on top of the Junior Meal deal price).

The presentation of the desserts was wonderful. It was obvious a lot of attention had gone into making the desserts look appetising. I’m glad I took a moment to take a picture and didn’t just rush ahead and eat the dessert without getting a photo to show you. 🙂 The brownies were delicious and my daughter really liked her pancakes. It was a rather generous kids portion so we even got to try some!

During our meal we had a drink each – I had a Banana milk shake (£3.25) , my daughter had a glass of orange squash (included in her Junior Meal Deal) and my sister had fizzy (regular size – £1.85).  My milkshake was really lovely and It tasted like there was fresh banana in it. It didn’t last long though as it was so nice I drank it straight away!

So there ends our review of Zaks Fine American Restaurant, Barrack Street, Norwich.  The food was out of this world, the 1950/60’s style decor of the restaurant just makes you want to smile and the staff were very friendly and helpful. The price of the meals is about the same as everywhere else but you get a bigger portion size than most places….so you get more for your money.  It’s a fairly small restaurant but very cosy and welcoming. It overlooks the river and you can’t miss the restaurant if you walk past it – as it’s bright PINK!

Zaks is a family-owned business and it has been around since 1979. It started off as a burger van and then when it became popular they opened their restaurants. Currently there are 4 Zaks American Diner Restaurants.

• Zaks Waterside Grill & Bar on Barrack Street, Norwich
• Zaks Mousehold Diner, Mousehold Heath, Norwich
• Zaks Poringland Diner, Poringland, Norfolk
• Zaks Thetford Diner, Castle Street, Thetford

If you decide to give Zaks a go and dine at one of their restaurants – Don’t Forget to register for their Loyalty Card before you visit, Zaks like to reward their regular diners with a range of offers throughout the year so if you register for a Zaks Loyalty Card you will start receiving details of promotions and events at participating Zaks Restaurants. Just fill in the form on this link.

Please stop by and follow Zaks Diners on Facebook and Twitter.

 

• Our meal at Zaks was gifted to us by the Zaks Press Team but all words are my own. We enjoyed a wonderful meal out and we will definitely return for future meals. 🙂