Bodenes Diner — Restaurant in Northern Ireland

Bodenes was one of my favourite places to eat, but I feel that it has gone hugely downhill lately.

On a positive start, the meat cooking is always perfect here. Any burger, chicken or steak is always cooked well, and their brisket is amazing. However, for anything that isn't a meat option (even sides and accompaniments), I feel that the quality is much worse.

Previously, there would be a range of vegetarian options including taco bowls, burgers, etc. However, recent changes to the menu has shrunk the vegetarian selection to only FOUR items (based on menu dated 27 June 2023): "fake fish" goujons, a generic curry (presumably microwaved as I expect it would not be made fresh daily although happy to be proven wrong), a spinach burger, and salt and chili "sticks".

While I was fairly happy with my Wolf Pack burger (which contained fried chicken, brisket and a beef burger all in a dry brioche bun), my partner's vegetarian meal was a disappointment. The salt and chili sticks turned out to be breaded and fried sticks of something similar to Quorn. These were set on top of "Korean BBQ pineapple salsa salad, sweet chilli sauce, toasted sesame seed" (according to the menu). However, the salsa was simply chunks of tinned pineapple drizzled with sweet chili sauce, and had no flavour of salsa or sesame about it. The portion size was also absolutely tiny, much more like a starter than a main.

The atmosphere was particularly poor during our visit. Servers now sit all diners in one part of the restaurant, but this has the effect of putting the diners looking for a quieter experience next to families with children. This meant that - in addition to a poor meal - we had to contend with the sound of children banging tables, glasses, or anything else they could find.

Our meal came to just over £35 for two people (which was two mains and two soft drinks), and felt like a complete waste of money on...

Firstly I don’t think I’ve ever complained in my life about a burger, and certainly never took to google reviews either, but due to the price and quality received I thought I should. Couldn’t fault the wee girl taking our order, couldn’t do enough for us. But the MAIN food was absolutely shocking. We started with wings, which actually were nice. But our main which was a Tex Mex burger & a Wolf Pack burger. Burger meat didn’t taste like Aberdeen Angus at all, was dry as a bone and over cooked. Burger isn’t well presented and falls right apart with the grease. Mid way through it we both felt like throwing up it was really inedible. I had some curly fries with mine which were sickening with powder over them and garlic to the extent your stomach was doing backflips. My partner had a salad with hers, but it was an awful excuse for a side salad, made so sense at all. Mentioned to the waitress who tried to relay it to her manager but I could tell she was nervous to approach him and to be honest he didn’t seem interested in assisting whatsoever. I told her when she gets a chance pass it on, didn’t want to make a big deal either and I paid the money no question as it wasn’t about that. I just don’t like paying for food when it’s this bad, perhaps I should of refused or asked for a reduction, but I don’t like creating fuss. Just a word of warning for anyone wanting to treat their family to the burgers here, I wouldn’t go back here if I was paid to be honest. But I’d like to strongly say the service and waitress was first class, couldn’t be faulted. And I would of tipped only I had no change, despite...

On arrival we met a queue of approx. 9 customers and a large section of the restaurant empty. 20mins later we were seated at a table and given 3 different menus. The table was still wet and took at least 5mins to dry. 5mins later our food & drinks order was taken. 10mins later I had to ask what was the average waiting time for food to be served (realising I should have asked this whilst queuing). On returning we were told 5-10mins and left without any chance of a reply. Annoyed at this point I questioned myself, what is it to be 5mins or 10mins..... The food arrived, the curry was mixed with the rice which was not described on the menu and the chilli chicken had far too many slices of fresh chilli, majority pushed to side of the plate. The food was not piping hot, albeit it was tasty. The biggest letdown was the Jug of water. This tasted of mould, very strong mould. Unsure if the water was the problem or their ice. This water was replaced into a fancy bottle!! Funny as this may sound but it tasted exactly the same, mouldy. Finally we were given sealed bottled water, which was cool and refreshing. Overall, our first and only experience did not meet expectations and unfortunately will not be returning. I hope this post does not offend those loyal Bodenes customers and helps others make a...