Critic's Review
With the market tanking daily, I wanted to find a nice, cheap lunch. Flanigan's used to be a big deal in this area, and there are still a lot of them around. At one point in time, the measuring stick for a restaurant was "better than Flanigan's", which is a pretty low bar. It's one of the reasons there are so many mediocre, expensive restaurants in this town.
This place is really quite close to downtown; it's on Davie Rd just west of 95. Sometimes we think of the are just west of 95 as some sort of taboo zone where you roll up your windows, lock your door and drive faster. But this isn't too bad.
It's a strange setting; there's a big parking lot in the rear; you might think that you got a good spot and then you find yourself walking a long distance to the entrance, which is on the south side of the building.
Inside, they're all the same; Wood is the theme. The log cabin motif of the 70s and 80s reigns here; with lots of big, stuffed fish in the rafters.
They also all have big bars, and they're know for their drink specials.
My server was also the hostess and water boy; he moved regularly through the room and kept things moving. I ordered an iced tea with extra lemon, which was delivered in a big, green plastic cup.
I came with the intention of getting one of the $5.99 lunch special, which have a strict "no substitutions" rule. The 10oz burger seemed like a good deal in modern times, but I went for the BBQ 1/2 chicken, considering that most of the faux "gastropubs" are charging $18 for the dish. It comes with "rice or potato", but they don't have plain rice. I'd tried the rice and beans and it was a loser, so I went with the "dirty rice". Dirty rice, traditionally, is a cajun dish which is cooked with chicken livers, onions, peppers and spices.
I was surprised at how bad the music was; I seem to remember some pretty good tunes playing at the Davie location. "Kiss You", G.R.L and "Mmm Yeah" tortured me throughout the experience.
The chicken came out in about 3 minutes, dismissing any idea that anything was cooked to order.
I didn't anticipate that the "BBQ" would be that they slopped some sauce on the chicken. I tried the rice and it was awful; musty, with un-identifiable ingredients. I left 90% of it on the place. Apparently BBQ sauce is a big thing here; I didn't need any extra.
The chicken wasn't bad; it was cooked properly and the sauce wasn't a deal breaker.
The chicken itself was worth $5.99; if they had a better rice dish this would have been a hearty lunch. One of the problems of yesteryear was that the sides and vegetable were no good unless you got a baked potato, and I suspect that rule holds true today at Flanigan's.
Families started rolling in at 3pm, but it's not clear why. Lunch is served until 4pm, so it appears that a lot of people come in for an early dinner.
Conclusion
They have some strange policies here; they charge 10% extra for To Go (as if the service has a negative value), and there are no substitutions on anything. They call themselves a "Seafood" restaurant, but Tilapia seems to be the main fish available. It's cheap, but it's not that good.