07/08/09

Must have gone on a bad day

by newreviews

With all the glowing reviews, I had high hopes for finding this a top-notch Mexican restaurant. It was not to be. From beginning to end, this was a bad experience. The sign said "Wait to Be Seated," but no one showed up to seat us, so we had to go into the bar to ask. There were only two other tables of diners when we sat down, yet a simple lunch took forever to show up. The beans were dry and tasteless; the guacamole was the strangest, most unpleasant taste we've ever encountered for this usually exquisite blend of avocado, tomato, onion and chili pepper or powder -- no need to ruin it with sour cream. The taco was fine; the chili relleno just soggily mediocre. Obviously, there must be better things on the menu, but these are standard Mexican fare and frequently indicative of the quality of a restaurant's food. What a shame.

• Pros: good chips; good spicy ground beef
• Cons: very slow service; really bad food

03/29/09

Go for the wings!

by MFCB

The Franklin Inn is good if you know what to get - and that is the wings. They are grilled hot wings. They take 20+ minutes to prepare, so don't be in too much of a hurry. But, they are worth the wait. The wings are split - you get a combination of the drumettes and the wings. They are moist but crispy on the outside (you can order them extra crispy or extra charred), and are fairly spicy. They are charred from the grill, and are coated with a trace of tobasco-based sauce. Skip the Mexican, but definitely try the wings!

• Pros: cozy, great wings
• Cons: mediocre Mexican

10/26/08

Fun place to hang out

by talltexan7

My wife and I are recent transplants from Texas, and we have been on a quest for good Mexican food (largely unsuccessful) since we got here. We found Franklin Inn online and decided to try it out with another couple after reading the reviews. I'd say I agree with the majority of the posts here as far as the margaritas go; they are quite tasty and they don't short you on the tequila. They sell them by the masonry jar which is fun. As far as the food goes, I'd say it's well above average for what we've had in the Pittsburgh area although it's still not quite what we've been looking for since leaving Texas. I ordered seafood enchiladas that were quite good once I got over the fact that it came with a dill cream sauce that I would've expected on stroganoff or some German beef dish instead. The chile con carne is good with chorizo added, although we wished it was a little thicker. All in all the food was very good if you aren't sticklers about how authentic it is (it's a Mexican restaurant that features Ben Franklin as its namesake and proudly recommends hot wings as a customer favorite, so what do you expect?).

My wife and I will come here again for the cozy ambience and good food, but our quest for Northern TexMex continues! So far this would be our choice for taking friends/family out, and El Campesino would be our pick for the most authentic - and affordable - fare.

• Pros: cozy ambience, plenty of parking, good margaritas
• Cons: Not all that authentic