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Paul Kay

Shop A, 33 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai

Tel: 2520 5303

Open: Sunday-Thursday, 10.30am-2am;  Friday, Saturday, 10.30am-3am (last orders  are 15 minutes before closing)

Cuisine: US diner.

Ambience: The small space is designed to look like a 1950s  diner, with blue-seated booths along one side and a  bar/counter along the other. Folding glass doors can be pulled  across to muffle  the constant roar of traffic  from Lockhart Road, but weren't on  our visit.

Price: A three-course meal without drinks costs about HK$200, plus 10 per cent service charge.

Pros: There's a well-stocked jukebox.  Portions are  belly-bustingly  big and there's a variety of good-value drink deals.

Cons: We found the traffic noise annoying. The service  was haphazard, and the staff seemed poorly trained. Our main courses arrived before our starters, after which we were  told that one of our starters  wasn't available after all. The manager  had the good grace to offer us a replacement  free of charge. When our starters finally arrived, they weren't worth the wait. The 'finger lickin' good' buffalo chicken wings in honey-mustard sauce (HK$72) failed to live  up to their name,  and the 'pregnant craving' (HK$55), a serving of deep-fried pickles and mozzarella sticks with a woefully bland marinara sauce, went largely untouched after the first taste - perhaps we would have enjoyed them more if we were 'with child', but I doubt it. The Mexican hotdog (HK$78, or HK$115 with a milkshake/pint of Carlsberg) was probably the worst  we've ever tasted: tepid in temperature, vapid in flavour and drowned in guacamole and salsa, it was abandoned after one bite. The 'Yummy Oreo cookie cheesecake' (HK$50) had an odd, slightly slimy texture.

Recommended dishes: The Big Ernie's burger (HK$98, or HK$115 with a milkshake/pint of Carlsberg, left), which came with bacon, cheese, onions and mushrooms, plus fries and coleslaw,  was well done even though we'd asked for it medium, but was otherwise fine, and the vanilla milkshake went down a treat. For dessert, the  'Triple-Threat' banana  split (HK$45), which came with chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream, wasn't bad.

What else? Among its food/drink combos,  Big Ernie's offers one of the strangest specials in the city: a bottle of Dom Perignon 1998 champagne and two burgers/sandwiches  for HK$1,500.



Big Ernie's Diner