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| - I'll start the review with the better part of the visit.
The food was good.
It wasn't great but I enjoyed the ribs and Maple barbecue sauce. The boneless skinless chicken breast with the Rancho sauce wasn't anything special. In fact, it could have been a frozen chicken breast heated up then slathered in sauce.
My wife had the Maple Chicken sandwich. She also felt her chicken breast was frozen due some of the tough parts in the meat.
Normally, I'd consider going back just for the ribs but everything else we experienced during our Saturday dinner visit will prevent me from going back.
It was busy, whether that was normal for the Saturday dinner rush or not I don't know, and there was a sign that said to seat ourselves. We took a quick stroll through the restaurant and found only one empty table, which was right next to the women's restroom and the pool table and bowling machine.
Not only were we stuck in probably the worst table in the joint, the table was uneven and filthy, but not as filthy as the rest of the place. Literally, my chicken breast, which was brought out after my ribs and on a separate plate, was sliding toward the edge of the table. I used to watch live bands there many years ago. I'm pretty sure it was cleaner back then when it was a dive bar.
It still smelled the same...stale beer.
The floor was disgusting as well. They have popcorn available at the front of the restaurant. If you're too lazy to get up to fill your bowl you can scrape some off the floor. I'm pretty sure that's what the guy in the kitchen does. When I saw him, he was stuffing his mouth with food with his left hand and digging a spoon out of the trash can with his other hand. Yes, he was digging a spoon out of the trash can.
Later, this same guy was out salting the stairs thanks to a spring snowstorm then returned directly to the kitchen with his big bag of salt and dirty clothes.
Now to the service.
Again, the place was busy. But, that's no excuse for just being rude.
We seated ourselves and waited a few minutes for our server to address us. That wasn't an issue.
She slowed just enough to take our drink order. Had she stopped and said hello she may have noticed how filthy the table was.
When she delivered our food she didn't ask if we needed anything else and she didn't return until it was time to bring our bill.
I was eating ribs. It would have been nice to have an extra napkin. I guess that was too much to ask.
Overall, the food was good enough to warrant two stars. But, unless you like to eat in filth you might want to consider another option.
I think the place needs to decide if it's going to be a dive bar or a restaurant. Either is OK but it's hard to have both. You can't have disgusting people working in the kitchen and violating health codes.
On the restaurant's web site it says, "Our friendly, warm staff, delicious Cleveland Bar-b-que and beer selections will make you want to keep
coming back! "
The friendly, warm staff part isn't accurate. Delicious barbecue was a bit of a stretch, but the ribs certainly were good. I had a Guinness...can't screw that up.
Geauga County doesn't have many quality restaurants. The list of potentials shrunk even more after this visit.
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