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| - Ahhh, Sterle's...comfortable and totally old-school. My wife and I visited last night before a show, early enough to walk right in and get seated. With so few people in the place (yet), we thought our service would be prompt and efficient...not so much. In the end, we were rushing to get our in time for our show. Maybe that was our fault, but arriving just before 6pm we were jogging to the car about 7:20pm to get down to Cleveland Playhouse.
Anyways...the place is charming and friendly. Polka band cranked up just after 6pm and my wife even convinced me to take a spin around the dance floor.
Our meal started with a beer-flight sampler, which led us to ordering their house-made wheat beer from the bunch of four choices. Seemed like a perfect pairing for the Slovenian / German food to follow.
For an appetizer we shared the Bavarian pretzel sticks...what an awesome choice! They were served warm, soft and accompanied by a garlic butter and a spicy brown mustard (which was the clear winner). The menu states it also comes with a beer cheese dip, but ours did not for some reason.
For our meal, we each ordered a "family style" platter (so as to try a bunch of main dishes). We chose roast pork, pierogis and chicken paprikash. The dinner began with a plated salad of iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, tomato, cucumber and a very mild oil dressing (pretty standard issue stuff). The main meal arrived on several plates. The roast pork was tender and covered in a nice brown gravy. The pierogis were decent and of course served with sour cream. The chicken paprikash came in its own bowl and consisted mostly of dumplings, with a "gravy" that had a heavy pepper (like the vegetable) flavor combined with onions and spices. Not bad. The veggie medley seemed underwhelming, but all had a nice crispness/freshness to them. The garlic mashed potatoes were buttery and creamy.
In a rush, we ordered to-go boxes and a cherry strudel (included in the family style meal). They came out cut in squares and had the consistency of being recently microwaved and chewy. A bit disappointing.
Overall, i'm so glad we gave Sterle's a try and would love to come back with a larger group and truly do a family-style meal. Expect a decent meal in a fun atmosphere, but not much else than that.
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