Hey wait a minute, that doesn’t sound like a sports bar?!?
That’s right, after several weeks months of Wednesday meals involving things either coming out of a fryer or served on a bun, we decided it was time to switch things up a bit and go for a place a little different. And who doesn’t love Italian food, right?
Well, in this case, Ted. But remember he has a dislike of all things cheese, so that really takes out about 95% of all things available on an Italian menu. Although that really wasn’t the root of his issues for the evening – but we’ll get to that later.
Angie’s in Barberton was recommended to Amanda by some of the guys she works with, as they said it had the best pizza around and a full bar. As you’ve probably figured out buy now, that’s enough for us to go on. And apparently we weren’t the only ones impressed by those standards, as the parking lot was nearly full. Kind of surprising for a Wednesday night, but I guess better than the alternative. Also being that it was a week before Christmas, I think this was the go-to spot for many holiday get-togethers.
Now my knowledge of Barberton isn’t all that extensive, but let’s just say that I think Angie’s might qualify as the town’s “fancy restaurant” – you know, if you’re looking for someplace to take the family for a special meal out, or to impress a date, or to have a few drinks a dinner to start off a girl’s night out, etc. I think we saw all of those occasions taking place during our meal, as well as a few early holiday parties (complete with gift exchanges). We also saw a lot of people dressed in camo, and tables with small children. Yep, definitely not a sports bar. At least not the ones we’re used to going to.
In any case, our dining experience got off to a bit of a rocky start, as we asked the waitress for a table in the bar area and were told “I don’t think there’s any open” … when we could look directly to our left and see practically all of them unfilled. OK, so it must’ve been Imaginary Friend Night at Angie’s then. Whateves.
So we were seated in the dining room, which was not exactly the atmosphere we were looking for. You do remember that we tend to scare people with our conversations, and as I already mentioned there seemed to be an abundance of small children in the establishment. Recipe for disaster. Especially when one father, in an attempt to keep his young child happy, started walking around the restaurant and stopping at several tables of complete strangers so the kid could “say hello.” I was mentally willing him to skip us, which somehow worked. Tell me again why I don’t play the lottery?
And here we get to another reason why we wanted to be seated in the bar area … the alcohol. Shocker, right? Here’s a little summary of how our drink ordering experience went: Ted had to walk over into the bar himself to find out what was on draft since it took the waitress a good 10 minutes to even get to our table; not really feeling like drinking beer with my meal (what, it’s Italian, isn’t it?) I asked about a martini I had seen on the menu online, only to be told by the waitress that she wasn’t sure that was available but she could check … well, judging on her timeliness in even getting to our table in the first place, and the fact that I was thirsty, I just opted for the old staple of Miller Lite. So much for it not being a beer night. Grrr. See why we need to be kept close to our alcohol?
The food was OK. Nothing super special in my opinion, but good, and we all definitely left feeling like we needed to trade in our pants for a size bigger. As a self-proclaimed pizza connoisseur, Shane of course was looking forward to ordering an entire one for himself – especially since part of the reason we chose this place was for the pizza. He wasn’t overly disappointed, but it also didn’t make it into his “top 5” list of best pizza places. Amanda and I both had pasta, and Ted went with the chicken parm since it was probably one of the few things on the menu not filled with cheese.
Although, according to Ted, they seemed to have replaced the cheese with what may or may not have been a stray piece of chicken that may or may not have been from someone else’s meal. Well there’s a new definition of recycling. Now, he still finished his meal, and only said something at the end of the meal to us and not the waitress – because in his words, he wasn’t “sure” that’s what it was … but he said it definitely wasn’t part of the usual order of chicken parm. Interesting. And hence why Ted’s review of Angie’s is a little different than the rest of ours. Hmmm.
Oh, and a word of note – the house dressing for the salad is a creamy Italian, and it’s pink. Like pepto pink. That takes some getting used to.
CAPSULE
Picked by: Amanda
Drink options: Small beer selection (both tap and bottle), and apparently the servers aren’t used to patrons ordering martinis
Food: Typical Italian fare. And sometimes you get a “surprise”!
Service: Eh. Servers seemed young and not really overly attentive or concerned about time.
Overall: Maybe if this place was closer to us we’d think about trying it again – but I’m fairly sure we can find an Italian place closer that will be just as good if not better.
Next Pick: Ted
Where To Go Wednesdays 