WTGW 3/19/14: Louie’s Bar, Akron

It feels good to be back to our regular Wednesdays. Yay!

Here’s pretty much how all of our thoughts about Louie’s Bar have gone in the past:  drive past, mention we should go there sometime but argue that it looks kind of shady from the outside, look it up online and discover they don’t have a website (seriously?) but find instead four million amazingly awesome reviews (well that means something, right?), let that sway you and vow to actually go sometime … and repeat the cycle.

I know, we always seem to be drawn to these types of places, right? I’m not sure what that says about us.

In any case, thankfully we have Where To Go Wednesdays to force us right through the front door of those places we would be too chicken to walk into unless it was our week to pick and we hadn’t had time to really think about what options were out there.

Ha.

Seriously, though, I’m really glad we made it to Louie’s, because it’s another of those hidden gems we’ve overturned on this adventure. It’s a great neighborhood bar – super tiny on the inside, and all of the reviews warned that getting a table can be difficult, but luckily it wasn’t too busy the night we tried it out. We showed up about 7 and snagged the last table (side note, the “Please wait to be seated” sign actually means “Please wait for the waitress to yell over that you can sit at that empty table” – so be prepared when that happens) – but we must have hit the end of the dinner rush, because the place only got emptier as the night went on.

Louie’s specializes in burgers, which somehow Ted missed the memo on before we arrived, and upon hearing that made him switch his original order of the Walleye Sandwich. Smart man.

We all got burgers except Shane, who was playing the role of “the one who orders something different” this time. He got wings, and was almost really, really disappointed when he saw all of our food come out. I thought he might cry. No, not really. Well, maybe.

But then he tried his wings – and if he was crying, suddenly it was tears of joy, because he was so in love with them.  He had six each of the Honey BBQ, Garlic Parm, and Spicy BBQ (p.s. – watch out for that one on the menu, as the spacing looks like you can just order the flavor “spicy” … which Shane tried to do, and the waitress had to ask “spicy what?” Learn from our laughable mistakes.)

Anyway, the wings have some sort of breading on them, which I likened to boneless wings but Amanda said tasted just like the fried chicken from Gioninos that Shane loves so much. This may explain why he proclaimed them the Best Wings He’s Ever Had In His Life. And I’m not exaggerating. He really said that. I mean, we aren’t even talking #1 in a Top 5 list – these went straight to the all time hall of fame. Impressive.

Meanwhile, while the rest of us may not have been elevating our burgers on that kind of a pedestal, we did agree that they were pretty tasty. Amanda had the mushroom burger on a pretzel bun (which is pretty self-explanatory), I had the Mile High (which is basically a mushroom burger with bacon), and Ted had the modified Texas Red (which is a burger smothered in chili – of course he ordered it without cheese and onions – because, well, he’s Ted – but he also added jalepenos). Let’s just say that Ted needed a knife and fork to eat his. I gave up on the bun after a while – not because it wasn’t good, but mainly because I was getting full and wanted to concentrate on the goodness that was burger and bacon. Amanda was so full after half her burger that she traded Shane the other half for three wings, which I think we’re all kind of surprised he gave up, but honestly I think it’s just because he was trying to figure out what the breading was made of. Plus did I mention he got half a burger in return? I seriously don’t know how that man doesn’t weigh 400 lbs.

In any case, it was all delicious. And filling. I’m not sure how we didn’t have to be rolled out of the place, and we even stayed for another beer just to let things settle.

Speaking of beer, this is one of those places that sticks to the basics. The fanciest thing on the draft list was Guinness. So of course Ted had that, and we all had Miller Lite.

Service was good. Our waitress was friendly, and quick to refill drinks and take orders. Although there are only like ten tables in the place, and two waitresses were working plus a bartender – so the ratio was kind of in our favor that we would be taken care of. Or maybe just after our last few experiences with slow service I may be a bit easily swayed.

Louie’s definitely just has that cool neighborhood bar feel that you don’t find in chains or a lot of the bigger places. Right down to the old, non-working, non-flat screen (yes, kids, there was a time when those screens were encased in a big box!)  black and white TV in the corner, and all the mirrors one the one wall (which prompted Shane, upon walking in, to ask the group – “Hey, this place isn’t so small. Can we sit over there? Oh, wait …”).

We definitely will go back … just maybe we won’t eat for two days beforehand.

CAPSULE

Picked by: Steph
Drinks: Typical small bar list – 4 or 5 drafts, small domestic bottle selection. 
Food: Seriously, we may not eat again until next Wednesday. Large portions, delicious … what more can you ask for, really?
Service: Good. Despite the “neighborhood bar” atmosphere, we didn’t feel like we were ignored because we we’re regulars.
Overall: While it’s a little too far out of our neighborhood for us to become regulars, and they don’t have a patio so I’m not sure it will be on our summer hot list – but we will definitely be back.

Next Pick: Amanda