Our revisit tour continues, as we seek out all of the patios we saw from afar but didn’t actually get to experience the first time around.

I keep joking to everyone that Northeast Ohio is experiencing the honeymoon phase of summer right now, in which we have nothing but a stretch of gorgeous sun-filled days with moderate temperatures and not a trace of humidity.

We’ll remember these days fondly in another month or so when looking out the window nearly spontaneously combusts us and walking outside reduces us to puddles.

Anyway.

Tonight’s revisit to the Barrel Lodge for off to a bit of a rocky start, as we were left on read in the lobby for a hot minute while the bar staff attended to, well, basically everyone who wasn’t us. One thing to note about this place is that it’s on a golf course, and obviously their members and league players get first place in line over this group they don’t recognize.

We were also a group of five tonight, with special guests Cassi and Jason joining us for this trip. This number plus our request to sit on the patio garnered us a very uncertain response from the server/bartender/hostess when she finally did acknowledge us. She checked again outside and said she thought she could “squeeze us in” but that it “may be a tight fit at the table” for all of us.

Hey, give us a patio on a nice night and we will sit on each others laps if we have to. We do not waste these evenings.

Imagine our pleasant surprise to find a table big enough to not only easily hold the five of us but also a few more had we made friends during our lobby wait. I’m not sure what she had to rearrange to make this happen, but we’ll take the win.

Maybe she just reads this blog and knows we need the extra room not for bodies but for food on the table.

So let’s dig in.

Shane and I started off with cheese curds.

Ted got the pickle fries – which we learned from the server are better than pickle chips because they “have more pickle.” OK then.

The apps came out pretty quick – before we even had a chance to order our meals actually, and especially considering the wait for our table initially. But as we sat we realized that was probably a move meant to offset the kitchen being a bit backed up and keep us happy while we waited for our dinners.

Speaking of dinners.

Ted asked about the “pork Wednesdays” that he saw on the specials board and discovered it’s basically a dollar off of the pork quesadilla, pork sandwich or pork chop.

Side note, as a marketing professional, please find a different name for this because “pork Wednesday” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Let’s think of the greats: Taco Tuesday, Wing Wednesday, Meatless Monday. I realize we don’t have a day of the week that starts with “p,” but maybe we just work in a different direction, no?

Anyway.

Ted chose the pork chop. It’s a 10oz apple smoked chop served with two sides. For $1 off the normal price, which if I was good at this side gig I would’ve noted but, well, I didn’t.

I got the Philly steak with tater tots. To the surprise of no one, I know.

Shane was certain about his choice of five of the the garlic parm wings. But then he asked for the server’s opinion on choosing between the meatball sub, gyro or a burger.

The gyro was the winner. Horray for variety. He opted for onion rings as his side.

Cassi got the spicy garlic parm boneless wings and a side salad.

And Jason got the Reuben.

Ted thought the pork chop was good, but noted that the mashed potatoes were kind of bland. I’m not sure where he’s been eating spiced or flavored mashed potatoes in the past, because that seems like a food that by its very nature lacks a true flavor burst, but OK.

I liked my Philly. It was nice in that it had a lot of meat on it (that’s what she said) but yet I could actually fold it together and eat it like a sandwich instead of cutting into it open faced. And my tots were perfectly crispy and tasty.

Shane said nothing was overly impressive about the gyro, but it was “fine.” He said it was good to try something different, but on another visit he might go for the meatball sub just to try it. His favorite part of the meal by far was the cheese curds. Those would definitely make the re-order list.

I didn’t get a full review from Cassi or Jason, but they both finished their meals so I’m going to assume it was at least decent.

The patio was definitely worth the revisit and the wait to be seated there – although we did spend the better part of our evening wondering why things seemed to be so backed up both from the kitchen and the service side. The restaurant wasn’t even really busy and they had four people working the tables that were filled – but the servers all acted like they were slammed with no open tables available. I know our Ärger mentioned it was a league night, so that meant they had golf teams coming in off the course all evening – but again I think most of them arrived before we did and by the time our food was served it was really just us and two other tables on the patio. We went for a hot minute a few times with empty drinks – and joked that we should just walk inside to the bar to get them ourselves to save time – but I will say that at least our server was personable and apologized every time she took a bit longer to attend to us.

And again, we’re on a patio on a nice summer night, so we aren’t complaining. Much.

Picked by: Ted