Adult Night Out

Food: 3

Decor: 4

Service: 2

Cost: 2

Overall: 3

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The Harbor Inn is located in Akron Ohio, right on the Portage Lakes. The first thing that I noticed was the building itself. Its a very unique shape and there are two levels, the downstairs part is the bar and it runs along a dock where tables and chairs are seat up. Really reminded me of the islands for a moment, being on the water like that. Loved it! The upstairs is the main restaurant and it’s decorated with a maritime theme. Again, very nice. We were seated right on time. The menu isn’t as extensive as I might of liked but hosted a variety of interesting selections. I was limited to the softer side of things, due to the removal of all my wisdom teeth! So I chose a stuffed mushroom appetizer and a lobster alfredo. Ralph had a filet steak. The food was rather pricey for the quantity. We both ordered dessert as well, which we rarely have room for – though I have to say the chocolate bomb I had was really very good. Almost better than my alfredo!

The service left something to be desired. We had to ask for refills numerous times as well as other things we needed. Not sure if it was just our waitress or if they were just that busy. Either way, I was not impressed with the service. The bar was the exception to that – the bartenders seemed to be really on it and I didn’t notice people being without drinks for very long.

Overall, I would go back but only when I had the extra money to spare!

Food – 4
Decor – 3
Service – 5
Cost – 4
Overall – 4

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So, I’m a little late. On the plus side, I had an opportunity on my birthday to go back a second time with Mel. The first time around:

The atmosphere is wonderful. The decor is ethnic without being distracting and this includes the music. It’s there to enjoy but not so loud that you can’t hold a conversation. Our waitress, Rosie, was stellar. She was prompt and polite and took our (oft times) rowdy, obnoxious group in stride. It was a great change compared to our first review place. The food – amazing. It had all the top notch selections and then some that the Desert Inn has, at a fraction of the price for most things. Ralph and I shared a Sahara Appetizer Combo – we chose spanitopita (a feta and spinach filled filo dough), cheese pies, stuffed grape leaves (meat and spices). I can’t say I enjoyed the grape leaves but according to Bob, it was very authentic tasting. I had the Tour of the Sahara with Beef (read: high quality filet) Shish Kabobs. It came with a mountain of seasoned rice, potato wedges and a grecian salad. I am not overly fond of salad to begin with but I did try it. I still am not overly fond of salad. Dessert was a REALLY good, REALLY big slice of key lime cheesecake. We were a little concerned at first about the lack of patrons present, but between the food and the service that was chalked up to a fluke. Our waitress also commented that it was an abnormally slow night. The price for things was, in my opinion, very fair for the quantity and quality of food you get. Between Ralph and I we spent less than $50. Would I go back? Well now that’s a silly question.

Round Two.

Mel and I went out here for my birthday and while it wasn’t a full house, it was certainly steady. The music wasn’t obtrusive at all, same as the first time and again, the service was exceptional. Our waiter Daniel kept the drinks full and was really interesting and pleasant to talk to. I’m a nerd – I had the Tour again, same as the last time although this time I had extra rice instead of salad. Dessert was the Chocolate Bomb. For ten minutes while it was devoured, I was in chocolate heaven. Better than birthday cake! I am taking a liking to humus. This place is definitely approaching the top of my list and I will likely return here many times in the future.

Food – 4, The food was good and different that what you get at most places.
Decor – 4, The decor was very good, clean, but with a Mediterranean flavor.
Service – 5, Our waitress was great, prompt and attentive, it doesn’t get any better.
Cost – 3, Bleh. They charged for sides of things like sour cream… come on, pathetic.
Overall – 4, I liked it and would recommend it in the future.

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There aren’t a tremendous number of ethnic restaurants around this part of Ohio so I’m always thrilled to see a new one in business. The decor was lighter and more open than most of the other Mediterranean restaurants I’ve been in which tend towards a darker, more cave like feel. The food was well spiced and with a good flavor, the lamb and beef kabobs were easily on par with what I’ve gotten in other authentic Mediterranean restaurants and the presentation was good. The rice and salad were also very good although I personally prefer the Desert Inn’s salad dressing. The service was absolutely stellar– I’ve rarely had better service anywhere… the waitress was attentive but not intrusive, she kept our drinks full and made sure we had whatever we needed to make our meal just “that much better.” We’re a rowdy bunch of folks, at times we’re a bit loud even when no one has been drinking in the least, we tend to make a lot of off color jokes and in general just have a good time… as a group we’re likely to drive waitstaff mad… but she took us in stride and didn’t miss a beat. The only thing that bothered me was when I was looking over the bills and saw that they had been charging for a few of the things we asked for such as mayo and other condiments. If this was a Mom’n'Pops Diner leaving you a $7 bill… I wouldn’t have had a problem with that. This is a average priced restaurant in Belden Village however, and I don’t recall the last time I was charged for any condiment at any decent restaurant in Belden Village… hell, Bennigan’s didn’t even charge me when I didn’t like the sweet sauce that came with my Monte Cristo and asked for au-jus instead. When you’re getting more than $20 per person average, it’s pretty silly to charge for things like that. That being said, my overall rating would be excellent and I would recommend them the next time you’re heading out and want something a bit out of the ordinary.

Food – 5, Wings and Burgers were Excellent IMO
Decor – 3, Average for most Sport Bars
Service – 2, Slammed– far, far, understaffed
Cost – 4, Fair prices about 20$ per person, but we got a massive quantity of wings.
Overall – 4, I liked it and would recommend it in the future.

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I liked the wing warehouse really well. The wings were as good as lizard, even if the afterburners weren’t quite as hot. The dry rubs were absolutely stellar and unlike most wings you get in this area. The burger was above average in flavor (juicy and not overdone) and the price was right considering the amount of food and alcohol we consumed.

The service was kinda poor but they were *really* slammed, the game was on, they got a rush, it was a late Saturday night, etc… I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in some stellar wings, although if you’re looking for a quiet evening this is NOT the place for you, it was far louder than most sports bars I’ve ever been in… not a great place for conversation.

I personally *highly* recommend trying the “Mojave Ranch” Hot wings and the “Dry Rub Cajun” wings.

The one other thing I have to comment on is their website, it’s horrible and in no way reflects on the actual establishment. The graphics in many cases are scaled down through the use of height/width tags and are in the multiple mb range each. The layout is inconsistent across various browsers and slow, and that doesn’t even start into the juvenile layout, size, methodology, and terrible color scheme. They desperately need a competent webmaster… I’m semi-incompetent and was better than that in 1995.

Food 4
Decor 3
Service 2
Cost 3

Overall Score: 3

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Our first impressions going in were mixed. There was no clear indication as to if it were self seating or if we had to wait to be seated. It was our assumption, because we called ahead, that they would seat us, but after standing at the door for a good three minutes or so with no one to greet us, we found a booth – which had not been cleared off, to sit at. It took another five minutes for a server to clean the table off. The place was busy and it seemed very clear that the restaurant is understaffed. There was also no clear way to tell the staff from any other patron and we were not given our server’s name (none of the three women who came to the table introduced themselves). It took quite awhile for any server to come and take our order, though the drinks didn’t wait too long to be refilled. There was no offer to clear away empty glasses or empty baskets until we asked.The menu is a little chaotic to look at, with the wing dinners/platters in one place inside the menu and all the flavors listed someplace else. So, we placed our orders and it was back to waiting.

Respectively, we ordered a wing platter that included 50 wings with 8 sauce choices, 2 large orders of waffle fries, 4 poppers and 4 cheesesticks. My husband and I additionally ordered burgers, Amy had a pita dipper with spinach dip, Tony ordered a burger as did Dan and Bob.

Bob was very excited about the 34 different kinds of draft beers, Amy had a martini…ok, two martinis and she was three sheets to the wind! The drinks, according to those who had them, were very good and we had arrived when the drafts were still discounted.

The wings were brought out to the table and we had to ask for silverware and napkins. Flavors sampled: Two dry rubs – cajun and carribean jerk, regular BBQ, Honey Mustard, Mojave Ranch, Kung Fu Hot, Garlic Parmesan and “Afterburner”. Afterburner is the claimed “hottest of the hot” on the menu. The dry rubs were fantastic and despite the heat of some of the flavors, it didn’t leave you unable to taste anything for the next ten minutes. The Afterburner maintained some flavor as well, but sadly, was not as hot at the ‘911′ wings at the Lizard. Of the 8 flavors we had, by far our collective favorite was the Mojave Ranch. It was spicey but the ranch sauce tempered that very well. Not a mix I would of thought to try, but it works. The burgers were very good as well, though nothing spectacular.

The game was on tonight, so the noise level of the place was pretty high and it was too cool to sit out on the patio. The decor was pretty run of mill sports bar. Banners and sports logos. The place does look a bit like a warehouse inside, with concrete brick walls. The booths and tables were wood. Where we were sitting, there was no easy view of any of the many TV screens around the place.

The cost was fairly average as well. The deal on the wings was the best, roughly $40 for the platter. The burgers ran around $5-7 depending on whether or not you got the 1/3lb or the 1/2lb and if you added fries and coleslaw. Between 6 people, averaging 3 drinks, burgers and the wing platter, we had a total bill of: $151.21. As a side note, after looking over all the receipts while I was tallying the total, I noted the server did *not* discount the drinks we had before the end of happy hour. Our total bill would of been about $14 less, had she given us the right price for the first round of drafts.

Overall, we had a good time. The service that night left something to be desired but the food was really good and the huge variety of wing flavors was great. Most places, you’ll get 12 flavors at best. Would we go back? Probably on occassion but not again soon – only because it’s a 30 minute drive from where we all live and there are plenty of other sports bars that have the same menu and not the drive. Curses to the gas price!