Arnie's Public House
 Akron, Ohio          Date of Visit  04/30/16            Facebook

Time for lunch, stumbled into Arnie’s Public House, which was apparently Arnie’s SRO (standing room only) very recently. Not a bad looking little spot on the corner of the little strip plaza. They have much better options for parking with the lot in back as opposed to just the difficult to enter or exit postage stamp out front. There aren’t many too many seats, but we found a couple and were served by a young lady who was perfectly respectable.
 

We ordered a potato croquette appetizer and a couple of entrees. The mashed taters were blended with cheese, scallions and a bit of bacon, rolled in panko and fried to a nice crunchy brown. They were set into a warmly spiced southwestern ranch dressing and were fine, just fine.
 

Their buttermilk fried chicken and waffles was a fair disappointment for me. The proportions were the first problem. Portion wise, it was fine for lunch but they would be much better off serving half of the waffle with the chicken on a smaller plate, so much waffle and plate makes the chicken seem chintzy, never a good thing. The waffle was tragically boring, the chicken barely less so, it didn’t do much for me.
 

The meatloaf dinner came with three slices of grilled loaf, mash and veg. Our server came back after firing the order to ask if I actually wanted the veg. Made me nervous, she asked if I would prefer fries with my mashed potatoes, yikes. I stuck with the veg and actually got beautifully bright green, tender but still textured, and exceptionally salted broccoli. Best part of the whole ordeal. The mash was much richer than the broccoli but seasoned just as well, if only the meatloaf lived up to the sides. It was dry, dry, dry. Needed a little jus, or a little gravy, or a lotta something. It just wasn’t there. Arnie’s chow would probably be more attractive after a couple of drinks from the bar, but then again, so is everything.
 

But They Are Much Closer On The Mash