Green Diamond Grille and Pub Barberton, Ohio Date of Visit 05/07/14 http://www.greendiamondgrille.com/
Looking back on our original post for The Green Diamond, I quickly
felt I had been very generous in the first ranking. Part of the
problem was I had recently had a really nice soup and sandwich combo
there on a bike run before Steph and I went for dinner…dinner wasn’t
as good as the lunch but I kinda smooshed them together into a more
favorable grade. We had been back once for their lobster-fest, which
was mostly a fiasco. Time to try again. |
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The Walls Are Dedicated To Baseball |
The Ceilings Are Dedicated To...Uh...Ummm...Well.... |
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We landed after the lunch rush and found a few folks starting happy hour pretty early. We were waited on by a cordial young lady who, when she was around, did an excellent job making suggestions and taking care of us but there were lengthy lags between those times…much to do after lunch I suppose. We scammed the last cup of chicken potpie soup and a cup of chili, a unique wing combo, a sandwich and a fish dinner. Whew. The chili was pretty average on the spice profile (very safe chili) but it was loaded with ground beef and beans. The beef really required some seasoning in and of itself but it was passable. I definitely prefer more pizazz in chili. The chicken pot pie was rich and very tasty. Much better.
The wings were doused in what they called a spicy lime sauce. Spicy
is not their forte. At first bite the wings were boring. If you
rolled them in the sauce at the bottom of the basket you ended up
with a much tastier citrusy wing but the spice never materialized,
at all. |
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Chili Is Plentiful But Safe In Seriously Boring Ways |
The Chicken Pot Pie Was Much More Flavorful |
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A Dredge Through The Sauce Brought Lime But No Spice |
Their Fries Are Typically Solid |
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Steph’s fish dinner was tragic. The fish was nastily fishy and oily. The breading was devoid of anything but crisp and the bottom of the filets had lost that little bit of redemption to the fryer basket. Dinner is not the way to go.
Our server had recommended the French dip when I asked about the
sandwiches and I was delivered a real gem. Toasted bun, prime rib
grilled warm with crispy edges, cheese, onions and peppers.
Downright tasty. The little cup of jus was gloriously salty and
brought the seasoning of the sandwich to a head…deepening the
beefiness, bringing out the cheese, flavoring the veg. It was a
great sandwich. Get a sandwich and soup. You’ll leave happy. Avoid
the dinners like the plague. |
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The Fish Dinner Looked Appetizing |
Until You Looked Closer And Tasted This Sorry Excuse |
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Recommended By Jen (Our Server), For Good Reason |
This Thing Was Delicious |
Change in Ranking | |||||
Original Score | Which Way? | New Score | Why For? | ||
B+ | C | Over Reaching At
Dinner Really Hurts A Bar Serving Better Than Average Soups And Sandwiches |
I was treated to this Barberton eatery on a
quick lunch trip not too long ago. The soup and sandwich I had that
day guaranteed I would be back and we had finally got a chance to
make an “official” visit. Realistically, these are three separate
places all set in the same building. There is a well appointed sit
down restaurant that I have yet to sit in. Raised seating, classy
colors, stone fireplace…this seems like a really nice place. There
is another section of the property with table and chairs that is
dedicated to baseball history with Ted, Babe, Mickey, etc.
dominating the walls. |
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Then there is the bar. How to describe the
bar…. I don’t know that I can. On my first visit I stared and stared
and every time I turned my gaze there was something new to see, and
wonder about. The ceiling has paintings of semi-classical semi-nudes
on each insert. OK. Then you notice each image has some sort of
sci-fi action going on. OK. And between each is another colorless
image of what appears to be the female scientist hall of fame.
That’s just the ceiling. This day we tried some things off of the dinner menu to see if they were as good as the lunch offerings. We started with parmesan chicken nugglets which were soaked in a well balanced bath of salty cheese and garlic. I wasn’t going to skip soup, I’m telling you I talked about the Creole Chicken and Rice soup I enjoyed at lunch for days. The options were chili, clam chowder, rice and bean and cheeseburger. The server with a great dose of honesty reported the cheeseburger wasn’t as good as usual so I tried the chowder. I don’t know who does the cooking here but they have a great understanding of depth of flavor. Rich, salty, and every time the spoon disappears it returns overloaded with potato and clams. |
The Always Loaded Spoon |
Rich and Delicious Beef Noodles |
Veal Parm Sammitch |
The chili appears to be loaded in the same fashion. The beef and
noodles again had layers flavor, aromatic veggies, shrooms and loads
of beef. The noodles were well done and the dish was very successful
overall. I tried the veal parmesan sandwich with onion rings. The
rings were well done. The sandwich I was not sure about as in the
first few bites, the veal was exceptionally stringy. Fortunately the
sandwich is loaded with three big pieces of veal and the other two
were tender and delicious. The marinara was not great on its own,
but it went really well with everything in the sandwich. It took a
bit to get things rolling but once we got settled the service was
prompt and our server repeatedly stopped by the table to make sure
everything was okay. I never would have thought so prior to
this little project, esp. with the chicken situation, but
Barberton
Ohio has some really tasty options when it comes to dining out. |
Ratings | |||||||
Food |
Service |
Ambiance |
What's Best |
What's Worst |
Overall |
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A- | B | A | A | N/A | B+ | ||
Just Crazy but Fun | Lots of Good
Stuff Eat Soup |
No Single Standout |