Ray's Place (Fairlawn)
 Akron, Ohio        Date of Visit  08/23/14          http://www.raysplacekent.com/#!fairlawn

This won’t take long…probably less long than we stayed at Ray’s Place, however. The Fairlawn offshoot of the historic and venerable Kent institution for gathering and drinking is much larger and shinier than the original. It is also much emptier, at least during our brief visit. Patrons weren’t the sole missing piece of the puzzle. We walked in…saw a sign with desserts (I was informed we were trying all of them)…saw a sign that said “Open Seating”...and we sat down. There was a bar tender and a couple of folks in official shirts walking the floor.
 

If They Don't Do Any Better, The Place Will Always Look Like This
 

I watched them wander in aimless little circles.

The bartender saw me looking her direction, stepped out behind the bar, and, you’ll never guess, she walked towards us, stopped right by us at the server station, and unplugged her cell phone and contentedly tapped away as she strolled back to the bar. The tapping continued just as long as we remained invisible until we decided to depart and drive a block up the street to Rockne’s.

On our way out, a manager and a few servers appeared from the back…looked at us…and said not a word as we quietly departed. I honestly was hoping they would notice us, I wanted a MoFo burger.  I was hoping for maybe even a “Thanks for coming.”, but they were quickly about their business…which apparently has nothing to do with their customers. Next time I will skip the layover at Ray’s cavernous weigh station and go directly to a place interested in patrons.