Tail Gators
 Wadsworth, Ohio         Date of Visit  05/10/15            http://www.tailgators.biz 

So Cleats in Wadsworth is now Tail Gators. I wasn’t sure what to make of the name. There is exactly zero gator on the menu, it’s just added to the name of every twentieth menu item. Tail Gator burger? Like a real gator burger? Nope. It’s a cheeseburger. Could it be some folks from Gainesville wanted to be closer to the first playoff decided national champion college football team? God, I hope not…what’s next…the Wolverine Den? Turns out it’s the same people…just without the franchise fees I guess and while there is a cartoon gator on the sign it has more to do with eating in parking lots than Florida.
 

Strange inside. Not much seems to have changed except for the patio out back. Still, no one seemed to know how to work anything…the coffee pot, the thermostat, etc. Was like a soft opening. There were a few day drinkers honing their creepy sexual harassment of the servers. Didn’t quite fit in with the super family friendly message on the website. Happy Mother’s Day!

Our poor server. She was very sweet and appeared to by trying to do a good job at her job. She needs some training. Too many trips to the table asking if our full glasses needed refilled, if our second and third bites were okay, like the first when she asked. Every time I looked up she appeared to be studying us. Not the glance to see if everything was alright, but as though she might be wondering what our blood types were. It was uncomfortable. She needed a couple more tables. Nice and motivated, the fault likely lies with her boss, not her.

The difference in the menu seems to be little beside the addition of the word gator here and there, very similar to the Cleats. We tried a split of wings buffalo ranch and kickin’ bourbon. The wings are big, the fry was fine, and I think we both liked the sauces better than the Cleats versions. The buffalo ranch had a warm spice and Cleats bourbon wings were sweet, Gators has a little spice to balance the sweet, I much prefer it.
 

Steph had an average Italian sub with pretty tasty fries. There was a “Mother’s Day” special and since we had neither of ours available, we were at Tail Gators and I ordered from the mom menu. There was a half rack of ribs rubbed with their Erie Island dry spice which were passable at best. Dips into the wing sauces made them better. The rings were well done like the fries, sweet vegetable which stayed inside the tasty batter, not bad at all. Tail Gators appears to be Cleats with a new mascot and brand spanking new employees. Not much else.