Uptown Deli 
 Barberton, Ohio        Date of Visit  11/02/10            http://uptowndeli.net/

Uptown Deli has existed in various incarnations in the Wadsworth area since I have lived here. I don’t know if owners have changed or if the location just keeps changing but most recently they surfaced in Barberton with the addition of a bar. It turns out it should be called Uptown Bar…or maybe Downtown Bar. The interior is what you might expect at any local watering hole, relatively dark with random tunes chosen by drunken patrons belting from a juke box, a couple of video games and some sort of gambling game that one inebriated dude is going to sit at through the night throwing change into while his beer gets warm sitting on the top of the machine. I wonder how the food is going to be.

Fried Portobellos the Highlight
 

We ordered a Portobello mushroom appetizer and two sandwiches. The bellos were breaded with a cornmeal crust and were actually pretty good. Quite a surprise. The sandwiches arrived, one a chicken sandwich called the uptown special with hot sauce on a pretzel bun and a Reuben. The Reuben was mediocre at best with thick chunks of corned beef instead of the standard thin sliced many other places have made a name on. With a thin splash of thousand island and a few strings of sauerkraut it didn’t do much to satisfy.

The chicken was not great and the “homemade” hot sauce seems really familiar, like McIlhenny’s with some butter added. The fries looked good but were near raw inside which a dousing in vinegar and horribly cheap ketchup could begin to mask. Again with the ketchup. You could just hang a sign outside that says you really probably don’t want to eat here, but we have great whiskey over the front door.

Beneath the logo on the front of the building the sign says..."Your friends are here!" Well, I didn't see any friends or really any friendly people. If my friends were to ask me about the place I'd like ot think there would be no odds of bumping into them there...of course it's already impossible, I don't expect to return my self. There are much closer places to get a drink and a horrible sandwich around here. What is it with the sandwiches?