After playing racquetball, a friend and I took a ride over to the Brown Derby Road House in Mentor, Ohio. It might be Willoughby, but it is right near the intersection of I-90 and 306. I must say that going into the restaurant I wasn’t very excited to be eating here. I had some meals here in the past that I was less than pleased with, but I thought that I would give it a second chance.
We were eating there at 2 in the afternoon and it was so dark inside I could barely see my friend across the table. They definitely need to invest in some lights. When you walk into the dining room they have a big window into the kitchen where you can see the cooks grilling steaks. I guess it is supposed to increase your appetite, but it did the opposite for me. To the left of the grill there is a large refrigerator with glass doors and some counter space. It was filled with meat, but the meat was all over the place. I don’t remember if any of it was unwrapped in the fridge but it was an absolute mess either way. Then, there were steaks stacked on the counter and knowing how hot a big grill can make a kitchen there is no way that it was sanitary. Whomever owns this restaurant should be ashamed to have their kitchen looking like that. While I’m on this subject though, I suggest that someone from the health department take a trip over there to check it out.
We were seated near the back of the restaurant and began munching on some of the free peanuts. I know those peanuts are probably dirtier than the floor of the bathroom, but I love peanuts. Our waitress seemed pretty clueless and after having to wait 10 minutes in an empty restaurant for a refill, I began rationing my soft drink.
After seeing the steaks all over the place I opted to order a burger for lunch. I ordered it medium-rare knowing that it would arrive at the table medium. It came with some fries which I thought were a safe bet. When the food came to the table I was less than impressed. The fries were cold and they didn’t look very appetizing. The burger was huge. Actually it was so big that it was almost impossible to eat whole. I was going to cut it in half, but when I got my knife out of my napkin I noticed a huge piece of cheese stuck to my “clean” silverware. Disgusting.
Just to get out of there as soon as I could I picked the burger up and ate it like that. It was cooked to my liking, but the outside of the meat was absolutely burnt to a crisp. How you could burn the hell out of the outside of a burger and leave the inside medium, I don’t know. It was horrible though. Nothing tastes worse than burned meat. Then to top it off, the tomato they gave me was white. That’s right, a white tomato. Delicious.
I’m not wasting any more of my time on this restaurant. The place stinks.
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