There’s always that hot bar/restaurant where you’ll find everyone on a Friday night and lately that place has been Harry Buffalo, specifically the Painesville location because quite frankly there isn’t anywhere else to eat in Painesville.  My broken-livered buddy Jason and I went there a few days ago to sample their fare.

Their pita nachos appetizer is supposedly all the rage with crunchy pita chips covered with chicken, tomatoes, green onions, a cream cheese sauce and mozzarella cheese. The pita chips we were served had an odd taste to them, probably from the oil they were fried in.  Personally I thought they would have been much better with baked pita chips.  Ignoring the odd taste the pita nachos were pretty good.

Although every buffalo meat burger I’ve ever had was horribly dry I decided to give Harry Buffalo’s “How the Buffalo Eat ‘Em” burger a shot.  It is topped with crumbled bleu cheese, sautéed mushrooms and onions. The bleu cheese lacked any flavor whatsoever, but for the first time ever I had a buffalo meat burger that wasn’t dry.  It was cooked to a perfect medium and while it didn’t have much flavor, it was tender.  I actually had to add ketchup to it because it was so bland.  A little disappointing.

As a side to my buffalo burger I got an order of bacon cheese fries which were delicious.  And the portion was huge for a side.  I don’t know if the waiter screwed up when he put the order in, but I could not have possibly eaten all of these fries.  Not like I didn’t try, but there were some left at the end. Definitely a required addition to any meal at Harry Buffalo.

To close out I’d like to give some props to Alan our server.  While I had heard lots of good things about Harry Buffalo I’ve also heard lots about bad service.  Our server was fantastic, attentive to our needs and quick with every part of the meal.  Great job Alan.

Photo: Jeffery Beall