Restaurants
| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
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Restaurants |
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| If you're staying overnight and follow our suggestions, Kings Island offers a very compact layout. The three hotels we recommend are within a short walk of the park's front entance, and the three restaurants we recommend are across the street or down the street from the hotels. There are also restaurants in the Kings Island Resort and Great Wolf Lodge if you prefer not to leave once back at your room or before heading for the park in the morning. And the restaurants are pretty good ones. If you spent the day at the park filling up on sugar and cholesterol and want a good salad or heart healthy dinner, Bob Evans, Outback and Perkins can certainly provide that, and at quite reasonable prices. They also serve good breakfasts to get your day off to a nutritious start while you wait for the park to open. |  |
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Outback has great steaks. A Bloomin Onion is a must. They're cooked until golden, then served with dipping sauce. Several of the Soups of the Day are really unique. But the steaks are the show. They include a Slow Roasted Sirloin, 12 oz. center cut Outback Special, 9 oz. Victoria Center Cut Filet, 8, 12 or 16 oz. Prime Rib, 14 oz. Ribeye, 12 oz. New york Strip, 20 oz. Melbourne Porterhouse, and Filet Medallions. Then there are Salmon, Crab Cakes, Rack of Lamb, Grilled Pork Chops, Lobster Tails, Alaskan King Crab, Baby Back Ribs, various burgers, and an obscene dessert called the Sydney Sunday. |
| Perkins has expanded from a Pancake House to a full service restaurant, but the menu still focuses on every imaginable kind of pancake and their syrups, toppings and sides. We're pretty big pancake conneisseurs, and we think they have the best in Southwestern Ohio. We especially love their Potato and Blueberry Pancakes, but the basic short stack of Classic Buttermilk Pancakes allows you to experiment with their syrups, such as Maple, Apricot or Twinberry. Their Belgian Waffles, especially topped with Strawberry or Blueberry Toppings, are very light, almost foamy. We like waffles, but often they're too heavy, a problem Perkins avoids. The French Toast is batter dipped in a mix of eggs, cinnamon and vanilla before being grilled golden brown. Perkins uses a French bread which they bake themselves so, like the waffles, their toast is very delicate. There's a whole page of Omelettes, featuring everything from ham, bacon, sausage and border grilled chicken to onions, celery, peppers, cheese, and broccoli. Perkins also has a page of various scrambled egg dishes, wrapping them around hash browns, sausage, bacon and cheese. For something different, try the New Orleans Eggs Benedict. |  |
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Bob Evans uses a down home country theme, giving old fashioned farm cooking a 21st Century twist. Breakfasts are so bounteous they have a cult following; there's a group of locals who begin every day at Bob Evans. They start off with the Homestead, the classic bacon, two eggs, home fries, two biscuits and sausage gravy. Alternatives are eggs and steak, ham, pancakes or sausage. Vegetarians love the veggie omelettes, fruit yogurt crepes, blueberry banana french toast, and fruit plates. Truck drivers like the Pot Roast Hash (slow roasted beef with home fries, two eggs, cheddar cheese, scallions and two biscuits). The newest entry is the Border Scramble (fluffy omelette filled with sausage, home fries, tomatoes, onions, picante sauce, rolled in a tortilla, topped with sausage chile, sour cream and scallions). For griddle lovers, they offer Belgian Waffles, Crepes, French Toast, Cornmeal Mush and seven flavors of Pancakes. Finally, there are Biscuit Bowls: flaky buttermilk biscuits filled with scrambled eggs, queso sauce, sausage, home fries, diced tomatoes, onions, picante sauce, cheddar, scallions and sour cream. You get unlimited refills of coffee or hot chocolate. Lunch is very traditional, but it's Dinner where Bob Evans really shines. Of appetizers, we like their Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Fries, Country Fair Cheese Bites and Loaded Baked Potato Bites (breaded and fried potatoes stuffed with cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon, scallions and buttermilk ranch dressing). Deep Dish Dinners, Deep Dish Pastas and Slow Roasted Dinners put you in mind of big family Sundays out on the farm. Soups and salads are excellent, and the open face sandwiches are the best still being served of what was once a staple in every small town restaurant in the country. The Meat Loaf (made with sausage and Angus beef) is outstanding. This may be the best of all chain restaurants.
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We don't understand what Kings Island Resort is thinking. There are two lodge restaurants : Main Street Grille and Coasters. They have both cut their menus back. Considering the lodge contains 284 rooms and most of those guests will want to eat, we can't imagine why the resort would not want to serve them. This is especially strange since what the two restaurants do serve, they do very well. Main Street Grille offers a great breakfast buffet (as seen at right) or you can order off the menu. The Grille also opens in the evening as a Pizzeria. Their Soup of the Day and five salads are always good. Their Hoagies (there are five varieties), Spaghetti & Meatballs, Veggie Pasta Primavera, Bruscetta Pasta, Chicken Fettucini and eight kinds of Pizza are the equal of any area Italian restaurant. So if you're up for gourmet Italian this would be a perfectly fine choice. Coasters serves the same Soup of the Day, salads and Hoagies as the Grille. They add four excellent Wraps, five Burgers, four sandwiches (Club, BLT, Buffalo Chicken and Chicken Clib) and two Quesadillas (Chicken and Roast Veggie). They even serve chocolate milk, which is getting hard to find, much to the frustration of the kiddies. But that's it. They don't even offer desserts. If you want anything else, you have to walk down the street. |
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The Loose Moose Cottage in the Great Wolf Lodge is worth considering even if you're not staying there. This might be the best dinner restaurant in the area. They have an extensive menu with everything from crab legs to steaks. The quality is very good. One of their claims to fame is how they cater to special needs. If someone in your party is diabetic, is on a gluten free diet, or has an allergy, this is your place. They can put amazing meals together under such constraints. Desserts here are obscenely rich but very entertaining. The decor is also unlike anything else in the area, very Northwoodsy and eclectic. |
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