Pizza, Chinese and Mexican, oh my! (Toledo, Lima: high school, living, restaurants)

[ImaMichigander]

Hi All!

We are in Findlay and have mostly worked our way through the boxes and now we're hungry!

I was wondering what thoughts are on the following?
Pizza?
Mexican?
Chinese?
Who makes the best in town? Or near enough to go to for dinner?
Who do we really want to stay away from?

We have found that the high school girls who are working at the IHop are FANTASTIC! What nice little girls that are friendly and attentive to a family of 5!

And, Art was right. Dietsch's has GREAT ice cream!

[Art1979]

Originally Posted by ImaMichigander

Hi All!

We are in Findlay and have mostly worked our way through the boxes and now we're hungry!

I was wondering what thoughts are on the following?
Pizza?
Mexican?
Chinese?
Who makes the best in town? Or near enough to go to for dinner?
Who do we really want to stay away from?

We have found that the high school girls who are working at the IHop are FANTASTIC! What nice little girls that are friendly and attentive to a family of 5!

And, Art was right. Dietsch's has GREAT ice cream!

Well, that's a good question. My taste in food's tempered with that of other areas, and I guess I've spoiled myself with too much competition, but here's what the family and I'd do for those choices way back when.

Pizza: Jack and Do's has some decent pizza which is close to where you are. Now, I prefer their subs to their pizza, but everyone's different. There's actually a really good pizza place up in Bowling Green (25 minute drive) called Pagliai's.

You've got your four main chains there (Pizza Hut, Domino's, Little Caesars, and Papa Johns), but I doubt that's what you're looking for. There's a shop on Sandusky Street (Joey Fratello's, I think) that I've not tried, yet, but if your up for taking some risks...

Oh, I forgot about the Rocking U down on W. Main Cross. Now 20 years ago that was the place to get good pizza, but since it has changed hands it's just normal pizza. That's not saying you should at least give it a whirl and see what you think.

The only other one that's alright is East of Chicago. Now, I've had pizza in Chicago. This isn't real Chicago style pizza. Number one, the cheese is on top and number two the crust is greasier and more crispy. However, in and of itself, it's not ghastly.

Mexican: There's a restaurant on the north side of town called La Charrita, which has provided us good service with palatable fare at a reasonable price. I hear Mi Tequila and Rancho Fiesta are on par with it, but have not been to either to vouch. There's always Oler's down on Lima Avenue. It's supposed to look run down and dilapidated. Note: it can get crowded there on the weekends and it's a small place.

Chinese: Now, there's no Chinese restaurant that really stands out in Findlay. There are some worse than others, for sure, but nothing has it nailed. I've had good service at Hunan Gardens, but their General Tso's hasn't really wow'd me. Ming's Great Wall on the East side of town is totally the greasy spoon of Chinese restaurants. The food's alright enough, but I seriously take my food home. Mr. Lee's express, once again, the food's OK but nothing special. Now, the Asian Grill and Satang have some interesting Korean and Thai food, and probably the most bang for your buck in the sushi department (Asian Grill), too.

There are a few others around, but I've not found them to be all that good. I'm sure some would disagree, but that's my take on them.

[ImaMichigander]

Originally Posted by Art1979

Well, that's a good question. My taste in food's tempered with that of other areas, and I guess I've spoiled myself with too much competition, but here's what the family and I'd do for those choices way back when.

Pizza: Jack and Do's has some decent pizza which is close to where you are. Now, I prefer their subs to their pizza, but everyone's different. There's actually a really good pizza place up in Bowling Green (25 minute drive) called Pagliai's.

You've got your four main chains there (Pizza Hut, Domino's, Little Caesars, and Papa Johns), but I doubt that's what you're looking for. There's a shop on Sandusky Street (Joey Fratello's, I think) that I've not tried, yet, but if your up for taking some risks...

Oh, I forgot about the Rocking U down on W. Main Cross. Now 20 years ago that was the place to get good pizza, but since it has changed hands it's just normal pizza. That's not saying you should at least give it a whirl and see what you think.

The only other one that's alright is East of Chicago. Now, I've had pizza in Chicago. This isn't real Chicago style pizza. Number one, the cheese is on top and number two the crust is greasier and more crispy. However, in and of itself, it's not ghastly.

Mexican: There's a restaurant on the north side of town called La Charrita, which has provided us good service with palatable fare at a reasonable price. I hear Mi Tequila and Rancho Fiesta are on par with it, but have not been to either to vouch. There's always Oler's down on Lima Avenue. It's supposed to look run down and dilapidated. Note: it can get crowded there on the weekends and it's a small place.

Chinese: Now, there's no Chinese restaurant that really stands out in Findlay. There are some worse than others, for sure, but nothing has it nailed. I've had good service at Hunan Gardens, but their General Tso's hasn't really wow'd me. Ming's Great Wall on the East side of town is totally the greasy spoon of Chinese restaurants. The food's alright enough, but I seriously take my food home. Mr. Lee's express, once again, the food's OK but nothing special. Now, the Asian Grill and Satang have some interesting Korean and Thai food, and probably the most bang for your buck in the sushi department (Asian Grill), too.

There are a few others around, but I've not found them to be all that good. I'm sure some would disagree, but that's my take on them.

We have tried Joey Fratello's-- twice now as a matter of fact! They are quite good, and my basis for that is the cheese. They have great cheese! Our 2nd night here we got stuck with Domino's.... Apparently we were unaware that everything closes at 9pm. Anyway, first time for Domino's in years and the crust and sauce were not too bad. But the cheese was TERRIBLE. We've hear mention of both Jac and Do's and the Rocking U. Pizza is a terribly personal thing isn't it?

And on the Mexican Front, I think that we were spoiled living so near Detroit and Mexican Town. We had GREAT Mexican food. The seedier the place looked, the better the food.... We've tried Mi Tequila and it was ok. That really is the best descriptor. I'm hoping for the seedy look and good food factor to work in Oler's favor!

We'll take your suggestions and happily munch away...

Oh, we tried the Corner Chalet in Vanlue last night. It's the new Amish-style restaurant. Everyone agreed we'd go again, dinner was a bit better than ok. But the pie was GREAT!

[greenhouseviewer]

The corner chalet is a homemade charm

[boyneboy]

Having only lived here a couple of months, this would be my two cents worth.

Pizza - So far we like Jac and Do's on the west side. Moving back to Ohio, we were hoping that the Donato's pizza you get at Kroger's would come close to the restaurant. Nope - its like a different recipe.

Mexican - I've been to La Charita and had a good chile rellano but the best we found in the area would be Loma Linda's up in Toledo. Only place I've found that does mole from scratch.

Chinese - I like Asian Grill for sushi and I tried the new Chinese restaurant by the west side Walmart and it was okay. I tried Levo's Egg rolls on E. Sandusky last week. Okay, it looks like a dive but the take out egg rolls were quite tasty. Even better, they have a small Vietnamese menu which I plan to try. I miss the Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) I used to get in Chicago and its on the menu at Levo's.

We are going out to Revolver next week and really looking forward to it.

I can't say we've been to a restaurant or carryout that we won't every do again yet. There are a couple of places that just didn't do anything creative or anything better than similar restaurants, but nothing I'd say run away from.

[ImaMichigander]

Originally Posted by boyneboy

Having only lived here a couple of months, this would be my two cents worth.

Pizza - So far we like Jac and Do's on the west side. Moving back to Ohio, we were hoping that the Donato's pizza you get at Kroger's would come close to the restaurant. Nope - its like a different recipe.

Mexican - I've been to La Charita and had a good chile rellano but the best we found in the area would be Loma Linda's up in Toledo. Only place I've found that does mole from scratch.

Chinese - I like Asian Grill for sushi and I tried the new Chinese restaurant by the west side Walmart and it was okay. I tried Levo's Egg rolls on E. Sandusky last week. Okay, it looks like a dive but the take out egg rolls were quite tasty. Even better, they have a small Vietnamese menu which I plan to try. I miss the Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) I used to get in Chicago and its on the menu at Levo's.

We are going out to Revolver next week and really looking forward to it.

I can't say we've been to a restaurant or carryout that we won't every do again yet. There are a couple of places that just didn't do anything creative or anything better than similar restaurants, but nothing I'd say run away from.

I swear by Joey Fratello's for pizza... Looks like you can't eat in, but you can and in fact you can call ahead for an eat-in pizza. Especially nice with 3 little kids!

For Mexican, I have to say I've now tried Mi Tequilla, La Charrita and Oler's. I'd go with Oler's over and over! They look like a dive, but it's not. The wait staff is lovely. The other 2 are just not flavorful enough, and I am a pretty whimpy Mexican eater.

We just tried Hunan Gardens and liked it. I, however, am addicted to the YakiSoba noodles at Asian Grill. I need to go back at lunch too, because I will try a Bento box, which seemed like your own personal Japanese buffet!