Black Dog Pub (Covington Rd, Fort Wayne) - community bar with good food and charm…read more First time visiting the Black Dog Pub. I've avoided trying them because I'd heard they were always busy and had long wait times. On this occasion we had no wait even though they were really busy. I'm really glad we gave the Black Dog Pub a try. Black Dog is located in a strip mall at the Coventry Plaza. Parking can be deceiving - if the front lot is full then park out back. There is a small outdoor eating area which you will encounter as you go inside. The Pub has an inviting but small bar located right at the entrance. The restaurant will only seat about 50 dinners inside. The four person table is very small. Not much room for 4 water glasses, 4 drinks, 1 appetizer dish and four entrees - actually painfully small. On this night the outside temp was 90 degrees. The kitchen wouldn't make pizzas, calzones or grill wings when it is this hot (safety reasons). The team here was very friendly and helpful. They really hustled, kept the refills coming and served us well!! The menu is fairly large - salads, burgers, pizza, sausage rolls/calzones, sandwiches, subs and wraps. Something for everyone. All items seemed reasonably priced...and the ones we tried were delicious! Here is a run down of the food items we ordered: -Onion Rings: Black Dog says these are the "Best in Town". I'd say they were really good and worth a try! They start with a thick piece of onion and hand batter it with a very thick coating. Not too oily. Not much added flavor in the breading. Just an outstanding onion ring! -Side House salad: nice sized salad with a variety of side vegetables and cheese. Everything was fresh and tasty. -Cole Slaw: "Our signature Cole Slaw" better be good! The slaw has medium sized cabbage and carrot pieces bathed in a very light mayo sauce. The dish is slightly sweet with a little added seasoning. It comes off refreshing and cool yo taste. I really liked this signature dish. -Sweet Chili Chicken wrap: my wife had the wrap. The chicken was moist and tender. The char broiling gives it an added flavor coupled with a very mild sweet chili sauce. No strong after taste kick. She really liked the delicious wrap. -8 piece jumbo wings: on the appetizer section of the menu for $11.50. In the 8 order...there were probably more large to medium sized wings than jumbo wings. My teriyaki wings were lightly fried such that the skins only had a small amount of crisp. The inside was thoroughly cooked - no pink. Unfortunately, they might have been a little over cooked as they were solid white and a little tough/dry. The teriyaki sauce was thinner in consistency. They dipped the wing in a healthy amount of sauce. Much of it pooled in the bottom of the basket. It had a decently dark and bold teriyaki flavor with no spicy after kick.

I have been here once for lunch and once for dinner. A little slow but the food was great both…read moretimes.

Food- 11/10 Service-10/10…read moreEnvironment- lots of TVs, BUT could use a pool table or karaoke. No activities besides eating and talking and watching TV (which is fine just saying)

This is a hidden gem in Ft Wayne. Indoor outdoor seating with tons of TVs. The food was delish and…read morebeer ice cold. Great selection on drinks and even have bourbon flights. The service was fantastic and plenty of seating for a family meal, happy hour with friends or sit at the bar to watch the game. Definitely will come back!

The service was good the bar was pretty empty at dinner time…read more The wrap, fries, wings, and Cole slaw had good flavor. The wrap barely had any chicken in it and the fries were good but the portion felt like it was for a child. The wings were a good size and the drinks were a good price. It was nice and clean in the bar. I liked all the wood.

Service was quick and friendly. Parking is a little rough outside but usually open for street…read moreparking. Lots of areas and space inside. Food was decent for bar food, loved the fried pickle spears! The wings are also very good! The biggest disappointment was the ranch though, definitely not homemade.

Corner Pocket Pub (St. Joe Center Road) - bar eating/drinking on a relaxed outdoor patio…read more Spent a beautiful summer evening relaxing and dinning/hanging with friends of the Corner Pocket Pub patio. They have a very spacious patio. It's clean and well maintained. Chairs and tables are a comfortable wire construction - nothing fancy. And yes...it still feels like a bar as a bouncer will check your ID at the door. You can balance the bar feel with the opportunity to hang out on a warm summer evening...on a patio. Our waitress was very friendly. She hustled as much as she could though she had a lot of tables. The bouncers were all business. The menu is pretty large with pizza, salads, wraps, wings sandwiches and lots of appetizers. Prices are fair. And, to me, the overall food quality is better than your standard bar food. Here is a run down on the things we ordered: -Quesadillas: extraordinarily cheesy. Soft shell. Easy to pull apart. Comes with salsa and sour creme for dipping - nothing special here. -Chef salad: very fresh and piled high with meats and sides. Two breadsticks were also tasty. -Chicken Ranch wrap: fresh tasting. Tender chicken and wrap. Fries were good. -Onion rings: lots of rings in the basket located on the premium side menu. Rings were inconsistent. Some pieces had a very thick onion piece with a softer batter. Others had a thin onion piece and a very crispy outside. In general the rings were fried to a heavier crisp and a bit oily. Not my favorite. -Cole slaw: very smooth, sweet and creamy Mayo based dish. Small slaw pieces. Not soupy. Tastes almost exactly like KFC's cole slaw. Very good taste! -Wings: I ordered grilled teriyaki and spicy buttery ranch wings. About 50% of my wings were tough and chewy. The other 50% were moist, tender and perfect. All white insides and slightly crispy skins. Love the grill marks. I would recommend double dipped as the grilled skin was thinner on flavor. The teriyaki sauce was thin and had a mild teriyaki taste. The spicy buttery ranch sauce had a slight buttery oil taste with a moderately heavier spice taste. No spicy after taste or burn. The ranch flavor seemed to get buried in the spicy flavor. This review focuses on the patio dinning option. Corner Pocket does have a fun and spacious interior, with lots of pool tables, if you want to shoot some billiards with friends.

Great place to chat and unwind. Multiple pool tables available (play per game or hourly options…read moreavailable). Service was quick even with high traffic. Bartenders and servers were upbeat and attentive even at peak hours. Wednesday special was Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich! Delicious combination of cheese, bacon, cream cheese, and jalapeños. Tomato soup would have made this the perfect meal!

Great Black and Blue Burger, cold beer and excellent…read moreservice It doesn't get better than that.

Arena Bar & Grill - home for thin crust lovers. And if you need a deal...then order on Sundays…read morewhen a 16" is $14 all day. If love thin crust, then you need to make the trip out to Arena B&G at DuPont & Lima Roads. Arena does have a very good thin crust pizza. The crust is saltine cracker thick. The bottom is cooked so that it is flour white and soft...but stiff enough to pick up an individual square. The edges are cooked with a slight golden brown and crisp. The crust doesn't have any accents like butter, garlic or seasoning. Just plain pizza dough. The sauce the is slightly sweet and has a thicker consistency. Arena apllies a decent amount of sauce covers the pizza well and moistens it up a bit. I like the little bit stronger tomato flavor without a dominating spicy taste. There were enough toppings to create that single layer across the pizza. They aren't piled up such that you toppings on top of toppings on top of toppings. Just the right amount. The veggies were crisp and fresh. I would have liked to had more meat and more of an Italian favoring. Still good stuff! As for the cold pizza test...it was still moist enough to bite into the next day...the crispy crusts were still pleasantly crispy. The toppings tend to lose much of their zippy flavor. Though the veggies are still crisp. We ordered a side of cheese bread. The bread is a slice of Texas toast..so it is thick. They grill it so it has some nice buttery grill marks on the bottom. The edges are still soft. The inside breading has a nice buttery-garlic taste. The mozzarella is piled on nicely. Good cheesy taste overall! Overall, Arena Bar & Grill should be on your destination list if you are a thin crust lover. It's a busy place if you plan to dine in. Service is usually pretty friendly and spot on. They also have really good wings!

On the fifth floor of The Bradley Hotel in Fort Wayne, Indiana is Birdie's. This place only allows…read more21 years older as this is more of a night spot for adults, serving snacks and bar food and of course, all these drinks on the menu. You are out in the open on the rooftop and it's a beautiful view of the city. Service here is a bit slow when it comes to the food so I'm gonna give them a three star. It took forever for my fried artichokes to come out almost an hour and a half long of a wait. The bar is quick with your drinks according to my friend the french fries are too salty. My guess is to get you to drink more alcohol beverages

Hotel is nice. The rooftop bar "the birdie" you can avoid honestly. Expensive for over salted…read morefood. I like salt and this was honestly horrible. I ate it because I as starting after traveling all day but I regret it. 2 drinks burger and fries 60 plus tip. I get it's a hotel and it's expensive but I was severely disappointed. Bartender was good but not very attentive/chatty. I sat at the bar for experience and got none. Could tell he knew we were hotel guest and he may not see us again. Disappointing because where I stay, depends on the "entertainment and experience" I have. I'd recommend door dash from Taco Bell. They will probably screw or up but you will be happier and richer with the experience

Laycoff's Tavern (near Granite City/Target, North Clinton St) - iconic place with good pizza…read more Laycoff's is a fun little place to frequent. It doesn't seat a lot of people. So...you might have to wait for a table. Unfortunately there isn't space for a nice waiting area. So you might stand up in the small bar area while you wait. It's okay. Things move fast. Enjoy the people watching opportunity. The team here is very friendly and welcoming in an odd way. They really are glad to serve you. Lots of smiles and friendly smiles. They are efficiently-friendly. They all move and talk fast. They are hustling to serve - not avoid. They will take a moment to get to relate...but not much more than a moment. The service is very good! The Sullivan family is very nice as well. Laycoff's is known for sausage rolls and a community bar environment. My wife loves her sausage roll. Full of tasty cheese surrounded by a light, fluffy and soft dough. The American sausage blended in with the cheese nicely. The menu has a small number of specialty pizzas (only six) along with build-your-own option. The prices are pretty comparable to other bars. On this occasion I got a 16" Everything pizza for $20. A 16 inch pizza was a LOT of delicious pizza. The pizza crust is thin. It is thin enough that almost every bit has a slight crunch. However, it was also soft enough to satisfy the less than crunchy crowd. The crust doesn't have much distinct flavor or seasoning. Just a nice thin crust. The pizza sauce was also hard to distinguish. The pizza is so full of toppings and cheese that you really don't see the sauce. The sauce that was they are blended well with the American sausage base. Now the best part - the fresh toppings! Laycoff's uses the Pizza King approach by using finely chopped toppings. The base of the Everything pizza is a finely ground American sausage. The base of the pizza so completely covered with sausage on the Everything choice. The sausage doesn't have much spice or flair as it is American style instead of Italian. The pepperoni is very thin. The fresh and slightly crunchy onions and peppers are chopped into small pieces. Even the green and black olives seemed to be smaller. The whole pizza was coated in delicious tasting mozzarella cheese. As I mentioned the 16 inch pizza is a large pizza. Laycoff's cuts the pizza into large pieces as well. This pizza could easily feed 3-4 people. Cold Pizza Test - I always want to try the pizza the next morning, cold, and for breakfast. This pizza was outstanding cold and as a left over. The coldness causes the mozzarella cheese taste to really come forward. The saltiness of the olives gets bolder. The bed of sausage and cover of cheese really help keep the pizza moist. The crust stayed a bit soft with a slight crunch. Overall, I really liked the pizza. It wasn't outstanding. However, it was really good at a good value. Dinning at Laycoff's has a sense of memorabilia and nostalgia. Be patient and enjoy the environment.

Don't go here if you arent a regular. It felt very much like you had to belong in order to receive…read moregood service. I felt disgusting eating there because everything was very dusty. All of the signage and decor had thick layers of dust. We also had an extremely long weight. I almost wish we would've just left.

This is what all the other scratch kitchens were trying to be…read more Bubba's Smash Burger - Fantastic burger. Perfectly cooked. Bubba's burger sauce is great. 5/5 stars. Shotgun Shrimp Po'Boy - This is the best item on the menu, and it's a must get. The shrimp is lightly breaded, and their shotgun sauce is sweet, savory, and a little spicy. 5/5 stars. Bubba's Lasagna - Everything you wanted the lasagna to be. Not greasy, good flavor, and the focaccia bread is artisan quality. 5/5 stars. Salmon - Good portion size but overcooked and dry. The garden rice was delicious, and the side of broccoli is steamed with garlic. 2/5 stars, mostly for the good sides. Creamy Chipotle Pasta - Very spicy and delicious. It's almost perfect but there's just something missing. 4.5/5 stars. Side Salad - If you don't like salad, this one will change your mind. Just get a side salad, cause it's pretty big. I attempted to recreate this at home, but it didn't come close. 5/5 stars. Spicy Italian Pizza - This one was forgettable. I don't remember a whole lot about it. I'd skip pizzas here. There's much, much better food on the menu. 3/5 stars. Blackberry Lemonade - I've tried the blue lemonade and the mango lemonade, but they both suck compared to the blackberry flavor. Just get the blackberry, and you'll be happy. 5/5 stars. We've been here 3 times. Every time the service is great, and the place is a bit loud cause the place is usually packed. No weird dances like Texas Roadhouse, but you won't miss it. Plenty of TVs to try and find something decent to watch. Go here, you won't be disappointed. Highly recommend.

Despite being very busy we were seated immediately. We did break our party of eight into two 4's…read more But we were in booths back to back. Waites was prompt and fortunately we ordered immediately. That proved to be a good choice because the kitchen went down shortly after. Our order was process but the other booth was not. So, while we were finished our other booth had not seen their main course yet. Our food was delicious. Everything is very tasty and fresh. Even the spinach dip. My California chicken was delicious, with just the right amount of lime. My wife ordered a tenders plate. It was all great. The reason for four stars? The consistency of the service was very questionable. We had children with us and their meal came out even before our drinks came. Then our appetizer came out late, just a few minutes before the main course. Server was very friendly. Food was delicious, I will be back.