The Montgomery Inn - Cincinnati

We traveled to Cincinnati today. The main reason for the trip was to go to IKEA, but we couldn't leave until we had dinner at one of my all-time favorite restaurants, The Montgomery Inn in Montgomery, Ohio. Lucky for all you Columbus people, The Montgomery Inn is expanding to Dublin and is slated to be open in the Spring of 2009. The countdown is on.

Obviously, this was not the first time I had been to the Montgomery Inn, but I feel compelled to write a review since there will be one in Columbus very soon.

The Montgomery Inn is know for their ribs and barbecue sauce. You can actually buy the ribs and sauce at grocery stores now, but I recommend going to the restaurant. It is so much better. This is not a restaurant for those of you wanting/needing to watch your waistline. This is a restaurant you save up calories to go to. There are probably some healthier options on the menu, but I can never get passed the ribs section of the menu. If anybody stumbles upon a healthy option, please let me know.

Tonight, after a long afternoon of IKEA shopping we started with an appetizer order of Onion Straws. Very thinly sliced sweet onions, battered, fried and served with warmed barbecue sauce. The menu says it would serve 2, but it truly had plenty to serve 4-5. Had I noticed further down the menu, they have an appetizer called "Straws and Chips" which would include the aforementioned Onion Straws and the Saratoga Chips, which are delicious homemade chips also served with warm barbecue sauce.

Our 2nd course was salad and they were huge; much bigger than I remembered. Romaine and iceberg lettuce, shredded carrot, tomato, cucumber, croutons, onions and dried cranberries. The dried cranberries, while are a favorite of mine, did not belong in this salad. They just didn't fit.

On to the entree. I wisely ordered the petite order of ribs, which was about 4 ribs. Each entree comes with a choice of side: onion straws, saratoga chips, baked potato, baked sweet potato, broccoli, veggie of the day, mac and cheese, fries or some sort of Mediterranean salad. Since I had already eaten my fill of onion straws, I opted for the baked sweet potato which comes with cinnamon butter. The ribs fell right off the bone as usual and were smothered in sauce. The potato was also very tasty. Other orders around the table were the Order size ribs which is about 8 ribs, Ted's Platter which consists of pulled pork, sliced brisket and about 5 ribs and finally the Ribs and Chicken which is a 1/2 roasted chicken and about 5 ribs. Everyone else absolutely rolled out of the restaurant completely satisfied and overstuffed. I, on the other hand, was nice and full, but not uncomfortable. Just enough.

Needless to say we did not get dessert tonight. Maybe some other time.

My only other comment about tonight's meal was the service. We walked in off the street at 6pm and had to wait about an hour for a table which we kind of figured would happen and were fine with since they have a fully functional bar that occupied our time. However, the table service was VERY slow especially for four people who were famished. Our drink glasses sat empty too long between refills, and just ordering in general seemed to take too long. It seemed as though our server was gone for long periods of time before we would even see her in our part of the restaurant. It was very strange. Typically service at The Montgomery Inn is impeccable, however, tonight was not the case. I can only hope that this is not a trend for the Columbus branch.

When The Montgomery Inn does open in Dublin, I do hope you all give it a try because the food is never a letdown. Just be sure to wear the official rib bib so you don't show the world where you ate that day!