Dressel's Public House, Central West End - Visited July 2016


Today was our second Sunday of visiting different churches in the area, and after visiting one in the Central West End, we decided to go eat at one of the many nearby eateries. As we were walking down Euclid we saw Herbie's and Mission Taco, but we decided upon Dressel's Public House since I remembered going there when I was a graduate student 30 years ago. We thought if they were still in business after all that time they must be reasonably good.

When we entered I did remember their wood and brick theme covered with photos of people. We were seated at a booth near the bar and our server took our orders. They only had the brunch menu out but they had what looked like some reasonable options there. I decided to go with the Porchetta "Louie" sandwich, my wife selected a plain burger and my daughter selected the croissant French toast. As we waited for our orders we checked out the restrooms which were reasonably clean and in good working order. For Sunday around noon the place had a reasonable crowd, and it was kept pretty cool on a hot summer day.

Our food arrived in a fairly reasonable time, and the first thing we noticed was the different portion sizes between meals. My Porchetta sandwich was huge, but the French toast was just one small croissant and a small piece of sausage by it. The burger was not very large either, but it came with a massive pile of chips. But it was good that there were so many chips since they were all quite inconsistently cooked, some being crisp and almost burnt, and others being limp and yellow. They were consistent, however, in being overly salted and greasy. The two sandwiches were actually pretty good, although the burger was ordered medium well and seemed more like medium rare. They also still had the onion jam on the bun even when it was ordered completely plain. My pork sandwich was quite good with the pork cooked tender and flavorful, and the cheese, greens and peppers blended together to make a good sandwich. The French Toast was not too impressive being rather stiff and dry without much flavor from the limited amount of blueberry jam. The sausage that came with it was fatty and not overly impressive either.

Our service on a not so busy Sunday Brunch was not as attentive as we would have hoped, with our very small water glasses not being refilled until it was about time for us to pay our bill and leave. I tried to remember my impressions of the place from the 1980's and I will have to admit I only remembered dining there once (unlike the India Rasoi where we ate many, many times.) Overall the food was very inconsistent, the service subpar, and given their prime CWE location with so many other dining options nearby I do not see a reason to go there for another thirty years.

Food, Service & Value

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