First of all, so there's no confusion, I want to let you know this is a review for the Canal Park Stadium location in Akron, not the Uniontown location. I've never eaten there, so it could be a totally different experience. I hope someday to make it out there to get a better understanding of this so-called Akron institution. In fact, I would like to check out the downtown location again during an Aeros game, perhaps, because I have a sneaky feeling we were there on an off day.
So, around the area the legend goes that Charles and Frank Menches, Akron natives invented the hamburger at a festival in Hamburg, New York in 1885. Like many inventions it was developed unintentionally when the brothers ran out of the sausage they normally served. A local butcher sold them 5 lbs of beef and Charles formed them into patties, adding coffee and brown sugar, and fried them up. They were a hit! It sounds like a great story, and I guess we will never really know if its true or not (they also claim to have invented the ice cream cone and the precursor to Cracker Jack); but, today's Menches family has capitalized on the legend by opening the two restaurants.
Last week, we visited the Akron restaurant on a whim, located in Canal Park Stadium. They are open during the week for lunch from 11-3pm, and during games. I was pretty excited because of all the hype and was expecting a life-changing burger experience. When we entered I was surprised to see nothing about the famous brothers in the restaurant except a photograph on the wall. The decor was basically your average sport's bar, but it was clean and presentable. We were the only customers in there except for one patron at the bar (who was clearly frustrating the staff for some reason) and a business lunch going on in the party room. Our server was friendly, but distracted. He directed us to the lunch special menu sitting on the table and recommend the salad and taco bar. I thought, TACO BAR!?! I'm sorry, I was under the impression this was a burger place? I have a personal distaste for salad bars in general because they sit there all day and people sneeze and cough in them, and they are basically a lunch service cop out. So, needless to say my enthusiasm was quickly beginning to wane. After doing that, he basically left us alone for the rest of our visit except to bring us our orders. I was particularly frustrated to observe him giving the full menu to customers that came in later, especially knowing that there had to be more than one burger on that one.
The lunch menu was pretty basic. There was one beef burger on the menu and one turkey. The rest of the items were your basic wraps and sandwiches. I ordered the beef burger with onion rings and some one else got the famous taco and salad bar. They received soup with that order too. The soup was pretty good, and the salad was surprisingly fresh. The burger was good, but I was given the option of ordering to my taste nor was I given any topping options. Instead of onion rings, I was given fries. I was pretty bummed, but it worked out OK. The fries are beer battered and quite delicious, so I didn't miss the onion rings! However, I wish the server didn't continue to screw up with us. The presentation was disappointing with small plastic baskets that crowded the food and made eating a little difficult. However, the food itself was satisfactory.
When it comes to a place that claims to be serving the original hamburger, I would have preferred to be immersed in the experience. Forget the sports posters and Heineken decorations, tell me the story, convince me its true! Please serve more than one burger on the lunch menu, for heaven's sake, and make a burger that blows the mind! I would have loved to taste that original patty with coffee and brown sugar, cooked to order, with a variety of topping choices. Great job on the fries, guys, but I should be praising the burgers. Here's an idea, lose the taco bar and make a burger bar. Take a lesson from MetroBurger, it should be all about the burgers!
This place could be a contender for the downtown eating scene, but so far it has dropped the ball. I will go back with the hope getting the full menu and a better server, but I think dinner would be a better choice. The view of the baseball park is pretty good, afterall. Overall 2 1/2 stars out of 5. $$.
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