Ciao Bella

Having only eaten there once and enjoyed music and libations there on several occasions, I can only offer a rare note about Ciao Bella and a good bit of hearsay. The food is nothing to write home about, but done-up well.

What I really support is the mission of the restaurant. They offer a late-night, homey bar scene that isn’t too sketchy and live music most nights of the week. The owners are the previous owners of Seattle’s coffee. They pack in a younger crowd, which is nice; however old folk do fill up the front couches with their bottles of wine, appetizers, and giggles.

As I'm going to post this review I am reading that Ciao Bella is now closed in downtown Wooster. Nuts! I'll have to contact more sources... this is the second time that that has happened for my blog!

Matso's Greek Restaurant

Matso’s is a Wooster staple. It is a Greek restaurant situated next to Ciao Bella and across from the Wooster Library. (Interestingly, the salad dressing they use on their Greek salads has a website but the restaurant itself does not). The store is well known for the joie-de-vivre of its owner Mr. Spyro Matso, a short, happy, and older gentleman who willingly engages any child or new face that graces the wooden frames of his restaurant with his or her presence.

So if you haven’t yet and you’re a Wooster Freshman (and don’t dare say you haven’t dined here and you’re an upper-classman… shame on you for having no culture or Wooster-love. Go to Matsos. Eat anything. Especially Gyro’s, one of those egg sandwiches on the bottom of the menu with everything on them (the Leroy?), and the SPAGHETTI PIZZA. Holy crap that shit’s good.

Here’s the formula for a week evening of Matso’s magical delights: take a buddy there and show up around 7. They close at 8. Dine on free breadsticks for a while, while Mr. Matso bakes your order in the microwave in the back (actually happens), eat your order until you are stuffed. Sit there afterwards and chat while he offers you multiple rounds of free ice cream. When you check out he’ll magically knock your bill down to 6 dollars a person, regardless of what you ordered. Good deal? You bet.

The Spanikopita and generally speaking all the items listed on the front page are gi-normous. Most items are served with some shredded mozzarella, which I find divine, diced tomatoes and a  little lettace, which is right up my alley. Salads are a little generic-looking, but apparently the dressing is good. Everyone gets free garlic bread sticks, which are very good. They are served in hilarious Tupperware bowls, though, and on stacks of papertowels.

With a big crowd on a weekend night he’ll come around and chat and do tricks at your table involving forks and matches and little shot glasses. Pretty cool dude. Loves his sons, but that’s okay (insert funny, inappropriate chorus comment here).

The waitresses are also the spice of life at the restaurant. They’re all older and kinda catty and probably hate working for Mr. Matso. Seeing them troll around and having him yell at them is pretty hilarious.

If one seeks a more nutrional, Wooster-only experience, visit Broken Rocks. It's one of two in an Ohio chain and serves up yummy continental cuisine. It's the go-to spot that opened up my junior year and quickly became the culinary hotspot!

Tumbleweed

http://tumbleweedrestaurants.com/

Known for cheap margs, good ole’ tex mex, and the slowest service under the Southern sun, this southwest saloon hails from weed roots down on Mellwood immediately adjacent to the Mellwood Arts center (did it start in the early ‘90s?). Today there are many locations in Louisville, as well as other states (Wooster, Ohio being one). Growing up, I consistently begged my family to take me to Tumbleweed so that I could get wasted on margs – no, just kidding. So that I could perfect my pacman skills while waiting for a table, get a large sprite, free chips and salsa, and order a soft taco and waffle fries off the kids menu each and everytime (location being the present Wild Eggs restaurant on Dutchman’s Lane). In Middle School I would drag willing friends there for hours of giggles in a booth all of our own (I believe the funniest thing we giggled about was how my one friend was taking medication, back in the day when we thought that old people things were hilarious and said things just to see what looks they would elicit. Later that night we went home and called two teachers while on a giddy chip-induced high).

Today you will enter a warehouse of a restaurant to discover “ehh” margs priced at either 99 cents or 1.99 depending on the day and the locale (Wooster Mondays – 99 cents, all day; Friday and Saturday any locale, 1.99). Don’t get the white bean soup – it’s kinda generic and salty, if you order the taco salad, you’ll be eating it for the next five days (although it is pretty good, slide into a baked taco salad bowl), do get the enchilada sampler that sits towards the end of the menu for about 13 dollars and split it with a friend. It’s tops. Multiple types of enchiladas and other items, food enough for three I’d say.

Queso there is also always a sensation. You can also just order a taco a la carte for a few dollars, which is what I selected on my last venture there. If only good Mexican eats were still cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap. For the cheapest of cheap – and an authentic experience – head down to La Lolitas.

Sue Min's Chinese Gourmet

http://sueminschinesegourmet.com/

Gourmet indeed! Sue Min and her husband tout a feast of homemade, non-MSG Chinese cuisine that is simply sensational! One must climb the hill that heads south past route 30 to find this former soda fountain situated on the right across from the OARDC. Small and unadorned, the same waitress always offers that you may sit wherever you like and may have a free baklava at the end of the meal.

Hunan chicken has been my favorite find there – I’ve only had it once, but it was out of this world. Lo mein I would not recommend, won ton soup yes. Service can be dicey – don’t play to go there on Friday evening at 6:30 with a crowd of eight and have everyone served their meal at the same time or expect to leave at a decent hour.

On the hole, I love sue min’s. It’s out of the way, across from the beautiful OARDC (agricultural campus for Ohio University). The prices are fair: 4 to 7 dollars for an entree and you may get a lunch combo at a reduced rate for dinner, which includes fried rice and choice of egg roll or soup. Their buffet, which is incredible and highly recommended on a hungry first visit, prices out at about 9 dollars (used to be cheaper when I ate it, but hey, it saves me the pounds and dough to not indulge).

The one caveat that comes with choosing to dine at Sue Min's is that you never quite know when they're open. Rumor has it that the couple frequently treks to their second home in Italy and come the fall and late spring they are usually out for the season.

So how does one solve the ravishing hunger pains that may trip up the innards of your brain with hope for delicious egg rolls and won ton soup that can only smile down at you from the heavens? Better hit up Wild Ginger!