Papa Joe's - Akron

There were 2 more, but we ate them first!

Papa Joe's is located in the merriman valley.  It is a large building with an adequate parking lot.  One side is the restaurant and the other side is a wine bar with take out food.  The decor is outdated, but not dirty or cluttered.  TBG said 1975 called and wants it's fabric back.  I was greeted as soon as I walked in the door by friendly hosts and was seated right away.  The waitress showed up about a minute later.  We ordered the recommended bottle of 90 pt wine, which was sold to us at retail price from the wine bar on the other side.  It was very good.  For starters we got the crab stuffed mushrooms.  Very good.  The bread and butter that came out was also good.  They were warm and soft little ciabatta breads.  Then came salad.  We both got their signature white french dressing.  It was good, more garlicky than regular french.  After a little while (because we asked her to wait, we were relaxing with the wine) our entrees came out.  I got the Salmon with a balsamic glace and the risotto and TBG got the 1lb T-bone with risotto.  A word about the risotto: it is not risotto, not creamy and not arborio rice.  It was a very tasty rice pilaf.  The rice was cooked perfect and tasted great, but should not be called risotto.  But moving on, the salmon and steak were cooked perfectly and were very tasty.  The skin on the salmon was nice and crispy.  We don't normally get dessert, but we still had some wine left and were enjoying ourselves so we ordered the tiramisu.  This was not your typical tiramisu.  It was round, and layered.  It was light and fluffy.  It tasted awesome.  I thoroughly enjoyed this new take on tiramisu.  One of my favorite desserts, I usually cannot eat it after a big meal.  Lady fingers soaked in espresso and covered in cheese is decadent and heavy.  This was definitely not heavy.  We both finished it very fast and could not believe how light it was.  It did not leave us feeling bloated and sleepy (that was the wine!) 

Service____ 8 Chipps
Food____8 Chipps
Atmosphere____7 Chipps
Beer List____6 Chipps
Wine List____8 Chipps
Value____8 Chipps