Where to eat in Dayton Ohio North of Middletown

I keep meaning to do a quick run-down of places we've tried recently, but my husband and I still don't get out to eat as often as we used to and I keep forgetting. :)
 
Tsao's Cuisine
3989 B Colonel Glenn Hwy
-- I'm under the impression this place has changed hands recently (?) and some of the dishes weren't quite as good as I've had before. Still very good: the stewed brisket on a bed of bok choy, steamed flounder, mala green beans.  Anything off the specials whiteboard is worth a go, really. Prices are more reasonable than China Cottage, and they do a much better job on the steamed flounder, too. This has become the go-to Chinese place for family dinners.
 
House of Kebab
298 N Main St in Centerville
--I went here months ago, but loved it-- it's where Roc-a-Fellas used to be. The green bean appetizer was great, and I'm not even a big fan of green beans. I enjoyed my lamb kofta. Both my husband and I were saddened when Taste of the Mediterranean near Dayton Mall closed, so we were happy to find a new Lebanese place.
 
Tik's Thai Grille
4459 State Route 725 in Bellbrook
-- I was pretty damn skeptical when my parents told me about a Thai restaurant in Bellbrook, but this place was great, with some of the best Thai curries I've had in the Dayton/Cincinnati area so far. Our favorites were the Massaman and the red curry, with duck.  The Drunken Man Noodles were also delicious. Be warned that spicy means spicy here, though.  We ordered a 3 on most dishes, I think. The papaya salad was good, but so hot that I'm getting pain flashbacks just remembering it. Not cheap, but Thai food never is, IME. Very friendly, warm service. I like it better than Siam Pad Thai in Kettering, and the bonus is that you're not crammed into your table like sardines.
 
I was happy to see that Mom's Restaurant (formerly in Red Lion) moved to its new place in Franklin just off I-75. Has anyone been to it yet? 
 

I've noticed Mom's many times on my trips to Lebanon but never had a good chance to stop in.  Where along I-75 is the new location?
 
Brad

ScreamingChicken


I've noticed Mom's many times on my trips to Lebanon but never had a good chance to stop in.  Where along I-75 is the new location?

Brad

It's just off the 123 (truck stop) exit on I-75 in Franklin.  When exiting off I-75 NB, you'll turn right; SB, vice versa.
 
I might add that I've never, ever eaten at Mom's, either at their old location, or their new.

Thanks!  I've stopped at the White Castle at that exit several times...

Shish Kabob Subs and Grill in Miamisburg across from Dayton Mall is fantastic.  Great food, friendly wait staff, and great value.  Their "house" salad is wonderful.  The Chicken Shawarma plate is full of perfectly seasoned chicken, house salad, pita, fries.  It also comes with their own Garlic sauce...let me tell you, they could bottle that stuff and make a small fortune.  Their fries are perfect as well.  To be honest, I have had my share of "middle-eastern" food in my life and this place is in the top 5 (the others are in Israel/Saudi/Kuwait)
Shish Kabob is quickly becoming one of our "go-to" places to eat...you know, the place you go to when you really do not know what you want to eat...you can always go and count on having a great meal. 
Please, give it a try when you are in the area...you will not be disappointed!

Are you connected with them?

It sure sounds great!

I am almost salivating.

^ Ditto NYPN on all three posts. I've done House of Kabob in Centerville a few times (located on the north end of the old village area, where "The Hungry Elk" diner was in ancient times, 10+ years ago) and got burned out on the food rather quickly. I welcome a great alternative for Middle Eastern in the D8N southland.

Not connected at all...just love good food

I recently learned that the Rosati's Pizza in Springboro on E. Central Avenue (OH 73) east of Main Street/OH 741 in that little strip mall is no more.  In its place is Carmela's Pizza, which calls itself "authentic New York pizza" on its website at http://www.carmelasohio.com/ .  I decided to give it a try Monday.  It also has locations in Eaton and New Carlisle (Park Layne).  I don't see it as an improvement over Rosati's, unfortunately, but that's just me.

Most places in Ohio that make that claim purely suck.

Yes, I do miss Rosati's.  Every now and then I crave the deep dish style.  I also like Carmela's...granted I've only had the X-Large Cheese.  It isn't exactly authentic NY pizza, but it is A LOT better than the crap they serve at Marion's/Cassano/Donato's.  If you feel like the drive Troni's in Kettering is all that this board says it is....(PS don't forget the Garlic Knots)

45013


I recently learned that the Rosati's Pizza in Springboro on E. Central Avenue (OH 73) east of Main Street/OH 741 in that little strip mall is no more.  In its place is Carmela's Pizza, which calls itself "authentic New York pizza" on its website at http://www.carmelasohio.com/ .  I decided to give it a try Monday.  It also has locations in Eaton and New Carlisle (Park Layne).  I don't see it as an improvement over Rosati's, unfortunately, but that's just me.

 
I looked at the pictures and would not call it New York Style. It also says hand tossed not homemade. It appears to be a mass produced dough. I guess they toss it on the peel. Like most franchise places the quality is gone and it is all about price. The phrase New York Style means nothing other than round I guess. 

We ate at Rosati's in Springboro just once, based on what was apparently a bunch of spammed praises posted to a bulletin board (thanks for lying, Rosatis!) We ate in. Pricing was a rip-off, the pizza was "eh" and the service was mediocre. I was glad to see them close.
 
In that general area the best pizza I know of is the Dorothy Lane Market deli at their Springboro location. Pie Pizzaria is decent but can be inconsistent.

Who's tried Johhny's Pizzeria in Centerville?  Tried it for the first time today.  Not too impressed.  I LOVE Troni's (and CT (esp. Pepe's) & NY style pizza & my wife was hoping to surprise me on my birthday with a new great pizza joint.  Johnny's had nice people working there.  Fine service.  But the dough was unimpressive, not tasty, too doughy, no bit of crispness anywhere (probably not a superhot oven).  There was almost no sauce so can't really comment on the sauce.  Not sure what kind of cheese it was.  Maybe a mix of moz & prov?  I prefer a cheese, esp when first trying a pizza but wife ordred 1/2 veggies & the veggies did taste fresh.   The whole thing seemed to have been covered with oil, but it didn't seem like good olive oil & was a bit too much & I thought the garlic aroma reminded me of the fake garlic sauce you get with a Papa John's.  Since the people were nice, I may try it again if any of you out there think it's worth it.   

I think you have Johnny's nailed. It's quite standard Ohio region "wanna-be NY style", and the comments on the crust are dead-on. In that particular area, Flying Pizza is at the Normandy shopping center about 1.5 miles to the west and their freshly baked pie is a good pie and (IMO) is superior to Johnny's. Flying Pizza has its detractors but they are far more about the crust as a thing to be baked properly than the majority of Dayton area pizza joints.

Thanks donw.  My wife said Johnny's had gotten lots of rave reviews on whatever site she looked at online (she's less skeptical than I when it comes to those things).  I definitely like Flying Pizza much more Johnny's.  It's not spectacular but definitely reminds me of the pizza I had in NY (Long Island, Brooklyn).

By the way, my oldest son, a 19 yr old who has really begun to appreciate small local unique food joints in the last year or so, said he'd heard raves about the DLMkt pizza (Springboro location only, I think).  I'll definitely have to try that soon.  

NYPIzzaNut

That it is! Made the trip again today, with our lunchbunch group, to try out Jimmy's Italian Kitchen at 3002 Woodman Drive in Kettering. Jimmy is a brother of Troni's owner but Jimmy's pizza is terrible - the crust is mushy and tasteless. Their sausage rolls and antipasto salad were fairly good.

They are about a half mile from Troni's and I picked up a takeout pizza from the Troni's on the way back (which as usual was excellent).

 
NYPizzaNut made this post on 3/8/2008.
 
We ate at Jimmy's this last weekend. I have to disagree about the pizza. It's not in any way mushy and it had a decent char. Perhaps they reformed in the last four years. The pie was not terribly different from Troni's.

The reason we went here instead of Troni's was service. Troni's is OK but the service can be spotty.
 
The server was on all of our requests without making a PITA of himself, and service was fast and friendly. My wife had lobster ravioli that she was really happy with and which I liked.
Overall the experience and service were both excellent.
 
This place has a strong everyday neighborhood spot vibe. It's not fancy or cutting edge. The parmesan is the powdered stuff, the Caesar dressing is bottled, and they don't put real anchovies on your Caesar salad. It's pretty middle of the road in that respect. Still, it's far better than chains.

Stone House Tavern, Waynesville
 
http://www.facebook.com/shtavern
 
The main story about this new place in Waynesville is that they are the one joint in town that can now serve alcoholic beverages.
 
You can miss this place easily driving by. The fabric banner sign that they have at the road is  absolutely terrible to see at night and is virtually invisible: dark red letters on a black background.

The owners are the same team that own Archer's in Centerville.

The place was fairly quiet but service still took a pretty long time, both for the waitperson to come back around a second time, and to get the actual food once ordered.
 
Most of the stuff we got (a sandwich, a salad, some onion rings, slaw) was ok but forgettable. The french onion soup was made without any clue what french onion is supposed to be (some semi crunchy onions in warm, not hot beef broth with unmelted cheese on top). The waitperson was really nice and offered to heat up the soup - I didn't want it. She then offered a new side on the house, or dessert, and we chose the latter.
 
This restaurant has no pizzas (Archer's does.) That's the main difference in menus.
 
This place gets a "meh" rating. Not terrible but you can make better at home. I'd call the food here a bit of an afterthought.
 
Food wise I prefer the Hummel House (lunch only), Village Restaurant, or Bentino's for pizza. No beer at those places, though, and this place is set up like a sports tavern.
 
I suspect, given how closely this place is modeled on Archer's, that it's not growing pains - we received their best/normal product and service.

donw9876

NYPIzzaNut

That it is! Made the trip again today, with our lunchbunch group, to try out Jimmy's Italian Kitchen at 3002 Woodman Drive in Kettering. Jimmy is a brother of Troni's owner but Jimmy's pizza is terrible - the crust is mushy and tasteless. Their sausage rolls and antipasto salad were fairly good.

They are about a half mile from Troni's and I picked up a takeout pizza from the Troni's on the way back (which as usual was excellent).

NYPizzaNut made this post on 3/8/2008.

We ate at Jimmy's this last weekend. I have to disagree about the pizza. It's not in any way mushy and it had a decent char. Perhaps they reformed in the last four years. The pie was not terribly different from Troni's.

The reason we went here instead of Troni's was service. Troni's is OK but the service can be spotty.

The server was on all of our requests without making a PITA of himself, and service was fast and friendly. My wife had lobster ravioli that she was really happy with and which I liked.
Overall the experience and service were both excellent.

This place has a strong everyday neighborhood spot vibe. It's not fancy or cutting edge. The parmesan is the powdered stuff, the Caesar dressing is bottled, and they don't put real anchovies on your Caesar salad. It's pretty middle of the road in that respect. Still, it's far better than chains.

I tried Jimmy's pizza last week, and had a different result. IMHO no way is it in the same class as Troni's, nor is it similar in any way.  The one I had was much as NYPN described his, mushy crust and generally bland. About like Pizza Hut, to be honest.
The service was indeed better than Troni's on average, but I don't go to a pizzeria for service, I go for the food.
YMMV.

And it sounds entirely different than my experience. Mushy isn't a word that describes it at all. I took their pizza home and ate on it as leftovers for a couple of days.
 
Ok, they are probably inconsistent. That describes an awful lot of small eateries.