The Lampost in Ellet — Restaurant in Akron

I hate to leave bad reviews. I hate complaining over food service even more. I am usually never compelled to complain. It always works better to just cut my losses and dip out, never to go back to a place ever again. The Lamp Post is definitely on that list. It was my first visit, and definitely my last, sorry to say!

The wait staff were pleasant and attentive, but uninterested. It took our simple breakfast dishes somewhere near 30 minutes to come out, while guests who ordered after us were served promptly.

The bar seats were all wonky and off-kilter, wobbly and terribly uncomfortable so we moved to a table. By the bathrooms. Big mistake. It smelled like toilet water. No joke. 😳 The whole place was humid and damp feeling. I wanted to leave but I didn't say anything to my boyfriend and later regretted that I hadn't. He would've booked it out with me after paying for our cruddy OJ, which tasted like it's From Concentrate. The frozen tube kind. Blech.

My French Toast was cold, the butter didn't melt, and the syrup was runny, like water. The sausage patties were freezer burnt and had lil squares in the middle of less cooked meat. I still ate most of it bc "waste not want not." 🙃 The sausage gravy was bland, but hot... unlike everything else we ordered.

Guests sitting near the front door and closest to the windows [Table 2] had water dripping from the A/C fans onto their table. Somehow they didn't seem to mind and didn't move. Our table, below another A/C fan was also dripping onto the floor. The booth seats are torn and duct-taped to hell and back.

Just not a fun experience and the food did NOT...

First visit to The Lamp Post. We had great service, very friendly. The food was pretty good too. The atmosphere is very classic 50s-60s diner, but the furnishings appear newer and well-kept, nothing is faded or falling apart and looks clean. The atmosphere is much better than you would expect based on the curb appeal.

Even though it was dinner, I had the He-Man Breakfast Platter. The dish comes served on a metal pizza pan, which is awesome! The food was filling, and it was priced fairly. The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five for food was because my food was warm, not hot when it got to me. They have a 'help wanted' sign in the window and there was only one server servicing the entire restaurant. While it wasnt completely packed crazy busy, the server wasn't slacking off or texting on their cell phone, they were doing the best they could taking care of the other tables and were super friendly. I don't blame them one bit. It didn't feel like it took an abnormal amount of time for the food to come out.

My recommendation would be either investing in better heat lamps for the window, or if it just sits longer because the He-Man takes longer to prepare, I would recommend keeping the metal platters hot in a hot box or even throw it on the grill or in the oven to heat it up and it will help keep the food warm while finishing up the rest of the items that go on the platter.

Definitely plan on going back for another visit and trying more of their offerings! The milkshakes...

First time i was there was after 10 pm. Good service. Good food. So i wanted to come back. Second time it took 10 mins to be greeted. 10 more mins to get drinks. Which my bf was brought the wrong drink. We ordered the all you can eat fish and fries with cole slaw and a side salad. Took 20 mins to recieve our side salad and cole slaw. And another 20 minutes to recieve our fish and got no tartar sauce. And another 20 mins to recieve a refill of fish. Neither of us were checked on. I only got a refill if fish because i stopped her to ask. We were never given a drink refill. Our server was lousy at her job. They weren't busy. Then while i had all this time to watch people around me since we spent so much time waiting i noticed we weren't the only ones getting bad serivce. People at the table next to me had to get us and track the server down so they could get their soup...and they sat down before us. They didn't get their food till we were leaving! People came in and the same people left without service because no one acknowledged them. So in the first time in my life....i didn't leave a tip. Im highly disappointed because the first time was good. I may come back to try one more time but unsure...