Troll Pub at the Wheelhouse — Restaurant in Dayton

I've been here quite a few times. I will say it's not the first place I would choose and last night was pretty disappointing. I would like to make several observations that must be addressed by management:

The tables. They are terrible. They are probably incredibly expensive and so management doesnt want to get rid of them, but some of them need to be retired. It's clear the designer knew more about art than engineering. Several bar tables actually have HOLES in them because they are literal cross sections of misshapen tree trunks. There are several dining area tables that are warped so much that your beer glass will slide off the table. It has happened numerous times to me or other guests. The staff have known about the issue for years.

The red pizza sauce. We asked our server to find out what is in it. Either he didn't care, was being dishonest, or just genuinely did not know how to be a good waiter. There is a taste that both of us noticed. At first I thought it was A1, then I thought maybe it was Taco Bell's Fire sauce. My friend said it tasted like taco seasoning. Regardless, what our server told us was that nothing unusual was put in it. If you're going to compete with the likes of South Park Tavern, Oregon Express, and others, this is not how you do it. It was not good.

Pay to park. My father is not tech savvy and could not figure out the pay to park insanity that is now being enforced. This alone would deter me from going here. I didn't get a chance to look at the pay process, but clearly it doesnt work because our server didn't say we needed to do it.

The Troll Pube. The design of the sign is just silly. It doesnt make it clear there's a restaurant there because it looks more like graffiti. Also after the word "Pub" there is something that looks like a cursive "e" and once you see it, it's impossible to unsee.

This place has the potential to be great, but as it stands in this post-covid era, it is more likely the doors will have to close because all restaurants are struggling and this place is not helping itself by having such glaring issues that have existed (in a couple...

We have a large family, so when the 8 of us show up at a restaurant, we expect to wait. What we don’t expect is for the host and hostess to get upset that we don’t have a reservation. The website said nothing about having a reservation, so we didn’t think we needed one. Yet the first host we talked to was very clearly put out that we didn’t have one. The other 2 weren’t much better. The restaurant was about half full, maybe a little over that, and it was well after 1pm so we didn’t think it would be an issue. They seated us quickly since another party with a reservation that was seated before us had opted to sit on the patio and we soon realized that while they had 3 people there to seat guests, they were clearly under staffed. Our waiter had many tables to keep up. He was a good guy, very nice and polite, clearly being pulled in too many directions at once. He got our drinks at an average time, and took our appetizer order but after we got the drinks it was a looong while before he came back. He eventually got back to us and took our meal order, and then the wait on the kitchen started. We were there for over an hour and well over 30 minutes after appetisers were finished before they got our food to us. I wouldn’t complain except that we had decided to get our food to go for unrelated reasons. Just before the food came out, ready to-go for us as we had requested, the host came out to ask us if we were ‘ever going to leave, because people with reservations would be coming and they needed the table’. He was neither nice nor polite in his question. When I let him know that the food was just now coming out, he was clearly upset but when I explained we asked for it to go he said, “Good!” And walked off. The waiter was very apologetic.

The food was fine once we got it home, the waiter was great, the kitchen was slow (I’m pretty sure everywhere but the host station was understaffed), and it would have been good if we’d known they require a reservation to eat there. So it’s worth checking out, but be sure to let them know you’re coming. They won’t turn you away, but they won’t be glad you...

Was recommended Troll Pub by a colleague, so decided to try it out when a family member came to town. Checked the reviews before heading over, and although it’s a solid 4-star restaurant on ratings, most of the actual reviews weren’t altogether positive. But, wanted to give it a try before discounting it altogether. To begin, you do have to pay for parking, which was a point of contention in many of the negative reviews. Considering you have to pay for parking in many areas around Dayton, not sure why this is a problem, though. It’s only $2-3, and the pub gives you a discount code for your first hour. Don’t forget to pay though because tickets will be issued.

Inside the restaurant, we were impressed with the atmosphere and design. It was very cool architecture, and as someone who appreciates older buildings, the owners have done a great job keeping the original charm of the building. Service was good. Our waiter was attentive and fun. I would have liked a bit more prompt of refills, but really that’s a very minor issue. Overall, very happy with the service. That said, we were one of like 4 tables, so I can’t speak for service quality on a busy night.

The food was not really anything to write home about. We all ordered burgers, and to be honest, I’ve made better burgers at home. The toppings on all our burgers were pretty skimpy and all the burgers were cooked to well done even though two of our party asked for medium rare. The drinks were good. Strong, with lots of flavor. Would recommend for a happy hour or a fun place for drinks. Not sure I would...