Midway Cafe — Restaurant in Fort Thomas

I’ve never written a Google review before, good or bad, but I feel compelled to share my recent experience. As a fellow small business owner—working in general contracting and furniture making—I understand the challenges of meeting customer expectations while following guidelines and regulations.

On Monday, March 17th, my good friend and I decided to take the day off to relax and celebrate our recent successes. I’m usually hesitant to take a day off, but this felt like a much-needed break, so we visited Midway that morning.

When we arrived, we were greeted by a woman behind the bar, who told us we could sit anywhere. I asked if we could sit at the bar since there was only one other person there, and I wanted to be sure they weren’t closed. She asked if we were both 21, which was fine—my friend and I don’t have facial hair and probably look younger than we are. I’m used to being carded and always have my ID ready. However, she then told us she couldn’t serve us because our IDs were vertical, which, to my knowledge, is not a valid reason. As long as the ID is valid and shows we are of age, it is more than enough to buy alcohol in the state of Kentucky. Any bartender should know this to avoid causing disruptions. I wasn’t too upset at this point, but I did find it odd.

She then questioned why I had an intermediate licenses instead of a full driver’s license. This felt very invasive and unnecessary. I would have understood if she had asked for more information to verify the ID, but questioning why I didn’t have a full license was completely out of line. She even made a comment like, “You’re 22 and just starting to drive?” Again, I brushed it off, but it was uncomfortable.

We eventually sat at the bar, got our drinks, and I tried to engage in some light conversation, as I usually do with bartenders. However, we were completely brushed off. That’s perfectly fine—bartenders aren’t obligated to chat—but what really bothered me was when my friend and I decided to cheers "to a day off" and she turned around to ask where we worked, and I said, "Oh for me." As I was about to continue to explain what we do she scoffed, and turned back around. This was extremely rude and disrespectful. There’s no reason for a paying customer to be treated that way. We were even thinking about staying for a few beers and possibly ordering food but were made very uncomfortable and decided to go to the pub down the street, who always has great service and a very welcoming staff.

I’ve thought about this for a day, and I feel it’s important to share my experience. I hope this feedback reaches the right people. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach...

I had heard of this place from my girlfriend, who has a friend that raves about this places smoked wings. Boy was I in for a shock.

We arrived, ordered our drinks and decided to get an appetizer, the cheese bites. When they brought them out, there were hardly any on the plate. For $10.99 I expected to see a lot more than 15 tiny bits. They tasted fine, but the number of them was minuscule. We decided to order our food, I ordered 20 smoked wings, and she ordered a burger and fries. After placing our orders we waited 45 mins for the food to come out. During that time, our waitress never came to refill our waters. When it did, everything appeared okay. I got the pepper honey mustard, and garlic parm. I took a bite, and it tasted as if the wings had been bathing in the ocean for a week. The sauces were fine, but the meat contained a TON of salt. To the point where I couldn’t taste the flavor of the smoke.

My girlfriend ordered a burger and fries. She said, “the burger tasted like a cheap kroger burger patty, but had been over cooked”. Fries were fine. They also placed the ends of the tomato, they even had the stem of the tomato included on the burger.

When I brought the issue with my wings to the waitress’s attention, I asked her to comp it after only eating 4 of them. I was hungry, but just couldn’t stomach the disgusting saltiness of the wings. I would equate the wings taste to opening your mouth in the ocean.

The waitress told me she would get it comped for me. I was happy with the result, and was going to chalk it up to just a bad batch of wings. When she returned with the check, she only took 10 off and not the full 20. She said I’d have to go to the bar to discuss with them even though she told me she’d comp it. At this point I was so fed up that I pulled cash out of my pocket, paid the bill in cash and left. Only paid the bill. The tip I would’ve given the waitress was now going to the food that should’ve been comped.

Overall, I would NEVER recommend this place to anyone. Stay far away from this place, unless you enjoy terrible food, terrible service, and loud terrible music playing in the background. If I could give this place a 0/5 I would. Extremely...

I do many reviews and take no pleasure in giving one's that are less than glowing. However, my visit to midway cafe was quite unpleasant.

We visited one a Saturday evening. All the seats were taken so they directed us to the bar to wait. No problem. Ten or so minutes later, someone approached and said, "uh, you need to go to your table before someone takes it!" We had no idea it was ready, so that was odd. My party of three was sat at a six top while a table of five was being sat at a four person booth at the same time. Between our two parties we agreed to a switch and the servers agreed.

The drink menu was impressive. There was something for everyone and we enjoyed the options. Drink prices were on the high side, but no more so than most similar establishments right now. The bar was a highlight.

One person in our group had a grilled cheese and fries that were good. She had to request ranch three times, but it eventually came. We had a similar experience with water requests. Another in our group ordered wings with two different sauces. I don't love smoked wings, but these were a terrific example of them. The medium and garlic parm were both wonderful.

Lastly, I ordered the cordon bleu sandwich. It was absolutely horrible. Bad enough that I intended to send it back, but by the time our server returned my party had finished eating. I've truly never encountered chicken that tough. When I eventually took the chicken off, the ham, cheese, and bun were okay. The house made chips were very nice.

A large group came in mid meal and stood in the back dining room drinking. They got progressively louder and more unruly. A quick look around the dining room made it clear they were making most of the diners uncomfortable, but nothing was ever said.

Ultimately I really wanted this to be a good experience, but an odd vibe, good drinks, and seriously hit or miss food, I didn't feel great about the $80 (including drinks and tips) that I spent on...