The Howard Street Inn — Restaurant in Niles Township

I've eaten at Howard Street Inn around six or seven times in total. Honestly, the food is pretty good. Unfortunately, tonight is the last time I will be going back. I lost all confidence in this restaurant after my experience this evening. As I was eating my food, I noticed a dark object moving across the floor. I watched as it "moved" to a nearby table, then crawled underneath it.

I called my waitress and another employee over, told them what I saw and pointed to the table where the thing crawled under. My waitress jumped onto a bar stool. The employee began hunting for the crawling object. I watched as he kept his eyes focused on it as it seemingly walked along the wall, this time right past where I was sitting. He grabbed a cup with a top but did not catch it. He said he saw it but didn't know where it went. The waitress stayed on the bar stool for another ten minutes. After all this, everything seemed to sort of fall back to "normal". The restaurant was crowded with many groups of people including women and children all around.

I didn't make a scene while there. Now that I'm home, I'm thinking to myself... I started going to restaurants well before turning 20 years old. Taking only the last 30 years of my life, estimating conservatively, I have visited restaurants over the last thirty years over 5,000 times. I have dined in restaurants in multiple countries throughout the world. My 5,000 times dining out estimate is a VERY conservative figure.

In all my life, in ALL of the very conservatively estimated 5000 times I have visited restaurants to eat over the past 30 years, I have seen what I saw tonight at Howard Street Inn only two (2) times. I saw a mouse run across the floor in a restaurant back in the early ninety's and again tonight, I saw a mouse walk across the floor in a restaurant, this time at Howard Street Inn.

I'm leaving this review primarily because the staff was so causal and nonchalant about the fact that a customer saw a mouse right by his table in their restaurant. I was told they have a golf course, some water and something about a patio, and something else about no way of sealing a door, or doors completely, that they try with some "spray" or whatever, yadda yadda. As the employees were taking, they lost me at the point when I saw a mouse for only the second time in my entire life inside a restaurant crawl across the floor right next to my table where I and lots of other people had been eating.

I asked to speak to the manager, an employee asked... Why? LoL, seriously?? I said because I'm having reservations about whether I ever want to come back here and I think I should tell the manager. I was told the manager had left for the night.

The staff was nice. They comped my dinner. I'm not saying restaurants don't have mice, some probably do. I am saying however that (1) this was only the second time ever in my life that I definitely saw a mouse inside a restaurant in the area where people were eating and (2) the staff seemed exceedingly nonchalant about it, almost as if it happens all the time, with a distinct twinge of 'o well, nothing we can do about it'.

In this topsy turvy world we live in these days, perhaps there are some that would defend as just fine having mice crawling around on the floor of a restaurant they are dining at. Me? That's a line a care not to cross. I will definitely never...

This place looked promising and the visuals were certainly fascinating. This would be a great place to play I Spy with My Little Eye. Unfortunately, the food, atmosphere and prices left something to be desired. We ordered the smoked brisket and pulled pork combo at $19.99. The brisket was absolutely disgusting. It was like somebody sliced a piece of brick with a nasty vein of concrete running through it. I have never seen so much fat on meat served in a restaurant. Brisket is supposed to be slow-cooked and so tender, the meat breaks apart.

Seriously, this was so under cooked and tough, my husband choked on it. That pretty much ruined our meal - thank god it was stuck past his windpipe. He spent 15 minutes in the bathroom dislodging this nasty meat from his throat. The sweet potato fries were under cooked and incredibly soggy from the pulled pork juice, which was pretty good, but that's hard to ruin.

There were a few positives: the service was quite good, we had a Local Flavor so didn't pay that much, and the York Peppermint Patties were a very nice touch. My husband cut up the brisket in thin, tiny pieces and we had tasty sandwiches at home the next few days. He also recooked the fries and they were...

I'll start with the positives: GREAT burgers! Maybe the best burgers on the NWside/Niles. And GREAT tater tots! We love them. The beer selection is good and they have very well-priced drink specials. The atmosphere is very cute- usually decorated for holidays, game days, etc. We like the choice of the patio (warm during the winter) or the dining room.

The negatives: The spinach artichoke dip- yikes. It tasted microwaved and mostly like mayonnaise. Then, our server asked if we wanted tortilla chips or pita chips and we chose pita- no idea it came with a $3.75 upcharge! They were good, but we wouldn't have made the change if we had known. Let's chat about the nachos- the chili was really good, but it got ruined with canned cheese sauce and salsa from a jar. Come on, now. At least they weren't as bad as the dip! (Keep the chili, ditch the cheese sauce for real cheese or at least use queso, add some beans maybe, guacamole?) They have potential!

Our server was a sweet girl, but not the most attentive. All in all- go for a delicious burger and tots and a well-priced beverage! (And they have a...