The Old Bag of Nails Pub - Newark — Restaurant in Ohio

Just came from Pub 49, what a disappointment. When my wife and I pulled onto the lot, there were 3 cars. We hesitated,(should have turned around) . It was 8 pm on Wed. July 24 th. We were the only people in the restaurant side of the building. Again we should have taken the hint. . The menu has a nice blend of choices. I ordered the 3 layer meat sandwich, I ask the waitress if the fries were fresh cut, she said yes they are, but, we don't have any potatoes. Strange to say the least. If you have fresh cut fries and you are out of potatoes, can't you send someone to Krogers and get a bag. Sad ,very sad, no management, so I got the pub chips. when I got my order the pub chips had been fresh sliced ( scratching my head now, because I always though fresh cut fries were made of potatoes) but what do I know. Now my wife, she ordered a diet pepsi, when she got it, it was very flat, she told the waitress, and she said it was because they had just opened a new case of cans,and they were warm, I advised the waitress to put the ice in after she pours the drink, in order to keep it from foaming and ruining the carbonation, she responded by saying I didn't know that. My wife took a sweetened tea, it was very good. My wife ordered a Cheeseburger with pub chips , ( must have found 2 potatoes) .I want to remind you we were the only 2 ppl in the restaurant side , it took over 30 minutes to complete the order. My 3 layer sandwich was very good,(the meat blend was excellent) the bread was soggy, it looked like someone tried to toast the bread, it came out with no browning on either side. My wife's cheeseburger was way over cooked and the bun was stale. Potato, and bread problems, staples of any restaurant, and a major problem at this restaurant. The ranch dipping sauce for the pub chips was nothing but water and had no taste (. trying to stretch food cost to 10 percent). First impressions mean a lot , We now know why no one was there, at best the food is average. In todays completive food market , you have to stand above your competition, the owners of this establishment don't have a clue. very sad,this pace will not survive. I wish them well, they have a lot...

4/21/22 Filthy now! The tables were so sticky, your hands stick to them. Mentioned to the manager (after paying - wasn't looking for a discount and he told her this). and was given a apathetic brush-of by the manager. She said, "Yeah...We've told corporate and we know it's bad..." Then walked away. Don't give excuses without even an apology -- Clean your restaurant.

Original review:

We have been to this location through its many incarnations, starting with Casa Lupita, to Golden Hunan, to the Grille on 21st Street to its current business, the Old Bag of Nails. Have to say, this is the best one yet and I think they are destined to be a staple in our town. I hope so, anyway!

The food was great. We got the fried button mushrooms appetizer, $6.99 (less $2 for happy hour, 5-7 PM). They were served piping hot. The batter was crispy and the mushrooms were just right. The horseradish dipping sauce was great with them, though I would have preferred just a little bit more horseradish in it. The fish and chips dinner, $13.99, was wonderful. It included two huge pieces of fish and a generous serving of steak fries. The fish was crispy on the outside and came apart in tender flakes when we cut into it. On Wednesdays, they offer this as well as shrimp and chips as all-you-can-eat, but we were both done after the first round and didn't take them up on it. We also had and a couple domestic draft beers, $2 during happy hour.

Our server Ashley was cheerful and made sure we were happy. She worked there when it was The Grille, too. We mentioned it was our wedding anniversary and when she brought our check later, she brought out a piece of their awesome house-made carrot cake as a free dessert for us to split.

We will...

Waited for awhile to see if a greeter would come to seat us, but after no one showed up, we figured we were supposed to seat ourselves since it's a pub. We were seen to once we found a table, but we were asked if the seater had forgotten the menus 😅 our bad I suppose. We shouldn't have seated ourselves, but we didn't see anyone or a sign that said wait to be seated.

The service was good and it's got a nice old feeling with stone walls and wood bar. Some of the other patrons were loud when it came to a sports thing happening or others let their kids run around screaming. This isn't the restaurant's fault, but if you wanted to know if you could watch sports, and have your kids with you, then you're looking at the right place. If you don't like loud sports people and kids, maybe go after dark when the games are done and games are over. But you'll be with the drinking crowd then.

Overall, great place and the food was very good. Fish was juicy cooked well, hot, and fresh. Just need to make sure there's a staff member for seating. I believe we saw five staff members on the floor, but only saw two people actually working which was one of the servers and the bartender. The other three... well, not sure what they were doing really. The one server guy seemed to have been running himself ragged and the bartender was busy with his own customers at the bar. Would have been nice if the others could help, but maybe...