Worthington Tavern — Restaurant in Sharon Township

Full transparency- I worked in the restaurant industry for 6 years and I'm told, I am pickier than most. That said-we were immediately greeted by the host. He sat us quickly. Good job. Our service started off great. She answered questions and gave us time to decide. It was a shift change and then she disappeared for the rest of our experience. The espresso martini was a handsome pour. The old fashioned too. We had the Brussel sprouts for an appetizer. They were served by a food runner, hot and fresh from the fryer. They hit the sweet, spicy, savory and bitter notes just right. Yum! Fantatic so far. I ordered red wine to go with my steak. Sadly it arrived after I'd finished eating my meal. BOO! The dry-aged steak was soft, like butter. It was high qualty meat. But it was served cold. I ordered it medium rare, but it should be warm from the grill. I am grateful that they allowed me to substitute green beans for the fench fries. Thank you. They were also served cold. Freshly blanched. Bright green. Tender crisp. Great seasoning. Cold. The cowboy butter was a bit lemmonly for my taste, and should not have been served solidifying. No one wants to dip their steak on solidifying butter. It should have been liquid. Heat is your friend, kitchen staff! My husband's chicken sandwich and fries were served hot and fresh from the fryer, so this was a kitchen timing issue and no fault of the server. There was a food runner running food all night so there is the ability to get it right. And we will be back! We stayed for drinks and the jazz band. I had a sparkling l raspberry cello. It was refreshing and delicious. The band was potent and delightful. I love live jazz and they were exceptionally talented. The menu is small, which will allow them to do things really well. I cannot say enough about the band. That's how we ended up here in the first place. Saw them on Eventbright. Great music. Great drinks. Good food. Terrible service, but potential to be great. Come...

I've kept an eye out on this place since they opened up in Worthington. I made our reservations for 4:30, which gave me plenty of time to enjoy Happy Hour (HIGHLY RECOMMEND) prices until 5:30. I loved the several seating options; upfront to people watch and glance over Worthington, inside in a nicely lit cool atmosphere, or outback on their newly build deck (do not recommend outback in the summer evening, it gets pretty sunny & hot).

For appetizer, I tried their Oysters ($2/oyster during Happy Hour, but normally a whopping $4) with mignonette and a lemon. These tasted great, but they were minuscule. I'm glad I got to try them, but definitely will steer towards the different options next time.

Worthington Tavern sets a different standard for specialty cocktails in this area, so I knew I was drinking here. I read literally everyone's reviews of this event to figure out what cocktails I wanted to try, and the conclusion was that they all looked great and I had to try them all... so I did (except for Game.Set.Match., that was unavailable). I brought along my forever drinking partner and disguised the experiment as a date. My top faves were Blacksmith Fashioned (tastiest old fashioned I've had) and Andromeda (feels like you're sipping on a galaxy). I cannot stress this enough, but definitely go here during Happy Hour!! Their drinks are normally $12-$14 but they're all $8 (including the Blacksmith Fashioned) between 2pm-5:30pm.

For my meal, I ordered the Burger Deluxe. The wagyu beef was so tender, it melted in my mouth. The fries by themselves were good, but the dipping sauce that came with really made the fries great! My fiance ordered the Creole Shrimp Pasta, and I'm not big into pasta like that, but this tasted amazing. I honestly think I'd get this next time!

For dessert, we split the Salted Butterscotch Budino ($8) which is basically butterscotch pudding topped with amaretto cream and came with two shortbread cookies. Great dessert, enough...

The food was fine. I have visited 4 times. On 3 out of 4 times the bartender was rude, condescending, and the opposite of hospitable. I am so disappointed to have to say so, but after the 4th time I felt it was right to say so. Rude? We sat at the bar (2 couples) and waited to order for 6 minutes. Not horrible, until you consider there were just 2 other people present at the bar. The bartender did make 3 drinks for a table, but was not too busy to greet us. Condescending? My companion asked if they had flavored vodka. The bartender's response was "No, and why would you want that?" Opposite of hospitable? On St Patrick's weekend, I took my beer from where we'd had dinner next door and walked into the Worthington Tavern. The hostess greeted us and we said we'd just come to sit at the bar for a libation. Suddenly, the bartender sped over and said, "You can't bring that beer in here!" I said, "Oh, I'm sorry! I thought you were in the DORA district." he replied saying, "We are, but it ends at 10pm." I didn't realize it was that late so I said, "OH, gosh, I'm sorry! What time is it?" His terse reply? "It's 10:07." To be clear, I had no problem with him letting me know that I was not permitted to bring in alcohol outside DORA hours. No problem! But could he have nicely let me know, invited me to dispose of it, then taken an order for a fresh one? Or something. I'm bummed because it's a neighborhood place... But I won't be back. 4 tries is enough. That employee is not helping the establishment to be...