Swensons Drive-In — Restaurant in Stow

Swensons Drive-In is a gem. This place is classic down to its roots and is serving up some amazing American food with some extras! Service is IMMEDIATE as soon as you pull in with a friendly face and smile, ready to take your order if you know what you want right away. If not, just ask for a menu and put your lights on for service! Food is handmade and fresh every time with everything on the menu tasting amazing. Atmosphere is centered around their unique kitchens with it mostly just being a parking lot. This is a great place to experience different food and service that you just can't find in America anymore. Definitely recommend.

Disclaimer: I've been here multiple times and it's been great every time. I LOVE the Galley Boy which is their signature double cheeseburger with bbq sauce and tartar sauce with a green olive on top. The buns are made fresh and the burger meat is ground up and formed in the restaurants every day. The buns are flakey and delicate and the meat is smashed thin and cooked well done. This is a sweeter burger but oh so delicious. The sauces complement each other well and the cheese is melty and noticeable. No veggies on this burger unless you ask.

The fries are nothing special and are average however they are known for their Potato Teasers which are oblong shaped deep fried potato bites filled with cheese and mild jalapenos. Try them with ranch! They are my go-to to eat with the food instead of fries.

Swensons also offers plenty of variety of you don't like burgers, including but not limited to; chicken sandwiche, bbq pork sandwiche, egg salad sandwich, bologna sandwich, veggie burger (also delicious) fish sandwich and more!

We also got the shrimp dinner and the fish dinners. Each "dinner" comes with fries, a buttered burger bun, and coleslaw or applesauce. The shrimps are absolutely delicious! Panko breaded and tasty with cocktail sauce. The fish dinner was okay. They seem to use the same filets they do for their sandwiches except you get 2 filets. The breading was just a but thicker than I would like but this isn't a fish and chips spot where the breading is thin and crispy so for what they have it was decent. I would prefer eating it as a sandwich though.

Overall the food was amazing and the service always makes me smile. If you haven't been here yet in northeastern ohio, you HAVE...

I used to work in food service so I really try to be as kind and understanding as I can possibly be. In my time in food service I have had my fair share of terrible customers that just don't seem to understand that I'm an actual person.

However, this was the WORST experience I have ever had at a restaurant.

My friends and I pulled up to Swenson's expecting a quick, delicious meal that would remind us of home. We could not have had an experience further from that.

Our food took more than an hour to be made. Basically the entire parking lot arrived and left before our food came. Every time we turned our lights on, it seemed like the 4 employees who seemed to be standing around inside, having a good ol' time, just blatantly ignored us.

After our food finally arrived, it wasn't even right. My friend ordered a Coney dog, and received a plain hot dog. I ordered fried mushrooms and didn't ever end up receiving them.

When we voiced our complaints to the staff, they just then after we already received the plain hot dog decided to tell us that they were out of Coney sauce. We were so frustrated by the wait times and the overall mediocre quality of food that we ended up leaving before we could even get the fried mushrooms.

If you are passing by this establishment and are thinking that a galley boy sounds appealing and that you may want to stop by: take my advice...

If this was 2018, they would get 5 stars. There has been a gradual decline in their food quality, order accuracy, and service.

We stopped going to Swenson's last summer when every time we ordered the food was wrong and the wait was always double the time they told you. Don't tell someone 10 minutes when it's going to be 20. Just say 20 minutes. People won't be mad if you give them an accurate time. As far as the food itself, it was inconsistent one time to the next. Fries would be burnt one time then soggy the next. Every trip to Swenson's Stow for carry out would result in a second trip when food was wrong. Eventually we had to start checking bags in front of servers who were rude because you were checking their accuracy.

Well after a year, we decided to try it again. It was more of the same from the get go. Inconsistent food and longer wait times than we were told on the phone.

This is a shame. I loved Swenson's Stow as a teenager in the 90s and even in the 2010s when I returned to the area.

But sadly, this is the last time I will go here and will not recommend Swenson's to anyone. They have been a staple in Stow for a long time but have lost their touch in their food and service. If I hear this is corrected, I may return but it...