Lunch at the General Denver in Wilmington, Ohio

          Good food, good service, and a reasonable price.  That's what I found the day before Valentine's Day this year at the historic General Denver Pub at 81 W. Main St.; Wilmington, Ohio.  This past Saturday seemed like a good day for me to get a date and try out the pub for the first time.  We decided to try the noon meal.

          The four story General Denver was built in 1928 and was named after General James William Denver, a hero of the Civil and Mexican Wars, and the namesake for the city of Denver, Colorado.  The brick Tudor Revival style building was originally built as a full service hotel and had a formal restaurant with a dining room, and a pub/bar.  All three areas are still in use today, but the food is mostly now served in the pub, along with a wide selection of drinks.  A friendly atmosphere is accentuated by the friendly, prompt service, dark wood framed walls, traditional old wooden bar and shelves, and toasty fireplace on the far wall.  American style pub cuisine is served every day of the week except Monday.  The menu leans heavily on sandwiches, mostly burgers, but also consists of the usual salads, pasta, seafoods, and steak.  With a few exceptions, most meals range from $7.00 to $15.00.   

          My date ordered the "Lamb Burger", consisting of ground lamb, feta cheese, roasted red peppers, herbs, fresh arugula, remoulade, mozzarella cheese, and fried green tomato, all on ciabatta bread. She loved it.  She thought her sandwich was flavorful, with just the right ingredients, and was the right size for her appetite.  She was particularly impressed that she could get onion straws as her side dish without having to pay extra for them.  Some people are not hard to please.  I tasted her sandwich, and I liked it too.  The taste of the lamb meat was a welcome change from a regular beef hamburger.

          I ordered "The Dirt Bag" burger, consisting of 1/3 pound of ground beef, a sautéed pepper blend, sautéed onions, mushrooms, bacon strips, bleu cheese crumbles, provolone cheese, pickles, lettuce, raw onions, and tomatoes, all on a multi-grain bun.  I found my sandwich to taste perfectly adequate, but I couldn't say that it was exceptional.  My biggest complaint was that the spicy jalapeño peppers overwhelmed the myriad of other tastes available in the sandwich.  If I were to ever order this sandwich again, I would ask them to leave off the jalapeños.  I ordered regular fries with my sandwich.  The fries were crisp, hot, fresh, and satisfying.  What more can you ask from fries?                

          My date said that she would definitely like to go back to this restaurant/pub again.  I liked it well enough myself to return someday, and from the number of local patrons that dined at the same time we did, other people obviously feel the same way.  On a zero to five scale, my date said that she would rate the pub at a 4.  I think I would go with a healthy 3 myself.  I recommend that you try out this restaurant yourself, and see what you think.