Quentin Tavern... They honestly get it!

On a fine Winter's Saturday, we had reason to be in Mt. Gretna.  Freedom found us there early that afternoon with no plans and pretty fair appetites.  Herself being a Googler Goddess, she quickly got us a destination (I will give away my magic secrets here, I knew we had to be in the area, so the night before I Googled some nearby options. This one was best suited to us, since we had the teen).  We set our heading towards The Quentin Tavern  on Main street in Quentin, only a few minutes from Mt. Gretna and Lebanon.

The Tavern is a place with history.  Lot's of history.  Oodles of history.  I'm certain it's wonderfully interesting history too.   Maybe a history blog will write about the history, and all that. We are here to talk about the food, and OOOoooooo..... what good food IT IS!

The place has several dining rooms, a really comfortable looking bar area, and according to the website a deck area and live music during the Summer months.  All in all a pretty well rounded country bar and restaurant.  It's got a nice eclectic decor, pleasant lighting from the antique windows, and some really good staff.   Seriously good staff, who treated us like valued customers.

Look, we were at an out of the way Tavern out in the sticks, stopping for lunch.  How were we to know what we'd walked into?

We ordered lunch.  Boy child went for his staple fodder, ribs.  Herself, a burger (which I admit not paying attention to at the time), and Meself.... also a burger. I ordered an appy of onion rings for herself and I to share (Boy don't do no onjins). Burgers and ribs... country tavern.... lunch..... beer....... you get the picture.  

Starters, the Great Lakes Porter they had on tap went wonderfully well with the excellent onion rings that showed up at our table.  They were home made, very crispy, nicely seasoned..... and a clue that something good was coming our way.  The rings were accompanied with a big dish of home made marinara sauce, and a smaller dish of buttermilk ranch dressing, both very tasty indeed. It was while eating these lovely onion rings that we realized this was no ordinary country tavern, and we needed to get serious about paying attention to the food.

As usual, Herself can describe her own food very nicely, thank you.  I'll say this... the sweet potato fries she got with that burger were exceptionally good.  Crunchy, well seasoned, just perfect. 

I had the Twisted Burger. A 1/2 lb American Kobe Beef Burger with Swiss Cheese, and sauteed onions on a Pretzel Roll. It came with a pickle and chips on the menu but I upgraded to Sweet Potato Fries. 

The burger was VERY juicy, a little under seasoned, but I suspect they were counting on the beef to hold up on it's own, and it does. The onions were perfect and sweet. The cheese was excellent, true sharp full-flavored Swiss.

The boys ribs looked good (We all gasped when they carried out his plate, the rack of ribs was HUGE!).  The crunchy coated fries he got with the ribs looked good (I hate fries with crunchy coat. I suspect I am the underdog in my family on this count though. He also had applesauce that he said was really good).  LOOKED good is all we can say, since he hoovered up an entire rack of baby-backs before we knew it.  I'm pretty sure he gnawed the bones clean too.  He declared them 'Okay'.  Boy is not an overflowing font of conversation most days.

My burger was the daily special, and it sounded good enough I didn't pay much attention to the menu. That was a mistake, repaired once we realized the quality of chef-ing we'd wandered into.  Finishing our burgers and realizing exactly what we'd just enjoyed so unwittingly, we asked for a menu back so we could give it the reading it deserved.


Okay.... my burger:  'Luck of the Irish'.  Half a pound of American Kobe beef, Guinness glazed onions, and melted Swiss on a  Brioche roll with lettuce and tomatoes.  Oh, chips and a pickle, of course.

One bite in, and everything came to a crashing halt.  It was like walking into an art supply store and finding MoMA had set up a branch museum next to the magazine rack  The burger was nearly burger perfection. Superb beef flavor, supported but not trounced by seasoning, with the onions and cheese singing counterpoint.  It was a burger that someone had put thought and talent into, not slapped together to be 'competitive' (which means average).

As we both realized just how good these Kobe burgers were, that's when we asked for a menu back. Reading through, it became clear it had been written by people with (1) A love of good food, and (2) A wicked sense of humor.  The entire thing is one long slather of puns and jokes, which somehow still manages to make a diners mouth water as each dish is described.  Asking our waitress, we were told the head chefs had written the menu.  Ahhh...... that explains much.  It seems someone(s) there has a vision, and the talent to make it happen.

"French Pickler: Thin sliced corned beef rolled with French's yellow mustard, red onions, whole dill pickle and swiss cheese. Lightly pressed in the panini machine. Sure to tickle your taste buds. 8.95"

" Comfortably Stung Shrimp 8 jumbo shrimp, tossed with sautéed onions and bell peppers in a slightly spicy Southern Comfort cream sauce, tossed with penne pasta. Small 14.95 | Large 17.95"

It's a bit of a ride from the house, but there's no way in hell not to go back.  They have a menu that demands being explored, one great tasting meal at a time.

This restaurant, although a drive from home, was a huge win! It seems like food crafted by people that like food, not by business people that want to fill seats and move the masses along. The service was fantastic as well! 

Overall I give Quentin Tavern:
4.50 out of 5 forks for flavor
4.00 out of 5 forks for atmosphere
4.25 out of 5 forks for location
4.50 out of 5 forks for service
4.3125  forks overall