Doing Kentucky Restaurant Reviews is one of my favorite things to do. Fortunately, Kentucky is covered with outstanding restaurants, so it makes my job even more enjoyable. Some of these restaurants are nationally known chain restaurants and others are little known, locally-owned restaurants. I love all types of restaurants, but these “off the beaten path” Kentucky restaurants are extra special. The restaurant reviewed below, Philly’s in Greenville, Kentucky may not be on the “beaten path,” but rest assured, once you’ve been there, you’ll beat a path to get back!
When I was fifteen, the only thing I wanted in the world was a Basset Hound. While other kids were obsessed with cars and members of the opposite sex, all I wanted was a dog with ears so long they touched the floor. I wanted a Basset Hound to take to the park, to go for walks around the neighborhood, to play ball with, and to just sit on our front porch in Madisonville, Kentucky and do absolutely nothing with.
As my sixteenth birthday approached, my mom and dad gave me absolutely no reason at all to hope for a new puppy as a gift. In fact, they purposely just kept asking me what kind of jeans I liked best, whether I liked Charlie or Love’s Baby Soft better, etc. I tried to act excited as I answered “Calvin Klein” and “Charlie,” but it was tough.
When my birthday arrived, I expected to be greeted with a great pair of jeans and new bottle of perfume. What I didn’t expect was the most adorable puppy I had ever seen, my own little girl Basset Hound. I named her Honey and we were inseparable.
I bring Honey up because she came to mind recently when I was thinking about a restaurant my husband and I went to in Greenville, Kentucky. In the way that I was completely surprised by one of the best presents I’ve ever gotten – I was equally surprised to find such an amazing restaurant as Philly’s in small, beautiful, and quiet Greenville, Kentucky. Several times throughout the meal, as I looked around the restaurant, I thought, “This is the sort of restaurant you’d expect to see in Louisville, Lexington, Owensboro, or Bowling Green…”
It’s really something special and, quite frankly, I can’t wait to go back.
When I think of Greenville, Kentucky, I’ve always thought of the cool store everyone in this part of Kentucky is obsessed with, the infamous Uncle Lee’s. I also think of exceptionally friendly people. Mostly I think of it as being the stereotypical quiet, small Kentucky town. Who knew?!?!
These exceptionally friendly people have been sitting on a beautiful (and delicious) secret.
My jaw dropped when I saw the beautiful outside of Philly’s, but when we walked in, my knees nearly buckled. Beautiful just doesn’t seem to cover it.
We were at Philly’s Restaurant at lunchtime, but the restaurant also serves dinner, which no doubt is equally amazing. I can’t wait to go back and order off of their dinner menu… then again, I’m anxious to have lunch at Philly’s again as soon as possible, if not sooner.
Because of the unseasonal, yet glorious, sunshine we’ve been enjoying in Kentucky the picture above isn’t as clear as I’d like it to be. This beautiful statue is John Wayne on a horse and it is really amazing. The likeness blew me away.
All of the decorations blew me away. The time and money spent on this gorgeous restaurant is obvious. Just as I was thinking, “They seem to do EVERYTHING right…” I noticed the bottle of Ketchup on our table, Heinz! If you read my restaurant reviews, you know a pet peeve of mine is nasty ketchup. If it’s not a brand you’d see in Kroger, guess what – it’s probably a major cheapie and tastes like it. When I see Heinz ketchup in a restaurant, it tells me that the owners of the restaurant have enough pride in what they do and enough respect for their customers to give them the best. I appreciate that! As the Onion Ring Queen of the South (a self-given yet very earned title), I use ketchup often and nasty, cheap ketchup makes my toes curl and not in a good way.
Michael (my husband) did one of his many clever things while ordering – and it’s something you absolutely MUST do when you go. After we placed our order, he asked if we could each have an order of coleslaw before our food was brought out. At first, I thought, “Coleslaw… well, why not.” I tend to get about as excited about coleslaw as I do Wednesdays. Sure, it’s okay, but…
That was before I tried Philly’s coleslaw. Words can’t tell you how extraordinary this coleslaw is. I can’t for the life of me figure out what they did to it (and I’m an avid cook!). It’s the best coleslaw I’ve ever had in my life and if I had the recipe I’d make it every single day for the rest of my life. It’s not just good, it’s stupid good. It comes served in a beautiful little dish because.. well, because they do everything right, that’s why.
Notice the crackers are also name brand? Would you expect less? Something I was somewhat surprised to see (after seeing just how gorgeous everything was) were the prices. They were extremely reasonable. I honestly expected them to be higher.
My husband, Michael, had the Italian Beef and I ordered the Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich. We both had onion rings, which was a great call. The pulled pork was outstanding. It tasted like pork you’d expect to find in a BBQ restaurant – smokey and mouth-watering delicious. From the way my husband devoured the Italian Beef, it must have been equal to the pulled pork!
Unfortunately, we had places we had to be, so we couldn’t just lie down in the booth and wait for supper. So, we had to leave – but I made a solemn promise to The Duke (and to his horse as well) that’d we’d be back soon…..
… Very, very, very soon.
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- Crummy sides. I hate for a restaurant to rest on the laurels of their meat and/or main dishes. If it’s on your menu, it should be able to stand on it’s own, as if it were the ONLY thing on the menu.
- Unfriendly servers. If you read a restaurant review on Genuine Kentucky and the server is not mentioned, rest assured that they either weren’t very friendly or weren’t exactly on the ball. Or both!
- Unfriendly hosts and hostesses. Hello?! You’re paid to be friendly. Your job exists to welcome visitors and make them feel like you’re glad to see them.
- Off brand condiments. I LOVE to see a restaurant owner who cares enough about his/her guests to serve them Heinz or Hunt’s, Red Gold at the very least. Off brand Ketchup is gross. It screams “Someone’s cutting corners!!!”
- Overcooked fries. Come on, take them out before they’re brown. Brown fries aren’t cool.
- Watery soft drinks. Servers should be taught that if you see the beverage come out of the machine and there is NO fizzle, DO NOT serve it to the guests. Blech.
- Servers who “Push the Wrong Button.”Servers charging the wrong price for menu items is becoming an alarming trend. A server can get annoyed with a customer and, bam, “accidentally” hit the wrong button. A word to anyone who eats out: Examine your ticket. For example, if the restaurant offers 1/2 off Sushi, make certain your server doesn’t charge you the full price.
- I am, by nature, a very friendly guest when I visit restaurants. I always, always leave tips. When the service is good, I don’t just tip, I over tip! My oldest daughter is the same way. One sweetheart of a server in Olive Garden once got a $10 tip from us for lunch. She made us smile, so we wanted to make her smile. It’s really as simple as that.
- Real butter is always better than Margarine.
- Options, Please. As someone with a vegetarian daughter, I love for restaurants to offer completely meatless dishes. Bonus points for the restaurants, like Denny’s, with Boca Burgers on their menu.
One final thought: If an owner really wants their restaurant to be the best it can possibly be, he or she should have comment cards on the tables. Guests will tell them what they’re doing right but, more importantly, they’ll tell them where they’re messing up. A closed, secure box should be provided for guests to put the cards in. Get the opinions from the people who’s opinions matter most.
