silver spring house

silver spring house; bar food and beer!. since moving to montgomery, i would guess tonight's visit to be about my 8th or so dine at the silver spring house. from the outside, the place looks awesome. beautiful landscaping, a packed lot, and fun umbrella-ed patio. must be good, right?

every time we eat here, tonight included, i am disappointed in the food. tonight, i ordered the "spring house" chicken ($14.95 for half a chicken), the signature item of this proclaimed "chicken joint." a tosssaladcomes before the meal and it's the type ofsaladyou would make at your house with kroger ingredients. just boring and bland. the entree arrives and it doesn't live up to the hype of its citrus and herb marinate. bummer. i have also tried the black and blue burger (not even as good as bw-3s). the burrito is also the kind of burrito you make at home. my sister ordered the vegan burger and said it's just like she popped it in the microwave herself. on a good note, our waitress was really friendly, very attentive, and knew the menu really well.

so why do we keep going back? well, it's the atmosphere. it totally feels like a florida bar to me. they roll back the windows on a sunny day and have tons of ceiling fans. to me, coronas with lime just taste better alfresco. it's nice to be inside, but outside, but inside...

it also has a nice family vibe. parents can enjoy a beer or cosmo (1/2 price martinis tonight!). it's a great place to dine with kids (doesn't become obnoxious). maybe this is why they've been in business for over 20 years? there are also numerous flat panels everywhere, free popcorn, and you can play keno!! fun. just don't expect too much from the food.

your kitchen may even be better, but the beers sure do go down good here.

this is a fun beach bar atmosphere that can be quite busy. i have had both good and bad experiences with service. the food is generally pretty good - especially the chickensaladcroissant. if you like a good chef's salad, i would caution you because this one is kind of small (for $13.99 !) and not what you would expect from a chef's salad. it is mostly a sliced chicken breast, with few very tiny pieces of cubed ham, a bacon bit or two, with shredded cheddar on some nice greens. no hard boiled egg like most chef's salads have. it may be so popular because there are so few places in the area.

bland and ordinary. finally talked the hubby into venturing over to the silver spring house for a sunday lunch. we got there at 12:30 and had no wait. i decided on then fiesta chickensalad( it was voted one of cincinnati's best) and my husband had the spring house chicken sandwich with a side salad. i loved the peanuts available and the fact that during lunch, soft drinks, tea or coffee is included with the lunch price! but there's where my satisfaction ended. my husband loved the sidesaladwhich was a beautiful spring mix with dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and goat cheese (yuck, not my choice for salad). then when mysaladcame to the table, there were no blue tortilla chips circling it as per the menu. when i asked the server, she acted like she was put out or i was lying. after a couple of passes by our booth, she finally brought a plate of the chips. mysaladwas bland and void of any taste other than the cayenne pepper that was on the small cajun flavored chicken breast. the sour cream, salsa and cheese was flat and i was totally disappointed. my husband's sandwich was also flavorless. after reading their website about the marinated chicken, i could not detect any citrus tones on his sandwich. i see why this is probably popular after a few drinks, but being totally sober, i did not enjoy the food at all. maybe i'll give it one more try for the chicken on the bone, but only if i don't have a better place in mind!

okay – thesaladhad goat cheese on it. win! can you ever go wrong with goat cheese? (the correct answer is no)

perfect setting. great setting for lunch. amazing they can keep it as comfortable as they do, as many days of the year as they do, with the garage doors open. may seem silly but the free popcorn is awesome here, just something about it. pete's burrito is fantastic and the side of black beansaladand tortilla chips is a perfect match. got o place when entertaining or being entertained.