Good Food in Sandusky?

I have to say I had Matt and Chetts pizza delivered to my hotel with I think 3 toppings on it for around $12. I also didn't think this pizza was that good. Which everyone hyped up to be awesome.
It was very inexpensive, and with that said...I never go "I want some Little Ceasers", even after an amusement park that costs as much as CP. The pizza is just not that good.

Service is one thing, but i've always had hot food at Steak-N-Shake and some killer shakes. Where as we have had a few times out when it felt like our dinners had been sitting around. This includes restaurants on-point and off-point. It comes down to finding a server who is "on the ball". We have been stuck with new waitresses, inattentive waitresses, and slow waitresses.

Outback is "always" closed when I get out of the park so by the time I make it there the place is closed. Than I find myself resorting to Applebees across the street since they serve food until midnight or 1 A.M.

Sandusky could use an Over-The-Boarder, or Qdoba restaurant. I still think an upscale dance club / sushi bar / restaurant on-point with views overlooking Lake Erie would be awesome. Bring in DJ's on the weekends and keep things hopping on point until last call. Than open up in the morning and use those breath taking views for character breakfasts.

Six Flags Great America is an okay park, but surrounding Chicago provides me with all the night life in the world. Orlando is an all out vacation town, but Disney realized people want more to do after the parks close and they have downtown Disney which is a hit I think.

I agree a large pizza for $5 seems like a great deal, but every time I get the Little Caesar's here, I'm reminded of why it's only $5. Burned and pretty cardboard-like every time I get it. However, there is a Little Caesar's in Point Place, and theirs always tastes great. But reguardless, I've always noticed the local pizza places are as good or better than any of the chains, and lots of times, they're pretty even par on the pricing too.

I would like to see more 24 hour options in Sandusky other than the drive through places. Right now it's limited to Steak n Shake and Dianna's Deli, both of which can get pretty crowded late night. This past year a lot of Screamsters made enemies with the Buffalo Wild Wings people because we'd show up there 45 minutes or less before closing with a group of 30 or more. But it's not like there are many other options.

^Very true as far as 24 hour joints.

Id love to see more options then Steak `N Shake and Diana’s. Although a lot of people don’t enjoy it, I’d love to see a Waffle House in Sandusky. If someone were to open one, they would be opening a goldmine. Even a Sheetz 24 hour MTO would be better than Steak `N Shake.

Why more places haven’t decided to go to 24 hour during the summer I’ll never understand. With as packed as Steak `N Shake and Diana’s gets, anyone that serves food could be rolling in cash if they stayed open later.

As for the Little Caesars, if a deal could be made with Cedar Point to install one at Commons, I would think you could make more there off of employees in the summer then to the public. Aside from guests, I think that is the real reason East of Chicago stayed open 1 hour after the park this past season. Because any employee that has tried to order a pizza to be delivered to Commons knows it can take a hell of a long time (that’s if the pizza even comes). I have always said ANY kind of food establishment installed at Commons would make a great profit. Subway, Taco Bell, any pizza company, etc. The Rec Center food is the same as the café and when I lived in Commons the Rec Center wasn’t even open when the park closed.

The key I think is that when the park is open I think that any food establishment looking for more business would stay open an extra 2 hours to serve food.

Dianes is....ehhh still. They have a lot of deep fried foods and home cooked meals. Food tastes real good after a whole day of starving yourself though. I swear Steak and Shake had the best food I have ever had.

I don't want to say Little Ceasers sucks, but I will say they are the least desirable pizza I can think of besides other competing $5 pizza joints.

My biggest "gripe" is that once the park closes you have X amount of time to find food...and than the pool is open for only so much longer at some hotels. CP hotels are strict about cut off times and the pool. Comfort Inn @ 5909 Milan though is a pretty good party hotel (I don't think the pool closes until the tiki bar closes).

It comes down to I think your battling with locals at every restaurant who seem to want to not be working. They want to be out of work and not waiting on ya.

When i stayed there for a week last year in august I found a really good bar to eat at. Its called the Sail Inn. They are right up the street from the boat launch for the kellys island ferries. They have cheap food, cheap beer and all around good value. They also have wing nights on thursdays.

My favorite place in Sandusky is the Brass Pelican. They are not that expensive and have really good food.

The Brass does have good food, as far as bar food goes.

CP had a good thing with Famous Daves and TGI Fridays but this year they sucked. Hopefully they will get better. Bay Harbor Inn is expensive but very good. Ok so I only went there once with my mom and dad but it was very good.

Manny's and the Brass are great if you like bar type food.

Ryans is just a trough.

Chet and Matts is a great pizza joint.

Famous Daves sucked? Not in my book. I had a great meal there this summer.

Well, in my book it did.

Whatever you do, don't eat at Max n Erma's on route 250 in the summertime. Nuff said.

I have at eat Famous Daves twice, once inside the restaurant during a blazing hot summer day. It was dead inside and we were served right away and the food was awesome.

We than ordered to-go once and the food was pretty cold. But that just goes to show you not to get it to go.
Wewere in line in Maverick getting our last ride of the day and we'rethinking man some Famous Daves would be awesome, crap its 8:47 theyclose in 13 minutes! We're about 20 minutes away from riding theMaverick. So we call them, ride the maverick and get our food......

TGI Fridays was okay this summer 1 of the times we went. Our waitress went to GVSU which is about 15 minutes away from my house and she was really friendly. She was a good waitress, good drinks, and warm food.

Than another time we went there....ehh this waitress was kind of iffy. My girlfriend orders some odd drink that is on the menu. The waitress first of all said she was new and this was the first time she ever made the drink. The drink looked like dirty mud water, and was stronger than my girlfriend would like. The drink was outright unsightly though and it was to the point where you would feel embarrassed to offer it to someone (if it was me). She didn't want to make it again, and we didn't want to sit and whine to her. The dinner continued to be less than o.k when the appetizer came out cold, and my girlfriends dinner was also cold. And a car ride with her upset....is not the place to be.

Famous Daves absolutely rules if the food is warm. No one wants any cold ribs.

Might I recommend the TGI Fridays italian quasadilla (spelling), it is awesome. If you go on tgifridays.com and sign up for there e-club (I've mentioned this on here before), you get an e-mail to URL that only works once. You can print out a free appetizer coupon from the e-mail though (valued up to $8, so you spend like $1-2 for an appetizer @ CP). It worked at CP multiple times (we printed 7 of them off).

I also have seen Chik-Fil-A coupons that offer some nice deals....I wonder if these are valid inside of CP. If so there could be a way to get full in CP for cheap.

The lesson of Cedar Point is....go to a restaurant that is not closing soon, because the waitresses tend to suck when they want to close and you come in late. Than find a waitress who seems on the ball. I sit at the bar because bartenders know how to make money (by offering good service). They see your expressions quickly because you are close to them so they fix the problems quickly. Plus you end up sitting next to people who are from out of town as well and than you end up making friends.

I nominate this thread to be moved to the planning a trip forum though.

factory81 said:
The lesson of Cedar Point is....go to a restaurant that is not closing soon, because the waitresses tend to suck when they want to close and you come in late.

That goes for every restaurant, everywhere.

Any sit-down restaurant can be hit or miss. It’s not only at Cedar Point where you could find bad service, less then stellar food, and poorly made drinks (although finding a overly strong drink at a Fridays would not upset me):)

In my own personal travels, the amount of bad service I have found at restaurants around the country more than outweighs the amount of times I have had bad service at a Cedar Point franchise restaurant. I eat at the park restaurants a lot during the summer and very rarely have I had a bad time. But that’s just me and I know I wont sway someone who had one bad experience and refuses to return (which is their right).

As bad as Little Caesars' pizza may be, I think I've found something worse. Happy's Pizza in Farmington Hills. They served that at my sister's school for bingo night, and I was desperate for even a $5 hot-and-ready LC pizza.

They're not the best, but I'm not sure they're the worst. But I'd still rather not go there after a day of starvation and fun.

factory81 said:
...go to a restaurant that is not closing soon, because the waitresses tend to suck when they want to close and you come in late.

The wait staff (and cooks as well, by the way - so beware) "suck" because customers who rush in just before closing suck.

One time, late at night and randomly driving around, my dad and I ended up at some Chinese place that was really good. For the life of me I don't know what the name was or where we were, but it was close enough that we left the park and came back within an hour.

Here's a new one that was actually really good. We ordered pizza from Eats N Treats on Perkins Ave, behind the mall, for New Years Eve and it was great. I highly recommend it.

Back to the original question about pizza and Chinese food. There are a lot of pizza places in town besides the chains. Chet & Matts buffet is great (Wed night is wings & pizza) because they vary the choices quickly. I really hate buffets that only put out 2-3 different kinds. Their chicken alfredo pizza is excellent. There is a new Chinese place on rt 250 where Taco Bell used to be that is good (can't remember the name) and the buffet next to WalMart. Stay away from the chinese buffet on Perkins Ave next to Drug Mart. We usually drive to Fremont (30 minutes) to go to the Golden Dragon. Excellent, and worth the drive One of the secrets in Sandusky on the 250 strip is Ruby Tuesday in the mall. Yes its a chain, but the wife and I have eaten there for years without a problem. They have some of the best steaks in town. Since you can't see it from the main strip its usually less crowded (we have stopped at Red Lobster, 45 min wait, gone to Ruby's for less than 10 minutes). Applebees across from Walmart is very slow. You can usually get a table within a few minutes, but we waited almost 45 minutes last time for our food.

^ Agreed about the Chinese buffet on Perkins. That place was pretty awful, and somewhat high priced given the caliber of their food.

^You know I was going to suggest the place next to Wal-Mart but I didn't feel like driving that far. I guess I should have:)