Toledo's First Gastropub

A "gastropub" is any bar that serves what they would consider above-the-par food. That could be anything from burgers covered in foie gras to french fries with truffle oil. This is certainly not the first beer pub with an elevated menu in Toledo... just the first to bother using "foodie" terms.

It would also have to serve good beer. In Toledo, and in that location, either they won't have the good beer, or it will fail because Toledo is still a Bud Light town.

Interesting to say the least; I'm wondering how this will compete with burger bar 419. Two new "elevated bars" opening around the same time.

I will say that burger bar has a much better "pre-opening" presence. Having already created a website and publicizing their menu has got my interest already

"Gastropub" has to be one of the most unappealing terms I have ever heard.

^^^ Amen. It's way too close to "gastrodisturbance."

I drove by the old Light House (Six Pack?) on Broadway around 7:30 p.m. and there were no cars in the parking lot. Thursday night? Is it even open?

Add Burger Bar 145 (or 154?) to the list too. It's being opened on Monroe by some Put in Bay bar owners.

It's Bar 145º - a reference to what they feel is the perfect temp for a medium rare burger. Their tagline is "burgers - bands - bourbon" which is not a tag line I'd use for a self-described gastropub. We'll see.

Going to Bar 145 "soft" opening tonight. They own Mr. Ed's and the Commodore Hotel at PIB also. Heard good things about the preview last night as well.

We did Bar 145 tonight. Overall we were very pleased. I had a custom made burger, my wife split The Simpleton with our 5 year old son. They burgers are a little smaller than what you'd expect from a chain restaurant like Red Robin, but the slightly smaller patty is more than made up for in the quality. I especially liked the pretzel roll I had. A lot of restaurants that make them give you a rock hard hunk of bread and this was perfect. Their beer selection is also pretty good, with two Goose Island beers on tap I've only found in bottles in very beer focused joints.

We did run into a few snags early on. The waitress wasn't very good. I'll chalk it up to being new. She wasn't bad, just slow as all get out. The first 2 sides we ordered (battered pickled green beans and pretzel chips) were sold out. However the bourbon onion strings and potato waffle we ended up with were great. Hopefully they'll get their stock situation adjusted soon. We'll definitely be going back.

We checked out Bar 145 this evening. We had high hopes because we are always trying to find places in Toledo with good food, non bud/miller/coors type beer on tap, and are not chain restaurants. First of all, the atmosphere was pretty nice. Great open floor plan with a big bar. The music, however, was way too loud for 6 pm on a thursday. We couldn't even talk inside, but luckily the weather was nice so we sat in their outdoor bar area. The outdoor bar and patio is quite nice.

Like the above poster we were pretty impressed with two good Goose Island beers on tap that are usually only available in bottles.

We ordered the fresh cut fries with parmesean and truffle oil. For $5 the portion was surprisingly small. It could be that we are too used to the gigantic portions other restaurants serve, but it was pretty small for $5 worth of french fries.

The menu still needs a bit of refining to actually match the food items served. Hopefully that will come with time. For dinner my husband ordered the "chicken and waffles" which was advertised as fried chicken thighs between potato waffles. Sounded pretty good. It was actually two large potato waffles (which tasted pretty good) and one puny little piece of fried chicken thigh. Our waitress asked the manager (after we mentioned it) why there was only one little piece when the menu advertised "thighs" and the manager told her because they are new they are still working the kinks out. No "sorry the food doesn't match the description in the menu". No compensation otherwise.

My stack-your-own burger was pretty good. I highly recommend the pretzel roll. Huge variety of toppings. The burgers are smaller than we are used to from restaurants, more along the lines of what we might make at home. Any sides cost extra.

We are always game for trying someplace new but next time we want burgers and beers we will probably return to one of our tried and true Toledo favorites like Nick and Jimmy's rather than returning here.