During our recent trip on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad, my family and I stopped at the Peninsula station to explore and get some lunch. As for as lunch goes, there isn’t a whole lot in this historic village. Fortunately there is a Winking Lizard Tavern there, one of the eighteen locations of this northeastern Ohio based chain.

Inside

The restaurant was pretty full for it being mid-afternoon on a Sunday. The restaurant is spacious enough that there was no wait, in fact we had our choice to be close to the game area or on the quieter side of the restaurant.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Melt

I ordered the pulled BBQ chicken melt topped with smoked Gouda along with Applewood bacon and served between grilled sourdough with steak fries and a pickle spear ($8.79). The sandwich was large and tasty. The BBQ sauce was especially good.

My wife enjoyed the Maui Maui grilled chicken sandwich, which is marinated in teriyaki and topped with grilled pineapple ($8.49). My kids devoured the mini corn dogs from the kids menu. From sandwiches and burgers to pizza and BBQ, there is something from everyone at the Winking Lizard. Plus the beer list is very good and constantly changing. Even if there were other places in Peninsula, this would still be the place to go.

While wrapping up a recent vacation, my family and I picked ordered a couple of pizzas from Napoleon’s Pizza to eat at our hotel room for the night in Cleveland. A miscommunication during the ordering process was realized when I went to pick up the pizzas and only one pizza was on the order. The staff was happy to throw the forgotten cheese pizza in the oven as quick as possible and even delivered the goods to us car-side when ready.

Breadsticks

We all shared a side order of bread sticks with marinara sauce ($4.75 for 6). While these appeared to be cooked from frozen, the dusting of seasoning on top was a nice touch. My family of four had no problem taking down the full order, though even one stick per person would be a good start to any meal.

Deluxe Pizza

My preschool aged kids had no complaints with their small cheese pizza ($6.75). My wife and I split a large deluxe pizza with pepperoni, mushroom, green pepper, onion, and sausage ($16.50). The toppings were of great quality and were very plentiful. The sauce was on the sweeter side, though I’m told they have an even sweeter sauce available per request. I was very happy with Napoleon’s and wouldn’t hesitate to order their pizza again.