In addition to The Works in downtown Loveland, we are also frequent visitors of Paxton’s Grill. As mentioned in my review of The Works, my parents visit both of these restaurants close to weekly, and we have joined them on a number of occasions. This past Friday happened to be one of those occasions, and we were joined by another couple who are longtime family friends.

Despite the very small dining space, the wait for a table for six wasn’t more than half a beer. I think that’s how I should start measuring my wait times, by how many drinks I enjoyed while waiting. Speaking of drinks, Paxton’s has a really good craft beer selection. That was my one complaint about The Works, but I’m happy to say that I am much more satisfied with drinks at Paxton’s.

It is hard not to compare these two restaurants. They basically share the same parking lot. Also they are the only affordable/casual dining restaurants in downtown Loveland. I would love to combine the food from The Works with the drinks from Paxton’s into one perfect restaurant, but they are both worthy of their own visits as is. Continue reading for my full review of our latest meal from Paxton’s.

Chicken Philly Panini

On our most recent visit, my wife and I decided to share meals. I ordered the chicken Philly Panini with onion rings and she ordered the goetta sandwich with waffle fries. For those of you not from Cincinnati, goetta is another regional specialty of German origin. It is primarily a breakfast sausage but has seen wider uses for other meals throughout the day. It is primarily composed of ground pork shoulder and steel-cut or chopped oats.

The chicken Philly Panini was filled with grilled chicken, onions, peppers, mushrooms, teriyaki sauce and loads of provolone cheese. I was very happy with this choice, as was my wife. The onion rings are also thick cut and quite delicious. The goetta sandwich was served with grilled onions and melted swiss and toasted rye bread. We often aren’t the most adventurous meat eaters, but we decided to give this one a try. Overall it was good, though perhaps a little out of comfort zone. We resulted to adding some ketchup to it to make it more pleasing for our tastes.

Goetta Sandwich

As mentioned earlier, Paxton’s is definitely worthy of a visit. The beer selection alone is a great reason to stop in for a seat at the bar. And though I prefer the pizza from a nearby restaurant, the food from Paxton’s is good and varied enough for repeat visits. I’m sure we will be back soon.