Uncle Pete's

From the exterior, this metal building could be anything. It could be a horse stables or an auto body shop--if it weren't for the word "Restaurant" in smaller print under "Uncle Pete's," who would know? Apparently the locals do, because this place was pretty popular.

Despite the austere exterior, the interior more than makes up for it. The dining area was beautiful, with brick on the walls and nice framed photo art, with little archways separating sectioned-off rooms, around a bar area to one side. They had good quality wooden tables and chairs and nice booths. And the restrooms were way over-the top, but I'll mention those at the end.

The room was pretty quiet, even though it featured a lot of brick. You could hear just the hum of the diners talking with one another and enjoying their meals.

The menu has quite a number of offerings, including a Reuben sandwich. However, it was dinner and I was feeling like something different, so I ordered the Chicken Marsala with a pink lemonade. Our entrees took about 20 minutes to arrive at our table after ordering.

The Chicken Marsala was great! The sauce with the mushrooms was amazingly rich. The chicken had been beat pretty thin, and it was very tender. They put the same sauce over the mashed potatoes, which were pretty average on their own, but came to life with the Marsala sauce.

My wife and I split a piece of carrot cake for dessert, and it was large and flavorful.

And now for the restrooms--I couldn't believe how lavish they were. First, before entering the restrooms, they had electronic multicolor sign panels above both the men's and women's restrooms that made it clear which was which. Inside the men's restroom, there were some urinals on one wall, and a substantial double sink on the other side of the room, with beautiful wooden trim on everything. The stalls were each in separate rooms, and inside the room of each stall, was another sink. Yes, a sink to accompany each bathroom stall, so that you could wash up before you came out of the stall into the main area that had the double sinks. If you're heading through Wheeling, it's almost worth stopping here just to see the restrooms.

I was really questioning my husband's judgment when we parked. From the outside, this looks like a warehouse or a large storage barn: corrugated metal and pedestrian signage. Walk in the front door, though, and you feel as though you stepped through some sort of restaurant portal: brick arches, restrained decorations, tables scattered into separated spaces lending a cozier feeling to a very large space.

We waited a bit at the host stand before being acknowledged and waited a bit longer for beverage service. The servers were competent and efficient but not especially warm or friendly, but they could just be busy.

The food was somewhere between what the outside and the inside would suggest. On the whole, it was "down-home" food (salads, sandwiches, and stick-to-your-ribs entrees). My steak salad was on the lackluster side: plenty of steak, but on the smallish side for a dinner salad. The carrot cake was really lush, though, with lots of raisins, nuts, and carrots.

The review would not be complete without mentioning that this restaurant featured the most spacious restroom I have ever been in. Each stall was its own cubicle, easily the size of an apartment bathroom, and it looked as though they may all have a separate sink inside. Unexpectedly posh!