Dolly & Joe's Restaurant   

1045 S Reynolds Rd
Toledo, OH 43615
419-385-2441

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This neighborhood institution is hard to miss, if only for the neon signs above the entrance. The rear of the murky, always busy bar leads more or less straight into the dining room, where all manner of delicious culinary assaults on your arteries take place. The only out-of-the-ordinary appetizers are giblets and chicken livers, and the grilled baby-beef liver with onions, bacon and mushrooms, while entrees like the pork Normandy are usually more of a hit than a miss. The dessert menu, chalked up daily on a large board behind the hostess station, is hard to ignore. If you bypass the menu or a suggestion from your wait person, your neighbor's homemade cheesecake or pie will surely make you cave. At lunchtime, Dolly and Joe's serves lots of busy, hurried workers taking a frenzied, clock-watching lunch hour, so this meal sitting is not very relaxed, despite the Olympian efforts of the staff. Between the cooking, the informal, friendly mood, and the service, you're not likely to regret having added this laid-back eatery to your short list, even if only for lunch. As an added bonus, the restaurant has installed an efficient ventilation system that actually makes the smoking and nonsmoking sections almost equally lung-friendly.