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Photo by Brian Smith.

This semester, we’ll highlight some of the best restaurants in the area for what they do right. Dig in and enjoy.

The Best Place to Get Fish

The Café in Stow
4591 Darrow Rd.
Stow, OH 44224

The Café in Stow opened in 1990 and has been serving fried fish ever since. Their fish and other food has gained a reputation for being fresh, delicious and affordable.

“The food is very good,” Stow resident Sue McKillop said. “The service is outstanding. Everybody’s very personable, and it feels like home cooking. It’s just a very good place to be.”

Though their fried fish is available any day, they sell the most on Fridays during their fish special. Owner Don Miller said the Café sells over 200 pounds of fish every Friday.

The fish is fantastic. The beer batter is perfect. It is tasty, crunchy and not too thick, meaning there is no nasty, undercooked batter poured over like on some fish. The meat is flaky, mild and fresh. It is always served hot, and the tartar sauce brings it all together. The components are perfectly balanced.

“It’s a nice mild taste that people really love,” Miller said. “People that don’t like fish, a lot of them like our fish. It’s the only fish they’ll eat.”

For a side, the hash browns are a good choice. Though they’re usually a breakfast food, they can go well with any meal. The Café makes their hash browns from shredded potatoes and cooks them crisp, golden brown and buttery.

However, Miller says the secret to his business’s success is not just the food but also his great staff.

“The staff I have is just a fantastic group of people,” Miller said. “The staff is really what makes a restaurant work. I’m only one person here. I try to keep morale up and keep people happier and things just fall into place.”

The customers seem to agree.

“They have good food, good prices and good service,” Springfield resident Shirley Joyner said. “I never have anything to complain about when I come here. That’s why we come here all the time.”