Jeff H.

I spent a weekend at an Off Highway Vehicle park there in Morrow County and on my way back, passed through the tiny hamlet of Ione. On a whim, I got off of the, ahem, "highway," and went through downtown Ione, hoping to find a coffee shop to have a nice little breakfast in. I saw The Office Pub & Grill at the end of the main road, and saw the open sign, so I pulled in. The place has two faces, almost. The front is like a little coffee shop, with a couple of tables and a counter. The back is a bar setting, with a bunch of long tables, booths, the pool tables, bar, and the dim lighting. A large group of people were in the back, and they looked like regulars, or at least were pretty familiar with the joint. I had a seat up front and was immediately handed a menu by the waitress, whom I am inclined to believe was the owner. The guy doing the cooking, who I am also inclined to believe is the other owner and husband to the waitress, was reading the paper and drinking some coffee. So I went with my standard, the country-fried steak and eggs, which came with the sausage gravy and a biscuit. I also ordered a diet coke. Sadly, the diet coke came in a can, which usually means no refills. But I watched as the gentleman got to cooking. And wow, did he do some cooking. First off, I'm used to the usual concept of country-fried steak. Meat, pounded flat, battered heavily, and deep fried, then covered with gravy. This was a steak, an honest-to-god steak, battered not-too-thickly, and pan fried, with a dense gravy over the top. I needed the steak knife to cut through this thing, and it was just so damn good, I had to curse upon eating it. My mouth was pretty damn happy. In fact, remembering the sensation, I just bumped my review up from 4 stars to 5. Because then I dug into the biscuit. This thing was massive...and flaky. And full of flavour. It was obviously hand-made, not a mix, and was just exquisite. The perfect compliment to the steak breakfast. The eggs were very, very good too...well cooked, light and fluffy, and rounded everything out perfectly. I wish the cokes had been free refills, but I can see where this out-of-the-way business would be better off sticking with cans that can be stored for a while, rather than the cost of a fountain, and bar-gun shot sodas are always watery and awful, so this wasn't really the detriment that it would be at a place that's in the middle of a busy metropolitan area. I came away from The Office with the sense that this is a place owned by locals, who love their town, and are doing what they love: feeding the people they care about. They took pride in what they did, they did it right, and they were happy to be a part of a community that looked forward to doing things together. And I will definitely be eating here again the next time I go to the Off Highway Vehicle park.