I'm very torn by this review, because there is a lot of good at this restaurant, and a lot of not so good, and it's very hard to weigh the two and distill it down into a 5 point rating.
I'll start with the good. This place is very busy and is a fantastic way to meet locals, and is one of the least cliquey bars I've ever been in. They have multiple seating areas, pool, jukebox machines, and an overall laid back, if busy, atmosphere. The menu is all fried, and they do a damn good job of it.
They pressure fry their chicken which is pretty good. I wouldn't say it's the best chicken I've ever had by any means, but it's above average quality for sure, and definitely the best in Shelton. They also have the deep fried green beans which are my personal favorite, as well as mushrooms, fish, fries, steak strips, gizzards, and lumpia. If the smell of the state fair is your happy place - this bar will do it for you. They also make their own sauce and their ranch is absolutely divine. I would chug it by the gallon if I could, it is phenomenal. The prices are also pretty cheap overall, with two peoples dinner and drinks running (under $40 not including tip) normally for a couple rounds. The bathrooms have expensive toilet paper, which honestly should be a Yelp tag in of its own.
Now, the not so good. While the atmosphere is friendly and laid back, I would feel comfortable saying that this is in spite of the service. Most of the servers tend to be very cold and hard to talk to, rushing clients to order and just generally not being super hospitable. They also often leave drinks empty and give orders to the wrong people, or forget to submit them at all. In their defense, they are always SUPER BUSY however and don't seem to have dedicated cooks and servers, something that would improve the flow a lot. The music is often extremely loud, and be it trolls or by design, has a tendency to switch from a mix of country, classic rock, and oldies to sudden death metal and screamo, and I've seen guests ask the staff to turn it off or down before. The bar has a very limited liquor selection and is mostly beer, and the liquors they do have seem purchased at random.
Overall, it's not a horrible place to go for dinner and a drink and for the price you really can't beat it, but ultimately it's a locals working class person bar with modest food and beverage and typical local dive bar decor. I'll keep going here because it's decent and it's convenient (and my husband absolutely loves it there), but it's definitely not a destination restaurant, and that's ok. Places need local bars like this, and Bob's fits the bill. read more