When in Athens on a Monday and most breweries are closed we were hungry and thirsty. After going to Menards, Shade on State St is the spot. Good and prompt service by Shaylee T. and nice selection of thirst quenchers. Was a perfect way the relax before outside projects in the dirt happened. Stop here anytime and you won't be disappointed. read more

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I don't think people come here for great food. The food was decent, nothing to write home about, but good and a decent portion for the price. I was here with my OU student, sort of late in the evening and it was sort of dead--- huge dining room with only a couple of tables occupied. I et the impression it's a raucous place to watch sports on TV and to hang out. It just wasn't like that while I was there. Our server was pretty attentive. We didn't wait a long time for food or refills. read more

Really great place to go for big groups. Place is huge. Good food, good price. Huge menu, not a lot of healthy options but the wild fries were delicious. Service was a little off that day, not a lot of great communication between staff on trying to get some condiments we needed. Otherwise, we were satisfied very much. ONE THING: The women's bathroom must have had some kind of issue because the smell was very disgusting like a back up had just occurred. read more

If you have a gyro with beef and lamb on the menu. It should come to the table with meat on it. The waitress claims the cook didn't know it should have meat on it. Seriously. There should be a menu in the kitchen then for a reference guide. read more

Shade on State Street - Beef gyro with no beef. - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

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Staying at the strip side of Athens and didn't want to go to the usual chain eateries. SoS was Saturday night busy with lots of locals and TV's. They seemed understaffed- but I found seating easily. I tried the Garlic Feta wings which were ok - not overly sauced. Bbq brisket was a bit dry but still good. Enjoyed the sweet potato fries. They had an average selection of beers. My server, Cassidy, was friendly and efficient. Pub food and drinks were good, but I would go back for the neighborhood feel. read more

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Ok so our server was great! But that's where it sort of ends. This was very underwhelming. Everything was decent but really isn't worth going out of your way for. I will say the salad portion was huge so you're getting your moneys worth. The buffalo chicken dip was greasy and the bread wasn't great so I'd get chips next time. They were also out of a lot of things like small plates? I may get a pre drink app here but would def not go out of my way. Again though the server was sweet and kind!! read more

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No hot wings here, don't ask. Mild is all you get. Go to the Home Tavern in Logan for hot wings! read more

Shade on State Street - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

Hard Pass on food. I question the cleanliness of establishment. Carrtout order was short two items and I had to go back. Food was awful and I'm Not picky. Boneless wing are fried chicken chunks with no breading or seasoning. Bone in Wings are Mid at best. Got a Cuban sandwich that was one of the worst I've experienced. Stale bun with Mayo, dry pork, sliced ham and butter pickles. Who does that? Onion rings are good. Looks to be the place for a Cheap pint. read more

The service and atmosphere was very good. The food however is just fine. It's one of those places where I think it would be better if they picked a few key menu items and did those really well instead of this big varied menu. The cheese stick appetizer was probably the best part of the meal. They were nice big cheese sticks that came out sizzling hot with so much gooey cheese in them. I had the chili dogs and traditional wings with Korean sauce. The chili on the dogs was bland and sparse, it almost seemed watered down. The cook on the wings was not to my liking. I prefer a crisper wing. The fries were also somewhat bland so I left the majority of those. My daughter got the sliders. Um instead of four separately made mini patties, they take one patty and cut it in quarters and put them on mini buns. I know potato pot-ah-to. They do have a full bar and if you like Ohio lottery kiosk games they have those too! Lots of TVs to catch your favorite sporting events. And very friendly attentive staff. read more

Shade on State Street - Beverage station - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

Good place for drinks but I don't eat here anymore. This is my fourth night in a row sitting at the bar and the wafts of methane (sewer gas) can't be ignored. Fruit flies everywhere. I'll walk, again, to roadhouse. Also, this place changed its hours waaay back during COVID and still hasn't updated them on Yelp or Google. The employees here admit there is no management. read more

Everything was awful from the service to the food. I had to wait 10 minutes to get a straw after asking twice. We ordered appetizers but never received them then our food came which was cold. My order was wrong so I sent it back and told the waitress not to worry about it. She showed up 5 minutes later with my meal and was like look what was made. Still denied it as my family was pretty much done. If you don't mind awful service and small serving sizes then this is the place for you. I will never come back to this place again. read more

My husband and I ate at Shade on 3 nights in a row. We ate something different each time. We loved everything, especially the Wild Fries! So good!! read more

Shade on State Street - Wild Fries - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

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Great food. Love coming here with my husband. Usually very clean. Service is friendly and quick!

After a messed up to go order Manager Robert went out of his way to remedy the mistake! Great customer service!

Service was quick and cordial. Food was above average and the cost was reasonable. Great choice for us, especially being right next door to our hotel read more

Pretty solid for Athens; cool place to hang out when the sun is out! Went here after roadhouse was too packed and got seated immediately. The ice cream cookie reminded me of BJ pizookies. Loaded chips were surprisingly good! BLT tasted like a BLT read more

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Extremely busy and loud, with a 30 minute wait. Madhouse inside to say the least. Started with a pickle pizza as the app, was pretty good actually. Paired it with an Ace pineapple cider, and ended with the ham and cheese sub. Sub lacked, cider hit. Honestly, not worth the money and or the first time visit. So many other good places in Athens, but apparently it is Moms day, and everything downtown was packed. Lunch by default. read more

I've eaten here several time, the food is good, wait staff is friendly, but I've been disappointed 2 times over burnt onion rings. The part I don't understand is why the wait staff, doesn't tell the cook, I can't serve these, their burnt. Cooks sometimes, while in a rush push questionable dishes out to be eaten, it happens every where. It's always better for the wait staff to stick up for their customer. If you tell me it will be a little longer no problem, If I have to complain, and send it back, problem, which may effect their TIP. No brainer. 5 Stars if the above can be worked out. Joe Montano read more

We are from out of town just passing through. This is a really cool local hangout. The atmosphere was great, and so was the food.

Service is great. The waiter was super cool. That about the highlights of the night. For one the portion sizes of the appetizers are small. The food itself wasn't anything to brag about. The alcohol selection is boring. It was to dinner. That's it. Seemed super cliche. No excitement. read more

I think this picture of the food I received is worth a thousand words, but since Yelp requires that I write more I'll just say that this is EASILY the grossest restaurant I've ever had the displeasure of eating at in Athens. Their food probably violates the Geneva convention somehow. read more

Shade on State Street - I honestly can't describe in words what this sandwich is made of. - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

We couldn't rate the food because we sat down and were never greeted by a server. After about 20 minutes, we asked another server if they knew who our server was. She didn't, but said she would find out. 10 minutes later after having no contact with a server, we left. Very disappointing. read more

Sports bar, tight open seating, well lit and bury atmosphere. Huge selection of many great dishes. Place was clean and food delivered hot. The day we were there was slow food service but the staff were attentive and courteous. Food is worth coming back for. read more

Was there this week ordered the open face bread pizza, I have seen and tasted better bread pizza from the freezer section at any supermarket. For Pete's sake your pizza is good why use a sub standard frozen bread pizza????? Server was very friendly and attentive read more

More than likely high schoolers in the kitchen that have no idea what's going on. Sometimes the food is okay sometimes it's bad. Service is normally good. Bar and Grill atmosphere with sports. read more

Maybe I'm biased but in my opinion Athens is practically a food desert unless you want fast food. The options are slim. We came to shade after finding hair in one of athens "nicer" restaurants appetizer which is a deal breaker for me and I'm happy we came here instead. We had good service and a really good burger. Solid bar food and no hair in sight. The menu had alot of different options which was nice and the food was good. Would reccomend for a laid back environment and a solid meal. read more

Not a fan. Food is ok at best. Could make the same thing at home and it would taste better. Service is terrible.

great food. my only recommendation is please pull back your hair while in the food prep section. I saw a few ladies who long hair could have fallen into someones food. read more

I'll start by saying the French Onion Soup here is amazing!! I ordered the Dill pickle pizza as it looked and sounded unique. The dill flavor minimal at best. Was bad, but wasn't great either. But would definitely go back for the French onion soup. read more

Shade on State Street - Dill Pickle Pizza - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

while i was in athens today i decided to eat at shades. i had not been there for several months. i had an italian stallion sub which tasted ok but was noticeably smaller than usual. my friend had a tuna melt sandwich that was also much smaller than before. we also both had bowls of chili which were small and not worth the price. overall we were not very satisfied as obviously you have decided to try and deceive customers with reducing portions thinking they would not notice. i dont think i will be going back again read more

Not sure why the reviews aren't that good here? I thought it was pretty good.. I was brought here for a birthday meal so I didn't pay and not sure about the price. I got the Jamaican jerk boneless chicken and it was good, spicy af but good. I would eat here again! read more

Shade on State Street - Jamaican jerk, boneless chicken wings - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

Zero stars would have been my preferred rating. Poor management is clearly the number one issue. While waiting for over an hour we witnessed two cooks walk out and a waitress do the same. Rather then managing the situation the hostess and manager were both standing at the desk over sharing the details of the staff problems. read more

Wild fries are amazing. You get a lot for the price as well. You can order the fries as your entire meal!

This is a 2 star review, I only rated it 5 stars so you would see it.Everything is always cold and not very good honestly I love the shade but lately it's been very bad! We complained about the buffalo chicken dip being cold and all they did was charge us half price. My nachos were cold and soggy, my daughters chicken wings and cheesy fries were also barely warm Maybe if our food hadn't sat in the back for so long we could have had it hot. Very disappointed and we've always been a fan of The Shade. Thinking twice about coming back. read more

Shade on State Street - Cold and soggy - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

Only star I can give is for the nice customer service over the phone the "chowder" was complete water and salt. The fish tacos were salty as well. The baked macaroni was decent. It was close to the hotel so we tried it. Probably won't go again during our stay. I really looked forward to this place being good because they have a large menu for decent price. read more

Shade on State Street - Watered down chowder - American Near Me - Athens, Ohio

Went to this restaurant hearing good things . Apox.400 pm. On Saturday to a horrible experience. The hostess sat us quickly. Then took 15 minutes to order a drink . It was an hour from the time of arrival before we received our appetizers but then the food showed up 5 minutes later to have burnt sliders and 2 basically raw burgers show to my table one made wrong as it should have bin easy since the menu says it only got bbq and mayo on the side. Not them on the side with mustard and katsup. Said something to management she did comp the check but that doesn't change the fact that the cooks ant cooking things completely. Never going back read more

Rooster's Lite... It's good that these folks were able to successfully steal Rooster's food, because they don't do much else well. Service is slow. Like, glacier slow. We sat at the bar and our bartender/server was Bree. We sat down and didn't see anyone behind the bar for at least five minutes. Once we finally got our drinks, it took another 15 minutes before we were asked if we wanted food. The wings were very good. I also ordered an appetizer, which was forgotten and came out after I was done with my wings. Some potential here...like I said, they did a good job of copying food from Rooster's. Place is poorly managed, though. Bathrooms are dirty, too. read more

Stopped in for dinner. Waitress very attentive. Sweet tea needs sugar. Cuban was ok, BLT was good as well as Nat's chowder. Half grande nachos was very good - plentyto go around. Disappointment came in the form of "fresh cut fries" - more like leftovers - or scraps- would find a substitute if we go back. read more

Wings are fantastic!! The mild sauce is almost a dry sauce, no mess at all. You have to get fries too! Great seasoning.

January 23, 2023 I am writing this letter about the very poor service my wife and I received on this past Saturday,January 21, 2023. I have listed it in order that it occurred: 1. I placed a takeout order by phone at 2:57 pm on Saturday afternoon. I was told the order would be ready in 25 to 30 minutes. 2. We arrived at the restaurant and paid for the order at 3:21 pm. The waitress told us she would check on the order and get back to us when it was ready. We saw her immediately go to the kitchen, but she came back out numerous times and never updated us on our order. We waited.... 3. At 3:41( I checked my watch) we still had not received my order or any update. I then approached a different wait person and inquired about our order. She said she'd go check on it. We again did not receive our order and the wait person never returned... 4. Finally at 3:53(watch time) I'd had enough. I again approached a different wait person at the counter and explained what was going on. I told her if my order wasn't coming I would just like our money back. She said she'd go check on it. 5. I was handed our order at 4:03 pm with a "sorry about your wait". We took our order and left. We drove home.(approximately 15 minutes) 6. When we arrived home we had a horrible surprise! The hamburgers were 75% burned and completely cold and dry. They actually looked like they had been sitting an hour or more. The buns were completely soggy. We shouldn't have eaten them, but we were starving by then. They actually tasted like eating charcoal! I wish I had taken pictures ! The French fries were soggy and luke warm. The wings were good flavored but not warm. Even the grease was jelling. I am really upset with the total experience. I mailed a direct letter by USPS to the business, but received no response. read more