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Y! MyWebSouth Park Tavern, bar review, Dayton, Ohio
Beer, patio, wings sauce, pizza add up to success
Friday, March 27, 2009
Located at the corners of Wayne and Oak streets in the South Park Historic District, South Park Pizza Tavern's combination of savory, steaming pizza pies and cool craft beers makes it a destination worth checking out.
Since acquiring the building and opening for business more than a year-and-a-half ago, owner Bill Daniels has been busy making improvements to the existing structure, most noticeably adding a large, well-lit outdoor patio area perfect for the coming summer months. Inside, the bar area was moved to a far wall, opening up an area for bands to showcase their music and moving seating closer to the kitchen to help improve service. Painted in a bright yellow, much of the decor on the walls of South Park Pizza Tavern reflects Daniels' love for ice hockey.
Extras
South Park Pizza Tavern
- WHERE: 1301 Wayne Ave., Dayton [Map]
- MORE INFO: (937) 586-9526 or http://southparktavern.com
- HOURS: Open seven days a week from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. If it's slow at the end of the night, the bar may close early, so call ahead if you're heading there late, late at night.
- EVENTS: Open-mic night on Wednesdays and live music every Saturday night.
- More info on how to go
- Photos: A peek at South Park Tavern
Something equally important, but not as obvious to an untrained eye, is the craft beer selection. The bar is adding equipment to be able to pour 12 more draft beers in addition to the existing six for a grand total of 18 beers on tap. Manager Shane Sullivan reports that he expects it to be done by the end of the week. The bar also features around 70 varieties of bottled beers to tempt your palette, with plans to add another bottle cooler and 20-25 additional craft bottled beers, according to Daniels.
With just six beers on tap during our visits, the Lounge Lizards went with a creamy New Holland Dragon's Milk. If beer isn't your thing, South Park Pizza Tavern offers a dozen types of wine. The bar does not serve hard liquor.
Daniels' influence is evident just by looking at the menu — not surprising for those who know he also owns Dayton's Original Pizza Factory. The South Park Pizza Tavern menu features more than 22 pizzas in four sizes ranging from a small (9-inch) to an extra large (16-inch) priced from $5.35 to $19.95. A few other selections can be found on the appetizer menu, most notably the South Park Pizza Tavern's wings.
The Lounge Lizards chose to try both the spicy garlic and the Jamaican baked wings ($6.95 for 10). The spicy garlic was just as the name would have you believe — spicy and garlicky. There was just enough sauce to flavor the wings but not too much to overpower them. The Jamaican sauced wings were sweet and tangy with just a hint of heat. Alexis couldn't get enough of the wings sauce. Both Lizards thought the wings were a little scrawny and could have benefited from a few more weeks of fattening on the farm.
But the true charm of South Park Pizza Tavern is the pizza — it's in the name after all. If you're traveling in a group, we recommend getting several small pizzas to share.
Our not-to-be-missed favorite was the cheeseburger pizza, topped with ground beef, onions, tomatoes, bacon, pickles, pizza sauce and cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. Here's where the small-sized pizza pays off: With a nearly perfect crust to ingredient ratio, if you don't look at what you're eating, it tastes like a really interesting burger.
While our second pizza, the Greek Gyro Pizza, sounded exotic (and we loved the originality), the depth of flavors present in the cheeseburger, Santa Fe and Incredible Factory Special pies kept our interest longer.
Topped with roasted corn salsa, black beans, grilled chicken, green peppers, tomatoes and onions, the Santa Fe is a zippy trip through south-of-the-border flavor profiles. The Incredible Factory Special is the classic go-to supreme formula with a couple of twists featuring pepperoni, sausage, fresh ground beef, onions, green peppers, mushrooms, olives and banana peppers.
What does the future hold for South Park? Daniels would like to, "expand a little bit, create almost a BW-3's with a family and adult side ... double or triple the size of the existing dining room."
Daniels went on to say that he would like to add lunch and expand the South Park Tavern's menu sometime in the future to something that more closely resembles the Pizza Factory's full menu.
Daniels also reports that he's in the process of exploring his options to begin brewing his own beer, but reports that Ohio laws would have to be changed first to make it cost effective. With all that Daniels has managed to accomplish so far, we can only imagine bigger and better things to come down the road.
CRAIG SCHROLUCKE AND ALEXIS LARSEN love pubs, bars and clubs in equal amounts. Have a suggestion, comment, bar or club news? Visit their blog at www.activedayton.com/loungelizards and share any and all thoughts.
