While searching for a new and different restaurant to take the lovely Robin to celebrate her twenty-ninth birthday, I came across the Schoolhouse Restaurant in Camp Dennison, east of Cincinnati.
Camp Dennison is so named because it was a Civil War army camp and hospital. The schoolhouse, built in the early 1860s, was one of the first schools in the Midwest with a second story. It is a massive building surrounded by a broad expanse of lawn, and it functioned as a school for students through the eighth grade until 1952.
The place still boasts a home-spun appeal, from the goats and geese roaming around out back to the family-style dining to the menu, with entrees like fried chicken, roast beef, meatloaf, and baked cod, accompanied by mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, freshly made coleslaw, tossed salad, and moist sweet cornbread--all served family style.
The menu is listed on the blackboard that occupies one full wall of the single dining room. The staff are efficient at getting people in, seated, and served.
I seldom pass up the opportunity for fried chicken--thank GOD for chicken!--and this was no exception. Though it was not the best chicken I've had, the cornbread and mashed potatoes were excellent, and the roast beef entree that Robin and Aubrey ordered was enough to feed an army, appropriately enough. The raspberry cobbler a la mode I had for dessert was finestkind, too.
We also snuck upstairs to see the second floor, complete with stage and balcony on three sides, that is used for performances and, of course, receptions, accommodating close to 100 people.
Following dinner, we waddled to the General Store located behind the restaurant, and the grandkids paused to watch the animals penned alongside the store. We could have stayed longer, but the lovely Robin and I had a movie to get to in Mariemont, a favorite place of ours for date nights.
The Schoolhouse Restaurant is located at 8031 Glendale Milford Road in Camp Dennison, Ohio.
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