Max & Erma's: Lots of Selections and Priced Right
Written: Aug 05 '02 (Updated Oct 28 '06)
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Pros: Good, fresh tasting food; Nice variety; Fair prices
Cons: Can get crowded on Friday and Saturday nights
The Bottom Line: Max & Erma's is a good restaurant, with full service variety and moderate prices
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| Bryan_Carey's Full Review: Max & Erma's |
Max & Erma's is a full- service restaurant that was founded by Max and Erma Visocnik in Columbus, Ohio late in 1972. This restaurant chain has expanded slowly over its 30 years of existence, but it has grown nonetheless. It now has about 80 locations in 12 states, located in the Midwest, Southeast, and Middle Atlantic states.
Menu Selection:
The menu at Max & Erma's is pretty good, in terms of selection. Starting with the appetizer (or "munchies", as they like to call it) section, you can choose between food items such as chicken fingers, stuffed potato skins, black bean rollups, nachos grandes, and others. There are a total of 10 appetizer selections.
Next comes the main course and Max & Erma's divides your choices among three catgories: burgers, sandwiches, and favorites (dinners). Selections here include the cajun burger, brick beer burger, mushroom and swiss burger, grilled chicken, philly steak, meatloaf melt, New York strip steak, cajun shrimp and pasta, fajitas, chicken parmesan, meatloaf, etc. There are 10 burgers to choose from, 17 sandwiches, and 15 favorites.
For those who prefer a lighter meal, Max & Erma's does offer a salad menu with selections like Santa Fe salad, Key Largo chicken, and salmon caesar. There are a total of six salad selections. There's also a kid's menu with corn dogs, grilled cheese, and other child pleasers. Max & Erma's gives the little ones six menu choices.
Beverages are plentiful at this restaurant. Pepsi products are the mainstay, but all Max & Erma's locations come complete with a full- service bar, so you can drink most any beverage that your heart desires. Desserts are somewhat limited, compared to the rest of the menu (there are only a half- dozen or so selections) but they are all tasty. Some choices include apple pie, banana cream pie, and caramel fudge cheesecake.
Pricing:
Max & Erma's prices are moderate and, considering the quality and variety, I think they are fair. Appetizers are priced between $5 and $9. A burger or sandwich (which includes either fries or potato salad) sells for a price that falls between $6 and $8. Salads go for $8 to $9 each. Favorites are the most costly, selling for $9 to $17 (New York Strip is the most expensive) each. The kid's menu will set you back between $2 and $4 per item, and desserts sell for $3 to $5.
Atmosphere:
Max & Erma's is a large restaurant, with a separate bar and dining area. Each restaurant can hold between 150 and 200 people. The walls of Max & Erma's are covered with pictures of general scenes (no distinct theme) and there's always some canned music playing in the background. It's a casual setting that can get noisy during peak hours and busy days of the week, when the overflow crowd is forced to wait in the bar area or camp out on one of the benches and wait for a table.
Final Thoughts:
Max & Erma's is a good, full- service restaurant with a wide variety of choices and reasonable prices. Its only locations are in the eastern U.S., so there's a good chance that most of you have never heard of this establishment. A good place to compare to, in terms of food selection, type of food, and size, would be TGI Friday's. Given a choice, I would pick Max & Erma's over TGI Friday's and most other large chain restaurants.
Max & Erma's menu includes some very tasty and unique selections. My personal favorite is the Brick Beer Burger, a 10 oz. (or 6 oz. if you want a smaller portion) beef patty grilled in Samuel Adams beer and then topped with brick cheese. Add a large glass of Sam Adams lager, and you have a delicious combo meal. If only someone at Max & Erma's would invent beer pie, the meal would be complete.
Most of the portions at this restaurant are medium- sized, which can be both good and bad. With burgers, you can select a size (6 oz. or 10 oz.) but the other menu selections come in only one size. If your appetite is intense, there's a good chance that you will still be hungry after, say, a grilled chicken sandwich platter or a meatloaf melt. You might want to consider an appetizer or a dessert, to satisfy your hunger. If you go the dessert route, I recommend the caramel fudge cheesecake. It sells for about $4.50, which is a little steep, but it's rich and tasty.
Overall, Max & Erma's earns a thumbs- up recommendation from me. It's the type of restaurant that will satisfy the trendy crowd, families, couples, and most everyone else. It's a notch above most other well- known chains and it's worth a stop if you find yourself in the neighborhood of one of its restaurants.
For more information, visit www.maxandermas.com
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Recommended:
Yes
Kid Friendliness: Yes
Vegetarian Friendly: Yes
Best Suited For: Large Group
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