Cole’s Dining & Spirits

Loved this place! We sat on the patio and it was beautifully decorated. The menu was full of great options. I had the bbq pulled pork and I could see the smoker that they were cooking it in. Very friendly service!

The service was good, the food was good. We had the pulled pork nachos, and the pork was wonderful. May have benefitted from upscale chips (and more of them), but it was good. They seem to have a New Orleans theme, but the menu also has Italian dishes and a variety of other things, so I’m not sure if New Orleans is a true theme or just the décor theme. But it was pleasant, and I would go again.

Great food in a small town establishment. We tried it for the first time last night, but will definitely be back.

First things first: Cole’s isn’t in Richmond; it’s in Cambridge City. I’ll make that change later.
This used to be a sketchy little bar called The Silver Dollar. Then it was The Briar Pitte (I think I reviewed it). The food was good, but things always seemed a little precarious, and it closed sometime last year. Then Cole’s opened this past fall.
On our first trip here, the service was very s-​l-​ooooo-​w. It was the first weekend open, so of course we gave them a pass, even though we had a very wiggly three-​year-​old with us. The long wait did make it a little hard to justify the prices, however. Most entrees are going to run you over $ 15.00.
My husband and I decided to give Cole’s another try this weekend. The restaurant was busy, but not packed, and our server, Nikki, was very attentive to all of her tables, including ours. My husband was in the mood for brisket; I wanted to try the popular appetizer, Shrimp Chippewa, as my meal. We’d had it on our first trip, but the time it took to get to our table left it a little cold. This time around, though, it was great — peppers, onions and shrimp in a creamy, spicy sauce with plenty of French bread for dipping.
Oh, my husband got a Bloody Mary and I tried a sip of it — delicious! It came garnished with celery, pickled green beans and olives, with plenty of pepper.
I made sure to save room for some lemon meringue pie after I saw it brought out to another table. I’m so glad I did! The crust was homemade, the meringue was fluffy and about six inches tall, and the lemon custard was the perfect consistency.
I think after tip, our bill was right at $ 50. For this area of the world, that’s still high-​ish. Thankfully, the quality of food and service eased the blow a little. It looks like they’re going to take advantage of the outdoor seating that The Briar Pitte had, so I’m anxious to see if they have live music out there once the weather warms up.