Finding a place that's both interesting in it's decor, friendly and has good food is something hard to come by in Albemarle, NC. Â This place seems to do a pretty good job with all that. Â Having grown up in this town I remember when it was a little bit smaller space and it looks like they have added onto the original building to build out a nice patio and bar area. Â The bar area actually had a second level also.
I tired the caesar salad with grilled chicken and it was actually really good. Â My girlfriend and mother were with me and they had a BLT and club sandwich, both of which looked really good and they had no complaints. Â
The stafff was very friendly and made sure we were taken care of.
This place is similar to a lot of southern/Greek diners, but is better than most. Â My wife's family is originally from Albemarle, and as such she has a lot of relatives there. Â I wasn't sure what to think about this play when we arrived - it definitely looks old, but it's not run down. Â As we were waiting for a couple people to arrive, I peaked through the window and noticed the perfect 102 sanitation grade which I was happy to see. Â The staff was all extremely nice. Â Although we had a group of 7 people, our orders were all 100% correct and came out in reasonable time. Â It wasn't perfect, but most of the food was good. Â We got fried pickles, but they were very light - some of them the pickles must have fallen out because we had pickle shaped batter. Â There wasn't much flavor to them. Â No salt, pepper, or other spice was in the batter. Â My chicken gyro was pretty tasty. Â The wife's flounder had a lot of bones. Â My father-in-law's stroganoff was actually penne pasta instead of egg noodles which was unusual but he said it was good. Â Everything else ordered was good. Â Harmanco's is definitely a decent place to grab a bite in Albemarle.
Review Source:This place is located on Main Street just outside of downtown Albemarle. If staying at the HIE, you can sneak down Leonard Ave and find this place on your right. This restaurant/bar is split upon entering, take a left to the smoke-free restaurant side, slide right for the bar area which offers the full restaurant menu. I head into the bar as I feel like catching ESPN.
I grab a seat at the bar and get serviced quickly. I ask for a suggestion for my meal and get "everything is really good. I like it all." Great answer :-/ I decide on the Kickin' Pasta with cajun chicken. This comes with a caesar salad and garlic bread. Salad was probably dressed at 4:30 and as put in the fridge for the nightly service. Soggy.
The food comes quick and hot when served. There was nothing kickin' about the pasta or chicken. I think the chicken was that precooked stuff you buy in the store next to the lunchables. This dish totally lacked texture and flavor. I tried to doctor it up with hot sauce, salt and pepper but it didn't help. Priced at 14.99, I'm not sure how this place has been in business since 1958 - maybe lack of options brings people in here.
I won't have to worry about coming back here again. Passsss...