Wagner's Village Inn

Great fried chicken served family style with all the fixins'.  Friendly and efficient service.  Wonderful place to take guests when looking for something out of the ordinary chain restaurants.  Dined here several times and I will be back.

I'm downgrading to 3 stars based on a second visit today, although it was just for a couple beers.  Based on a second look around, atmosphere and service,  and considering a similar restaurant literally around the block earned 4 stars today, I have to reduce this one.

It's mystifying that this place was given the classification of nightlife in first position. There is a bar, but it is really neglected. There is no bartender keeping watch and I noticed that last time too (although last time we were having a meal so it didn't affect us as much, but thinking back there was an effect). The hostess, who wears a dour expression, seems to be responsible for tending the bar when she's not seating people (and you MUST wait to be seated), and then only when she either feels like it, or remembers that someone wants a drink, or if you stare at her long enough so that she looks up and thinks, "oh I remember them! They came in and said right to me 'we're just gonna have a beer' and sat down at the otherwise empty bar 15 minutes ago! I guess I'll make my way slowly over there and see what they want."

Then I almost fell off my stool when she put out 2 pints of Shock Top and charged us 12 bucks!   Good thing I didn't fall off because the back of your stool is just inches away from dining tables squeezed side by side in the middle of the room.

The "bar" is really the bigger dining room.  There is no background music to help drown out the conversation about tractors going on at the next table six inches away. The two TVs were on but sound was turned way down.

Whew!  Now this is not to take away from the tasty fried chicken by any means. See my prior review. Just be prepared for way below average, and not really cordial, service as well as uncomfortable seating. You may want to reserve a booth in the "bar" to avoid feeling like you're sharing a table with strangers.   You may want to check out nearby Brau Haus instead.

But if you're on a mission to do all the stops on the 'Indiana Chicken Trail' do include this one for the food. If you're looking to just pop in for a cold one however, pass Wagner's by.  We won't be back.

We rode our motorcycles to Oldenburg from Columbus to eat at Wagner's Village Inn and it was an awesome day. The folks at Wagner's had our tables ready, there were around 15 of us in the party, and we ordered our drinks, then our meals. The server seemed a little overwhelmed but was very nice. I don't think the food took very long to prepare and I felt like the fried chicken was very tasty. The Cole Slaw was phenomenal but I felt the mashed potatoes were not seasoned at all. But after a little salt and pepper, they tasted fine.

After we ate, we waited for the server to bring our checks but she never did so we all went to the cash register to pay. They were still adding up the tickets so we had to wait on them to do that. Once they did that, the bartender had to explain why a Tenderloin and fries came to $18.00 and she said they add a 20% Gratuity on parties that large. I didn't have an issue with that but some of the people thought that we didn't see our server enough to warrant a 20% tip. I have to agree although I always tip 20% or more.

The overall experience was good, but the service was poor, and the food was too expensive. It was good, but too expensive. I will be back though.