Get ready, y'all. It's steakhouse time. I put on my nicest pair of black pants for this outing to Charles Town to dine at the Final Cut Steakhouse. This steakhouse, located at Hollywood Casino, is not totally unfamiliar to me. Their folks once shipped me some of their sauces in order for me to try them out and to get the word out (why do some of my old blog posts show photos rotated? ugh).

I reached out to my friend Brandon, who lives in DC. Charles Town is just about 1.5 hours from him, so he graciously accepted my offer to meet up for dinner.


After parking (East Gate!) in the parking garage - which is free - we headed to the main floor in search of steak. What I didn't think about is how smoky the entire casino would be on the way to the actual restaurant. Blechhhh.

The steakhouse itself is lovely inside. It's dark, suave ... as classy as a casino steakhouse can be, I suppose.


For starters, we had a basket of bread that was fairly unremarkable. We chatted for a bit while making our final menu selections.

Then, in a sort of perfectly timed dance that carried throughout the night, our entrees came out. I ordered an 8 oz. filet mignon with a side of steak sauce ($3). It comes a la carte, so we also ordered a side of truffle mac & cheese.

The steak is charred on the outside, and it was definitely overdone. The outside was well-done, and once I got to the middle, I was able to see just a tiny bit of pink. It was quite tender, and the flavor was decent, as well.

The side of mac & cheese was impressive. The noodles were these short tubes that were covered in a creamy cheese sauce, breadcrumbs and truffles. All in this adorable steel pot. This dish has a very earthy taste - which I love! But it is different.

And, as a small sweet bite, we were served some dark chocolates. Not a fan. So, overall thoughts. Well, I liked my steak - even if it was overdone (at a steakhouse?!), and I liked the macaroni and cheese. Did I like it $62ish worth? Meh. I've had better steaks - that come with sides. So, the restaurant seemed a little extra money hungry considering all sides and sauces were extra. A lovely time with a good friend? Yes. A delicious meal? A good one, at least.


Grade: B

It's rare that I let an ice ream parlor go unnoticed. So, as I was exploring Charles Town, Skipper's Downtown Dips & Deli made itself apparent. 

Quite a few deli items are available - sandwiches, soups, salads - but I'm all about that ice cream. Bout that ice cream. Bout that ice cream (no deli).

I ordered a waffle cone with a caramel fudge ice cream. And while the ice cream was nice and sweet and smooth, I wasn't loving the little dense bricks of fudge mixed in. Didn't love those a ton. But, you can't really go wrong with ice cream, as evidenced by 75 percent of my blog posts. A cute shop with lots of options for both lunch and dessert, so if you're taking a stroll downtown, be sure to pop in and check it out.


Grade: B

The Mediterranean Cafe in Charles Town is known amongst the locals for having good food. It boasts fresh, quality ingredients for dishes influenced by Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Morocco.

When I visited this restaurant, it was pretty busy. They seated me in the back at a small one-person (two if you're stretching it) table. It was actually quite cozy, and I could take in some of the really unique wall art and decorations back in my secluded corner.

Before I even ordered, they brought out a nice little sampler platter with hummus, pita, feta, and shirazi salad. What a way to start a lunch! The hummus was quite tasty, and I loved have the bit of acid in the shirazi salad to balance everything out. Love, love, love this.

The lunch menu has lots of great items: lots of salads and kabobs. For my order, I went with the Kabob Chengeh, which is lamb. While some bits were a little chewy or fatty texture wise, for the most part, the lamb was very good - especially paired with the cucumber sauce and a nice sweet bite of onion and tomato. Yes, yes and more yes.

Grade: A

"The Dining Room" is such a ... comfortable name for a restaurant. It's a room in your home, so in essence, the restaurant is saying you are part of their family. Welcome to their home. Come eat at The Dining Room.

When I walked inside the restaurant, I stood at the front for a moment. One of the servers said someone will be with me shortly. So, I shifted awkwardly alone while the open restaurant stared at me for what seemed like 15 hours. Another server came up to me and asked if she could help me. I said lunch, for one. And she goes "oh... well... sit anywhere..." OH OK. That would've been good to know three minutes prior.

Then, since there was no bar seating, or even two-person seating, or even FOUR-person seating, I sat at a table for five people. Five people. That was super cool. But, let's talk food. Because food can solve most things in my life.

I ordered their "Special Cheeseburger," which came with grilled onions, sautéed mushrooms and provolone cheese. I noticed immediately the patty was perfectly round and medium width. But, that being said, I thought it tasted decent. I like that the bun was toasted and the mushrooms plentiful. I wish the fries were just a tad crisper. I think this place has some hometown nostalgia, and if you're looking for pretty run of the mill standard country fare, this would do you good. But for something just a tad more exciting, I'd look to the surrounding cities.

Grade: C

I traveled to Petersburg solely to try 3rd Base Sports Bar and Grille, a restaurant on the 101 Most Unique Places to Dine in WV list. I called in an order so that I could just swing through, pick it up, and munch on the way home.

First up: Conqueso dip and chips. So, it was thick ... it was mostly underwhelming. Not a ton of flavor, but a little heat, at least. This is akin to a jarred Tostitos cheese dip. So.

I got an order of boneless butter garlic (golden dragon) wings. These, to me, were small little chicken nuggets with some minced garlic sprinkled on top. Maybe I missed the butter part? But, I mean, these aren't bad! They're chicken nuggets with ranch.

And finally, the hot honey bbq - or "sweat" heat? Should that be sweet heat? Idk. But, I'm glad I was finally getting some flavor here. I'm all about some sweet and tangy - and this iteration wasn't bad.

Overall, nothing here was bad. But nothing here was entirely exciting either. Decent wings with a beer is not easy to mess up. So, for a lax night for some easy, simple food - this place could be a decent bet.

Grade: C

Sooo, Moorefield happens to have two restaurants on the 101 Most Unique Places to Dine in WV list, and they both happen to be right beside each other. Sooo, after dining at O'Neills, I may or may not have wandered over to Baby Blues, which was previously called Blues Smoke Pit. I think there's been a management change, though I was assured the food is still the same.

Baby Blues has a pretty impressive exterior that is massive and has this worn barn feel with a sign hanging out front that says "Blues." Kinda cool. Inside, lots of - surprise - blue.

The menu has bbq sandwiches, burgers, wraps, and more. This was a pretty easy decision for me, though. The pork sampler - written in at the bottom of the menu - is three sliders (a memphis red sandwich, a smoked pulled pork sandwich, and a North Carolina minced pork sandwich).

To be honest, I didn't love any of these sliders. And the cole slaw on the side was this mushy mayo pool that was just not appealing. The pork on all three of these was kinda of slimy/fatty. I don't really know how that happens. The one I like the most was the plain one that I added sauce to. That one was pretty good - the quality seemed better, and I liked the sauce provided at the table. But, I was mostly underwhelmed.

Grade: C

What do you know about Moorefield? I don't know much. I know that one of my freshman roommates (of the five of them) was from Moorefield. I also know they have chicken processing plant. But, that's all I got ... Until recently.

Now ... now I know they also have some pretty good food.

I received a comment a while back from Daniel Todd, who mentioned that O'Neills in Moorefield served him up the perfect plate of food (plus pie!). That, combined with the restaurant's placement on the 101 Most Unique Places to Dine in WV list, sent me on a road trip.

O'Neills has a country charm to it with high-backed chairs, precariously placed rooster art and some greenery that add to the ambiance. I can say, though, that I went here alone for lunch, and I don't think they were quite sure how to respond to that.

The menu has some really good options - steak, salmon, crab cakes, sandwiches, salads and more. I rarely order a salad, because how can you size up a restaurant based merely on a bunch of ingredients that have been assembled. Where's the creativity? Where's the personality? Where's the fun? O'Neills solved that for me.


Their baby crab cake salad would allow me to have something pretty light while also getting a real taste for what their cooking is like -- plus I don't think I've ever had a crab cake salad before? The greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions were all fresh and provided a perfect bed for these succulent little crab cakes. I've been having some really good crab cakes lately, and these are no exception.

Let's keep the fun rolling, amiright? Butterscotch pie! I think I'd truly be happy with anything on this list. But oh my gahhh look how delicious.

Oddly, I think the crust on this pie was my favorite. The butterscotch and meringue were of course very good, but that CRUST was super on point. Man. Just, yes.

Grade: A

I'm all about a weird, whacky West Virginia festival -- like the Roadkill Cook-Off. I had put the Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting Festival on my calendar some time back to make sure I could check it out at some point.

It's the world's largest water tasting competition, and judges taste municipal, bottle, sparkling and purified water in February for the past 25 years. Berkeley Springs touts their natural springs, which have national received attention from visitors - including George Washington in his day. So, it makes sense to have a water tasting festival in a place known to have some of the best water.

While the judges are the ones with the biggest tasks, there is a bit of fun for those in the audience. You get to judge some waters, as well as the design of bottles. But the most fun part? After the awards have been announced, the audience is invited up to the main stage to snag one of the display bottles of water. This "water rush" gets a little crazy, as people run up to take all these bottles of water. I was lucky enough to swoop in and snag a cool glass bottle of Justa.

It was a nice little event and something unique for our state. Anyone else snag a cool bottle?

The Rail Yard Restaurant foiled my attempts to check off all the Elkins restaurants on the 101 Most Unique Places to Dine in WV list in one fell swoop. It was, inexplicably, closed when it should've been opened, which necessitated another trip to Elkins. Luckily, I was already in the area during lunch time, and The Rail Yard Restaurant happened to be open.

The restaurant is located near the tracks of the Elkins Depot, which hosts a number of train excursions.

Lots of parking is available, which is nice. Once I opened the doors, a sign directed me upstairs. I noticed there was outdoor dining, and I contemplated sitting outside, but it was still a bit chilly. Inside, it was. I grabbed a seat near the windows, at least. A young kid came over to get my drink order after a few moments. There was some subtle jabbing from a manager or owner who couldn't provide a notepad for him immediately and said something to the effect that if he couldn't handle a drink order without writing it down, it's a problem. Poor kid. Maybe don't say that out loud in front of your customers to try to embarrass him.

The menu has a bunch of sandwiches, like turkey and roast beef, as well as hot dogs, wraps, burgers, soups and salads.


If possible, I like to try something made in-house by a restaurant, rather than merely assembled. That, plus I love meatloaf. So, the "hobo" was a natural choice for me. After quite a while, it came out on thick slices of toasted bread and was incredible moist with a sweet tomato sauce on top. I actually really liked it. Like, really liked it. It was ground fine, with lots of herbs and spices and this delicious sauce on top. It is not fancy by any stretch - but it's tasty. The steak fries could've used a few more minutes of cooking so they got crisp.

The sandwich would easily be an A for me, but the fries combined with the manager comments to the server that made me uncomfortable took the experience down a notch for me.

Grade: B