Date Visited: 3 May 2009Meal: Lunch
Diners: 4 - Me, Wendy, Andy, & Alicia
Experience: Spanky's Shenanigan's is another Leesburg establishment that's been here as long as we've lived here. On their web site, Spanky's claims to be "Leesburg's Oldest Pub". Spanky's has undergone a significant makeover in recent times, recasting itself as a more family-friendly restaurant rather than just a neighborhood bar. Their current slogan is "Good Food - Good Music - Good Times", and their new Mission Statement(!) is "Get Relaxed, Get Your Belly Full, Have Fun, Try our Variety of Beverages & Let Spanky's Take Care of Business." Not normally frequenting this kind of place, with much fear and trepidation I took my family here for lunch on Sunday.
Unfortunately, the first thing to greet us upon entering the place was the strong smell of cigarette smoke, even though the dining area is advertised as smoke-free from 11 AM to 9 PM. However, we braved this first obstacle and decided to give them a try. Spanky's menu has a relatively good selection of appetizers, sandwiches, soups, salads, pasta, and seafood specials.
We got "Spanky's Onion Ring Thang" for an appetizer (although I couldn't bring myself to say "thang" to our server, and substituted "thing"). It's basically a plate of oversized onion rings (about eight), and it was all the greasy goodness you'd expect. For my lunch, I got the "Spanky's Steak & Cheese Sub"; good, but kind of average. Wendy got a bowl of Irish Potato Chowder, with big chunks of potato and toppings of bacon, cheddar cheese, and scallions. Her comment: "I like all the stuff"; I had a small taste and it was good. She also got the "General Jubilee" (ham, turkey, and bacon sandwich). Her comment: "nice fat sandwich!" Andy got the "Pub Burger" (8 oz. burger with bacon and cheddar cheese extras), which he judged as "average". Alicia got adventurous and ordered a Caesar salad (dressing a bit bland), and a bowl of Spanky's Chili ("flavorful").
Overall, a few of the food items were pretty good, but most were average. As non-smokers, the atmosphere was a bit hard to take, but hey, it's a bar! In warmer weather, there is seating out in the back, and there are other seafood specials from time to time. If any of this sounds interesting, check it out for yourself!
Location: 538 E. Market St., Leesburg, 20176
Web site: http://spankyspub.net/
Total bill: $49.91 + $10.00 tip = $59.91
8 comments:
The cigarette smoke in this place is overpowering. You could very easily contract lung cancer while innocently eating lunch. Disgusting..
Hi Jim. In your quest to eat at every restaurant in Leesburg, do a search on Leesburg on the below website, which provides restaurant health inspections. I have found it a very useful site. It is good for it's inspection reports and also in finding restaurants in places you would not think to look. Good luck eating at Vicki's Veranda (at FAA)(825 Market Street East). Leesburg has a lot of good places to eat. Guten Appetit!
http://www.healthspace.ca/Clients/VDH/Loudoun/Loudoun_Website.nsf
http://www.healthspace.ca/Clients/VDH/Loudoun/
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I too visited Spanky's recently with a group of friends and after spending over $300.00 we were asked to leave by our waiter because we did something that offended the owner. I have never been treated so rudely at an establishment that boasts relaxation and good times.
You can't have a room that is smoke-free sometimes. The smoke lingers, and restaurants that don't figure that out will fail over time. Just not interested in eating in that sort of environment.
i went into spanky's last month for breakfast because i was starving and having a 2 hr wait on my vehicle at jerry's chevy garage. i had low expectations because of previous experiences. however, i have to say the eggs/ham/home fries/wheat toast was perfect and i have been back twice. the service is mixed and i can't see myself going in there for lunch/dinner, but i have to recommend the joint for basic breakfast.
At the time of this review, yes, Spanky's did have an issue with being a part-time smoking area. Once the new law went into effect, Spanky's enacted measures to change the atmosphere. I am a regular patron, and have watched these changes. The dining area is now completely seperated and is a full time non-smoking area. They have added a full sized bar to the non-smoking side. Spanky's now caters to both. On the non-smoking side you no longer get the linger of smoke. As for the menu, that has been ramped up. New ingredients, and the General manager has personally improved the quality of the food. I am impressed with the changes, and I hear there will more items added soon. As for the group that was kicked out, I obviously don't know the details, but I know there are rare occasions where a group might be disruptive to the rest of the patrons and the restaurant has to make a decision on whether to as a group to leave or risk other tables leaving because of the disruptive group. Again, I don't know exactly what happened to that group, but there are always two sides of a story to consider. Overall, I think you should come back and see the changes that Spanky's has put in place. It might pleasantly surprise you.
$300 spent in a bar...sounds like someone was partying hard and the bar has every right to ask them to leave, if they got out of control.
As far as the food, the best grilled shrimp around!
Mike is right, there's a separate area for non smoking now.
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