By Zach Brown, Berks County Eats
It often takes a while before I get to return to a restaurant. Even if it’s a great meal, there are so many restaurants to try that I can go years in between meals at a given place.
Two years ago, we visited the Inn on Main in Oley for the first time. We had a great meal, and the historic inn was a beautiful setting, but we hadn’t found a time to return.
Recently, though, I was invited back to try some of the Inn’s new menu items, and I couldn’t pass it up.
We arrived on a Thursday evening and were greeted by Lexi, who was serving as hostess, server, and bartender. She seated us at a high-top in the bar room, which was surprisingly full. (There were only a couple of tables taken between the two larger dining rooms.) Almost all of the barstools were taken, as were most of the other tables.
The bar area captures the 140-year-old charm of the inn. The original stone walls are exposed above the chair rails, and the wooden beams are visible as well. The wooden floors and ceilings are contrasted by the more modern light fixtures that hang above the bar.
Our meal started with a delivery of bread and butter, two slices with a seeded crust that helped tide us over until the appetizers arrived.
The chef had selected two apps for us to try — coconut shrimp and spinach balls.
The spinach balls were like a spinach dip rolled up into six meatball-sized balls and served with a cup of homemade honey mustard, which was actually the best part of the dish. It looked nothing like store-bought honey mustard — dark in color with tiny mustard seeds. The taste was sweeter with the flavor of the mustard seeds, with mild acidity. The spinach balls themselves were good, but a little dry. But the honey mustard took care of it while adding its own flavor.
While the spinach balls were good, the coconut shrimp were our favorite of the two. Five large shrimp were breaded, deep-fried, and served with sweet chili sauce. I don’t like seafood, but I actually really enjoyed it. The panko breading was light and had the bright notes of the coconut. The sweet chili sauce wasn’t overly sweet, but I liked the little bit of heat that it brought.
We were already starting to feel full after the two appetizers, but we were still looking forward to our entrees — tenderloin tips for me and lobster roll for Julie. The meals arrived a few minutes after we finished our appetizers.
My tenderloin tips were served on a bed of mashed potatoes and topped with frizzled onions and a gorgonzola sauce. The tenderloin tips were cooked perfectly to order and flavorful on their own; the bites where I could get a little bit of everything were the best. The potatoes were garlicky, and the frizzled onions had a little unexpected kick to them. The creamy gorgonzola helped bring everything together.
The only thing I didn’t love was the green beans, the day’s seasonal side. With such strong flavors in everything else, it felt like the beans were just there because they had to be. As much food as I had already, I didn’t feel bad about leaving some green beans uneaten.
Julie loved both her lobster roll and the OV fries that came with it. The Inn on Main has three options for lobster roll. Julie got the Connecticut-style with warm butter. (They also serve Maine style with chilled mayo and OV style with warm garlic butter). There were large chunks of lobster on the classic New England-style roll. The butter perfectly complemented the rich meat. Though the sandwich wasn’t large, it was filling and satisfying.
Her OV fries, the Inn’s signature style, were also very good. The waffle fries came tossed in Old Bay with a side of cheese sauce for dipping. Simple, but delicious, we took more half of them home to enjoy the next day.
In addition to the meals, I had an iced tea while Julie tried one of the Inn’s signature cocktails: the Oley Valley pomtini — vanilla vodka, limoncello, and pomegranate juice with a sugar rim. It was strong and a little sweet — a really good drink.
Our entrees would typically cost $32 each, while the spinach balls and coconut shrimp would be $11 and $15, respectively.
We spent $75 for two entrees on our previous visit, so the prices feel comparable to two years ago and are a good value for the quality and quantity of the food. (Because I ordered off the “highlight menu,” my meal didn’t come with a side salad like the filet and other entrees.)
Despite working multiple tables and the bar, our server was attentive all evening, and the kitchen kept pace — we were finished with our meals after a little more than an hour.
Two years was too long in between meals at the Inn on Main. The food, the setting, the service — it’s all good enough to keep us coming back.
BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Ambiance: Excellent
Service: Very Good
Price: $$$
The Inn on Main
401 Main St.
Oley, PA 19547
This story was contributed courtesy of Berks County Eats, a local resource for food and dining information. Berks County Eats is dedicated to promoting the dining scene in Reading and Berks County, PA, offering restaurant reviews, news, and events, and a comprehensive Berks County restaurant directory. You can read more at berkscountyeats.com.
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