For a comfortable place without pretense, reasonable prices, good food and a pleasant atmosphere, Fairways delivers. This eatery tucked in next to a service station on the corner of W. Central Avenue and Centennial in Sylvania has proven to be a consistent winner.
Fairways is owned and operated by Jeff Kaminsky, a long time Toledo restaurateur as the proprietor of the Park Ave Cafe at Franklin Park Mall in the 1980’s, Max’s Diner on Reynolds Rd in the 1990’s and then with Applebees for almost 2 decades. Jeff’s wife Kathy helps in the front of the house on nights and weekends. This iteration of Fairways has been open for 2 years. The prior owner also owned the nearby and now closed Spuyten Duyval golf course which gave rise to the restaurant’s name, but now it is no longer a sports bar, but rather a comfortable place for a meal and a drink. Kaminsky explains the motto of the eatery, “Where acquaintances become friends,” adding, “We (Kathy and I) were regulars before we purchased the place and we became friends with many of the regulars, so we adopted that as our slogan.”
The interior is cozy, but always seems to have sufficient seating. The bar area is connected to the dining area but separated by a four foot partition wall. Soups, salads, sandwiches and entrées are all prepared carefully, with adequate or beyond portion sizes.
Patio time in Toledo
The addition of a spacious outdoor patio and bar is an added reason to stop at The Fairways. With an outside bar that seats 15 or 20 surrounded by four tops and several larger rounds, the patio comfortably accommodates 50 to 60 people. Regular entertainment featuring musical combos and trios is pleasant and enhances the atmosphere.
The menu includes a variety of offerings with housemade soups, salads (the menu lists over a dozen options) sandwiches — from burgers to chicken, tuna, perch, cod and more — to entrees, including steaks, seafood, kabobs and pasta.
A rotating soup of the day and the standards, chili and French onion and clam chowder, are under $5 a bowl. Entrées range from a rib-eye steak (which is actually very good and reasonably priced at $19.99), BBQ ribs, chicken in various preparations, fish, including perch, walleye and salmon, along with several pasta dishes, all are moderately priced, and served as dinners, including potato or vegetable and soup or salad, for under $20.
Not fancy, just good
The service staff is friendly and accommodating. In fact, the servers are always pleasant and accommodating on any visit and that good feeling permeates the entire eatery, from the hearty greetings of the owners to the servers and the other support staff.
Although the Fairways is “nothing fancy,” it really doesn’t need to be. It is refreshing as the comfortable setting accomplishes exactly what Jeff and Kathy Kaminsky set out to do: create a friendly place with good food at fair prices, with music on the patio from 6-9 pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and the house signature Brandy Alexanders available every day. For a straight shot, choose the Fairways.
M-Th: 11am – 10pm
F-Sat: 11am – 11pm
Closed Sunday
8256 W Central Ave.
419-517-4653
