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<\/p>\nBy Zach Brown, Berks County Eats<\/p>\n
Sometimes, simple is better.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong, there are some great restaurants in Berks County that have adventurous, creative menus. But for a quick lunch or a simple dinner with the family, less is more.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the case at The Dog House.<\/p>\n
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The restaurant has been a staple on Lancaster Avenue for more than 45 years. While the sign out front is retro cool, the inside feels clean and modern with wood floors, black tables and chairs, counter seating, and a stainless steel order counter.<\/p>\n
Above the order counter, the menu is scrawled out in colored marker on a black dry-erase board. It\u2019s simple at its core: burgers and hot dogs (with hamburger BBQ and a pork roll sandwich thrown in) with fries, coleslaw, and soup on the side.<\/p>\n
Simple doesn\u2019t mean boring, though. There are more than 20 specialty dogs and burgers to choose from, everything from California cheeseburgers and Chicago dogs to local twists like the Berks County dog with American cheese, scrapple, and bacon, or the Pagoda dog topped with hamburger BBQ.<\/p>\n
I was flying solo on my visit and wanted to taste as much as I could, so I ordered a Coney burger, a bacon BBQ dog, and a small order of fries.<\/p>\n
My food was out quickly \u2014 the burgers and dogs were ready and just needed assembling. I started in on the burger first, a traditional Coney burger with chili and cooked onions. The no-bean chili sauce was mild with a subtle flavor compared to the onions. The burger itself was a pretty standard fast-food patty, so the chili did add a little extra savory flavor to it. The bun was a bit soggy by the end, but I had the fries to scoop up any sauce that fell out.<\/p>\n
The fries were very good, fresh-cut and piping hot. The closest comparison I have to them is the fries from the Oley Fair. I gave them a little spritz of vinegar from the squeeze bottle on one of the tables and enjoyed every bite.<\/p>\n
The hot dog was solid, too. It came topped with cheddar cheese, BBQ sauce, and a strip of bacon. The Dog House uses Berks hot dogs, which I love. And BBQ bacon is usually my go-to burger order, so I knew I would enjoy the flavor combination of the toppings.<\/p>\n
With a bottle of iced tea to go with it, my total was just $17. It was more than enough food (though I forced it all, anyway), and I would have been fine with either a burger or a hot dog, so I count this among the best bargains out there.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s nothing fancy about The Dog House. It\u2019s good food and fast service \u2014 simplicity at its best.<\/p>\n
BCE Rating
Food: Good
Ambiance: Good
Service: Very Good
Price: $<\/p>\n
The Dog House
1216 Lancaster Ave.
Reading, PA 19607<\/p>\n
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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\u00a0restaurant reviews,\u00a0news,\u00a0and\u00a0events, and a comprehensive\u00a0Berks County restaurant directory.\u00a0You can read more at\u00a0berkscountyeats.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Zach Brown, Berks County Eats Sometimes, simple is better. Don\u2019t get me wrong, there are some great…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228834,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[128,130,129],"class_list":["post-228833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}