Legends' casual feel scores with serious fans

In April, Legends Sports Grille opened in the space formerly occupied by Paul Enzo's Italian Cuisine. Since then, the family-friendly sports bar has been earning a following with solid food at reasonable prices.

Motif: Each of the booths lining the spot's perimeter has its own TV set, which can be tuned to the game of your choice. If you're sitting at one of the tables in the center of the space, you can keep your eyes on the bank of sets above the bar. When the weather is nice, you can also catch all the plays on the patio. Décor is simple, with the walls decorated with lit-up beer signs. The bar currently hosts Saturday night dart tournaments and plans on also hosting bags tournaments in the parking lot.

Service: Our server was friendly and attentive and had no problem rattling off the bar's beer list when we wanted to take advantage of the night's specials. She checked in regularly to make sure we liked the food and that we were good on drinks. She quickly cleared our table as we finished dishes.

Liquid consumption: Beer is the drink of choice and the draft list features Stella Artois and Leinenkugel. Daily drink specials include $2.50 domestic bottles and $3.50 import bottles Fridays and $2 drafts on Tuesdays.

Food: We started with the $9.95 appetizer combo platter, which features generous portions of large white meat chicken fingers, breaded mushrooms, beer-battered onion rings and mozzarella sticks. The savory mushrooms were our favorite, and the mozzarella sticks were especially good, crisp on the outside and filled with creamy cheese that went well with the sweet marinara sauce. The rest of the appetizers in the sampler were solid, but the spicy buffalo sauce we got on our jumbo breaded chicken wings was disappointingly mild.

Burgers are the bar's top sellers. We tried the signature $7.75 Legends burger. The beef patty was lightly charred, which worked well with the mix of textures from the pretzel roll it's served on. The Swiss cheese, mushrooms and grilled onions gave it plenty of flavor. Our favorite dish was the barbecue ribs, which are $16.95 for a full slab or $11.95 for a half slab. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and covered with a sauce that was an excellent mix of sweet and spicy. If you're interested in lighter fare, there's also a selection of wraps and salads.

Crowd: Families pack in during dinner time along with guys in their 40s and up who come to relax at the bar with a drink. Dress is casual, with most people wearing sports team shirts, jeans and baseball caps. The kitchen doesn't close until 30 minutes before the bar does, so Legends also does plenty of late night food service, with people coming from local hotels to grab a pizza. Not surprisingly, the place can get seriously packed during big games.

Parking: The lot has plenty of free parking.

Overall: A place where entire families of fans can hang out and cheer their favorite team together.