Editor’s Note: Panevino now operates as a special event venue and caterer. In 2021, Panevino moved to a new location in Wernersville where they continue to focus on catering.

In the early years of Berks County Eats (circa 2012-13), blog posts were sporadic.

For those two years, I only did 12 restaurant reviews. Two of those restaurants have closed, two of them have moved. The other eight continue on, and for me, they are simply noted by an “x” on my spreadsheet of Berks County restaurants.

In May of 2013, I checked Panevino off my list. Three years and three months have passed since Julie and I visited the Italian restaurant on the corner of Second and Washington, across from the Reading Movies 11 & IMAX.

Thirty-nine months later, it was time to go back.

Panevino is in a tough location. It doesn’t have the visibility of Penn Street, and so far, it remains the only business among several empty storefronts on the first floor of the Albert Boscov Plaza.

On the plus side, Panevino customers can enjoy free parking in the garage above it.

Both Julie and I were surprised to see all of the open tables when we arrived for our reservations. It began to fill up as we ate, but the spacious dining room still looked empty.

Our waitress dropped off our menus, which were different than what I found on Panevino’s website. Slightly pared down, all of the entrees now come with an appetizer and dessert included so there is no excuse for leaving hungry.

Before our apps arrived, we were treated to an excellent sampling of parmesan pita bread with white bean hummus. It was compliments of the chef, not something available on the menu, but it was delicious. The small portion left us wanting more.

Instead, we were served our choice of bread: focaccia (Julie), ciabatta (me) or asiago cheese (odd bread out) with olive oil for dipping. I would have liked a little bit of seasoning in the oil, but the breads were good, especially the focaccia.

Up next were our appetizers. For me, it was the arancini di riso, three large fried balls of rice, meat, peas and cheese, served with mushroom sauce.

There was definitely plenty of rice and a nice amount of meat, but I don’t remember seeing many peas. The mushroom sauce was good, if a little thin. The rice definitely soaked it up well, though.

Julie, on the other hand, was a huge fan of her spicy crab and clam chowder. Not too spicy, the chowder was loaded with tomato, potatoes, a little bit of celery and plenty of clam and crab. There was never an empty spoonful, and each one was delicious.

She was also a big fan of her eggplant parmesan.

The battered eggplant was layered with Grand Padano (comparable to Parmesan) and mozzarella cheeses. The eggplant was cut so thin that it almost disguised itself as lasagna.

Everything worked together – the eggplant, cheese and a very good tomato sauce – for a delicious dish.

I decided to go with the rigatoni. I normally wouldn’t have gone with something so boring, but the roasted red pepper sauce sold me on it.

The sweet Italian sausage was very good, but I wanted just a little more red pepper in my sauce. It was there, but it didn’t distinguish it enough from a traditional tomato sauce.

It was a good meal, though I was left wanting something just a little more to make it feel special.

Dessert definitely did not disappoint.

I was torn between the crème brulee and the peach and blueberry cobbler, finally settling on the cobbler. I made the right decision.

The blueberry-heavy sauce had bubbled over the sides of the mug with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Slices of peach were scattered beneath the puffy pastry topping.

It was just a little sweeter than I would have liked, but it was still an amazing ending to my meal.

Julie’s sweet treat was New York cheesecake with orange sauce, garnished with strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. It was delicious, especially with that hint of citrus throughout.

That wasn’t the only sweet treat that my wife enjoyed during our visit. Her chocolate raspberry martini lasted her through the meal.

And for two entrees, two appetizers, a pair of desserts and a martini, we still paid only $50. We’ve paid more than twice as much for three-course meals other places.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Panevino is not fine dining. They try hard, but it’s not the same as a meal at Dan’s at Green Hills or Heirloom.

Still, it was a nice night out in an underappreciated restaurant.

Editior’s Note: Pretzel Revolution & Creamery closed on December 31, 2016.

It was in March when Julie and I made our first visit to Pretzel Revolution and Creamery.

We were both fans of the stuffed soft pretzels from our visits to the original Pretzel Revolution in Kutztown, and were beyond excited to have a location closer to home.

The fact that the new Route 12 location served ice cream was just a bonus.

We enjoyed small cones of ice cream on that trip, but it was really all about the pretzels. On our return visit, we skipped dinner and went straight for dessert.

Pretzel Revolution expanded their hours since our last visit, and since May have been open every night until 10 p.m. That makes it a lot easier for us to get there on a weeknight, especially when all we need is dessert.

There was a family of three sitting at one table and an older couple at another when we arrived around 9.

Pretzel Revolution has both Kreider Farms and Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream. I didn’t even look at the Kreider Farms flavors. (No offense).

On our last visit, I had the Berkey Creamery’s most famous flavor: peachy Paterno. This time, I went with another Hall of Fame flavor, keeney beaney.

Keeney beaney uses chocolate ice cream as its delicious base, but it’s made even better by the addition of chocolate chips and vanilla bean.

Berkey Creamery ice cream is not quite as creamy or heavy as Longacre’s Modern Dairy, but it is heavy enough. And I always love the combination of vanilla and chocolate. Everyone makes a vanilla ice cream with chocolate swirl so I really appreciated getting the reverse.

Julie went with even more chocolate for her cone, ordering the death by chocolate ice cream. The creamery’s version of death by chocolate features chocolate flakes, fudge pieces and chocolate swirl.

She really enjoyed it, especially on her pretzel cone. I just wish there was a pretzel bakery nearby that could do a homemade pretzel cone (hint, hint).

Pretzel Revolution and Creamery is the only place in Berks County where you can find Penn State’s fantastic ice cream flavors. And the price of $8 and change for our two specialty cones was equally fantastic.

On our trips to Pretzel Revolution and Creamery, we have enjoyed both the stuffed pretzels and the ice cream.

While there, I also saw a sign saying they were now serving pretzel pizzas.

Sounds like I’ll be going back again soon.

Editor’s Note: The Stony Run Inn is closed. The restaurant closed at the start of the pandemic and never reopened.

For an area that has such a long, proud German heritage, there aren’t many places to enjoy traditional German food.

Sure, you can find Pennsylvania Dutch pot pie and shoofly pie, but I’m talking about German food: schnitzel, wurst, sauerkraut, etc. With the exception of private clubs like the Reading Liederkranz and the Evergreen Club, there just aren’t places to find it around the city.

It’s here in Berks County, you just have to be willing to drive for it. And that’s just what we decided to do.

We drove north, north of Kutztown along Route 737. We drove past the I-78 construction and the abandoned Krumsville Diner. We drove past the Gunmakers’ Fair at Dixon’s Muzzleloading Shop, continuing north until we saw the German Bundesdienstflagge hanging from the front porch of the Stony Run Inn.

The Stony Run Inn began as the Wessnersville Hotel in 1856, according to the history on the restaurant’s website. But it is only in past decade that it has been known for Old World specialties. After some down years, new owners stepped up in September to rejuvenate the restaurant.

Since then, the response has been overwhelmingly positive across all review sites. I couldn’t wait to see what the fuss is all about.

The dining room isn’t very large so we called ahead to make reservations, just in case. We had to wait in the bar area, only briefly, while they finished clearing and resetting our table. There was one other couple waiting with us — without reservations — who had to wait just a few minutes longer.

Once seated, we had another short wait until the waiter took our order, but he was quick and attentive thereafter, dropping off our bread and dipping oil just a few moments later.

I don’t normally comment on the dipping oil, but this was worth mentioning. The herbs and spices were unique. Salt, oregano, garlic and paprika combined for a salty dip with the mildest afterburn that we both really enjoyed.

The menu, like the dining area, is small. It’s a single sheet of paper, two-sided, with appetizers, salads and sides on the front, burgers, sandwiches and entrees on the back.

While some of the burgers did sound good (especially the Hunters: beef tenderloin tips in Burgundy sauce with mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and bacon), I had my heart set on an Old World German-Austrian dish.

The Austrian Bauernschmaus was a mini smorgasbord. Four kinds of meats — bratwurst, smoked sausage, roast pork and smoked pork — served with mashed potatoes and a healthy portion of sauerkraut.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything on the plate, but my favorite was the smoked pork. The meat was tenderized and flattened like unbreaded schnitzel. Though it took only six bites to down, each one was heavenly.

The smoked sausage was cut like a bloomin’ onion, with four petals all connected at the base. It had a nice, mild heat, the spiciest of any of the four meats on the plate. The bratwurst was very good, and even the roast pork, which was basically ham, was enjoyable, especially with the light au jus-like sauce.

I really liked the sauerkraut. It was a little more sour than I usually prefer, but was great mixed in with the mashed potatoes.

All in all, I couldn’t complain about anything on my plate.

Julie, meanwhile, was in love with her dish.

Her chicken paprikash included a chicken breast in a paprika roux, served with red cabbage and spätzle. The sauce was exceptional, with a truly unique flavor from anything else we have found.

The spätzle was a little al dente and very buttery. And the red cabbage was done just right, with maybe just a hint of vinegar.

After she finished, she called it one of the best meals that she has had in a long time.

Of course, we couldn’t skip dessert once the waiter told us there was apple strudel.

It was definitely worth it. The filling was spot-on with the right amount of brown sugar to sweeten the apples further. Strudel dough is always thin, but this was flaky like filo, making it feel much lighter.

We were more than full by the time we finished the last bite. But we both agreed that it was $53 well-spent for one of the better meals in recent memory.

Stony Run is about a 40-minute drive for us from Wyomissing. That’s not exactly right around the corner.

But if you have a craving for good German food, it’s definitely worth the drive.

BCE Rating
Food: Very Good
Service: Good
Ambiance: Good
Price: Reasonable

Stony Run Inn
2409 PA-737
Kempton, PA 19529