O'Harley's Sports Bar is a Slam Dunk for Low-Maintenance Vegetarians

I woke up Friday morning to messages from a few sports-reporter friends who commented on my interest in March Madness. One comment, from one of my closest friends who's reporting from Tucson, said I needed to study up on college ball.

I admit it (not that it's a secret, really). I don't know much about sports, but I love joining in on the fun of the brackets. And if anything, it's probably the Chinese competitive spirit in me that forces me to want to win some extra cash in the office pool...but I love this time of the year as much as any American.

So as I contemplated which restaurant I'd focus on this week for my Hold the Meat affair, it was easy to choose —a spot that could be the focus of my review while I catch some of the games and brush up on my knowledge of the tourney. And as soon as I walked in, I set up shop on the table closest to one of the biggest televisions in the restaurant-bar ... and the conversation with the server who immediately greeted me went like this:

Me: What's the best vegetarian dish here?

Server: Um...

Me: Oh, I'm not expecting the most amazing vegetarian dish from a bar, but what do you recommend from what you've got?

Server: The cheese ravioli is good with pesto.

Me: I'll take it.

And my attention was back to the Villanova-George Mason game.

The ravioli and the Greek side salad I ordered came out quickly despite the lunch rush. The cheese ravioli was simply made and drenched in pesto sauce and served with a slice of garlic bread, while the Greek salad was completed with romaine lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, a pepperoncini and both feta and mozzarella cheese.

At first bite, I could taste the excess salt in the cheese ravioli, which was served lukewarm. The salad met the expectations of any salad that could be found in a moderate sports bar. What was impressive, though, was the garlic bread, which was surprisingly quite delicious and would be even better if it was served warm.

Despite the fact that the dishes were ultimately unimpressive, I wasn't disappointed. In fact and if anything, I was appreciative of the server who catered to the workin’ woman by finding an outlet for me to plug in my laptop while rooting for my picks on the big, pretty TV.

Besides, any sensible human being wouldn't expect to have the most amazing meal at a sports bar either.

So the moral of this story?

Thank goodness George Mason won, otherwise my bracket would need serious NCAA-type ICU treatment (at least, I think it would...) and the fries that I ended up ordering after tossing the salty ravioli aside were delicious.

Vegetarian-friendliness on a scale of 1-10: 8. The ravioli gets a 5 and the server gets a 3 for stepping on a chair to plug my laptop into the random outlet on the ceiling after telling me I was too short to do it on my own, even in my Betsy pumps.