If you are someone who is looking for a restaurant close enough to campus to walk to, but still want quality food and a positive atmosphere to eat in, then you are in luck. Mobile Dogs Café, located on 10 W. Main St., can be that place. Located just one block further south from Ruby’s, take a right on Main Street, and you’re in front of one of downtown Springfield’s best hidden secrets.
When you first walk into Mobile Dogs Café in the lobby of the National City Bank building, you will see that the restaurant is not very large. In fact, the entire establishment is one room and a counter-top surrounding the food preparation area with 10 bar stools around the counter. This is a big upgrade, however, for a business that started as a hot dog cart that wanted to continue to sell food in the winter. Despite its small size, Mobile Dogs packs a taste punch when it comes to food.
Specializing in inexpensive food in large quantities, Mobile Dogs doesn’t have anything on its menu more than $6, but that $6 will take you far. I decided to go with an Italian sausage and a Coney dog in my two stops at the Springfield diner. The Italian sausage came with a garden’s worth of lettuce, mushrooms, green peppers, and onions that helped to bring out the flavor of the sausage. The sausage was so large it needed to be sliced in half in order to fit on the bun. To top it all off, I had the special Mobile Dog mustard, which gave it a bit of a kick.
The Coney dog was a great addition to a local favorite. Mobile Dogs makes their own chili and adds just enough to the hot dog to leave you satisfied but not overwhelmed by an extremely messy meal. The amount of shredded cheese on the Coney definitely serves as a reminder to how close we are to Cincinnati, as well as help keep all the food together.
In case hot dogs are not your favorite food item, Mobile Dogs is a lot more than just hot dogs. The café also serves a wide variety of breakfast meals when they open at 7 a.m. every weekday, as well as several tasty burgers and sandwiches ranging from a fried bologna sandwich to a Mobile Dog Burger. This, along with the friendly atmosphere of the restaurant, leads to a pleasant experience. While in the café, you might hear people on their lunch break talking about their families or high school sports, while treating you like a long time friend the entire time.
Open every Monday through Friday from 7 a.m to 3 p.m., Mobile Dogs is a great place to find good food during a break, as well as a place to sit down and enjoy a great meal. Dining at Mobile Dogs makes this Wittenberg student truly feel like a part of the Springfield community.
