116 Miami Street, Urbana, Ohio : 937-653-6060
116 Miami Street, Urbana, Ohio : 937-653-6060
A native of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Chef Robert (Bob) Arnold started in the restaurant business, at the tender age of twelve. By the time he was fourteen, Bob worked overnight in a restaurant bakery, where he learned the importance of making all his products from scratch (and yes, you can tell and taste the difference).
At the age of fifteen, Bob's mentor, Baker Cliff, suffered five heart failures in five days (pleased to say that Cliff survived but was permanently benched: no pun intended). This left Bob alone to run the bakeshop and begin a life of attention to detail in the culinary arts.
After a brief stop in pre-medical studies Bob returned to his calling. After all, your chef is more important than your doctor; you'll see your chef several times a year but you're usually avoiding your doctor like the plague.
From Nantucket to Providence, Rhode Island, to Washington, DC, to Columbus, and finally to Urbana, Chef Bob has plied this trade, these thirty-four years with one axiom:
By the way, in case you're wondering why Chef Bob landed in Urbana, the answer is simple. He married a native 25 years ago. Happy to say chef beat the odds in marriage and restaurant business.
"I dedicate everything to Roberta, she who is my wife."
Located in downtown Urbana's historic district, Roberts on Miami is housed in a building built in the mid 1880's.
Originally opened as a saloon by Cornelius Breslin, great-grandfather of our webmaster, 116 Miami St has served as a grocery, electrical supply store, the Prince motor Co., the Palm Grill and most recently, as the Urbana Moose Lodge.
Chef Bob and his wife Roberta spent long hours to restore the façade of the building to the image of a 1930s photograph they unearthed with the help of the Urbana Historical Association.
Inside Robert's, we have created an atmosphere of soothing colors and turn-of-the-century ambience including a copper-top bar, a tin ceiling and a relaxing dining experience. Robert's welcomes diners who wish to step out of the rough-and-tumble rush of society and chain restaurants and into the calm civility of times gone by.
Your table beckons: Will you answer the call?