Photograph by Douglas Rider

Always Changing: Angelo and Marina Nikitas have owned the Sherwood Inn restaurant and lounge for the last 23 years and offer a variety of dishes to their customers.




Sherwood Inn keeps WG customers very interested

By Susan Wiedmann

First things first: The Sherwood Inn is a restaurant and lounge, not a motel. Its owners, Angelo and Marina Nikitas, say they have received so many calls over the years from insistent people wanting to reserve a room, that now they often just laugh and say, "There is no room at the inn."

Angelo and Marina kept the Sherwood Inn name after they bought the restaurant at 2988 Almaden Expressway in 1979. They removed its Robin Hood motifs but kept an antique English clock, which is prominently displayed above the original floor-to-ceiling faux fireplace. Outside, under the tall "Sherwood Inn" sign above the roof, a large green cow looks out at the expressway. That cow is now a San Jose landmark and dates back about 30 years to when another restaurant owned the building.

The Sherwood Inn is part of the small, almost unnoticeable Lincoln Glen Center, just north of Foxworthy Avenue on Almaden Expressway. But word-of-mouth from long-time customers has served Angelo and Marina well for 23 years.

"People pass by for years and never come in," Angelo Nikitas says. "As soon as they come in one time, they fall in love with the place and become regulars."

In addition to a full breakfast menu, lunch and dinner menus offer something for everyone, such as prime rib, seafood, BBQ spareribs and pasta primavera. Lunch and dinner specials change every day, and all entrees are served with soup and salad, coffee or tea, and dessert. Popular salads include Chinese chicken salad with mandarin oranges, stuffed avocado with shrimp, seafood salad and Caesar salad, among others. All dressings are homemade, as are the soups and sauces.

Appetizers are also numerous and include coconut prawns, chicken wings, spare ribs, steak and mushrooms, fried zucchini, onion rings and quesadillas. From 3 to 6 p.m., all appetizers are half price in the lounge, which features a long bar, tables, two TVs, electronic dart games, a golf game and a jukebox filled with 99 CDs. Another popular lounge offering is a steak sandwich or steak and eggs, with a bloody Mary, served 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Breakfast at the Sherwood Inn is officially served daily 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., lunch 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and dinner 3 p.m. to 10 p.m., but the cooks will prepare breakfast throughout the day upon request. The Early Bird dinner, 3 p.m. to 6.pm., is a full dinner entree with soup or salad and is popular with seniors.

The lounge and restaurant seat 205 people, and a banquet room seats 45, with private parties sometimes also taking over the adjacent lounge for special functions. On a few occasions, the restaurant has even shut down to hold wedding receptions and graduation parties. Although they have 17 employees, Angelo and Marina put in long hours, but they view their customers as friends stopping by for a visit.

"We're people persons," Marina Nikitas says. "It's not out of the ordinary to see one of us sitting with a customer, sharing a glass of wine, talking about our kids or families. We're down-to-earth people." They even give special attention to the customers they know are counting Weight Watcher's points or relying on low-carbohydrate foods.

An unusual feature in the restaurant is a television screen showing a California Lottery Keno game in progress. Along with other California lottery games, it can be played in the lounge.

Reservations are taken for parties of six or more. A heated outdoor patio doubles as a waiting area.

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Sherwood Inn, 2988 Almaden Expressway (at Foxworthy). Restaurant open Sunday through Thursday 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Lounge open Monday through Friday noon to 2 a.m., weekends 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. For more information, call 408.266.2480.

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