Try the Toledo Tradition Known as Netty’s Famous Chili Dogs

Even on a rainy Friday night, customers line up at Netty’s Famous Chili Dogs in Marblehead. Couples, dads and daughters dressed for a school dance and dog walkers alike wait patiently outside the service window for Netty’s beloved, secret-recipe chili dogs, french fries and ice cream. 

Most Friday nights (and most nights in general, especially during the spring and summer) have been like this as long as Tammy Bartzen can remember. Bartzen, who started working at Netty’s when she was in eighth grade at Danbury Local Schools across the street, co-owns the Marblehead Netty’s with her husband, Joe. 

Bartzen learned the business from the original Marblehead Netty’s owner, who was a good friend of Al Netterfield, the man who started the franchise in Toledo in 1978. Netterfield and his wife owned  the popular Netterfield’s Famous Fish & Chips before retiring. They decided to convert their restaurant to a seasonal business that would close in the winter. So, Netterfield took his family’s chili-dog recipe, added root beer and ice cream to the menu and began opening Netty’s stands across Toledo. Today, there are five locations in the city and one in Marblehead. 

“The chili dogs obviously are the most popular,” Bartzen says. “They’re made with a family-owned recipe from the [Netterfield] family in Toledo. They make the sauce there and ship it to us.”

The recipe for the chili-dog sauce is such closely guarded secret that even Bartzen doesn’t know it. Ice cream is also popular at the various Netty’s locations across the region, and the Marblehead spot is the only Netty’s that has french fries. 

“We have chili cheese fries,” Bartzen says. “The people go crazy for our fries. They’re always hot and fresh when you get them.” 9410 E. Harbor Rd., Marblehead 43440, 419/798-5050, nettys.com

For more Ohio food-and-drink inspiration, sign up for our Ohio Magazine newsletters.

Ohio Magazine is available in a beautifully designed print issue that is published 7 times a year, along with Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter editions of LongWeekends magazine. Subscribe to Ohio Magazine and stay connected to beauty, adventure and fun across our state.