Melt Bar and Grilled - Cleveland Heights

If you have a few hours to wait to eat go to Melt.  The original in Lakewood has been featured on Food Network.  Everyone thinks "Now, how much can you do with a grilled cheese sandwich?"  Let me tell you... a lot!  Note the special flyer below:

Specials for the week

TBG chose the Russian Roulette Frankenstein Melt at the right.  He got to chose the cheese (provolone) and then had to chose 4 cards from a pumpkin to make up his sandwich.  He got really lucky and got 3 meats that taste good together with caramelized onions.  

Picking cards for a sandwich



The Russian Roulette Sandwich picks

The rest of us ordered off the menu, but let me back up.  When you walk in there is always a bunch of people waiting for a table.  There are lots of seats around the restaurant,  but still people are standing.  We were told this time there was a 1.5 hour wait.  Not too bad, we had a snack and were prepared to wait.  There is plenty to look at and talk about on the walls and the bathrooms are filled with Cleveland memorabilia.  We walked up to the bar and got lucky by finding 4 seats together.  We had a few drinks and just decided to eat at the bar.  The drinks are plenty good enough to make you forget you are waiting to eat.  I got a Guinness martini, and the rest of our party ordered off the extensive beer menu.  The menu the food is on is smaller than the huge drink list they give you when you sit down.  The menu is written on the back of old album covers, ya know like records were in.  The first sandwich to come out was the winter chicken.  It was good, spicier than I expected, but good.  It's a chicken breast with chipotle sauce and pepper jack cheese.  The next was a cheese burger with mushrooms and provolone.  It was cooked well.  TBGs Russian Roulette was huge, and awesome.  It even came out with a matchbox car.  He liked the sandwich so much he didn't even put condiments on.  (Not even Srircha!).  I got the Smokey Russian which I loved.  It was turkey, Napa vodka kraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing.  The dressing was so good I dipped some fries in it.  All of the meals come with a side of sweet coleslaw which none of us ate because we were so stuffed. 


Winter Chicken




Cheese Burger




Russian Roulette




Smokey Russian



Decor


The price is not too bad.  Our bill was $75 after tip for 4 people to get full meals and drinks.  The parking here is kind of an issue.  We always park on a side street and don't have too much of a walk.  The service at the bar was wonderful.  I could tell she was busy, but never acted too busy for us.  All in all we love this place.  It's not somewhere we could go often due to the wait and the parking, but definitely somewhere we love to go with friends. 

Service____ 8 Chipps
Food____8 Chipps

Atmosphere____7 Chipps

Beer List____9 Chipps

Wine List____5 Chipps

Value____8 Chipps

Golden Goose - Cuyahoga Falls

**UPDATE:  Golden Goose is now Blue Door Bakery and Cafe.  Revist here**
This bakery restaurant is only open for breakfast and lunch.  I have passed it many times after work and always thought it was out of business.  I was very wrong.  We decided to try it out for breakfast and it was good.  There was no wait on a saturday morning.  The decor is a little tired.  We couldn't decide what to get so we got a few things and split them all.  First is the eggs benedict with hash browns.  It is also available in half size.  Not very much hollandaise sauce, eggs were a little too well done, but man did the english muffin make up for all that.  Homemade in their bakery, it was by far the best english muffin I have ever had.  Full of taste, large size, and great toasted texture.  We decided that we were going to have to start coming here and buying muffins and other bakery items to go.  The bakery is open till 5.  The hash browns were average.  I like mine crispier so I didn't eat them.  Next we got a side of corned beef hash.  This again, I prefer crispier.  The taste was ok and the potatoes were soft but it was not the best I have ever had.  Lastly we got the challah french toast.  This was good, I like mine soaked in more of the egg mixture, more soggy, but TBG loved it.  All in all we decided there were better places to go for breakfast, but we will definitely be back for the bakery!

Service____ 7 Chipps

Food____6.5 Chipps

Atmosphere____6 Chipps

Beer List____0 Chipps

Wine List____0 Chipps

Value____6 Chipps

Corned Beef Hash

Dontino's - Akron

Located on a busy street in Akron, there is a rather large parking lot on the side street by this restaurant.  The restaurant is bigger than it looks from the outside.  The decor is nice, updated Italian.  It was very clean.  I felt like I was part of the big Italian family that worked there.  We were there before the dinner rush and everyone was yelling across the restaurant.  I seriously felt like I was at a family reunion.  We sat by the bar and the noise level was fairly loud.  The wine list was typical Italian wines, mostly Chianti and other reds.  We enjoyed our bottle of Chianti Classico, but the glasses were laughably small.  We did not even finish the bottle over the course of the meal, it was harder to drink in our small glasses.  The water glasses were also small, but the waitress was around often to fill them up.  We started the meal with calamari.  The breading was very tasty, but the fish was a little chewy.  Next came our salads.  We got the house dressing because TBG noticed they were selling it at the door.  It was good, but there was too much in the bowl.  I had a pond left after I ate all the salad.  The salad was not all iceberg, and had very good tomatoes and beets on top.  I got the veal tortellini and TBG got cavatelli with meatballs for dinner.  Both were drenched in sauce.  Too much sauce for me but TBG used it all for his bread.  The tortellini was good, but I felt the veal was lost.  The cavatelli were good and the meatball was better than I expected.  For dessert we got the tiramisu.  It was ok, tasted pre-made.  They put a caramel and chocolate sauce on top which I enjoyed.  All in all I would say the meal was average.  If you do not cook Italian at home or know an Italian whose house you can stop by for a meal, this is a great place. I felt that my mother, any of my aunts, or my grandmother could have made this meal (without too much dressing and sauce!)  The noise level would have been the same and I would have really been at a family reunion!

Service____ 7 Chipps

Food____6.5 Chipps

Atmosphere____7 Chipps

Beer List____5 Chipps

Wine List____5 Chipps

Value____7 Chipps

Claddagh Irish Pub - Lyndhurst

Claddagh is located in Legacy Village in Lyndhurst.  It is built to look like an Irish pub.  I have never been to Ireland, but they did a good job of making Americans think this is what Ireland would look like.  We were here on a Sunday afternoon so the bar was tame, but I can imagine it gets very "Irish".  The Guinness tasted great just as it does at any bar that knows how to properly pour in America.  Everything was clean and our server was friendly.  The menu looked good, had some Irish classics as well as American burgers.  I chose the Guinness BBQ sauce ribs.  They were delicious.  The dry rub under the sauce was great, and they were tender with just the right amount of fat.  TBG started with the Guinness (we happen to really like this stout) onion soup which was pretty good.  Then he got a burger with a Jameson sauce, cheese, and onion straws.  It was messy but very good.  I don't like onion straws, but they went very well with this burger.  The coleslaw that came both meals left much to be desired, but I was too full to eat it anyway.  The fries that came with mine were average, but the chips (potato wedges for you Americans) that came with TBG's burger were good.


Service____ 7 Chipps
Food____7 Chipps
Atmosphere____8 Chipps
Beer List____5 Chipps
Wine List____3 Chipps
Value____7 Chipps

Papa Joe's - Akron

There were 2 more, but we ate them first!

Papa Joe's is located in the merriman valley.  It is a large building with an adequate parking lot.  One side is the restaurant and the other side is a wine bar with take out food.  The decor is outdated, but not dirty or cluttered.  TBG said 1975 called and wants it's fabric back.  I was greeted as soon as I walked in the door by friendly hosts and was seated right away.  The waitress showed up about a minute later.  We ordered the recommended bottle of 90 pt wine, which was sold to us at retail price from the wine bar on the other side.  It was very good.  For starters we got the crab stuffed mushrooms.  Very good.  The bread and butter that came out was also good.  They were warm and soft little ciabatta breads.  Then came salad.  We both got their signature white french dressing.  It was good, more garlicky than regular french.  After a little while (because we asked her to wait, we were relaxing with the wine) our entrees came out.  I got the Salmon with a balsamic glace and the risotto and TBG got the 1lb T-bone with risotto.  A word about the risotto: it is not risotto, not creamy and not arborio rice.  It was a very tasty rice pilaf.  The rice was cooked perfect and tasted great, but should not be called risotto.  But moving on, the salmon and steak were cooked perfectly and were very tasty.  The skin on the salmon was nice and crispy.  We don't normally get dessert, but we still had some wine left and were enjoying ourselves so we ordered the tiramisu.  This was not your typical tiramisu.  It was round, and layered.  It was light and fluffy.  It tasted awesome.  I thoroughly enjoyed this new take on tiramisu.  One of my favorite desserts, I usually cannot eat it after a big meal.  Lady fingers soaked in espresso and covered in cheese is decadent and heavy.  This was definitely not heavy.  We both finished it very fast and could not believe how light it was.  It did not leave us feeling bloated and sleepy (that was the wine!) 

Service____ 8 Chipps
Food____8 Chipps
Atmosphere____7 Chipps
Beer List____6 Chipps
Wine List____8 Chipps
Value____8 Chipps

The Office Bistro & Lounge - Akron

Located on a busy street in North Akron there isn't much parking for The Office.  TBG dropped me off at the door and looked for a parking spot in the rain.  As I was waiting for him I stood at the bar.  There was no hostess stand and no one helped me or asked me what I needed.  As I waited noticed how clean the place was, also how terribly bright the lights were.  When TBG finally came in we wandered into the back of the restaurant where a passing server told us to sit at a table against the wall.  We did, and we waited.  At first we were looking at the menu, then we were talking about our day.  Finally TBG said, you know we have been sitting here for 7 minutes and no one has even came to the table?  The same server that seated us showed up and asked if we had been helped.  When we said we had not he took our drink orders and left to find our server.  10 minutes later our server returned with our drinks from the bar.  He seemed in a hurry and took our appetizer order.  We were there on a Friday night, but it was still early enough that they were not full.  20 minutes later we still did not have our appetizers and no one else had talked to us.  Our drinks had been long finished and we were definitely not happy.  At one point TBG stated  how he actually felt uncomfortable there.  The lights were too bright, the paintings were cheap, and no one seemed to care we were there.  He wanted to leave way before I did.  I wanted to give them a chance and see how the food was.  Eventually we just couldn't take it anymore.  TBG got up to find a manager.  He came back and informed me there was no manager on duty.  Apparently the manager is the owner and he did not feel the need to come to work on a Friday during happy hour. Finally the bartender came over and said that we did not need to pay for our drinks, it was on him and he was sorry.  TBG tipped him because he was the only one that talked to us and he did make our drinks.  We left and had a much nicer experience at Papa Joe's (review to follow).
Now here is the review of things we could review.  My martini was very good, I got the "White Out".  It was cookies and cream.  The menu all had "Office" type names like the executive and the office flirt.  I really wanted to try the food because it all sounded good.  The app we had ordered was risotto cruets, and I was eyeing the sweet potato gnocchi for dinner.  The restaurant was smaller than it looked from the outside.  Happy hour prices are good, but only apply on the bar side of the resturant.  A martini and beer cost $6 more on the other side of the wall.  My guess is if you only want martinis and sit at the bar then this place is for you. 

Service____ 1 Chipps
Food____?? Chipps
Atmosphere____5 Chipps
Beer List____4 Chipps
Wine List____3 Chipps
Value____4 Chipps

Golden Dragon - Cuyahoga Falls

Octopus Salad

Golden Dragon is a very large restaurant, but if you can, sit at the sushi bar.  The owners/sushi chefs are hilarious and always entertaining the guests.  The rest of the restaurant is reminiscence of older, tacky Chinese restaurants.  They do have pretty good food.  On this trip we got a little of everything.  Pork fried rice, a spicy crab roll, beef pho, octopus salad, and negi maki.  The rice is a very large portion and always good, lots of pork.  The spicy crab roll is made from real crab, and a lot of it.  The pho was pretty good, it did not come with all the toppings like at #1 pho, but still good.  This was a special for the day, it is not always on the menu.  The octopus salad and sushi is not for me but TBG liked it.

Service____ 8 Chipps
Food____7 Chipps
Atmosphere____5 Chipps
Beer List____6 Chipps
Wine List____3 Chipps
Value____6 Chipps

Sushi Bar

Negi Maki

beef pho

Samira - Cuyahoga Falls

View from our table

Mac & Cheese appetizer



The burger, those chips really were that big!



Shrimp Po Boy

Located on Riverfront this building is perfect for a successful restaurant.  Overlooking the falls completely on one side and a patio on another, this is where I would want to take someone visiting Cuyahoga Falls.  For some reason there has been a string of unsuccessful restaurants in this building, but Samira is here to change that.  We went on a Saturday afternoon in the winter time.  The view of the falls from our table was outstanding.  The decor is clean, with old pictures around.  One drawback is they have plastered their name everywhere, even on the paper covering the table.  I don't blame them really, they are trying to distinguish themselves from the other failed tries at that location, but it does come off as tacky.  The food was delightful.  We started the meal with the Mac & Cheese appetizer.  It was great, the blu cheese really added to it and the sausage just gave it some depth.  We also got the spinach dip.  This was not as good.  I would say average, but it did have fresh spinach and was definitely made there.  The flatbread that came with it tasted good, but didn't hold up well to dipping.  I got a pizza with portebella mushrooms, spinach, feta cheese, chipotle oil, and red pepper flakes.  It was good, and even better leftover.  Our wine guy got a shrimp po boy and said it was good.  It had fried green tomatoes on it, a special sauce, and came with seasoned fries.  They call the fries "Jazzed".  TBG got a burger with samira sauce and homemade chips.  He said the burger was messy but tasted high quality and the sauce was very good.  We all agreed everything tasted fresh and homemade.  Definately a place we will be going back to. 

Service____ 9 Chipps

Food____8 Chipps

Atmosphere____9 Chipps

Beer List____7 Chipps

Wine List____7 Chipps

Value____7 Chipps

Spinach dip

Decor

Pub Bricco - Akron

Located in the valley surrounded by plenty of other bars, Pub Bricco stands out in decor.  With a comfortable irish feel with plenty of wood and a decent size, I do enjoy the atmosphere.  The service is usually slow and the food cannot be compared to the original Bricco in downtown Akron.  We have been here a few times and this last time was definitely the best experience.  We waited about a half hour, on a Saturday night this is to be expected.  The thing I do not like about waiting here is there is no place to wait.  We had to stand in front of the door with our party of 5 and always felt in the way.  The food has always been slightly disappointing.  This time TBG got a burger and liked it.  It was cooked properly and was tasty, although everything with a fried egg and bacon is tasty!  I got the buffalo chicken wontons and they were way overcooked.  They were a dark brown and dry on the inside.  The sauce was good, but overall I did not enjoy.  The drinks we ordered took a little while to come, but it was a busy Saturday night and the waitress apologized for the wait.  The food did not take long.  If you live in the valley and aren't looking for much but a good beer this may be the place to go. 

Service____ 7 Chipps
Food____5 Chipps
Atmosphere____9 Chipps
Beer List____7 Chipps
Wine List____4 Chipps
Value____5 Chipps