| rev:text
| - I couldn't have had a better experience at 21 Lounge. My wife and I walked in on a cold Monday night in December, and the place was pretty empty. A delivery person from GrubHub came in 3-4 times during our visit, so it seemed like most folks were skipping the cold and having their food delivered. Not my wife and I. We saw 4.5 star reviews, and we to get inside.
I remember 21 Lounge from it's days as Cleats. While I'm a fan of Cleats, this experience was a giant upgrade over the previous concept. Why? The food. What an upgrade. You can tell there is real work put into this food, and the owners themselves tend to do most of the cooking. There is real care, and they trust themselves to make your dining experience great.
We ordered a few beers, some matzo ball soup, and our entrees at the same time. The owner was nice enough to ask us what we wanted to watch on TV, giving us the free range to watch anything our hearts desired from the Columbus Blue Jackets to Matlock. Now that's service. Due to the slow night, we really got to have some great conversations with the owner about the culture and renaissance of downtown Cleveland, and how things had changed over the years. She wasn't pining for tips, just looking to talk and hopefully enlighten about our comeback city.
Our matzo ball soup was made with care. A humongo squishy, juicy matzo ball can really brighten one's gloomy day. Then, the burgers. My, oh my these burgers. First off, they're huge. Secondly, they're accompanied with about a half pound (or more) of fries. The plate is filled. I recommend you upgrade to the 21 fries (served with some delicious parmesan and chipotle ketchup). I ordered "The Fried Egg" because I'm such a sucker for a fried egg on a burger. The yolk added some extra flavor, but the burger itself was cooked perfectly medium and packed full of flavor. I could not put it down.
It wasn't just the burgers that impressed, as my wife ordered the 21 Chicken Club, and it is sure a club you want to join. Grilled Chicken | fried egg | apple wood bacon | tomato | red onion | lettuce | cheddar | sour dough | fries | aioli. If you can join all of those ingredients into a perfect harmony inside a club sandwich, you have won my heart and the heart of many others. My wife NEVER finishes her plate. But this time, it wasn't even a hesitation, the plate was cleaned before mine.
This place gets pretty busy before/after sports games, and I would certainly recommend it during those times. But I'd recommend it even more during their slow periods. The prices are very affordable, and they often run a Yelp deal to knock a few bucks off the bill. We'll be regulars.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)