| rev:text
| - Writing this review seems almost futile, because this place is closing on October 30th, and since all of the suburbanites decided to forgo eating at chain restaurants once the closing date was announced and make sure they ate here once before it closed, the wait for a table might be somewhat long.
However, if I didn't write this and encourage you to drop your dinner plans for the next two days and do everything in your power to eat here before it closes, I would be doing my fellow Clevelanders a disservice.
I've been to Lola once, Lolita twice, and B Spot four times. None of my meals at any of those places have been anything less than spectacular. My meal at Bar Symon, though, beats them all.
We went there on a Thursday to celebrate our 6 year anniversary of being together, and the wait was an hour long. No biggie--we put our name in and drive down the street to John Chris Winery (which I've reviewed as well) and shared a bottle of wine. We would have waited at the bar but it was packed 2 deep...and there is NOTHING I like less than eating\drinking standing up for hours at a time. When we got back, our table was ready.
I had heard from everyone imaginable that their fried chicken was great, so we got that. It was as good as advertised, with a subtly sweet breading and a delicious sauce. The fried chicken came with cheddar biscuits and some sort of greens that I didn't eat because I was too busy eating the next dish I'll describe...
We also got the pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich. When our waitress described it to us, it sounded like something we could get from Panini's, and I wavered, but my wife (Sheila F.) said it sounded great, so we got it. I am so glad we did. Seriously, this pulled pork tasted like it had just come straight from the smoker...I can't describe how good it was. I would have loved to devour the entire dish but I was too full...and I know that now that all of the flavors have had a night to soak together, the sandwich just might turn into the best leftovers ever. It also came with a side of dill pickles (probably homemade; Michael Symon has a recipe for them in his cookbook), his awesome homemade chips, and pickled red onions, which were unique and yummy.
The fact that anonymous, cookie-cutter, sterile, unimaginative restaurants at Crocker Park like Brio, The Cheesecake Factory (which is the Milli Vanilli of restaurants...it's just a big fraud), Hyde Park, T.G.I. Fridays, and Applebee's are packed on the weekends while places like Bar Symon are closing is a crying shame. It's not like Bar Symon is any more expensive than those places, and I cannot fathom why people would not want to pay decent prices for mind-blowing food. Michael Symon deserves better and I hope that he is able to re-open this restaurant in an area where people have the willingness to venture out from the ordinary and the inclination to try new foods and make their eating experience glorious exciting instead of simply something that one does in the evening when they get home. Sure, I was part of the problem--I knew about it for years but never went there (mainly because it was a very far drive) However, I was going to all of his other restaurants in Cleveland while most residents of the western suburbs who live minutes from Bar Symon were busy enjoying mass-produced cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory, warehouse-made Italian food at Brio, and factory-made burgers at T.G.I. Friday's. This is a harsh review, but I think it's disgraceful and disgusting when a high-quality, reasonably-priced, kid-friendly restaurant closes and places like The Cheesecake Factory and T.G.I. Friday's that are the Nickelback of restaurants remain open and thriving.
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