rev:text
| - This is my mother's absolute favorite place to eat so I've been a few times, and while she is a lover of European seafood and fanciness and doting, nigh-overbearing wait staff, I am a bit put off by all three. It's definitely a bit stuffy in there, and I think it might be the only restaurant I've been in that has a sign out front about "proper attire." The decor is very clean, very fancy, and pretty old-fashioned. I would complain about the silliness of being stuck in the 18th century, but hey, it's basically the only traditional fancypants restaurant in Cleveland proper, so it's a nice change of pace.
Let's get down to brass tacks. The food is pretty darn good. They know how to cook a steak, they know how to sear some tuna, and they know how to cook veggies and season food. It's hard to order anything and be disappointed. Their lobster mashed potatoes are absolutely to die for, and as an Irishman with a crippling addiction to mashers, I can say that with confidence. Everything is prepared with a light touch, nothing overdressed. If there's one place in Cleveland to go for precise, expert cooking and consistency, Blue Point is probably that place.
The flip side to this consistency is that they don't bring a lot of fresh ideas to the menu. Blue Point is the kind of place to go for solid, mostly traditional fare. Nothing will blow your socks off with its novelty, I can promise you that.
The price certainly matches the food-- no surprises here, obviously, but it's definitely on the higher end. For most of us, it's a special-occasion kind of place to eat. It's not to the point of being silly, like certain super-fancy restaurants that charge a ton just because they can (Morton's comes to mind... eurgh).
Go there on a weekend night for the added bonus of people-watching the crazy drunks stumbling around West 6th out the floor-to-ceiling windows!
Bottom line: damn good food, high prices but not sky-high, awesome service, and the fanciest pants that downtown Cleveland has to put on. Definitely recommended if you're looking for a nice night out in the 216!
|