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| - Went here to have a nice meal with my wife celebrating our anniversary. Here's our visit.
Ambiance
The restaurant is lowly lit and holds a feeling of intimacy and romance. Tables are set with a simple white table cloth with a single candle in the center. One other yelper described their furniture as sexy and I agree. Sleek and sexy. Although the whole restaurant seems fancy the wall of pigs that are first seen from the front door let me know that this place isn't going to be pretentious. I hated their silverware though. I wanted a normal fork and not a squiggly design in the handle that kept my hand from ever feeling secure in its grasp.
Service
When we approached the front desk we were greeted warmly by a well dressed host. Although we were a tad late for our reservation, thank you Avengers movie for closing down whole blocks for filming, he was all smiles and quickly assured us it was no problem and that our table was all ready for us. After we were seated with menus, a busboy came by and gave us water. We then sat with our menus and water for about 15 minutes. Just sitting and reading and drinking water. The same busboy came back and refilled my girl's glass even before we saw anyone that resembled a server. An odd start but I saw that they were busy and didn't stress. When we finally did get someone to take our order he was very nice and was able to make suggestions and answer questions. He was also very paitient with my wife who was having issues making a decision on what wine to get. The one problem with the service though is that after the drinks were served and the food orders taken I really didn't see too much of our server. I would see him walk by quickly now and then but getting his attention was almost impossible. Workers running the window would come out and deliver the food to our table but when I would ask something from them, like ketchup, they seemed to have more pressing responsibilites for my request was forgotten. I even dropped my steak knife on the floor while eating my pork chop and the server wasn't around to ask for a new one making me eat my meat with a butter knife. And using that silly fork teamed up with a dull butter knife just made my time with my entree taxing.
Food
Appetizer: Goat Cheese Onion Tart. A tasty humble sized tart. Nothing amazing. Actually had a better tart with the same concept in a brewery in Galena, Illinois. Good but just hoped this tart would have been better than some brewery's version.
Entree: Smoked Berkshire Pork chop. The only thing wrong about this dish was of my own doing. After ordering the entree my server suggested to have it cooked medium and I agreed. I've never eaten pork cooked under well or medium well. I thought there was always a rule somewhere that pork shouldn't be undercooked for safety reasons, but I figured this restaurant knows what it's doing and I went for it. Bad move. Though the pork was well seasoned and delicious there were some bites that had a prominent limp texture that was chewy and unpleasing. The cheesy polenta was amazing and worked really well with the bbq sauce and pork and onions but the sometimes off pork was a mistake I wish I could take back. If I did it again I would have had the pork cooked longer and of course not drop my steak knife on the floor.
Side: Lola Fries. After reading on yelp that their fries are cooked in pork fat I needed to try them. Sadly, they were a misstep and disappointment. The fries are extra thin shoe lace fries cooked to a deep crisp and then dusted with rosemary. They were basically potato sticks you get out of a can from the gas station. I even asked for some ketchup to help out the situation but it never came and I was stuck with what I got. The pork fat made no difference in flavor to me and I barely ate any of them. They are potato chips and not french fries and I wanted french fries.
Dessert: The 6 a.m. Special. The bacon laced ice cream has the nice salt and sweet aspect going on. An issue though is that once the cream melts all is left is a mouthful of pork and therefore I would never eat it alone as normal ice cream. Thanfully it's presented in a nice breakfast food environment and it works well. The maple syrup and french toast added with the creamy bacon ice cream is a unique and tasty combination that is certainly a must try.
Final Thoughts
I wanted to love this place but I can't. Yes, I had some good food but with the service being off and on, the silverware not letting me enjoy myself, the very limited and mediocre vegetarian options for my wife, and significant price tag, my heart cannot show too much affection for this place. Is it worth a try? Yes. Especially if you are visiting Cleveland like I was and are a fan of Michael Symon like I am. But, I'm afraid this was probably a one time thing. A check mark on my "restaurant to-do list" and little more.
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