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| - Take a slightly confusing concept, add an unnecessarily long wait time, sprinkle on some high prices and throw in some just OK food and you've got the recipe for a big loaf of letdown. For me, Local West was just disappointing.
Another new addition to the Cleveland-area fast-casual dining scene, Local West, calling themselves a "craft sandwich and beer bistro" just didn't live up to my expectations. The basic concept is upscale sandwiches and burgers made to order using locally-sourced ingredients. Oh, and they have some bottled craft beer and wine for sale. Nothing new, that's for sure, but Local West definitely has some work to do.
The building, which looks to have housed a KFC at one point, has had many tenants over the years including something called the Greek Grill Cafe. The new occupants have done a pretty good job of transforming it into something of a Chipotle-esque eatery complete with open kitchen in the back, wood-topped tables, aluminum chairs and lots more wood covering the walls and ceiling. It's brightly lit, open and has a nice vibe.
The menu features burgers and sandwiches, all made with Ohio-raised protein, along with a few other items I'd lump under "other" like poutine and grilled octopus. A handful of salads and pita pizzas round out the offering. Burger prices (which include a side) range from $8 for your basic cheeseless LTO up to $13 for their top-of-the-line bacon, ham, cheddar and fried egg variant. Other sandwiches on the menu will set you back about $10 and everything's served a la carte, with sides like sweet potato fries and 4-bean salad coming in around $3.50 each.
The concept is supposed to be your basic made-to-order, fast casual type of restaurant, but it gets a bit muddled in this particular model. As I mentioned earlier, it's not very straight forward. Leading the mixed message parade are printed menus in notepad format along with golf pencils on the tables. Naturally, this would lead you to believe that you're supposed to fill it out and wait for someone to pick it up, right? Nope. Ordering is done at a cash register in the back by the kitchen. TI don't know what the check-box menus are for. They don't really seem necessary.
Now for the biggest letdown of our visit. The waiting. Holy shit, it seemed like it took forever and, after reading the other reviews, I know I'm not alone on this one. We were essentially the only couple in the place and it took nearly 25 minutes for them to make two sandwiches! What happens when there's a real crowd? If you plan to visit here during your workday lunch break, don't. Or pack a lunch to eat while you wait.
Another issue I had was with the self-serve water station in the dining room. I don't necessarily have a problem getting my own water, but how about putting out some adult-sized cups or, better yet, just giving me a glass with some ice in it when I place my order. Those little plastic cups have gotta go.
What about the beer? With "craft beer" in their logo, I just expected more. Beer is bottles/cans only and average about $5 each. Not bad. They do have a decent selection of local beer, too. The 6-pack pricing they have listed on their website is laughable. Fat Head's Bumbleberry for $21? On what planet? Yes, you can buy beer (and wine) here, but it feels more like an afterthought.
I'm not one to harp on higher than average pricing, especially when the quality of the food and the service warrant it, but it just wasn't the case here. My wife's salmon BLT (called the Upstream on the menu) was a bit of an assembly disaster. As soon as she picked it up to eat it, everything simply fell apart. Good flavor, cooked well, but a sandwich that couldn't be eaten like a sandwich. The mac and cheese side she ordered was average at best, very mushy and lacking texture. It reminded me of Stouffer's, seriously.
I ordered the Cajun chicken sandwich and a side of sweet potato fries. No heat whatsoever in the spice rub used on the chicken and the jalapeno slaw was both dry and underseasoned. I could barely detect jalapeno flavor at all. When you order a "Cajun" anything you at least expect some presence of chili pepper. Not here. I'd recommend reworking that slaw by adding more jalapenos and some mayo. The chicken was also a bit overcooked. The skin-on sweet potato fries were OK. Nothing special and, if anything, not crispy enough. I don't really think that sweet potato skin lends itself to fries very well. It's a bit chewy.
There were a number of variables that went into this rating, but if I had to weight them, I'd say that having to wait nearly 30 minutes for our order in a practically empty restaurant is up there. Maybe that's why the sting of paying over $30 for a lunch that included two sandwiches, two sides and an iced tea was so pronounced. Maybe if our food was prepared in line with this pricing. Unfortunately, an experience that has a customer wondering about maybes doesn't lead to repeat business.
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