I was born and raised in Cleveland but I don't live there any more. I still have family there so I go back once or twice and year. This recent visit I decided that it was time for me, my mom, and my 3 sibs to hit the town and have a nice meal together (instead of the delicious but not exactly healthy fried fish and polish boys we usually get). I was looking around for a restaurant that did fish and steak and wasn't too far away. I didn't want to go into the chichi suburbs either since you never know what kind of reception you'll get (yep, that's what I mean).
I did some Yelping and came up with this place. I didn't bother looking at reviews, just went to the website, verified the menu looked good (and it looked AWESOME), and decided that's where we would go. As soon as I told my sibs I got some funny looks. My brother, a young kid who knows "the streets", told me "You don't want to go there; it's not a nice place" as in, it's not fancy enough. He's apparently driven by it, which meant that it was along his route, which meant it was in "the hood". My sister told me that her friend, upon hearing of our plans, had also advised her that it was not a good place to go because it was in a bad part of town. This made me go back to Yelp because surely I had misunderstood something. However, reading the reviews below I finally got the picture.
Collinwood is the hood. It's been the hood since I was a kid in Cleveland. I didn't realize this place was in Collinwood, and in fact was less than 10 minutes from where my mom lives, which is also the hood. I'm talking dudes in white tees on the corner, boarded-up houses...the hood. So it made sense that people who know of the restaurant's location would be less than convinced that this was a good place to go for the kind of experience I was looking for. I trusted my fellow Yelpers though and told my fam to shove their assumptions: we're going!
I'm glad I stuck to it. The outside is unassuming and doesn't do anything to dispel the feeling that you're in the wrong place, but as soon as you step inside and the smells from the open kitchen (right by the front door) hit the olfactory, you know you did well.
The atmosphere was dark, intimate, cozy. I really liked the Christmas tree lights that hung around the ceiling, although they kept dimming/flickering during the night which was distracting. The tables were a little small so the 5 of us were kinda cramped at the round one at which we were seated, but we made do.
The warm bread and olive oil with roasted garlic that they serve you was delicious! They also kept it coming as my fam devoured a few servings of it. I had the beef medallions, rare. It was cooked perfectly, and was just an excellent cut of meat. Every one else got the shrimp and beef combination. They didn't say much about it but it disappeared from their plates so I'm assuming... They also served the largest pieces of broccoli I have ever seen in my life.
The drink selection was fantastic too. They had Seven Deadly Zins! I find it unfortunate that a lot of restaurants don't even have a good Zinfandel on the menu (unless it's that fake white Zin), let alone one that I actually recognize and like. As an added bonus, they also had Magic Hat #9! This is a delicious beer that I thought you could only find in New England and man, if I hadn't been driving I would have kicked back a number of those in addition to my wine.
We didn't have time for dessert so I can't comment on that. I do know that the next time I'm in Cleveland I will definitely be making a stop here. I've found a gem that's not far from my mom's home. And I had no idea that they'd been there for so long! I think a sign I saw said 13 years? WTH?