Rennick Meat Market — Restaurant in Ashtabula

Rennick had been on my radar for well over a year, and I was finally able to go last night. Sad to say, it was not worth the trip.

Upon being seated, I have to admit that I was pretty excited. The atmosphere is charming and pays homage to the building's origins as a butcher shop; the menu is killer, too. I figured that with an empty bar and a half-full dining room, service would be top-flight.

Unfortunately, the bartender decided that a 10+ minute conversation with one of the dining room customers was more important than, y'know, tending bar. I'd have thought that by the time our server RE-filled our waters and noticed the cocktails weren't ready, she'd have talked to the bartender and expedited the drink orders. Alas, she just topped us off and walked away.

It took 27 minutes to receive our first cocktails from the time we walked through the door, with a scant apology that the bartender had "lost our ticket". Also - not sure if the bartender was new, but she was almost comically focused on the jigger. (NOTE: fellow reviewer Lucas McDaniel also expressed a similar sentiment, "drinks take forever to make and every pour is jigged." --- Rennick, are you listening)

Our crispy calamari appetizer arrived and was delicious; one of the best things that arrived on the table that night. Our side orders of haluski were, without a doubt, the best thing to appear on our table - excellent texture and seasoning. I remember thinking that Sokolowski's really oughta lean this way with THEIR recipe. Then again, the extra side order of broccoli ended up costing a buck a piece ($5), and it wasn't much better than whatever I'd whip up at home.

What should have been a hallmark of this restaurant - the meat entrees - ended up being simply adequate. The veal T-bone (ordered medium) was medium-rare on one end and medium-well on the other. The seared duck breast was decent, but that's about all we could really say about it - nothing remarkable whatsoever.

During our meal, I decided to give the bartender another chance at making me a whiskey & ginger ale, only to watch her make a mixed cocktail of unknown origin. Yet another delay on what was actually a simple drink order. Thankfully, our server at least identified the glitch promptly and I got my second drink 20 minutes faster this time. Still...with only two ingredients in the drink, shouldn't take 7 minutes to get to me when the restaurant is near empty.

We did have one bit of incredibly prompt service - when it was time to bring...

I have really always enjoyed this restaurant and visited on many occasions. After this last visit however I will never be returning. After ordering a bottle of wine, my friend and I each ordered a steak and they both came back over done. OK, this sometimes happens. Within a minute of our server returning the steaks, a bespeckled “manager “/bartender came to me at the table with my steak on a plate. It was cut in half. He told me that the chef wanted to know if this is how I wanted my second steak cooked because she didn’t want to send out the wrong steak again, intimating that it was properly cooked. It wasn’t. He was smug, arrogant, sarcastic and just plain rude. I was embarrassed and said I would just take the steak back. He said no no no as he took it away, saying would keep it warm for me in the kitchen. When my friend’s half inch thick $50 steak came back properly cooked, mine, of course, was in two pieces, charred beyond recognition and basically inedible. What kind of chef would send something like this to a table? Since both of our steaks had to be refired, we ate our two sides while waiting for the steak to come back. When I couldn’t eat my steak, the server said she would take it off our bill. Much to our chagrin, when we received the bill, my two “sides “ were added to the bill at $10. The owner never came out, we were not apologized to, and were made to feel like we way out of line for asking for a properly cooked steak and we were bothering them. . On the way out, I stopped to talk to the “manager”/bartender about being charged for the apps and about the situation and he was belligerent, mocked and interrupted me, and made fun of me. Stunning! Never again! You would think an owner/chef of a restaurant would be interested in keeping customers, not turning them away to leave a bad review. The owner and “manager/bartender huddled over the bill; she was aware. It was a disgrace. Do yourself a big favor… Go down the street to Bascule for dinner. We ate there the night before and the food and service were wonderful. The menu is much more imaginative, and the prices are better. They...

I want to start by saying that pinning your menu to the front of your store for passers-by totally works. It's the only reason we ducked in here in the first place. Once inside, it appeared we were lucky to get a seat on a Saturday late afternoon/evening, so I'd plan on getting a reservation if you can. The service here from Kristi, Jasmine and one other lady was attentive, professional and friendly without being intrusive. All three girls were great. The atmosphere was able to walk a tightrope between relaxed and casual while still feeling like I was going out for a special dinner. Every course of the meal was just perfect. I had the crab rangoon, steak tartare and a flourless chocolate torte for dessert. All were perfectly prepared. The rangoon was crisp on the outside and perfectly balanced by the creamy crab inside. I loved the tableside presentation of the steak tartare which was absolute velvet decadence in the mouth. This is the kind of place you'd expect to find in large cities and it made me so happy to find that Ashtabula has a gem like this. It's an absolute destination spot worth making a drive from out of town. Please go and support this place. One thing I should add, is that we were just looking for a place to duck in for a bite. I've noticed that some of the reviews comment on slow service times. Our entrees did take longer than expected, but not unreasonably long for what one would expect on a special night out for fine dining. Relax, have a second warm up cocktail and enjoy yourself. It's...