Parker's Grille & Tavern — Restaurant in Avon Lake

Summary: Low quality ingredients and poor preparation. One of the most sub-standard dining experiences I've had in some time.

As Avon Lake residents, we've heard of this place a few times and wanted to give it a try. I had high hopes as the menu sounded nice and the pictures online looked good. My wife and I arrive at 4 o'clock and got an awkward greeting at the door. After that, things improved. Our waitress was knowledgeable and attentive - she was the highlight of the experience.

We were offered bread at the table and also ordered a soft pretzel as a starter. The bread we were given was rock hard and clearly stale. The soft pretzel was warm, but had a taste of freezer burn. One of the dipping "sauces" I believe was cheddar cheese, but it was lumpy and poorly mixed/melted. Not a preparation anyone who cared about food would have been happy with. Another was "chocolate" but was extremely artificial tasting and looked like it was squeezed out of a plastic bag.

For our mains, we tried the mushroom flat bread pizza and a rueben. We figured these would be good starting points. My wife's mushroom flatbread arrive lukewarm and was piled high with tasteless mushrooms that appeared to come from a can. There was very little seasoning on the whole dish, barely a hint of garlic and it all felt barely cooked and low quality. The rueben was acceptable, but it similarly it was a bit lukewarm and it didn't seem like the meat in the sandwich was made at the restaurant.

At the end of the day, my wife took a few bites of her food and couldn't eat any more, and she was very hungry to start. I ate half of my sandwich. Also note we arrived at 4 PM, so the place was not busy. To be completely honest, we wanted to love this place. It's local and we very much support local businesses. I personally love food and cooking - but I just can't support the low quality ingredients and seemingly low effort preparation this...

OK, I found it. If you don’t come to Parker’s, you’re wildly crazy. Apparently. This place has been here for over 10 years so that just proves I’m an absolute idiot. I have wasted 10 years in my life, not eating in this wonderful eatery. Poor taste buds that I have deprive them of wonderful tastes and textures. OK, let’s start from the beginning. There’s ample parking. You’re greeted at the door with a friendly smile. Your seat and decor is perfect for what I enjoy slightly dim with dark wood colors. Music is perfect. Alex the waiter was friendly, professional, knowledgeable, and read my demeanor extremely well. Great interaction. The menu has a beautiful choice of a little bit of everything. I chose Alex suggestion of the grilled steak. I added some asparagus and a special Muscles . It’s hard to get Muscles and asparagus, correct they were more than correct. They were dead on Spot perfect the chef should be awarded. Something I don’t know about something. The steak was grilled so I took it the way the chef made it. It was unbelievable. I’m not gonna lie. I’ve been disappointed with steaks in so many places lately. I was scared to take Alex’s suggestion. Please just say I wish Google gave 10 stars instead of a maximum of five. Had some french fries with it. They were also a cooked perfect. I want a competition once or well. The direction I worked in on a competition ones for the second best french fries in the whole country so I know a little bit of french fries, and deep fried chocolate bars, lol. I found my new place. I’m starting to get a few favors around in here. Morgan, the manager actually came up and talked to me after which was really a final touch to the most wonderful...

We've been here a few times, always great food. The service was exceptional tonight.

Drinks were strong and good. We had the lemonade stand, John Daly, and blood orange martini. All were good.

For starters we had the cheese and charcuterie board which was amazing. It came with 3 different cheeses, olives, different nuts, crackers, fig jam. Definitely worth the $20.

We also got crusty bread and butter. Crunchy on the outside, but soft inside.

For our meals between all of us, we tried:

Cajun lamb chops were pretty good, just extra spicy tonight. Comes with a ranch dip. No mint jelly available.

New England clam chowder was decent, pretty big bowl.

Beef stroganoff special was very good. Beef comes over the smashed red potatoes. Big portion.

Soup of the day was a Beef vegetable. Very good.

Chicken mac and cheese was okay. The sauce was very watery. Chicken was decent. Comes with a huge amount of broccoli chunks, maybe too much.

Lyonnaise potatoes for a side were very good. Pretty big size for a side. Crispy and tasty, grilled sweet onions.

The atmosphere is very nice. Tonight they had a gentleman singing, which was okay. But some may not enjoy this if they were going out for a nice dinner. The music plays over the whole restaurant. Check the daily specials on when they have live music.

Try the ribs if you get a chance, they looked amazing.

Not cheap by any means, but you will get a decent meal and good service. Check them out if you're looking for...