Alley Cat Oyster Bar — Restaurant in Cleveland

First and last time ever going here. I've wanted to try it for so long. This has to be the worst place in the flats. Booked a reservation for my birthday for 10 people for 7:30 pm on a Saturday. It was a terribly rainy night. It took 20 minutes before a server came and acknowledged us and then another 15 or so minutes just got him to come back after checking to see what kind of bourbon they had. By the time he came back we wanted to order, but he only wanted to do drinks. We did at least do our app order because we could tell it was going to take a long time for anything. We came specifically for oysters and at 8:00 pm they were already out of blue points. (8:00 on a Saturday night)We wanted to order dinner since everything was talking forever. Everything we wanted the server would come back after taking the order, about 10 minutes later, and say they were out of it. It was 8:30-8:45 pm on a Saturday night. 3 items out of their limited menu were unavailable. Why didn't our server know this.... Even when my friends were going to settle for a hamburger they were out of it. A hamburger in an oyster bar, how many people order hamburgers??!! Most of the table ate the same things because it was all that was left to choose from. They settled on Mac and cheese and other less than appealing things because at this point we just wanted to eat and leave. The server forgot my cocktail and other stuff. Didn't really seem like he wanted to be there honestly. It was beyond noisy and nobody could hear anyone talking unless you were sitting right next to them. I excused myself from the table to speak to a manager because I didn't want to cause a scene in front of my friends who came all that way to celebrate my birthday, but this was so unacceptable and unprofessional .I've worked in restaurants before, in the kitchen, and serving. This was a total lack of good management. Your kitchen manager/head chef really should not have run out of food that early in the night unless he doesn't know how to properly prepare/order. It was an absolutely embarrassing evening and a terrible birthday. Another manager came over and took care of our 1st round of drinks and appetizers. We didn't want anything else or order any more drinks because it took 2.5 hours for dinner and we had just had enough. Imo they should have taken our whole check and comped it. Parking was horrible that night. No valet and no open parking lot. Lesson learned and won't recommend this...

In September of 2024 I had the opportunity to retain the services of Allen Ives, head chef at the Alley Cat Oyster Bar, located on the East side of The Flats, downtown Cleveland. I have known Allen and his family for many many years, and he is also a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, the premier cooking school in the United States.

Allen prepared a wonderful menu for a party of approximately 35 people at my house. My guests enjoyed melon skewers with feta, jalapenos and mint; caprese skewers with the tomato, mozzarella, basil, and balsamic vinegar; grilled ribeye steaks with watermelon, balsamic, and parmesan toast; wagyu hotdogs with some unusual (but tasty!) condiments; and, lamb lollipops, marinated in a cucumber lime tazaki sauce.

We also had a grand seafood tower which consisted of oysters, clams on the half shell, smoked muscles, king crab legs, and chilled lobster.

For dessert, we enjoyed vanilla crème brûlée with fresh strawberries and blueberries; cheesecake with a blueberry compote and whipped cream and mint; and vanilla bean hydrangea cupcake with mousse filling.

Allen brought his wonderful staff of Buddy and Amanda, who did a wonderful job in seeing that every guest had their glass filled at the appropriate times, and their plates full, as needed.

Needless to say, my friends and I had a wonderful evening it was so nice to be able to sit back and enjoy your own party, as opposed to running around like a chicken with your head cut off to make sure all of your guests were enjoying themselves.

Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of their services was the fact that they cleaned up the garage (where all the guests were seated) and the kitchen (where they prepared and distributed the food) before they left. I can actually say the garage and kitchen were cleaner after they left than before they arrived. As we all can appreciate, it is certainly a great feeling to wake up to a clean house after a large party at your house the evening before.

If any of the readers of my review are looking forward to having an enjoyable evening with exceptional food and service, I would highly recommend that you contact Allen Ives at the Alley Cat Oyster Bar to make arrangements for your private party. You will not be disappointed!

Again, Allen, Buddy and Amanda, thank you for a wonderful,...

Visited on Friday night with a friend and got seated immediately. The restaurant has a really nice indoor/outdoor atmosphere where you can sit inside but a large wall of garage doors opens to the river. It’s great if you want to be outside without having the sun and wind elements. We ordered the raw vegetable and deviled eggs as an appetizer and both were solid though they came rather quickly. My friend had the scallops which she said were good but the accompanying spinach and polenta were just ok. She felt there wasn’t enough textural difference between the scallops and polenta and the spinach salad as over cooked. I had the appetizer portion of crab cakes for my entree. I felt it was enough to leave me satisfied though not full. The cake tasted mostly like crab which I appreciated and if I came back I’d order it again. The main reason I would likely not return to as the service. I know it sounds silly to say but we were way overserved. In the course of our hour long meal we were interrupted at least 15 times (we counted) and couldn’t enjoy the experience. The interruptions were unnecessary. Two different managers asking about our experience, along with the waitress asking to clear our plates the second we were finished with each. The problem is that we came to socialize with each other and wanted to linger over good food and wine. We were so annoyed that we ended up just wanting to leave. Lastly, when we told the manger how experience actually was, he didn’t seem to take the feedback well. He commented that, “well we try our best to give you the best service possible.” It would have been great to have him acknowledge that our experience was not the best possible and to...