Don's Lighthouse Grille — Restaurant in Cleveland

This may be the singular worst plate of food I've been served in my life - no qualifiers.

I'll start by acknowledging we were present with a large table of 12 for Mother's day brunch which is not during the restaurant's normal operating hours. It is clear that they were not prepared for this service. The doors of the restaurant were locked until noon on the dot which was the time of our reservation. Our entire group, including my 90 yr old grandmother were left to wait in the parking lot.

Once seated the waitress took our drink orders. Forty five minutes later we were served bread and then asked "if we needed a couple more minutes before putting in appetizers." I almost laughed out loud.

For appetizers I was able to try the seafood chowder, PEI mussels, and stuffed mushrooms.

The seafood chowder was more of a manhattan style chowder - I was not expecting this but was not a big deal. It was uninspiring but okay. 5/10.

The mussels were served in a garlicky white wine broth. The mussels were quite large. The broth was quite heavy on the garlic, which I didn't mind, but did not have much else going on flavor wise. We were offered extra bread for dipping which was nice. The only thing that really bothered me about this dish was that we were not provided a spoon for serving ourselves the mussels or scooping out the broth. The couple of us that were eating them were left to just kinda grab them with our hands. 7/10.

The stuffed mushrooms had quite a bit of cheese in them and were served with a cream sauce which I thought was quite tasty. They were decent but could have really used some breading or even just extra time under the broiler to counteract the overall mushiness of the dish. 6/10.

When we were finally served our entrees - roughly 105 minutes after being seated - nothing could have prepared me for this plate of food.

I ordered the faroe salmon from a section of the menu called the "Freshline". It was served with brussels and a "risotto cake". The portion size of the salmon was absolutely absurd. Generally I'm not one to complain about this, especially if the dish is delicious, but the cost of the entree was $32. I would guess the piece of salmon was roughly 4oz. It is pictured below after I ate roughly half of it. The fish itself was cooked decent but was way way too salty, and I'm typically someone who is asking for salt. The brussels sprouts were steamed and were completely inedible. They were not even prepared properly as the stems were left on - I think the picture captures it in all its raw glory. The 'risotto cake' was not risotto but some odd combination of rice and cheese. This thing was WERID - I really don't know how to describe it. There was no seasoning at all and the texture was quite strange. This plate was a literal 0/10 - I would be disappointed if I paid $10 for this in a cafeteria.

My fiancee ordered the prime rib and ordered it rare in the hopes that it would come out medium at worst. The meat was completely well done as the picture shows. The meat was tender but also had something weird going on with the texture. We are speculating that the meat was heated either by boiling or in the microwave. The 'whipped potatoes' were out of a box and the green beans were steamed and raw just like the brussels. 2/10.

There were several other "oddities" at our table during the service. The shrimp cocktail was obviously frozen shrimp. My sister's crabcake eggs benedict had one hardboiled egg and one egg that was completely undercooked and broke open by the time it hit the table. Two of us ordered the shrimp and grits and they came out on two different plates. I genuinely feel for the staff because it is clear they were not put into a position to succeed with this service and crappy ingredients. I felt like this place stretched the limits on how much crap the customer will put up with. We decided not to send the food back because we were with a large party including my older grandparents and also had no desire to extend my stay. Genuinely felt like a...

I happened on Don's while looking for a nice seafood restaurant to take my wife to while in Cleveland this past weekend. Took a chance, made a reservation, and Boy, were we pleasantly surprised! Terry met us at the door, led us to our table and informed us she would be our server. She was funny and very engaging! We ordered cocktails while we looked over the menu. We then ordered the Prince Edward Island mussels and they were perfect! Cooked just right, they were tender and flavorful. The warm (no, hot) rustic bread was great for dipping in the broth. After looking over the extensive wine list, my wife told Terry we were looking for a bottle of a buttery chardonnay to go with our dinner. Terry said she would bring a couple of samples for her to try. The Paso Robles was exactly what we had in mind, so we ordered a bottle. Terry gave us enough time to look over the menu, and we told her we would be sharing an order of the seared scallops and one of the pretzel-encrusted walleye. When she brought the wine, she told us that the chef would prepare our entrees so she could serve then family-style! Again, thoughtful and perfect! When the food came, she informed us that the chef apologized, he had overcooked two of the scallops, but was cooking some more. The ones that came along with a side of mushroom risotto were tender and cooked just right!! She brought out 4 more, very large scallops ahortly after. The walleye was also very good, the pretzel coating was slightly crunchy and the fish itself was hot and tender! This dish came with the sides of real mashed potatoes and a grilled corn kernel medley that was also very savory. Terry arrived at just the right time - four times during our meal, to pour our wine. We had a very nice, romantic time and a well-prepared meal. After dinner, she offered several choices for dessert. They all sounded wonderful, but with all the great food we had just finished, the key lime sorbet was the only one we had any room left for. As I stated previously, we were pleasantly surprised at this find of a restaurant. We would highly recommend if you are in the West End and in the mood for good seafood and service....

I very rarely give three-star ratings, but Don's Lighthouse was a very 'three-star' experience.

My sister and I dined on a Saturday night and we came right around 5pm when they opened. We had reservations and were greeted by a very frantic and clearly irritated host that was responsible for answering the phone and greeting guests at the same time. I felt badly for him, but he did a poor job covering his frustration.

The atmosphere was interesting (not sure what the theme is) and the booth we sat in was rather comfortable. Our waitress was friendly, but service was slow. She was very accommodating with several requests we had (we wanted to split a meal, we wanted to substitute a side dish, etc). It, however, took quite some time in between each dish.

The food was good, but not great. I've definitely had better seafood at other Cleveland-area restaurants. For the price, my expectations were a little higher.

What really put a damper on our experience was that we had already been there for an hour and a half and when we were ready to leave, the card machine was down so they could not print any receipts. I get these type of things happen, but 20 minutes had passed before we had received a receipt, making our dining experience at Don's close to two hours. I was expecting a small percentage knocked off the bill for the excessive wait--but nothing.

To make matters worse, my sister and I split the bill with cash and card. The tip and more than half the bill was paid in cash and then the remainder was charged to card. We were very clear we only wanted $49 charged to the credit card. A few days later, my sister noticed the restaurant charged the entire meal to her card! Last I heard, my sister is still trying to work with the restaurant to get her card...