L'Albatros — Restaurant in Cleveland

Each year, we try to plan to go to a restaurant for our anniversary that is outside of our normal routine. Someplace we have not been to and one that would not be a spot we would choose for a weekday night out.

A friend of ours had told us about L'Albatros and what a fantastic experience they had when dining there so we decided this would be our anniversary restaurant this year.

I made a reservation online for two and the process was nice and painless. Had no issues with the time and date we were looking for. I got a reminder a few days before to confirm the reservation and everything was all set.

Upon arriving, there was a parking attendant at the lot (which is pay lot only) and they collected the $3 dollar fee. The experience with that attendant was ... unique but that is a story for a different time.

We walked in and were quickly taken to our table, a little two seat/two top spot near the back of the restaurant. Seating in the location is very cozy and they have a lot of tables in very close proximity to one another. This is the only reason I deducted one star from the atmosphere, you will absolutely be hearing every table conversation on your visit and near the end of our visit, the volume was getting loud.

Our waitress was very quick to attend to our table, get our orders, explained some items on the menu, and got us beverages quickly. She stopped by often to top off water and replenish our bread as needed.

For starters, we ordered the ASSIETTE DE FROMAGE, 5 cheese option and the CHICKEN LIVER AND FOIE GRAS MOUSSELINE.

So the start of a fantastic experience was when the "cheese guy" as we called him came over with his board of cheeses and started explaining everything he had on offer for us to select from. He did a great job explaining what it was, where it came from, what it would taste like, and general notes for each. It was a ride range of types, we selected our five (which I could not tell you what any were now) and he moved onto the next table that ordered cheese.

The cheeses we selected were great and were pretty spot on to his description of flavor and strength. My wife enjoyed the chicken liver and foie gras, not my type of dish so I did not partake.

For our main entree's, she had ordered a daily special of trout with rice and I ordered the pork three ways.

The cauliflower included with my dish was fantastic, very well done and cooked well. All three of my pork options were flavorful and good. She really enjoyed the trout and how it was prepared.

For dessert, she ordered the pistachio cake and I ordered the blueberry cheesecake cake. Both were great end cap on an overall phenomenal experience.

It's not a type of restaurant I would visit often but was excellent as a special occasion/celebration type...

May-2025:

Food Quality: definately one of the better one's in Cleveland (you can definately tell that Zack Bruell has very high standards). Our soup and appetizer were very good, the dessert were excellent (Frozen Souffle was an absolute standout).

Service: While its quick and efficient, however, there is such a thing as being too efficient and too quick. We felt very rushed throughout the whole evening, we kept being interrupted by either a server/manager or combination. That seems to be the pattern for the whole evening (maybe this is because we came in at 8:30pm and they were just trying to get to the end of the shift)

Ambiance: You can absolutely tell the difference between being seated outside and inside. Last time, when we were outside, its like you are in a different place. On the inside, you are very cramped, you can hear all the conversation for the tables nearby and you kept being bumped by server/managers (for the level of this restaurant, you expect a bit more). But the ambiance is definately upscale (you can definately tell Zach Bruell has very high standards).

When/if I am back, this would only be for outside seating. I don't think I would want to sit on the inside

May-2024:

Haven't been here in over 10 years, but we came here on a whim right after an event nearby. Sat on a patio, which is absolutely stunning. Service was fantastic. Due to the time in the evening, we did a very light meal (one appetizer, one main course, and a couple of desserts). Appetizer wad great, main course (fish) was great. Desserts, while very good, were a bit disappointing. Loved their frozen souffle (in my opinion, it's more like iced/comd mousse). Chocolate Napoleon was a bit disappointing for me (maybe because I expected something a bit different. It was just a couple of dallops of chocolate mousse between Fila dough, so I desired it to be better)

But it is a very good experience overall. Next time, I think we will go for...

Disappointed. L'Albatros should always be a 5 star, but this time just didn't cut it. I'll start with the positive. Julien, the sommelier, is fantastic and always is. He's knowledgable, charismatic and knows just what reds we're into it. He picked 2 very funky bottles for us last night, and we enjoyed them both. Thanks, Julien! The Cheesemonger was also great. Excellent descriptions of all the cheeses and a fun table side personality. Honestly our whole experience until we received our main course was good. Once our entrees came as where it goes downhill. There were 4 of us and 2 of us ordered the steak. We both specified we wanted our steaks cooked at medium. At one point I even asked our server if medium rare was recommended, and then I went back with medium. My friend also stuck with medium. When our steaks came, they were raw with a cool center. After taking minimal bites I asked our server if it was cooked medium and he immediately noted it was medium rare and even on the rarer side. He said he went back and looked at his notes and definitely put in medium for the both of us. Because we had eaten apps and enjoyed bread and cheese we were full and did NOT want our steaks re-cooked, even though they asked us multiple times. We both said no not once or twice, but three times. Despite our wishes, they took our plates and recooked the steaks and returned them to us. Neither of us touched them and asked for boxes immediately. I ASSUMED a restaurant like this would automatically take them off the bill. They did not. I was appalled. So we both took home our re-cooked steaks that will not be eaten. My fiancé then ordered an espresso martini when we put in our dessert order. The espresso martini never came. We paid the bill and then I realized he never got what he ordered. I said something and they then brought it and said "this one is on us". UH yeah, it should be on you! We ordered it and you never brought it. Bummer, but we...