Luxe Kitchen & Lounge — Restaurant in Cleveland

Luxe is not only our favorite restaurant in Cleveland, it is also where my husband proposed, and who catered our wedding. I hesitate to use the word “caterer” because they did so much more than just make the food. We met with Melissa, the owner of Luxe, to discuss the possibility of having them cater our wedding. We weren’t sure if they did weddings/large events, but the restaurant holds such a special place in our hearts that we had to at least ask. We were met with an endless amount of enthusiasm and excitement from Melissa. We told her we wanted the menu to reflect our travels to Spain, Italy, and Greece, and you could immediately see the gears start turning in her head. She took our idea and RAN with it. She built a completely customized menu based on our favorite dishes from our travels and from her restaurant. She came to multiple meetings with our venue, offered her expertise on wedding planning and working with other vendors, and even offered to help with day-of wedding coordination if we needed the extra help! Talk about going above and beyond! We did our food tasting at the restaurant and she told us to invite our families to enjoy the meal as well. They served each of us full portions of each appetizer and dinner dish. We wanted to do a wine pairing for our guests on the big day, so with each dish at the tasting, they provided us with several different suggested wine pairings, along with a print out of information about each wine. At no surprise to us, the food, service, and execution on the big day was top notch. Throughout the night, and even now, 6 weeks after the wedding, our guests kept telling us it was the best wedding meal they have ever had (and I agree)! Melissa, her manager Jeffrey, and her whole entire team truly made our wedding a special event for everyone...

UPDATE: I gave the restaurant another shot after talking to Jeffrey. This time around I sat at the front bar area. The service was much better, the drinks were great and the food was delicious. I'm glad to see that my first experience was not the typical experience and will definitely be returning again. This place had the worst service I've experienced in Cleveland and probably is in the running for worst service at a restaurant I have ever experienced.

We went here on a Saturday night and were seated at the outside bar. Once at the bar, it took approximately 10 minutes to be acknowledged. We quickly ordered a drink, appetizers and our entrees. The drink came quick enough, but then our wait began.

We waited over 45 minutes to get the appetizers. The food was decent, but not worth a 45 minute late. We then waited another 20 minutes without any food or acknowledgement from our server. When we were able to flag her down we asked how long it would be for the main courses. She said she would check the kitchen. She disappeared for approximately 10 minutes and came back with a tray of drinks for another table and never came over to give us an update on the food. We then asked another waiter to check and he too disappeared and never returned. Our server came back without any food or idea how long it would be, so we cancelled our orders paid for what we had and left to get food elsewhere. The server never apologized for the outrageous wait and seemed to not care.

For a restaurant that charges the prices it does, your would think service would be top notch, unfortunately that is not the case. We will not...

Ordered two gourmet salads for$12 each with two draft beers at $5.00 each.The beers were ice cold,but with no head.Not a big deal.The waitress took 20 minutes to take our order.We placed the order at about 8:20 after arriving at 7:50.Again,no big deal. At 8:50 still no salads,but she did bring bread.The waitress said they lost the order,but would get it right in. The couple next to us were already finished eating,despite being seated a few minutes after us. At 9:00 she said it could take another 15 minutes.We told her to please hurry because we were going to a movie at 9:40 across the street at the Capitol Theatre.We needed to leave at 9:30. The diners next to us had paid the bill and were drinking coffee by this time. We left at 9:15,despite never receiving a bill.I looked for our waitress,but couldn't find her so we never paid for the two beers. The mgr.never showed despite asking several times.The fancy salads sounded delicious,but will never get a chance to eat them because we will never return.I have eaten in restaurants my whole life,but have never been treated so poorly.This was on a Saturday night,so I guess they were a little busy.Still.An hour and twenty five...