RED the Steakhouse Downtown — Restaurant in Cleveland

My girlfriend wanted to treat me to lunch, so she did a little word-of-mouth research and was excited to take me to Red.

We trekked all the way to Cleveland, anticipating a great lunch. We looked foward to having supposedly one of the best steaks in town. But a great steak does not necessarily make a great restaurant; paying attention to the smallest of details, especially a $$$ restaurant, is equally as important. You are paying for quality food and for a quality experience.

We walked into seemingly clean establishment, greeted by friendly staff. Except for maybe three occupied tables, the restaurant was empty, so I was somewhat confused that we were escorted to the barside tables opposed to the more elegant-looking dining room. And then, all at once, came the over-powering odor of stale beer and old liquor, an assult to my sense of smell! I was perplexed by it all. This horrid smell was something to be expected in a frat house the night after a pledge party, not in a 4-star restaurant! And why on earth would we be seated there when there were plenty of much nicer tables? (I personally feel you should be asked if it's okay to be seated by the bar. And I also view those tables as over-flow seating.) Of course, I asked to be seated elsewhere. Maybe the odor is less noticeable when the restaurant is full, but that does not negate its presense and significance, and may even be indicative of uncleanliness...at least in the bar area.

It may be just me, but I expect decent bread/rolls from a high-end restaurant. What was served can only be describe as a glorified hotdog roll on steroids. It was as tasteless as it was unappealing. A generous amount of fresh whipped butter smothered in honey was a nice complement, but it went wasted with no real bread with to enjoyed it. Curious, I asked the server if different bread is served for the dinner service. And they do...It's a crusty bread...exactly what you would expect at a "steakhouse". Of course, my next question was, why then would you serve us this hotdog roll? She defended the bread by saying it was the chef's choice and noted it to be very popular with the lunch crowd, and I reiderate, on this particular day, that crowd comprised of three other tables. If what she said is true, it speaks volumes of the executive chef...he or she is either too cheap or too lazy to present real bread to go with its real steak for the lunch service.

Next, the $12 iceberg wedge salad was nothing special. I have had much better in much more modest establishments. It is small for the price and comes on an unchilled plate. It supposedly had pancetta included, but it was crumbled and practically indiscernible...I really had to search for it; never sure if I ever did find it. If the occasional chewy, gummy crumble I came across was it, then that is even more pathetic than the bread. I love wedge salads, and have been known to go out of my way for a good one; suffice it to say I will not be going out of my way for Red's wedge salad.

I was holding out hope for the steak and I was not dissapointed. The filet was crusty on the outside and perfectly cooked to mediun rare, edge to edge. The seasoning did not over power the beef's flavor. Like most pricey steakhouses though, the steak is ala carte, so for $58+ you get nothing else...not even decent bread.

Lastly, our server, she was mediocre at best. She spoke like she had a mouth full of marbles and way too fast. What was the hurry...the other three tables? Additionally, she knew I was not thrilled with the bread, so instead of justifying it, she should have attempted to fix it. I am certain there was fresh, crusty bread back in the kitchen; just sitting there for the evening's dinner sevice. Save your time, gas, and money...go to a more modestly priced steakhouse, i.e., The Brown Derby, and you will not be...

Excellent Experience!!

I’ve been to a few Steakhouses around the world actually, mostly by far here in our USofA! This is a strong Yes!

I ordered the C.A.B. fillet (Certified Angus Beef). Not the CAB Prime. Ordered it MW and added a lobster tail. We also ordered the Mushrooms & Onions , Broccolini & Double Crispy Fingerlings or such.

Steak: Truly quite delicious and allllmost perfectly prepared. There was a little too much grey on one side of the fillet, but very forgivable since it was the last few bites. Otherwise very nice and flavorful cut with some simple but effective seasoning (simply to enhance the natural steak flavor, not to overpower it). Lobster: The tail was also very good. I would have preferred it to have SOME seasoning on it, but really no complaints at all. It was cooked correctly, not dry and accompanied with the butter bath. Very enjoyable! Accompaniments: The M&Os were AMAZING!! You know that for me Flavor is King!, and these were absolutely and literally bursting with flavor, like butter salted garlic flavored StarBurst candy, but not, but Better! I had to take a bite of steak with a bite of ‘shrooms (two kinds)! So much joy in each nibble. Potato things were good to decent. Nothing impressive about them. The name sounded better than they tasted, but not bad mind you. Broccolini I did not even try. No space. I had to make choices, and the broccolini got voted off the island in this case, but I’m certain it was good.

Oh, I forgot to mention the Wedge Salad. Super delicious!!! Perfect amount of dressing and bacon and wedge and blue cheese. One of the best wedgies I’ve had.

Atmosphere was nice. Nothing necessarily memorable, just kinda there. No complaints though.

Server was good … like the atmosphere, nothing impressive and had slightly better than no personality, but not rude and courteous so that’s a plus.

I had the Donut Holes for dessert. They were okay. Toooo much powdered sugar for me … in fact, I didn’t recall reading it had that, but whatever. I ate 3 out of 4, out of principle.

I’d say GET Some!!!

Oh, but be ready to smash down $100+ pp with a salad and some...

I really wanted to like this place, after I saw all the positive reviews I decided to try my birthday dinner here but found disappointing food, poor ambience, poor floor plan, and a loud environment. I left kinda bummed that I chose this for my birthday night out.

I’ve been a repeat customer to three of four other fine dining steakhouses. This was my first time trying Red. All the apps and sides we tried just weren’t very good. We had the cheese and meat board, brussel sprouts, mac and cheese, and risotto. Each was just kinda bland and lacking flavor. Nothing made us react like, "Oh my god this is amazing!".... Bur rather just like, "....meh....I could have done a better job at home." We got filets and they tasted great, but one was not cooked to their descriptions. They said medium was pink throughout but mine arrived with a mostly red center. Even after they put it back on the grill for a bit it still came back with a red center but I felt bad enough asking them to put it back on one time, so i just dealt with it.

They have metal silverware tins in the middle of the seating area into which they dump batches of silverware every so often and it completely kills the vibe overpowering any conversation taking place. We had to stop talking several times to wait for them to finish, it was almost comical. There’s no soft surfaces to absorb any sound so it’s already pretty loud. The seating plan is poorly designed not offering much privacy from other guests. We were unfortunately seated at one of the tables in the middle of the room surrounded by other guests on all sides. (just poor luck I suppose).

The service was not as good as other steak houses. Our server was a bit too casual with us and came off somewhat unprofessional. It wasn't poor service, but not what I would expect from a steak house at this price point. The entire experience certainly was NOT worth what we paid. The rapport at Texas de Brazil or Fleming's, for example was much better than the service we...