TURN Bar + Kitchen — Restaurant in Cleveland

Wow, where to start.... I was given a $200 gift for use of dining at my choice of one of 8 amazing Cleveland restaurants. I chose to take my son out as all he does is cook on his smoker at home all the time. Seriously though, it's been a father/son thing for us to get together, to seek out Cleveland's hidden gems in the world of food. Ranking them over the last decade for our close friends and families. We had a limited window for when we would both be able to get together between balancing family and work. Dinner would have been ideal, but not an option. After reviewing menus online, hours businesses are open and parking availability, we decided on Turn Bar + Kitchen. The restaurant is located inside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Tower City. In general, I've never found hotel restaurants to be that exciting when traveling. You could almost say most are like eating at the hospital. Although I'll tell you, there are some hospitals in the United States that are better than most restaurants for food quality and value, not to mention taste. But I digress. This is supposed to be a review of Turn Bar + Kitchen. So here it is, the decor was elegant but simple, warm and inviting. Don't think for a minute that you're paying for ambiance because the star attraction is really the food. The restaurant is on the sixth floor, and while the dining room itself is not particularly large, it actually shares space with the front desk for the Ritz-Carlton separated only by a fireplace. There is a small bar on the opposite side of the room beside doors that appear to lead to banquet rooms. The bar has seating and televisions on each side. Handy for those of us who like to keep up on sports while we enjoy a refreshing beverage hilighted by great food. (One small drawback is a gym on the floor above, as you could tell when someone was lifting weights upstairs). I don't know if there was a separate menu for dinner or not, but our menu featured a single legal sized page of soups, salads, sandwiches, and entrees from land and sea. Prices start as low as $10 for a Sea Salt Edamame appetizer to $60 for a 12 ounce Ribeye steak entree. We odered the Turn Waffle Fies ($17) appetizer consisting of Waffle fries topped with braised beef, beer cheddar fondue, scallion and bacon. It was good, but we both felt it needed a little something extra to spice it up a bit. For our lunch, we both got the Korean Chicken sandwich ($21) which comes with a side dish. The sandwich had a really nice sized piece of fried chicken with Kimchi Slaw and Spicy Honey Mustard Remoulade. I had a small salad as my side and my son went with fresh fruit. We finished off with dessert. For me, a Praliene Tart ($12) Hazlenut Praline Cream Tart, Chocolate Mousse Dome, and Ganache. Talk about death by chocolate, oh so rich, but delicious. For my son, Marbled Cheesecake ($12) Marbled Cheesecake, Strawberry Sauce, and Fresh Fruit. We had a couple beers ($8 ea.) with our meal as we sat and watched Ohio State play University of Michigan football on the television at the bar. Our bartender was extremely knowledgeable about his stock and well versed in the menu options. When we came in, it was with a lot of preconceived ideas of what to expect. Thinking high end restaurant featuring mediocre food at high prices and small portions. Instead, we were pleasantly surprised by decent portions of absolutely delicious food at reasonable prices for a sit-down restaurant. My son ordered Chicken Wings ($17) to take home. What appeared to be a pound or more of cooked wings with your choice of sauce. I tried them later, absolutely delicious.. I ordered the Hot Corned Beef ($22) to go. House Cured Brisket (so tender), Thousand Island Dressing, Swiss Cheese, Sauerkraut, and thick-cut Caraway Rye bread with a side of Waffle Fries We both agreed, this is one Cleveland restaurant worth a...

Very good experience here. The hostess started the positive evening by being personable and interested in each guest. Julie, our server, was excellent. Her timing between visits was spot-on and her menu knowledge was complete and accurate. She remembered and used our names and had patience with my questions which were honestly too many. My wife has been through Forbes training and I bet our lead hostess and Julie have been too. If not, they are just naturally really good. The atmosphere was really good in terms of noise, lighting, decor, and furniture. I had a smoked old fashioned (truth be told, 3 of them) and they were great. Maybe this is common in Cleveland or how high end bars serve things but not what I’m used to; when they mix the bourbon, bitters and sugar water they don’t first stir it with ice cubes before smoking it and pouring in a glass with a big ice cube, the good cherries and orange rind. It’s just poured warm over the big “rock”. Although new for me, I liked it this way. More flavor, and more value since it’s not watered down. Be careful if you ask for a smoked old fashioned and be specific because you would expect to get bourbon, maybe rye, right? Here they have a specialty smoked old fashioned with Johnny Walker Black scotch which may be great but not for a bourbon guy who doesn’t drink scotch. I had the hangar steak which was excellent including cooked to perfection and my daughter had beef sliders from the Kids menu which she liked and the price was extremely reasonable. I’m a steak and bourbon snob and this place kept me happy so it passed a very high bar. Great job Julia and team. Wish we could eat (and drink)...

Sadly, Turn Bar and Kitchen did not treat us good during our brief visit today. I was very excited that my partner’s friend invited us out for dinner as I had been meaning to try this restaurant out. Imagine my disappointment when shortly after ordering our meal, we were told that a very important guest had requested our table. They humiliated us and made us move. Mind you, we were enjoying our time up until that point. As a darker complexioned black woman, this seemed very racially targeted. After one of our table guests departed early and paid the check, we stuck around and ate our food. I requested a conversation with the manager once our generous friend left. The manager Tony, explained that the man had reserved the table with the hostess the night before. This was in contrast to the hostess’ explanation when she stated that the guy who took our table was a “very important guest”. After being gaslit, we decided to leave without finishing our food. To make matters worse, all of a sudden, a large security guard was posted by hostess desk. He was not there the entire time. He just suddenly appeared when I asked to speak to the manager. He actually followed us down to tower city as we left. My partner and I considered that maybe we were dressed inappropriately, but we saw a yt elderly woman next to us in a hoodie and sneakers, so I think next time I will wear my yt skin and grey hair too. On second thought, maybe I should sit at the bar where the other two blk people were. Totally my fault lol! Hey at least they apologized for the...