Chagrin Tavern — Restaurant in Eastlake

We had dinner here for the first time on Sunday. The ambiance of this location is a large marina side bar with a large outdoor seating area. During our visit there was a live band. People love live bands and some people go there specifically to see the band. Live bands are loud. This isn't my cup of tea. Check the schedule first. Drink prices were lower and food prices higher. They obviously have a large pool of regulars.

Note that the online menu isn't accurate. The dish my wife was interested online was not on the menu. Two of the dishes we had were not listed online. The service was stressed; it was very busy that day. Any waits or delays at the table was likely due to the volume of customers versus the staff available. It was pretty obvious nobody was cheerful that day.

I will then review the food based on the following facts: One, I cook a great many meals, so paying someone to cook must do better than I can. Two, the price of the items in relation to the quality. This price point is competing with or above other well known restaurants in the region.

First dish is the Cajun Shrimp Pasta (not found online.) Our server didn't know what noodles they were, but this is spaghetti. This was probably the better dish. The shrimp were large and very fresh, it tasted great and it was appropriately seasoned. Not sure if it came with a garlic bread as the wife may have eaten it. If it didn't, then it should. I've never seen a version of this dish without it.

Second dish was the Ribeye. This was a tomahawk ribeye cooked to perfection at medium rare. I was impressed. My many compliments on this savory slice of meat. However, it was completely devoid of seasoning. Fortunately they had salt and pepper upon request. Unless I didn't get any, the butter and herb topping is not what you expect if you're an Outback/Longhorn eater. Its a good cut of meat but if you've been spoiled by Montreal Steak seasoning or other rubs you might be a little bored.

Last was the Lobster Macaroni (also not found online) Note that this is Penne noodles, not Elbow Macaroni and the two present a very different texture. I'm sure you've had the topped mac at other franchise restaurants. Stop there - they're nothing alike. This dish was the bad one. Our teenager wasn't eating it, so I tried it. Its very heavily seasoned and a bit spicy. I was expecting savory, creamy euphoric delight but it was offensively strong. Fortunately the ribeye was massive so we could share.

Overall, I would eat here again on a cooler day without the band and try other dishes. I wouldn't let really poor reviews stop you from trying it either. Its definitely more bar than restaurant, so no need for a summer dress or button down unless you want to. We always dress nice but that just us. Good for the explorer who is sick of restaurant chains and the 1.5 hour wait the chains are...

Food: The Margarita Pizza was delicious. The Pepperoni Pizza was alright. The Walleye Fish Sandwich was expensive for what you got...very small fish portion, more like a bread sandwich. The stuffed pepper appetizer was good but also expensive for 3 peppers. The first round of chicken wings were terrible. Overcooked and dry, not edible. We returned them for new ones and the second round was better but not great. Server Olivia: Was a rockstar! She worked her butt off and was wonderful! Super sweet and accommodating. Atmosphere: Awesome! A beautiful summer night on the Chagrin River. Great band! Chagrin Tavern is very clean and plenty of comfortable seating, inside and outside. Manager Chris: First, I must admit I already formed an opinion on him early on before we had an interaction with him. When we were first seated we noticed him with other customers and there was some conflict going on. We didn't know the circumstances behind it but as a group of people who are in the retail/food/customer service industry we commented on how he seemed to be more confrontational than problem solving and seemed like he was mocking the customer at one point, but again we didn't know what the situation was about. Now our interaction with him was when the second round of chicken wings were brought out. Chris is the one that brought them out to us. We were a group of 12 and he didn't say a word to us. Not an apology or hope these are better or thanks for coming out. He was gruff and annoyed. I wondered why he even brought them out to us. I watched him throughout the night and he just seemed like he had a superiority complex and didn't seem friendly or approachable at all. Overall it was a great night out with friends and a great atmosphere and I would definitely go back. Some of the food was good and some of it wasn't. I do think that Chagrin Tavern is expensive for the amount of food you get but the drinks are good and comparable to other restaurants/bars...

I was excited to try this place with its serene location on the river, but was extremely disappointed.

First impression was a little off putting with flies swarming the place and crawling through the bread basket on the table.

I ordered a Cajun chicken sandwich with no pickles with a side of brussel sprouts. The chicken was dry, the bacon on the sandwich was burnt, pickles included, and the brussel sprouts were undercooked. Overall, the food was underwhelming.

The service wasn’t much better. The waitress was nice, but it was easy to tell that the food runner did not want to be working and acted inconvenience when she had to do anything for anybody. I also had ask the waitress for a refill after she passed by and stopped multiple times while I sat there with a totally empty cup.

When the waitress came to bus my table, she already had a pile of dirty dishes from other tables in her hands and dropped someone else’s knife and a slice of mayo covered tomato off their plate onto my cream colored suede coat. She apologized and was acting more distraught about it then I was, but then grabbed a single paper napkin to clean it up, which she almost used to pick up the tomato to keep her own hands clean, until I had to ask her for something to clean up the mess she made. She then offered to bring me water for me to dip the paper napkin in, but never did. The only thing she brought me after that was an unadjusted bill, at which point I calmly asked to speak with the manager.

The manager came over to inform me that my bill was covered, citing an incomplete story, and then brought a glass of club soda and a towel for me to use to clean my stained coat. She addressed the issue well (and is the reason why this review is 2 stars instead of 1), but did so by leaning over my shoulder to talk to me while within a foot of my face, a distance that wouldn’t be acceptable even if there wasn’t a global pandemic going on, making me extremely...