Black River Tavern - Elyria, OH — Restaurant in Elyria

I never post reviews, but I had to....

Last night my family and I went to the Black River Tavern for a meal. My wife and I have been there several times before and had a great time so we thought we would take the kids .. and this this time started out no differently. The waitress was nice and courteous and was attentive.

We ordered two appetizers (one off menu and one of daily specials), two kids pasta meals, two entrees (both off of the specials menu), two beers and two mojitos. Everything was good and really no complaints about anything... My issues came with dessert.

The kiddos ate well and are always well behaved and since they knew they served Cowhaus ice cream (which the entire family loves), we agreed to let them split an order of the "ice cream trio."

The ice cream trio comes with: Chocolate (Black River Mud), Blueberry French Toast, and Guinness Bailey’s-Ganache. You get all three for $7 (albeit they are smaller scoops -- which is fine). Obviously, the kids would not entertain the idea of a Guinness and Bailey's ice cream. We asked our waitress if they could have a scoop of one of the other two flavors in place of the Ganache. She was hesitant and stated the "chef doesn't like to change things." I said, "It is for kids and surely he could understand that... we're willing to pay the full price and given we've ordered drinks, appetizers, entrees, surely he could do that... right?"

She came back about five minutes later and said, "Sorry, 'chef' said no substitutions. I talked to my manager and he said there was nothing he could do either."

I sat there for a second knowing how much I liked the food and trying to grasp the concept that given we spent a good chunk of change and this is for kids, I didn't quite understand the unwillingness to CHANGE ONE SCOOP of ice cream...

I asked the waitress, "I guess that's it huh? Guinness and Baileys for kids? There's nothing else you can do?" She quipped back and said, "Sorry, that's our menu ... that's the way it is."

Well, at that point we ordered nothing so the waitress not only lost out on a $21 higher tab but she also got 15% when we normally tip 20%+. We weren't going to hold her responsible for an arrogant chef saying no, but her comment about "this is our menu and that's the way it is" caused the lower tip ..

Wow... Needless to say, we won't be back. And even though the food is good, they have truly horrible customer service. Funny how an arrogant chef lost a customer over a 50 cent scoop of ice cream. ...

Came in for an interview at 1:30 yesterday. Had a little trouble finding the correct doors but still made it to the interview on time and promptly. Upon entering the establishment, I talked to a lady at the bar and explained to her that I’m here for an interview with Jill. Waited a good 15 mins and no one came to speak to me only the lady working at the bar to see if I wanted a water. I kindly decline the offer as I’m just waiting to be interviewed. After a while of waiting, a lady comes up to me, looks at me with disgust and says , “are you here for the dishwasher position?”. The way she said that to me was so off putting that not one but TWO of the workers turned around and looked at me. I applied for the line cook position so I’m not sure why she was trying to degrade me right off the bat. If you don’t know what position someone applied for, why assume? She comes by moments later after that to tell me to fill out the application and she’ll be back to pick it up. Filled out the app in a matter of minutes and waited around longer.. Hardly anyone spoke to me and I felt unwelcome from the jump because of the prejudice towards me. She had a red shirt on with a black skirt and brown hair. If you want to be judged and stereotyped in 2024, this is the workplace for you! Came in ready for the interview only to get kicked down by your poor excuse of management and or establishment!!!! I left around 2:00 & still had yet to interviewed by anyone! For an establishment to reach out to me, waste my time and make me feel like I’m not good enough is disgusting. My resume is lengthy and I knew that I was qualified for the job position I applied for, which was the line cook position. Will never give them a...

Looked this place up on TripAdvisor for a evening meal with colleagues whilst on a business trip. We were fed up of chain restaurants and wanted something local and different. The Black River Tavern didn't disappoint.

The golf course was lit up with holiday season lighting, looked so lovely, the drive up was beautiful. The parking lot was empty though, do not let this out you off! Tucked in the right hand corner, a little darkly lit in comparison to the golf course is the Tavern. When we walked in, I was a little concerned as the place was quiet, but once again do not let that put you off.

The food is to die for! It did not disappoint, we hit the jackpot. The food was pleasantly surprising very high quality, presentation was great, tasty and well balanced plate plus a good sized portions. I had the twin bone in pork chop and there was nothing I didn't like, the cubed potatoes, the veggies, the pork chop and the chutney was all delicious. Clean plate! My colleague had the stockyard sirloin steak and commented exactly the same.

Our server was great, Mariah, she was knowledgeable and even warned us that the cooking time of the pork chop was little longer due to the twin bone. Appreciated that.

After such a great experience, when we enquired at the end why they were so quiet, we were informed that they had a run of bad luck with chefs in the past. Well the current chef is amazing, definitely knows how to prepare a plate of food, and I am sad that Elyria is a 4 hour plane journey away from me, otherwise I would have been back. Therefore next time I'm in Elyria I'm super excited to try the Black River Tavern again, I just hope the word hasn't got out and it is hard to get a...