Craft Bistro & Lounge — Restaurant in New Philadelphia

I dined with a group on a Wednesday evening. We had reservations for a party of 12 and our table was ready when we arrived after work, about 4:45. Several in our party requested to sub a different side for the fries that came with their burgers and were told there would be a small up charge. When the bills came, they were charged the full price of an additional side, $7, even though they never got the fries. When they complained, the waitress said the owner told her she had to ring it up that way. I ordered the apple salad, which had about 1/4 of an apple on, very thinly sliced, and very little cheese. Disappointing for the price. The worst thing was that after being "watched" by the owner during the entire visit, another server came out shortly after we paid and asked us to leave because they needed our table. We had not been there excessively long and were not being obnoxious in any way. We were a group of professional women celebrating a retirement. I worked in restaurants, including as a manager, for over 15 years. You don't ask people to leave unless it's closing time or they are offending other customers. We will...

After having a three course meal with my wife, I can confidently say that Craft lives up to the local hype. The food was fantastic, the service was good. this is easily the best place to dine in New Philadelphia, and I will be back many, many more times. Keep up the great work!

With that being said, I cannot give this place a 5-star review for one key reason - their beer selection.

The key issue I took with Craft that kept me from a raving 5-star review was the simple fact that the wine and beer selection could be better. I love that they have many great breweries on-hand (Founder’s Porter was a delight!) but I really wish there was a better variety in beer styles. Porters, IPAs, pilsners, and Stouts are great, but there are many...many styles of beer that would be fantastic with their higher-grade faire. A chief example of this would be a Belgian trippel, such as Three Philosophers. Heck, they have Scrimshaw, so they can probably...

We stayed in New Philadelphia, Ohio, and found this gem of a restaurant. Great selection of craft beers and seasonal, creative cocktails.

I had the special, lobster, and shrimp pasta. It had a ton of seafood, and the sauce was delicious.

My husband had the butternut squash ravioli. The flavor was perfectly balanced, and he thought the pasta was perfectly cooked.

We had 2 appetizers before dinner be a use we couldn't decide on one. The mushroom bruschetta and the fried cheese were both very good. The only cplaint I have is that I would have liked the bread to be a little more toasted.

It was our anniversary so we got dessert. We had creme Brule, which was also good. My husband got the carrot cake to go. It was huge! It was also good.

If you are in the area, definitely go! You won't be disappointed. The service was...