Don's Pomeroy House — Restaurant in Strongsville

Remember my parents going here for their 20th anniversary and my mom being so excited, then so happy with the experience. So I went into our meal on 9.30.2017 with a very positive mindset, excited to celebrate our 17th anniversary.

Background: Husband and I live in Lakewood and are both in our mid-40s, yet probably look younger. Regularly eat out in Cleveland and Lakewood. Have been to Don's Lighthouse several times and liked it. Usually go to Red steakhouse for our anniversary dinner, thought we would try something different this time around.

The good: Pleasant greeting and they wished us a happy anniversary at the host stand. Seated immediately at a cozy booth in a beautiful old dining room. The two glasses of wine I ordered were good. Water glasses were refilled regularly.

The bad: In a word - our server. Came over and introduced himself, got our drinks. Then asked if we wanted appetizers. When we said no, he just stood there. No question of are you ready to order, do you want to hear our specials. Completely awkward. So I just launched into my order. Still don't know if they had any specials.

Also my steak was bloody in the middle and I ordered it medium well. Didn't get to the bloody part until a quarter through my steak. Server only stopped by once, pretty much after our first few bites, so I couldn't easily tell him about it. At that point in our meal, did not think it was worth sending back.

The ugly: After our plates were cleaned, we sat for about 10 minutes. Then our waiter dropped off the check. Never asked if we wanted dessert, coffee, after dinner drinks. What the heck?? That is the best part of the meal. And it was our anniversary! Definitely did not receive anything "comped" as other reviews mentioned. Not that I was looking for a freebie. Just that after not eating a good portion of my steak, I was looking forward to dessert!

I thought about contacting corporate for the restaurant. Then decided it was not worth it because admittedly some of my gripes and observations are subjective. How do you quantify the fact that a restaurant basically hurt your feelings?!

Yes, I had expectations based on price point and the overall description of the restaurant as romantic. Overall, I expect some semblance of warmth from the service. I expect staff to not be loudly talking about adults drinking breast milk (which my husband overheard). I expect clientele will not sing happy birthday at their large group table. I expect that picture taking with a flash by customers will be kept to a minimum in the dining room.

Bottom line: Unless you are 60+ from the suburbs of Cleveland or never eat out at "nicer" restaurants - just skip it. Much better options at this price point in the Cleveland area that are way more welcoming and polished. Definitely feel our server "profiled" us. Which was dumb on his part, I used to wait tables and notoriously over tip on a regular basis.

The upside: We drove into Cleveland and went to Sweet Moses for dessert! And we are headed to Chicago on Friday and have reservations at an old favorite - The Chicago Chop House. I think they will be able to cook my...

PUB Review. I really don't know where to start. I have never been treated with such disrespect as a human and a paying customer. The female bartender told me that my companions were not going to be able to sit at the bar because then their "regulars" wouldn't be able to sit there. The male bartender took my comment how I was expecting 13 people [in a hour] to then get the hostess involved, but then it turned sour quickly. They wanted to put us at a side area that only had seating for 8, but somehow thought that we were going to just stand around & mingle around. I told the male bartender that we were going to sit FOR DINNER, but no one believed me -- not the rude server named S@h@ nor the female bartender. Somehow the male bartender took my comments and twisted them around that we weren't going to sit for dinner. S@h@ yelled at me two times, at the bar and while seated at a table of 6. She said that the side table was being held for us because we weren't going to be sitting, but then said some would have to stand. Who wants a DINNER while standing? I told her that 5 of us were here, before my meeting time at 6 p.m., so we will just take a table for six. The others will have to find their own seating. She then yelled at me while at the table. There were so many other customers around, I was shocked that a restaurant employee would speak to customers in this way. No where in the pub did it say that we needed to wait to be seated, so when more of my guests grabbed a table of two, she came over to yell at me for seating ourselves. I calmly was speaking back to her, telling her that I was sorry but I was getting scolded for 5 minutes that they didn't take reservations and that seating was on a first come-first served basis -- I get that, but without knowing that there was a hostess on duty, I had no idea we couldn't expand to a neighboring high top table for 2. My other guests arrived at 6, the start time, and sat at the original seating for 8 people. I overheard the lady bartender say that she was sorry that they weren't told that they weren't allowed . . . something. The rude server S@h@ told me that we were going to be in trouble if one person from our party walked over to the other table. The female bartender said that we were not allowed to move around because we would then start ordering drinks for others at other tables and that it was going to be a confusing thing for the servers. What the personnel didn't understand was that we wanted to SIT TO EAT -- we weren't there for a holiday party to gather all around each other. I have never been treated like this before, and I have been organizing dinners since 2012. I work in Strongsville and have been to Don's Pomeroy house many times -- I won't return and urge all NOT to go there, especially in the Pub for fear that you will be mistreated like we...

In our continuing efforts to try local restaurants in and around the Berea area, our realtor gifted us a gift card to Don't Pomery house. Celebrating our wedding anniversary, we decided tonight would be an excellent night to try it out.

We had made a reservation in advance earlier in the week, which was not necessary for the time we arrived (around 5:45p) We were seated immediately at a two top table along the outer wall. There were just a handful of tables with other patrons at the time.

Ambiance was very overall very nice with the atmosphere being cozy and close quarters. Overall volume level was low as tables were generally using inside voices to talk and not out at a concert near the speakers that some restaurants breed by all the TV's and noise.

Food wise, everything was wonderful as one would hope. We ordered the calamari for an appetizer, which was excellent. Cooked to perfection and topped with a sweet chili pepper sauce, it was fantastic.

I ordered the soup of the day, chicken and dumplings, which had excellent flavor but lacked some substance and was generally broth overall. Ordered the Pomery house salad and was very pleased by the blend of the mandarin oranges, greens, and strawberries. The honey poppyseed dressing was extremely sweet so a little bit of it went a very long way.

For the main dish, I ordered the 8 oz filet mignon. It was served with gold Yukon mashed potatoes, mushrooms, a brown gravy, and French beans. Steak was cooked exactly as requested (medium) and was buttery in texture and consistency. The mashed potatoes blended well with the gravy adding a great flavor enhance to the whole dish.

For dessert, we were offered a free eclair in celebration of our anniversary and we also ordered the bread pudding to try. The eclair was very tasty with a very rich chocolate frosting and an excellent custard center. Some of the best custard filling I have had outside of a bakery. I was told the bread pudding was excellent with it's blend of fruits, dried apricots, and whip cream adding to the dish.

Overall, would absolutely eat here again and would recommend it. It is on the pricer side so something to keep in mind when making your dining decision but was fairly priced for the...