Rail Craft Kitchen & Bar - Strongsville — Restaurant in Strongsville

My mother, aunt, cousin and myself went here in early January. Before I give my review, I’d like to say the staff and manager- especially our lovely waitress- were wonderful and kindly took off a good portion of our order as compensation. The menu is great, with delicious vegetarian options and many other selections. My first comment, which is not contributing to my rating, is that the plates looked like they were from my grandmother’s antique china display. Also, they were completely mismatched and some had stains. I found this a bit odd, but it didn’t bother me at all, since the stains did not rub off onto my food. (I only brought this up to give a full review of my experience.) However, there was one reasonable issue with the plates, which was dried and stuck-on food. The issue was handled very well by our waitress, who quickly took the plates and returned with perfectly clean ones. Our appetizer of Mac n’ Cheese Bites came out right after the plates were exchanged, and I was very pleased with the food! The bites were wonderful, and were a perfect temperature. The fried outside was deliciously crispy and had just the right amount of salt, and the mac n’ cheese inside was warm and very cheesy. I’d definitely reccomend this appetizer to anyone who enjoys comfort foods. The wait for our main order was more than pleasant. There were many TVs to keep us entertained, and the wait itself was minimal. After 20 minutes or so, the food arrived. My food tasted wonderful, but there were multiple issues around the table. The first of these was my burger, which came well-done with lots of charring on the outside, and was dry on the inside. This only bothered me because I ordered my burger as medium-well. The burger was made nicely otherwise. Next was the veggie burgers which my aunt and cousin ordered. They said it was quite dry on the inside, but everything else was fine. I tasted their burger, and I can confirm that it was dry as well. The biggest issue was my mother’s order. She thought her order was fine, up until she found a dead, fried stink bug in her lettuce. We all lost our appetite once we saw what was in her salad. Our waitress came around after a couple minutes to ask how everything was, and we brought up the stinkbug. She immediately took the plate and went to find the chef and manager, who removed her entire order, as well as our appetizer from our bill. Overall, the atmosphere is wonderful, but the food just didn’t live up to what we’d hoped. I’d give this review only one star, but the kindness of the staff deserves a...

It's a good restaurant with a good purpose - to source locally and support local businesses. That bejng said, you get what you pay for and so the place isn't cheap. Three of us had dinner there, with a total of 2 beers and a milkshake and coffee for drinks. Our tab for 3 burgers, 2 with upgraded sides, was $99 before we tipped. We did order 1 appetizer, which the 3 of us shared. Generally if I drop a C note on dinner, I'm aiming higher than a burger. But the food was good, we were all happy with our meals, and the service was good. The only thing we weren't totally pleased with was the appetizer. The person who chose this place for dinner had eaten at another location in Columbus and had the truffle fries. He said they served a large plate of the fries with shaved parmesan on top and that the truffle fla or was good. The fries at this location were served in a metal cup. This was not as easy for 3 people to share. Also, there was shaved parmesan in the cup but it mostly sort of clumped together in the middle. It was not as good of a presentation, seemed like a smaller portion, and the parmesan didn't have the same slightly roasted flavor since it was just stirred in to the cup and not roasted on top of the plate of fries. At that price, the lack of consistency was a bit disappointing since the truffle fries were the main reason he chose the place and wanted us to eat there. Overall I would say the food is good, and you won't be disappointed in the overall flavor. Nothing tasted bad. Some things were a bit mild, others were a bit lacking in presentation. But it all tasted good and was fine. However, if you are on a budget, there are places you can get a good burger for 3 people for much less than $99 plus tip. The value is subjective of course. But the food was...

UPDATE: I went to the rail today I haven't been there in quite a while but I went there for happy hour to check it out I remember they had wonderful fried pickles and all of their stuff was pretty good, not so any longer. I went there today the bartender was a very nice girl and she was very hospitable the food was awful! I cannot believe that the rail would serve food like they did even if it is happy hour you still serve people the best that you can provide this was not good. They were at one time very good.

The fried pickles were heated up they were limp and soggy, barely any topping on them at all, I mean there was barely any breading whatsoever on them it was awful. The chicken dip was terrible it tasted like it had been in the refrigerator with the wrapping open, it was awful. I will be honest, I will never go back there after this experience. I would not recommend.

I have been to this location many times and I'm gonna be honest the bartenders are wonderful but I'm very unhappy with the drinks that I had today I ordered a blueberry vodka basil lemonade and it was not the drink that they would normally have. It's not the bartenders it is the ingredients that used. This drink should have fresh blueberries muddled and floating in the drink it should also have fresh basil that you can smell and taste and this drink did not have either but the vodka was great. it was just not a good drink and it was remade for me and it still wasn't good but it is not the bartenders I think that the company needs to provide quality products to make a quality drink. I like The Rail and the food is fabulous but not sure what's happening...