Ballantine — Restaurant in Willoughby

Dear management I hope this letter finds you in good health. I am writing to express my deep disappointment and frustration with a recent incident that occurred at your esteemed establishment. On 11/23 at approximately 10pm , I visited your restaurant and encountered an exceedingly negative experience with your bartenders/ server, Liv.

To provide some context, I arrived at your restaurant with the intention of enjoying a pleasant experience. As I settled into the bar, I eagerly awaited the opportunity to place my order. However, when Liv approached me , I was taken aback by the unprofessional and unjustified behavior that followed.

Liv, without any apparent reason or provocation, blatantly refused to take my order. Despite my polite attempts to engage and convey my menu choices, they dismissed my requests in a dismissive and rude manner. I was met with an unacceptable level of disregard, which left me feeling humiliated and unwelcome in your establishment.

This incident has left me deeply dissatisfied with the level of service provided at your restaurant/ bar It is disheartening and disconcerting to experience such a blatant lack of professionalism and customer care, especially when I had come to enjoy the offerings of your establishment.

As a loyal customer, I genuinely believe that your restaurant holds great potential for delivering exceptional service and culinary experiences. However, this experience has tarnished my perception of your establishment and the quality of service provided. It is my sincere hope that you take this matter seriously and address Liv's conduct promptly and effectively.

I kindly request that immediate action be taken to investigate this incident, provide appropriate training for Liv and your staff regarding customer service and professionalism, and ensure that such instances do not reoccur in the future. Moreover, I would appreciate receiving a response acknowledging this complaint and outlining the measures taken to rectify the situation.

I genuinely hope this is an isolated incident, and my faith in your establishment can be restored. I have always spoken highly of your restaurant to friends and family in the past, and I hope to be able to continue doing so in the future.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I trust that you will handle this complaint with the utmost seriousness and resolve the issue promptly. I look forward to hearing from you soon and experiencing improved service on my future visits to your...

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The restaurant was really good, but like anywhere, there were a few flaws. I’m a firm believer that if you seek perfection you’ll often be disappointed—but a good waitress can truly make or break an experience, and ours (Izzie) absolutely made it phenomenal.

We ordered the Clam Bake, Pizza, Wings, and a Burger. The crackers for the clam bake were stale, the burger came out a little burnt (though still tasty), and the blue cheese dressing looked odd—as if it had curdled or separated. The steak was also cooked incorrectly at first (well done instead of the medium rare my wife requested). That said, the staff handled everything with professionalism. They immediately offered to fix the crackers, explained it was the end of a box, and brought out fresh ones without hesitation. I appreciated that they even tasted them themselves to check. The steak issue was also resolved quickly—the chef remade it perfectly once the mix-up was realized. Mistakes happen, but how a place fixes them says everything, and here they did an excellent job.

The beer prices were very fair—$6 for a tall craft beer, which is phenomenal compared to most places. We ended with a brownie that was out of this world! Between the food, the attentive service from Izzie, and sitting by the open window overlooking the vintage Willoughby street scene, my wife, baby, and I had a great time. Do yourself a favor and see if Izzie is working—she’s a phenomenal waitress who will make sure everything is taken care of and address any issues with kindness and efficiency.

If I had one suggestion, it would be to update the Happy Hour menu. Right now, it feels a bit stale. For example, the cheeseburger is $8, but it doesn’t come with fries, so it felt more like an à la carte option rather than a true deal (especially since the burger with fries is normally $14). Also, there weren’t any Happy Hour drink specials, which felt unusual.

All that being said, we left very happy and will definitely return. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, the service was top-notch, and the food (especially once corrected) was very enjoyable. Still 5 stars from me! Right, so...

Hello everyone, im a local paralegal who moved up to ohio from south carolina. im 27 years old, and have a full mustache (youll see why i said this in a moment). i attempted to stop in to ballantine with friends on October 25th, 2024 and was greeted by a bouncer upon entry. once giving him my out of state license that cleary states im pushing 30 years young, he began to bend my ID, and take a flashlight to it. this prompted me to let this middle aged gentleman know that im a grown man, who is a parelegal at a downtown law firm. somehow this trigged the bouncer, and in front of an entire group of friends, he absolutely exploded on me, getting nose to nose with me, and being absurdly aggressive. i let what seemed to be the head bartender know what happened, watched her the entire rest of the night. and she didnt do a thing. obviously me nor anyone i showed up with spent a dime. CLEVELAND, stay away from this bar!! i will give anyone plenty of nicer suggestions to go to. besides the younger crowd of employees who clearly are children working for school, the remaining staff are LOSERS, who will work in a bar the rest of their lives! have a better...