Experiencing new restaurants as a tourist

I was going to bump a thread, but I couldn't find one on this topic, so I decided to start a new one!

So, I spent last weekend in the exciting city of Cleveland. I had a fantastic time, actually. Of course, that could be due to the company I was with - lots of drinking, karaoking (not by me), and eating. :lol:

My ex-coworker moved back to Cleveland from Chicago, so a friend of mine and I went to visit him and his wife. While my friend was working with us, he would tell me of this restaurant that served nothing but grilled cheese sandwiches and how there's like a 2 hour wait just to be seated at this place, etc. So, of course, the guy took us there. The place was fantastic!! Who knew a grilled cheese sandwich could taste so good? :smt081

The place is called Melt. It's awesome!! :smt023 We had to wait an hour and we were all starving, but it was well worth the wait.

My ex-coworker also talked of this pizza place called Donato's and how it's the best pizza ever. I pfffft'd him because, well, I live in Chicago. We have great deep dish pizza here. So, Sunday, we ordered a thin crust, pepperoni pizza from Donato's. Man, that pizza was like eating little bites of heaven. I could have easily eaten the entire pizza myself. It was the best thin crust pizza I've ever had.

Who knew that you could get great pizza outside of Chicago? LOL!! (I kid, I kid!!) Though, I've yet to try deep dish pizza that was anywhere near as good as Giordano's.

So, in your travels, have you ever eaten at a place that you thought, "there's no way they could make such-and-such as good as they do at home"? And found out that not only was it as good, but it was even better than you thought possible?

I thought this might be a fun thread. :smt026

 

B-Dub, Donato's is kinda wack. I've had Chicago Deep-Dish, and it's better than Donato's. There are PLENTY of joints better than Donato's round these parts.

He should've took you to Fat Fish Blue, Hoggy's, or some of the Joints on 6th & St. Clair. If I was actually in Akron when you were here (Clev), I would've had you come to a joint called Crave, incredible food and beautiful ambiance.

If you were on the Westside, then you could've gone to Ohio City, they have some real nice joints there too.

They did you wrong...they took you to Donato's?? What kinda ish.....:smt011

 

Donato's has great thin crust pizza. I loved it!!! As for deep dish, I haven't ordered deep dish pizza outside of Chicago. I don't think I could do it. LOL!!

I was in Lakewood...

What are all of these places you speak of?? What foods do they serve there?

Oh and I forgot to mention that I had great Indian food at a restaurant in Switzerland. The Indian restaurants round these parts? :vom:

 

Ok, if you were in Lakewood, you were on the Westside about 15 minutes from Ohio City & the West Bank of the Flats. Donoto's is mainstream here like Pizza Hut & Papa John's. It's down on the list.

There were plenty of other places they could've took you rather than Donato's:smt091. They could've took you further west into Westlake, to Crocker Park (similar to Westfield) where you could've gone to Champ's or Bistro at least, Dave & Buster's is near there as well. I'm sure you've been to a Champ's before. I could name many places, I just think they should've been more creative, geesh.

You mean to tell me with all the Indian/Pakistani/etc. people in the NW 'burbs, there aint no good Indian joints? That's a shocker.

 

Hello, Book. I have been to Cleveland, but never had the pleasure of eating at Melts. We take Donato's for granted in Ohio, because they are everywhere. Now...Giordano's is incredible pizza and we have a VERY difficult time finding deep dish pizza that is even remotely close. Uno's is decent, but not the mouth-watering sensation of Giordano's, IMHO.

 

Most of my friends say that Lou Malnati's has the best deep dish pizza. But Giordano's surpasses them by far....in my opinion. And really, that's the only one that matters, right? :lol:

 

I'll consult you before going back to Cleveland so I can make sure to hit those places!!

 

bookie...are you telling me you went to ohio and didn't see/meet
intriguehe could have shown you all the hot spots!

 

THat's right. He was out of town that weekend. :smt022

 

Wow Bookworm, a 2 hour wait for grilled cheese? You're right, that must have been some GREAT grilled cheese! lol. Did you get full from it? Whenever i make grilled cheese, it takes like 2 or 3 to even make me feel remotely full.

Oh, and yeah, Giordano's is really good. My mom used to rave about Gino's East pizza, but when she took us there a while ago, it was awful. The sausage pizza had a patty on the inside of it that made me wanna hurl. I don't think it would hurt them if they tried a smaller sausage patty or something lol.

 

My bro love Fat Fish Blue. He's really into blues
My family took me to Hoggy's for my birthday a few years ago, down in Valley View. I loved the food!

 

Dex already knows what the bidness is. He's from Cleveland, so I'm sure he knows more spots than I do.

Hoggy's is that sh!t!! Next door at Quaker State, the wings are 2nd to none!

 

:smt058I guess I have some making up to do...

 

Yep! A 2 hour wait for a grilled cheese sandwich. Here is a link to their website. You can see what they look like on that page:

http://www.meltbarandgrilled.com/menu.html

And yes, the sandwich absolutely filled me up. Good stuff!

I haven't had Gino's East Pizza in a long time. I've heard that it's not as good as it used to be....

 

I will have to ask my friend if he's tried these places.

 

Um...yeah, you best make sure to be available to show me the good places to eat, the next time I travel to Cleveland!!