Cleveland's Most Over-the-Top Restaurants Everyone Should Visit at Least Once

Nautica Queen

1153 Main Ave., Cleveland

There aren't many places to dine than on a lavish dinner cruise. Each dinner aboard the Nautica Queen features an all-you-can-eat buffet, tea, and live music, along with views of the Cleveland skyline. Some packages even offer discounted tickets to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium.

Photo by Emanuel Wallace

Close Quarters

31953 Lake Rd., Avon Lake

Did you know that one of the smallest bars in the world is located in Cleveland? Anyone who can squeeze into the bar can taste their delicious burgers and fries. Close Quarters may be small, but the spot is known for having a really friendly community. You might even end up on their wall of fame.

Photo via Hausmalts/Instagram

Acqua Di Luca

500 West St. Clair Ave., Cleveland

For those looking for a restaurant to celebrate life’s big moments, thankfully, there’s Acqua di Luca, the latest restaurant from the husband-and-wife team behind Luca Italian Cuisine and Luca West. In true “special-occasion restaurant” form, the menu is unabashedly extravagant. The walk-in coolers are filled to the brim with shellfish, fin fish, veal, filet mignon, Kobe beef and menacing tomahawk chops. Those luxe foodstuffs are gilded with saffron, brown butter, Nebbiolo wine reductions and freshly shaved truffles.

Photo by Douglas Trattner

Cru Uncorked

34300 Chagrin Blvd., Moreland Hills

Maybe the fanciest joint in town, this Moreland Hills French fine dining restaurant is truly one of a kind in the region. If it wasn't for the table settings, it would be easy to forget that you were touring a public restaurant and not the private home of the wealthiest family on the street — a street that also happened to be located in the ritziest zip code in town. The actual building looks like it was plucked from the Normandy countryside.

Photo via Scene Archives

Dante

2247 Professor Ave. Ste. C, Cleveland

Chef Dante Boccuzzi takes what he has learned from around the world into his gourmet fusion cuisines. The restaurant is also located in an old bank building and even features a candy bar. Ask to sit in the vault, and sample various dished through the 21 course tasting menu. You will for sure be left with an over the top experience.

Photo viaDante/Facebook

Good Night John Boy

1050 West 10th St., Cleveland

Forward Hospitality Group recently opened this 1970s-themed nightclub in the Flats after two years of planning. According to co-owner Bobby Rutter “It looks like your grandparents’ crazy basement, with wood paneling all over the place, shag carpet, linoleum floors and some crazy wallpaper that I can’t believe exists in the world,” Rutter says. “It’s awesome. It’s everything that’s beautiful about the '70s. We’re way out there on the spectrum of cool design.” Rutter, who proudly claims to be “high on disco,” says that the whole '70s craze is one of the hottest things going right now.

Photo via Scene Archives

The Greenville Inn

7150 Pine St., Chagrin Falls

While this Chagrin Falls dive goes back since at least the 1920’s, legend has it that it might date back even further than that. With cheap beer, live music every Friday and Saturday nights and karaoke every Tuesday, this place is always a fun time. Oh, and it’s the original “throw your peanuts on the floor” spot, long before those chain steakhouses did it.

Photo via Scene Archives

Nauti Mermaid

1378 West 6th St., Cleveland

There’s always fish on the menu at this downtown bar and restaurant, that will have diners feeling like they left Cleveland for the Florida Keys. This nautical themed bar and restaurant certainly delivers the kitsch when it comes to decor.

Photo via Nauti Mermaid/Facebook

Osso

9145 Old State Rd., Hambden

Osso is a restaurant on a 40-acre farm outside of Chardon. It’s a one-of-a-kind dining experience, where the animals are literally right on the property. Nose-to-tail cooking means that once the prime steaks, chops and loins have been extracted, the real fun begins. Hams are hung to cure into prosciutto, jowls into guanciale and shoulder muscles become coppa.

Photo via Osso/Facebook

Black Box Fix

25359 Cedar Rd., Lyndhurst

Boasting some of the best, most creative sandwiches in town, this Legacy Village spot from Chef Eric Rogers has built up a very loyal following. Here’s a description of one of their sandwiches, so you know we’re not joking around: cajun Fried catfish and shrimp, smoked cheddar, bacon, arugula, tomato, red onion, pickles, creole remoulade. It’s as delicious and overstuffed as it sounds.

Photo via Black Box Fix/Facebook