Still, Sietsema is a pro, so he managed to pack it all in. But if you expected him to file the usual travel-style round-up filled with fluff and compliments, you’d only be partly accurate. You see, he did shower praise on some of our beloved establishments, but he also managed to denigrate the collective Cleveland service staff, save for two spots.
“One missing ingredient: good service,” the critic, who is known to don wigs and dark glasses in a futile attempt to maintain his anonymity, wrote in the feature. “With a handful of exceptions — the upscale Edwins, the happy-go-lucky Mabel’s BBQ — most of the places I tried treated this anonymous diner as if I were invisible.”
It’s certainly true that as this market continues to stretch its collective belt in terms of new restaurants, service (and back-of-the-house talent as well) has undoubtedly suffered. There just aren’t enough seasoned pros to go around – a problem that is hardly unique to Cleveland. Every city other than New York, Chicago, San Fran and a few others all are experiencing similar issues.
Sietsema even manages to take a whack at a cabby, which apparently makes perfect sense in a restaurant round-up.
“A local cab driver had no idea where one of the city’s oldest and most beloved institutions, Sokolowski’s University Inn, dished out Polish fare.”
Sure, we here at Scene are a bit defensive when outside journalists descend upon our town and cast a critical eye, but hey, at least they’re coming.
Give the feature a read and see if you agree.
This article appears in Jul 6-12, 2016.
Cleveland taxis are the worst. Every taxi company is unreliable, uninformed, and unmotivated in the extreme. If it’s not an airport run, they don’t want it.
It’s a pretty nice write-up. I don’t get Trattner’s nitpicky negativity.
The cabbie probably sucked, most of them in Cleveland do, hence Uber. But I’ve had some of the best service of my life at the Flying Fig and I’m hardly a regular. The guy is probably just used to having his butt kissed as the big DC food critic. Yawn. Boring. Go home loser.
Having just moved to Cleveland from Chicago, I’m sorry to have to say that I agree. I love a good come back story and I’m really pulling for Cleveland. If this city wants to be considered a world class destination, they are going to need to step it up quite a bit. I’ve been out to many of the places mentioned in the article and in most cases the service was apathetic, slow, or disorganized. Hoping it’s just growing pains.
I have to agree with the cab comments he had. I’ve had drivers, both in Uber and normal cabs, not know where main landmarks are, such as The Q/Gund Arena and the Airport (yes, KCLE, I was as shocked as a tourist/visitor might be, trying to help guide the driver to one of the few places someone needs to know how to get there). I don’t know why some drivers sign up to drive for Uber et. al. but a “more than just the highways knowledge” of Cleveland is definitely required for all drivers before we can progress.
It has been my personal experience that in general, Cleveland has good to great (rarely is it excellent) service. Having said that, it tends to be, in style, casual instead of professional even in the “fancy” spots,
I don’t dare speak for him, but I suspect that may be what he is pointing out. In general, in other major culinary hotspots, the service starts moving into a level of professionalism that is noticeable versus casual treatment.
If taken to heart, the opinions (that’s all they are at the end) of food critics like him is important to generate improvements. As is their usual procedure, you can be almost guaranteed that he will make a follow up visit in the next few months. Hopefully, he will find in those visits that the points he presented were addressed.
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BY the way, I do agree with his one-liner about the service at Butcher and the Brewer. That place is generally really good, but even at the bar, they get overwhelmed with the usual crowds and you can indeed be ignored or overlooked for minutes at a time. I’ve personally experienced this multiple times.
Having said that, I’ve been to many well-known restaurants in the DC area where the exact same or worst has happened to me.
Where was the photo of the cheese display taken?
I agree with the critic about cab service. I usually Uber because the cabbies don’t know landmarks and popular spots. As far as food service goes, and as a former waitress who has worked in many upscale restaurants here and Florida, excellent service is rare and in dire need of direction. I hate when servers “raffle off” your food and interrupt your conversation with friends because they can’t keep track of who ordered what. Isn’t that the point of writing it down? I would have lost my job in many places I worked if I did that!
It is a tough job but you need to have a personality or you won’t get repeat customers.
As a degreed, hospitality person, I agree about the service. “NO PROBLEM” is not the proper response to “THANK YOU” I also cannot figure out how servers are slammed with 2 tables of 2 tops.
DFRAN nailed it with their comments.
@ KMcHale – the cheese board is from Edwin’s. They roll it out to your table and assist you with making your selection if you’d like.
I”ll take Cleveland hospitality over that of any city I’ve ever been.
You get what you give….so if you walk in with some kind of superiority attitude,
you’ll get the same in return.