I've Found The Best Fry!

So every restaurant has an "off" night from time to time. Every restaurant makes poor decisions every once in a while. All staff members of any restaurant team sometimes don't perform to the best of their ability. It's only when these nights, these decisions, these performances happen often that it becomes a problem.

Last night, Reddstone had one of these rare nights in my opinion. Thankfully, we've been there before and I could easily recognize that it was just a bad night. There were some things that were just plain wrong about our meal and overall experience there last night, and I'll only touch on them a little because we all know that it happens. I wouldn't even bother to write about this dining experience if it hadn't been for a major discovery worth telling you about.

To touch on the bad...We were seated directly in front of the live band and told that "if it was too loud, let them know and we could change tables". Well we quickly realized that it was and made mention to our server, but by the time a table was free we had been served our meal and felt it wasn't worth moving. Thankfully, the band was good. But I watched as several of the tables seated after us moved away. It was just too loud to talk, let alone enjoy your meal. The band was playing from 6-9PM- peak dining hours on a Friday evening. I think if the band had come on around 9, it would have more appropriate.

The second fail of the evening has a little to do with the band and a little to do with the food. I ordered the Reddstone Burger ($9)- grilled sirloin, smoked bacon, cheddar, and a fried egg. Having had an amazing burger there during our first visit, I was craving one and my decision was easy. During our blogger tasting event, we had tried a version of the All American Burger which came with the Reddstone Special Sauce. I had enjoyed the spicy mayo, so when I ordered my Reddstone Burger I requested a side of the special sauce. When my burger arrived, the side of sauce was clearly not the special sauce I had been looking for. The band had been too loud, and our server hadn't understood my request. I did appreciate her quick response, and the special sauce arrived shortly at our table. The issue is that when I received the bill I saw that I was charged for the side of special sauce, and I was charged for the first sauce as well. Not cool. The biggest fail of the evening happened once I took my first bite of the burger. The hearty bun was dried out and hard- beyond what toasting it should have done. It was pretty obvious that it was an old bun, and even the juicy meat and ample amount of sauce that I used couldn't save the bites from being dry and unappealing.

Alright, I hate writing about the short comings of a meal or dining experience so here is my big discovery of the evening- SWEET POTATO FRIES. Holy moly, Reddstone has THE most AMAZING sweet potato fries that I have ever tasted. And I've tasted many. The fries were much thicker than a standard-cut sweet potato fry. They had a great crisp to the outside and were all soft and gooey on the inside. The real winning point of this preparation was the seasoning on the outside of the fries. It was a blend of sweet brown sugar and salt. Both ingredients worked in harmony without overpowering the other- a perfect marriage of salty and sweet. The portion was perfect too, because I think too many of these would overwhelm you with the bold flavor. "R" devoured his and began to eye my plate. You can order these fries for an additional charge instead of the house shoestring rosemary french fries. They were out of the sweet potato version during our first visit, and now I understand why. Reddstone should seriously consider making the sweet potato fries their house specialty instead of the only so-so shoestring fries we had previously. These fries are outstanding.

So there's my tip for you. Thanks for sticking through my negative comments about the experience last night, but once you try these fries you'll know that it was worth it. So go forth and dine!

Reddstone
1261 West 76th Street
Cleveland, OH 44102
(216) 651-6969