Dining at O'Malley's Rockcliff

Last Saturday, "R" and I headed out to Avon Lake to attend a friend's annual family bowling party. We go for the fun, friends, great jams on the loudspeakers, beers, and of course most importantly- to laugh at how horrible I am at bowling. Always a great time. But it has become tradition that "R" and I pick a restaurant in the area to dine at prior to the party. We don't get out that way very often, so it's a great opportunity to do so. Last year, we selected Michael Symon's Bar Symon (which has since closed). At a charity event in 2010, "R" won a gift certificate to O'Malley's Rockcliff...so that easily made the decision for us this year.

I tweeted that we were headed there and asked for menu suggestions and feedback. Almost all of you that tweeted back said that the food was good, but to expect the average age of the diners to be around 63. Well...you weren't joking. While I did feel in the minority dining there, I kind of liked the fact that most of the diners were of a different age bracket than we typically dine with, and more than half of them appeared to be regulars. There was plenty of face kissing and warm greetings not only from the hostess and bartenders, but the other diners as well. Another sign that we were not in Tremont anymore, Toto was the wonderful woman playing the piano as live entertainment (positioned right in between the bar area and main dining room). What fun!
The only seating available at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday was a high top in the bar, which was fine with us. We settled in and started to look at the menu.Advertised for their "steak and chops", I knew that I had to have a steak. I was craving it. I decided on the 8 oz. Filet Mignon with a twice baked potato and side salad.
Bread arrived first, piping hot out of the oven. Yum. The side salad was a basic salad, but I did like the balsamic dressing that I had selected. The twice-baked was again very standard, but good. Now on to the meat...It was cooked as requested (medium) and was a beautiful cut of meat. It was very juicy and tender, but the saltiness of the seasoning tainted my opinion of it overall. And for me to say that something was too salty, you KNOW that it was salty. I know that a salad came with it, but I did feel that the entree dish was missing a vegetable. I love to mix and match my bites of protein, starch, and vegetables when having the main course. Also, the plate just looked a little sad in my opinion. The potato was orginally served on a separate plate. "R" had a burger that was nothing to write home about, although it was cooked-to-order at medium-rare and he did say that he liked the bun.

Overall, it was a fun excursion, but one that I can't see us making again. However, you can clearly tell that they have quite the following, and that some in the area would swear by it.

O'Malley's Rockcliff
2589 Wooster Road
Cleveland, OH 44116
(440) 333-2600