For my birthday, I wanted to try a new-to-me restaurant. I always look forward to those experiences, and lucky for me...one of the restaurants on my
2015 To Dine challenge fit what we were looking for. On a snowy night, Mr. H and I headed to Chagrin Falls to check out Chef Tim Bando's (
formally of Deagan's)
Grove Hill in the old Raintree location.
Immediately, I liked the atmosphere. It was more casual than I had thought it would be, based on the menu items and price point, but we were immediately comfortable at a table in the bar area with cushy red leather chairs and a great view for people-watching.
It was a splurge night, so we were instantly drawn to
The Grove Hill Platter ($75) with oysters, prawns, clams, chef's crudo, and King crab legs. They had just run out of crab legs, so we received lump crab instead.
The giant tower of raw seafood was eye-catching, and a couple of other diners actually stopped by our table to admire it.
We feasted on a pepper-crusted tuna (
tasty, but it didn't need the relish on top of it), salmon tartare (v
ery mild fish with a great lemon-dill sauce), and lump crab (
bland and disappointing, but hopefully you'd get the King crab legs that are intended for this dish).
The bottom half included two types of oysters, raw clams (
a first for me!), and some average cold cooked shrimp.
There were some real highlights here, and we were off to a good start.
We were still a little hungry, so we decided to share two small plates. We ordered the
Lamb Meatballs ($12) with cucumber salad, tzatziki and mint.
The meatballs were cooked well, but for us, they were over-spiced. The strong flavor overpowered the creamy and cool tzatziki sauce.
We also shared the
Duck Confit Paprikash ($14) with spaetzel and parsley.
This dish was (
only) okay for me, but Mr. H really didn't care for it. There was something about the flavor of the sauce that we both weren't in love with. The duck meat was also dry, which seemed odd for dark meat.
The rest of the meal left me wishing that we had just stopped at the seafood platter. It was fun to check out a new place, and the drinks and service were both fantastic during our meal. However, I'm not sure that I'd drive to Chagrin Falls again from the west side for Grove Hill.
Have you been? What was your experience like?
Grove Hill
35 Pleasant Drive
Chagrin Falls, OH 44022
440-247-4800
1 comments:
We've had mostly excellent experiences at Grove Hill, starting about a week after they opened in July 2014. Our most recent was a Fat Tuesday celebration, where we enjoyed gumbo, redfish, scallops and lobster etouffee and beignets for dessert. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nancyheller/16486845380/in/set-72157650155617798.
Some of the fish/seafood has been a little hit and miss, but mostly very good to excellent; my friends who adore raw oysters rave about them. I adore the Trout Schnitzel! I recently also had the gnocchi and liked it very much; the white chocolate-cherry bread pudding dessert was the bomb (disclosure: it was comped, and we don't often order dessert. It was so light and fluffy it reminded me of the bread pudding souffle at Commander's Palace in NOLA).
We live on the East Side so it is a natural for us. If you go back, make sure to let Tim Bando know if you are not fully satisfied with anything; he really cares about pleasing his customers. I've blogged about them twice: http://funplayingwithfood.blogspot.com/2014/07/fun-playing-with-gem-in-raw-tim-bandos.html, http://funplayingwithfood.blogspot.com/2014/08/more-fun-playing-with-food-at-grove-hill.html
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