City Diner

Mr. H and I continued our Friday evening out in the neighborhood with another stop on Memphis Avenue, at the newly opened City Diner.

It's a classic American diner, but trying to kick it up a notch with the food quality and local sourcing. This isn't your $2.99 breakfast plate special kind of diner, and I'm totally on board with that! We have several of those options in the neighborhood, and our restaurants should be as diverse as the people that live in Old Brooklyn. So, welcome, City Diner!

It's bright and cheery inside, and just retro enough to feel fun without the outdated and grungy feel that diners sometimes have.

The menu leans a little hearty, with several Eastern European inspired dishes. You can also get breakfast served all day.

Every "City Main" dish comes with your choice of salad or soup. Mr. H and I both went for the soup that evening. He enjoyed the Creamy Tomato Soup, and I really liked the Roasted Chicken Soup. Both were clearly homemade and much better than any diner soup I've had before.

Mr. H ordered the Short Rib Stroganoff ($13) with Braised Beef Short Rib, Caramelized Onion, Mushroom-Cream Sauce, and Egg Noodles. It was a little milder in flavor than he had hoped for, but overall it was good.

I got the Pierogi, Kraut, & Kielbasa ($11) with Potato and Chive Pierogi, Caramelized Onion, Homemade Sauerkraut, Kielbasa, Sour Cream, and Warm Apple Sauce. If you look closely, you can see that the onions and sour cream didn't make it onto the plate. I immediately recognized that it was missing sour cream, and our server brought it right over. Sadly, I didn't notice that the onions were missing until I was almost done. However, I did bring it to her attention so she could share that with the kitchen. She said the chef had stepped out of the kitchen to greet customers, so that's probably why. Certainly newly-opened kinks there, but they'll work that out.

I enjoyed this dish too. For the price point, the plates of food were large and clearly higher quality than you'd typically get at a neighborhood diner. I think they'll do well in Old Brooklyn.

City Diner
5109 Memphis Avenue
Cleveland OH, 44144