As for Grovewood, I’m also 100% positive they are still open. That’s another place I need to get back to. Talk about great food at very reasonable prices.

However, here is another insider’s view. I also used to work at Battuto. And perhaps this can be a warning to other independent restaurant owners who might be reading your blog:
You will not succeed if you bring an East or West coast attitude to Cleveland. Bring the flavor and ideas, leave the attitude.

I really think this attitude ruined Battuto’s business. For example, the owner of a 20+ year restaurant in Cleveland told me that he dined at Battuto one night. He’s not the type to brag about who he is, so nobody knew he was coming. He loved the food. But that night, everything was slow and the restaurant was not more than 50% full. The waitress seemed harried, and the hostess/manager was rude. He asked the waitress if there was a big back-up in the kitchen. She naively told him that the big party in the middle of the restaurant was the owners’ family. He hasn’t been there since.
I saw the kitchen come to a halt many times in order to accomadate the owner’s family. I understand you want your family to be special, but not at the expense of other guests. That’s just bad business.

They also allowed the owner’s brother to boss the waitresses around, “Go get so-and-so,” without a please or thank you.
They kept servers who were downright awful at their jobs, servers who rolled their eyes if a customer ordered the less expensive bottle of wine.

So, a few lessons can be learned. Treat your customers as equally as possible. You can comp your family’s check, but don’t make other customers wait longer to rush food out to your family and friends. This may work on the east and west coast, but Clevelanders will not wait too long for even the best of dinners.

Know what the guests think about your front staff. Tell the front staff (hosts/servers/bussers) to treat every one equally. Do not tell when someone “special” is coming in. If they give good service all the time, they will give it to your friends and family. And don’t play favorites, because you can lose good service.

I hope the owners of the former Battuto start cooking again. My buccatini all’ amatriciana is just not the same.

Is Grovewood Tavern still good? I loved it 3 years ago.

Karen* was slow as hell. Plus, there was a slew of Albanians* who didn’t speak a lick of English.

So, I think part of the problem was that they didn’t know what the front was doing. For customers, it was hit or miss as far as service.

Another part of the problem was that they refused to serve bread at dinner. So many customers requested bread to sop up the delicious sauce. Unfortunately, the owner, G*, promoted some snobbish atttitude of “they don’t do that in Italy.” Same with a lemon rind with an espresso.

Wish I’d had the balls to tell them “Hey, go with what the customer wants.” I have a feeling they wouldn’t have listened.

I agree about the chains. My friends always would pick the Applebees and Fridays which I totally hate. I am also not totally anti-chain but I definitly feel you get a whole different level of quality in a privately owned restaurant.