l'albatros

the best cleveland has to offer!!!!. this is by far my favorite restaurant in cleveland and maybe anywhere. simple dishes, expertly prepared and at a reasonable price. i make it a point to go there any time i am in town.

wonderful food for special evening. as i'm reviewing this months after our visit for a special anniversary celebration, i may not remember all of the details, but i was definitely left with a feeling of great satisfaction with the meal, service and overall experience. it's tucked behind a non-descript parking lot, but the buildings around the lot and the trees give it a very cozy feel. we very much enjoyed the charcuterie as a starter. i think i had and enjoyed the monday special of scampi, but i remember distinctly that the cassoulet my spouse had was superb. the server was quite chatty and energetic, and provided us with very attentive service. the ambiance was warmer and less formal than we had expected. we'll definitely return for another special meal.

had a great time. had a reservation for 7pm on a saturday, arrived @ 7 and had to wait about 20-25 minutes to get a table. to our surprise, the hostess offered us complimentary drinks while we waited. our entrees were amazing, the chicken breast was a 9/10 and the hangar steak w/ frites was a 10/10. we will be eating there again

what is going on here?. big fan of zach bruell, and recently chose l'albatros for a lunch celebration, sadly disappointed. the pasta ,taglatelle was crunchy (not even close to al dente) the server said he would have the kitchen cook it more. my black cod was overcooked, so i ate half of it and all the richly sauced spaetzle underneath.i was finished by the time the pasta was back on the table, and we were informed that the kitchen started over.the pasta was now perfectly prepared. my bad, i should have sent the cod back immediately and we could have eaten together. this was a weekday at lunch and the restaurant was very slow as was the kitchen. having dined here many times before i was surprised by the lack of finesse.

very pleasant surprise. my husband and i decided to have a date on a saturday night. we wanted to go somewhere more upscale. l'albatros was one place we could get a reasonable reservation time - 9pm. as soon as we entered, the hospitality and service was exceptional. if this is the kind of service you like, you won't be disappointed. our server made excellent recommendations for our entrees as well as dessert. our meals were fantastic. we were truly amazed at the level of flavor in each dish. i recommend the veal short rib and duck confit.

we may have only scratched the surface of the menu, but it was a lunch of good beer, fine food, and good conversation. after that, there really isn’t much more that you need.

overall, i was impressed with the food and will probably overlook the atmosphere of the restaurant while dining there again.

disappointing!. i was very disappointed by this restaurant! i was very excited about it due the great reviews and brought some out of town friends there. we chose to sit on the patio and were given a table in the path of the setting sun. we were good sports about it and didn't complain even though the manager saw us move our table a couple of times to try to dodge the rays. then an older couple came and were seated behind us, also in the path of the sun and immediately there were 4 people scrambling to get umbrellas all set up to block the sun from them. perhaps they were important clientelle. there were 4 umbrellas they shuffled around to get just right for these people. well we were already half way through our un-eventful meals and with all that fuss, the sun was still beating down on our table. i found that to be extremely insulting. then to the food, the special was halibut cheeks which were absolutely overcooked, obviously cooked by someone who does not appreciate the delicate nature of this item. the skate wing was also overcooked and too salty. the hanger steak was rubbery and covered with a sauce that was all congealed by the time it got to our table. absolutely overpriced for wanna-be food. so tired of these places that just don't know what good food is.

good french cooking. cassoulet was perfect--came right off the bone...the croque monsieur was equally delicious. we went on a weekday afternoon, and though plenty of patrons were there, the wait staff seemed to be handling everything just fine. not a single complaint (though it should be noted that i didn't have to pay) ;)

we went on a saturday for lunch a while ago. the cassoulet was undercooked. we had raw potatoes. yuck. the service was slower 'n' molasses. won't be back. other places to try.

l'albatros is a french restaurant located in the heart of cwru's campus. it is in a renovated old house off of bellflower and is one of zach bruell's more recent restaurant creations (need i say more?). it can be a little easy to miss so keep a keen eye o

a fresh breath in cleveland. if you are a choucroutte fan this is the lace to be.

administrative assistant. the office went there for the first time for our christmas luncheon in january and we couldn't stop talking about how good it was! we went back the very next day. since then, probably about 6 weeks, we've been back about 6 times. one of my co-workers is trying something different every time. i've stuck with the chicken breast. i recommend that if you haven't been there...go!

expensive, but convenient and zach bruell. i visited l'albatros shortly after it opened for a dinner with some very important people. unfortunately for them, the deliciousness of l'albatros upstaged their importance. the service is a little pretentious, but it is exactly what you'd expect at this price point. for a moment, i forgot i was in cleveland, and so did my guests, thank god, not that there's anything wrong with cleveland. university circle needed a place like l'albatros - creative, cutting-edge, refined - and it has it now. zach bruell makes it all worthwhile; food pairings are perfect. i'm vegetarian, but my guests raved about the sausages. i loved everything i ate and never realized that an hour and a half passed before i left.

highly recommended for romantic escapades, the ambiance is intimate but modern. don't expect plushy velvet; it's intimacy in the 21st century.

in the words of my no-nonsense guest, "you can always trust a place where you can see right into the kitchen."

well, you see more than the kitchen. you see into the soul of what food is supposed to be.

overall, i really enjoyed my return trip back to l'albatros and i'm happy that chef bruell's vision of a french brasserie is enjoying continued success.