lucky's cafe

one of the best rubans i have had. cooked perfectly, not dry and homemade thousand island that was absolutely delicious.


-----01 apr, 2013-----

where do i begin. i started with the apple chai, absolutely delicious. this was followed by the ruben sandwich which was also delicious. the service was attentive and very professional. i can't commend lucky's enough, highly recommend.

avoided the weekend rush and tried lucky's for breakfast on a weekday. i ordered the shipwreck on recommendation of the really loud, obnoxious waitress/hostess with the short hair, and was told i could not have it without bacon because 'it's already mixed in' to this egg and veggie breakfast dish. seriously? ok.

my breakfast date and i were discussing how very limited the breakfast menu seemed (two egg dishes, one very specific flavored waffle, and no substitutions), when i overheard another staff member telling the table behind us that they do have egg breakfast sandwiches, off menu, but they weren't allowed to order off menu until the lunch hour (this was at 10:45 am). it just seemed so confusing!

our check came out near the $50 dollar mark after two lattes and two overpriced shipwrecks at $13.50 each. do they call it a shipwreck because of the havoc in my stomach an hour later? either way, cute restaurant with too many flaws. sadly, i hadn't read reviews before trying lucky's, i just considered it a local staple worth giving a try. consider it my first and last trip.

terrible customer service! :(. i have been coming here for years quite regularly. i get the same thing and lately i have noticed some unacceptable issues. one extremely snarky and inattentive server ( i forget her name). i would rather leave than have her attitude ruin my meal. tip share is unfortunate because the good always pull the weight of the not so good. i hate to think that a portion of awesome server's tip goes to miss snarky.
isn't coffee $2 with free refills? ever notice the price is different than on the menu when you pay your bill?
i frequently get a latte and ask for a splash of coffee at the end to warm it up. this was the first time i was charged for a coffee for asking for that splash!!! so $2=free refills. $5= pay for a cup of coffee? ridiculous.
if they make a mistake they berate you and treat you like trash. i absolutely love the food and the atmosphere, but i am beginning to think treating myself to this overpriced fare and terrible treatment is not worth it.
regulars make or break this kind of business. they should think twice about their attitude and how they treat the people that keep them in business.
also, it seems there is no way to email the business about comments. i guess i will have to hand write a letter.

so disappointed in my recent experience here. the food was delicious though overpriced but oh my, there's no excuse for the horrible attitude ms. hostess or manager or whatever you are. none. sorry to put you out by patronizing your restaurant. it won't happen again.

lunch at your own risk. went for lunch today. i ordered the special, which was a blt for crying out loud, and my lunch date ordered mac and cheese. that's it. not complicated. oh, i ordered a water to drink, maybe that's what threw them.....took a effing 50 minutes......ended up having to take it to go. the blt wasn't fantastic. there was one piece of bacon. maybe they were running short. it was during lunch hours after all. the manager came over and apologized. took 25% off of our ticket. instead of paying $17 for the mac and cheese and $14 for a frigging sandwich i could have made at home, it only cost us about $25.....so, go if you like to pay a lot for mediocre food that you could have made better at home.

expensive. it seemed that every lunch was $13.95, way too expensive for the food you get. we stopped here specifically because of diners, drive-ins, and dives. makes me wonder if the prices went up after they were on the show. there is nothing about this place that would have me make a special trip to go back. the food was average, the service was slow, and the seating was not very comfortable.

while the food was very good, it was priced too high for what we got. we waited almost an hour and a half before we were seated, and lucky's is tiny...there is nowhere to wait comfortably because the restaurant is so crowded. after waiting all that time, and paying what we did for breakfast, we won't be back.

best. reuben. ever.

great food, horrible atmosphere. i feel so mixed writing this review.

the food here tastes amazing.

yet the experience of eating here is really rough. if you want to re-live the worst parts of middle or high school the wait staff will happily oblige.

trust me, no matter how cool you are, you are not cool enough for the staff that works there. you want a water refill? be assured of a nasty comment along with a glare. you are the jerk for asking.

i have visited three times.

all three times the food has been out of this world delicious. all three times i have been treated like trash by the wait staff.

i crave their biscuits and gravy, they are, hands down, the best i have ever had.

i went back after the first visit when a waitress, literally, yelled at me (in front of the whole restaurant) for signing my name in to the wait list without her permission. i went back when i was told asking for substitutions was not allowed. i went back when i was confronted for using the restroom without permission. i really want to go back again, i am just afraid of what i might do wrong.

visit if you want great food and have a very strong will.

worst ever restaurant experience - do not go!. we are eastsiders who wanted to come to the westside to see what guy fieri was so excited about. last sunday we came after church for brunch with our three kids under the age of 10 and realized the wait would be in excess of an hour and inquired if we came back another day if we could make a reservation. we were told they had a no reservation for parties less than 6 policy but that if we called when we were about 15 minutes from the restaurant they would put us on the waiting list. so, this sunday we were all ready. after church we started driving and when we were 15 minutes out called and got our name on the list. we were told it would be an additional wait of 30 minutes once we got there. we prepared the children for an additional 30 minute wait. an hour later we were still waiting...but being patient. i knew we were next to be seated and had been keeping track of who was being seated so i could help the kids manage. i confirmed with the hostess that we were the next large table and she explained that she had to sit a reservation for a party of 4 in front of us. i said, we were told you didn't take reservations for parties less than six. she explained that this was a vip who worked for the company and she was very sorry but we would be seated after them. i asked to speak to her manager. the manager approached the hostess stand and said "do you have a problem?" and i explained my story. i was interrupted by a woman who said, "i am the vip who has the reservation...it is my birthday...". at this point i am seeing red! we have driven two times from the east side, played by their rules, managed our very hungry children (by now it is 1:45pm), and are told this all doesn't matter because of some vip. terrible customer service! not a place i want to patronize. we ended up driving back to our neighborhood and ate a delicious lunch at our favorite neighborhood spot instead.

i ordered the canoewreck, which consisted of curried tofu, hash browns, seasonal veggies and brewer's yeast , served with como toast and fresh fruit . i was impressed with the innovation in the menu. not many places do you see curried tofu and brewer's yeast for brunch. every ingredient was also incredibly fresh. i was thrilled with the interesting flavors of the curry, vegetables, potatoes and brewer's yeast.  the only thing i w

overpriced, underwhelming customer service. i appreciate the local flair.

i do not appreciate the terrible system for waiting;
being told "no substitutions can be made because the chefs don't want to affect their flavor profile" when i ask for gravy on the side instead of on the biscuits;
or when the server tells me "sometimes the chefs will make exceptions, but not today because they're in a bad mood."

despite trying to contact lucky's in multiple ways to voice my displeasure, i never received any return correspondence.

after three visits, i've decided to give up on figuring out why people seem to like lucky's. there are too many other fantastic places in tremont that seem to actually want my money to keep wasting my time here.

lucky's is an example of poor customer service at best, and unnecessarily obnoxious overpriced hubris at worst.


-----17 jun, 2010-----

nothing special. had heard great things about lucky's. the story behind it is impressive--local, farm-fresh ingredients and the outdoor seating and garden had me excited.
unfortunately, i think my expectations were a bit high. we went on an early saturday afternoon, and while the place was not overwhelmingly busy, it was relatively steady. the service wasn't great--though i did notice other tables' waiters/waitresses seemed a bit better, so this may have been more isolated--and my omelette was nothing to write home about. the zucchini was too soggy and the spinach was far too wet before it was cooked (which made the omelette sit in a bath of spinach water).
the food was not terrible, but it also wasn't worth the price.

best brunch in cleveland. amazing brunch menu, friendly staff, and dog friendly outdoor seating. i have had many of the different menu items, and i have never been disjointed. this is the first place i would recommend for anyone trying to go to brunch in cleveland.

...we quickly learned that everything at lucky's is crazy, huge and out of control! three thick slices of naturally cured bacon topped with pecans and brown sugar. cuz yeah - bacon isn't good enough on it's own - it's needs pecans and brown friggin sugar. holy cow - this was amazing! it was really thick thick bacon and then you load it with this salty sweet decadence. yeah - cincinnati - you've been served...pecan bacon. (seriously - somebody needs to do this here - virgils ?!) next up oatmeal. seriously - when my blogging friend ordered oatmeal

the positively cleveland followers directed us to cleveland's quaint tremont neighborhood to start our day. lucky's cafe tremont top: lucky's garden / bottom: lucky's pastries and baked goods left: blueberry fizzy / top right: bruleed steel cut oatmeal / bottom right: pecan bacon i liked everything about lucky's cafe. its thriving garden, bustling atmosphere and interesting menu are the right combination. upon recommendation of the positively cleveland gals, we got several orders of the pecan bacon (cured bacon, crushed pecans, and brown sugar) for the table, and in the end there wasn't a piece left. because it blew our minds. for my breakfast, i selected the bruleed steel cut oatmeal (winter fruit compote, eggs en croute, house-made multi grain toast), which was superb.