Popping in as a new member/poster and wanted to throw my 2 cents into the mix on this topic. I agree with Michael that many (not all) of the good indie places are v. expensive for people living on the average Cleveland wage. When people ask me for recommendations of great local places, it's a shame that many of them that I mention are places I myself either can't afford to visit or which must be "special occasion" type places. I've been to Johnny Mango for excellent, cheap local eats maybe 100 times and have yet to visit Parker's or Three Birds because I'd feel I was blowing 2 weeks worth of dining out dollars on one meal. We had an excellent dinner at Lolita (once) but with wine (only 2 glasses per), small plates and a big board to make up our dinner we were well over $100 when I can get away with less than half than that at a place like Mango with a full pitcher of margaritas to split (made with fresh lime juice, and they have one of the best tequila selections in town), or even less at Minh Anh, etc. I know it's the "experience" but if we visit a nicer place we have to plan to have no more than 1 drink or no drinks if we want to afford the food and a very nice tip. I love to support the locals but one area where the locals and the chains are in completely different places seem to be response to customer complaints/customer service. I'm not talking about silly cr*p like oh, I left 1 bite of steak but by the way, I didn't like it, but visits where there were problems significant enough for me to take the time to write a well thought-out letter. I can think of at least three local places off the top of my head where in recent years I visited and had major problems with service or food (or both), wrote a letter and NEVER got a response. Every chain I write to gets passed quickly down to the local manager who contacts me within 48 hours to get to the bottom of the problem, talk to me in depth about it, apologize and usually offer a discount if we return. I don't write *because* I expect a discount, but to be frank, if I've had a bad experience and complain, that is what will make me return, and I don't see the local places offering it to me if they even do respond, and I don't go back. I have developed a relationship with managers at 2 chains close to me and I talk to them each time I go in as they are working on fixing the holes in their service and want to know how *each* experience I have with them has gone, and they pass on my thoughts, suggestions and comments about the menu to the corporate office. I know the money I spend there doesn't go local but the people who work there are locals and the manager of Damon's and Buca seems just as interested, if not more, in getting me to return than some of the local places I've visited. I notice some of the higher priced local places are starting to get that we don't all have tons of $. I have heard recently of Saucy Bistro's new "cellar" where they offer lesser priced, nicey-nice pub type food and that's on my short list, and I've otherwise never bothered to venture there thinking it's out of my price range. I'd never been to Carrie Cerino's til they joined Cleveland Originals and started offering the discount gift certificates. Not that they're out of my price range but until this incentive to go I thought they were just a place that did wedding receptions. I've rambled, sorry, but I wanted to point out the disconnect between customer service in the locals and chains as something I think needs improvement, as well as to back up Michael's earlier comments about the cost of dining out here.
