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Reviews of Dubrovnik Gardens Restaurant
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A GREAT RESTURANT IN EASTLAKE
THIS RESTURANT HAS BEEN ON MY "BEST RESTURANT" LIST FOR YEARS. THE FOOD IS GREAT AND ECONOMICAL, THE SERVICE IS VERY PROMPT AND EFFICIENT, AND THE CLEANLINESS IS FIRST CLASS. THE ATMOSPHERE IS OLD WORLD AND QUITE CLASSY. IT IS A REALLY GREAT PLACE TO EAT.
Review by GENE S. from EASTLAKE posted July 07, 2011
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Good meals for the price
I have eaten here about 6 or 7 times, both in the banquet area and the restaurant areas. The service in the restaurant is handled much like the banquet area. The restaurant staff is somewhat impersonal. It's more like they're serving at the banquet area and really don't care. I have eaten at two banquets at Dubrovniks and both were very good. The food is brought to the tables and were served very warm. I hate cold food! I would imagine it's difficult to serve as large a banquet as we attended and keep everything warm, but they did a good job in this respect. The food was tasty and we enjoyed it. The restaurant's steaks are very good and the other side dishes are like home-cooking. It's a good price and pretty good food.
Review by Terri from Burton posted March 25, 2011
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visit to restaurant
No need for big talk,or rewiew
Setting is nice,serviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice and food just average,and thas it.Nothing memorable or impressive.Its good for local croatian,help to kill nostalgia.My mother who is not best chef,is much superior than one what they have in Dubrovnik restaruant.Still will occasionaly visit again.
Summary from 1 lowest/5 highest
settin-3
service 2
food preparation-quality -3
Just average as I said,and Ive been there at least 3 times in last year.
Review by zdenko kovacevic from fort wayne posted March 22, 2011
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Worst restaurant in Eastlake
I mailed the following letter to Dubrovnik Gardens Restaurant after a recent visit with my family. The atmosphere and food are outdated and I'll let you (the reader) be the judge of the service.
January 21, 2011
To the manager and/or owner of Dubrovnik Gardens restaurant,
I want to share a recent dining experience with you and the reason(s) why I’ve most likely never visit again. Most people who have an experience like mine simply stop their patronage and you never hear from them again.
I thought you should know why I won’t patronize your restaurant and why I’m sharing my story with other people.
I made a reservation on Sunday January 16th for seven people. All of them were family members with three of them having birthdays this month. I didn’t want to make a deal out of it so I did not mention we had three birthdays in our group to any of the staff. Regardless, I expected good food and good service. I was disappointed.
The service made us feel unimportant and unwelcome and the presentation and quality of the food was far from impressive. The overall experience was very underwhelming and left much to be desired.
The good news is there are opportunities for improvement and my only regret is I didn’t complain while we were in the restaurant. I’m a very passive person and don’t like to make a scene. That is the curse I live with.
The staff was not prepared to seat us when we arrived even though we had a reservation. We mention the reservation to the woman at the front desk and she took off and was never seen again. A while later, another woman appeared and briefly implied we didn’t have a reservation until she realized the first woman had already crossed off our name. It felt like an
episode of the three stooges except, in this case, there were only two.
While we waited, I observed four sets of tables in the middle of the dining room that looked like they could easily be pushed together to accommodate larger parties, such as ours. The first and last two rows of tables in the middle of the restaurant appeared to be accommodating larger parties The second row of tables looked like they could have been easily pushed together to accommodate our party unless there wasn’t enough room due to
the three elderly ladies sitting on one end. If that was the case, then I don’t understand why those ladies were not seated at one of the numerous other tables around the perimeter of the restaurant that were unoccupied especially when the staff had knowledge of our reservation. Instead, we were made to wait while the staff scrambled (without communicating anything
to us) to set up a table for us.
When someone finally came to seat us we were informed we’d be ushered downstairs. I honestly thought we were going to eat in the basement. It was insulting and made us feel like we weren’t good enough to sit in the regular dining area.
After we rounded the corner into the bar area, I was glad to see
‘downstairs’ meant the main floor and not the elevated portion of the dining room. However, it didn’t make us feel less unwelcome as we were not permitted to sit in the dining area where all of the other guests sat. We felt very isolated. The lesson to be learned here is there is absolutely no reason for any of the staff to differentiate between the levels as downstairs and upstairs to your guests. All your guests need to know if they are being seated in ‘THE’ dining room. Doing otherwise gives your guests the impression they are being secluded from other diners.
Another good habit is for the staff to communicate with their guests to let them know what is going on. Telling us they were in the process of setting up tables for our party so they can seat us would have helped make us feel welcome and appreciated and set the expectation that we wouldn’t have to wait very long.
When we arrived at the table, several of us commented about the bread crumbs left behind by the previous diners and we proceeded to brush them to the floor. A dirty table is the second most unappealing visual a restaurant can provide. The first most appealing visual is a lipstick stain on glassware; which was the case with my empty water glass.
Speaking of empty water glasses, why didn’t the staff fill them? I wondered if we were also expected cook and serve our own food. Putting empty glasses on a table with carafes of water is not customer service. It is laziness.
Moving on to the food
I didn’t hear a lot of complaints from the members of our party; however, there were definite opportunities for improvement.
Food opportunity #1: A little dressing goes a long way.
There was enough dressing on the Caesar salads (we ordered two of them) to easily cover six salads. Caesar dressing has a very strong and distinctive flavor and it should be used sparingly. I know this from my own trial and error in serving this salad. If necessary, guests can always ask for more dressing as needed. The ‘grilled’ chicken that came with the salads was
very questionable. Rather than having a nicely seared, grilled and julienned chicken breast on top of the salad, it looked like someone stuck their hand into a container of pre-cooked chopped chicken and threw it on top of the salad. The croutons were horribly dry throughout. The best croutons are crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. The bottom line is the salad didn’t make it onto my top 10 list and I love Caesar salads.
Food opportunity #2: The home fries and mashed potatoes.
I’ve never seen home fries served with an ice cream scoop. The only way they could have gotten there was for the cook to smash them into the scoop thus destroying the normal presentation of what customers expect to see; which are chopped potatoes that have been prepared on a grill or in a skillet. They didn’t look like they had ever touched a grill. Our guest who ordered them actually told the waitress she brought him the wrong meal because he didn’t recognize them.
The mashed potatoes were served in similar fashion and looked very unappealing. I wasn’t sure if my guests were going to eat them or save them for a snowball fight in the parking lot. I’m not sure what the intent is of serving them with an ice cream scoop, but it does absolutely nothing for their appeal.
Opportunity #3: The tomato and mozzarella appetizer.
I get giddy with excitement when restaurants stray from the garden variety bunch of appetizers, such as fried mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, wings and quesadillas. So I was excited to see this appetizer. What should have been a delightful taste treat ended up being nothing more than
a plate of sliced tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and very runny balsamic vinegar. To start, the tomatoes were tasteless and not ripe; the very large slab of mozzarella was unappealing and the balsamic vinegar was wasted because it all ended up on the bottom of the plate under the unripe tomatoes. This type of appetizer should be served with juicy and hearty ripened tomatoes like Roma tomatoes and served with a thin slice of
mozzarella. The balsamic vinegar should be reduced to an almost syrup consistency so it adheres to the tomatoes and cheese and doesn’t get lost on the bottom of the plate. Finally, a sprig of basil or a dusting of chopped basil over the dish should serve as a nice eatable garnish.
I completely understand how difficult it is to find really juicy ripe tomatoes this time of year so it might be best to pull this dish off the menu for the season and bring it back during tomato season.
Opportunity #4: The strudel.
When served, I was told the strudel was hot and to be careful. Food should never be prepared in such a way that it requires a warning. It was way too hot and actually burnt my mouth; which had to be doused with several sips of ice water to eliminate the sting. Food that is that hot is a liability to the restaurant and should never be served to a customer. Your staff should be ashamed for serving food that is not at a proper temperature.
Opportunity #5: The butter pats.
This may seem trivial, but keep in mind that every aspect of the dining experience is being evaluated by each and every customer. The butter pats served with the bread are too hard to spread. In fact, the bread tears to shreds when spread with butter. Some suggested solutions are to warm the butter to room temperature before serving; or serving it with hardier bread
that can withstand the rock-like butter; or go the extra step and wow your customers with a small ramekin of whipped butter.
Other tidbits related to the service.
I asked to see a dessert menu to which the waitress replied she would recite them for the table. If I had wanted her to recite them I would have asked. A good server honors any and all reasonable requests of the guests. She should have provided a couple of menus.
The waitress snapped at one of our guests when she politely reminded her she needed a beverage refill. Does your staff work for tips? Do I need to say more?
The role of each staff member should be abundantly clear to each guest so as not to confuse them and make sure they are able to ask questions of the right person. I was completely overwhelmed by the number of staff we encountered during our visit and I wasn’t sure who to tip or ask for more water. All of this could have been alleviated by defining the role of each staff member, having the waitress introduce herself as our server or by way
of appropriate uniforms. None of which existed.
We had one hostess who disappeared without a trace, another who took her place and seemed confused with the process, someone who took our drink and appetizer order, another person who took our order for the main course and someone entirely different who helped clear the used plates.
What amazed me the most is I’ve never seen so many people service a table and still feel as though their was a general lack of good customer service. Clearly, there is much training to be done.
….and lets not forget about the ‘gift certificate’
It would seem a $20.00 gift certificate purchased 10 years ago would retain the same monetary value today. I’m not aware of the value of a $20.00 bill having changed since then, but maybe I’ve been asleep for the last decade.
A member of our party presented a $20.00 gift certificate that was purchased in 2001 and it did not have an expiration date. I personally would have used it long before now and chances are I would have lost it within a year of receipt if it had remained unused. Regardless, the personwho had the gift certificate was told it was not acceptable without an explanation. I believe the fact that I picked up the tab helped eliminate a confrontation with the staff. In retrospect, I wish I had not tried to diffuse the situation and let the confrontation ensue.
My opinion is the gift certificate was not handled properly. At the very least, the restaurant should have provided an explanation for why it was not acceptable (after all, they gladly took the money that was used to purchase it). It would not have been unexpected for the restaurant to offer something in return such as a new gift certificate to be used during
a future visit. That way, the customer gets their goods worth $20.00 and the restaurant gets a return visit from them. Everybody is happy and customer doesn’t feel like they just got ripped off. I believe there are laws against thievery.
Lastly
Normally, I would expect an enterprise that runs a restaurant and a catering business to make sure they compliment each other. That doesn’t seem to be the philosophy here because the restaurant experience and food preparation and presentation does not make we want to seek out your catering services. The shame is your restaurant has so much potential yet it doesn’t appear management or staff has any desire to make changes. If they did, things would not have been as bad as they were (and yes, I have been there before). My challenge to you is to make Dubrovnik Gardens a restaurant we can all be proud of.
Review by Tom S from Painesville posted January 22, 2011
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Celebration of Life:Present &Future
All through the years, I have never been disappointed. I have attended many social events and am especially pleased with the Restaurant..the food is OUTSTANDING and I have asked my family to have my Celebration of Life Dinner/Party here. To have my family and friends enjoy such wonderful food and service at a time that could be sad, will make the occasion a joyful one.
Review by Barbara Fatica from Euclid, Ohio posted November 17, 2009
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