Best Restaurants During the Holidays in Cleveland, Ohio

On of the best restaurant is Pier W in Lakewood recently opened after an eight-month hiatus, during which the restaurant was remodeled and redecorated from bow to stern at a cost of $3.0 million? The new design is handsome, extraordinarily comfortable and finally takes full advantage of Pier W’s spectacular setting at night.

Of course, people come to a restaurant to eat, not just to look at scenery. Rest assured you will enjoy the food and site at the same time. The view of Lake Erie and the Cleveland skyline was always the restaurant’s greatest asset.
Oddly, the original design restricted choice views to a handful of tables in the lower level of the dining room. Upper-level tables and the bar were cut off by a maze of placed walls and half-walls.

The interior sparkles with cut glass, polished marble and brass. A blue floor and cloudlike ceiling panels bring the colors of sky and water into the bar and dining room. Panels of rippled glass echo the rhythm of Lake Erie’s waves. The restaurant’s look and feel will remind you of a deluxe cruise ship’s dining room.

As always, the menu features seafood in just about any form you can imagine, though determined carnivores will find a few steak, chicken and veal dishes to satisfy their tastes. This place is so serious about fish the kitchen has a refrigerated cutting room where seafood is kept cold to prevent deterioration during preparation.

Diving into the menu, you may choose one of the perennial Pier W favorites such as clam chowder or shrimp cocktail, which chef does as well as ever, to start. But his new additions, such as halibut tacos, scampi and roasted heirloom beets, really deserve a try. The halibut tacos, which have already become the most popular appetizer on the new menu, wrap chunks of grilled Alaska halibut in a light, crisply fried wonton shell. The tacos are served with avocado, a sprinkle of tiny cilantro leaves and salsa. The textural contrast of tender, succulent halibut, crispy shell and unctuous avocado, topped off with the herbal fillip of cilantro; make this a special creation of a low price of$8.50 for a trio of tacos.