The Journey of a Good Steak in Cleveland TN

     This is an ongoing list here in Cleveland when we try a new restaurant in hopes of a good steak.  The list has some unusual contenders.  I want you to know that I'm talking steak here and that it is possible for these places to have other menu items which are good.  I'm not denying that some of these places have some great food.  Were just talking steaks though.
     This is a list of places for steak.  This lists is added to on a I eat there, add it to the list.  If you have a place which you think I should try please comment and let me know where.  I am willing to try anything on the journey to a great steak. Also I am willing to put steak sandwiches on here as well so don't think a sandwich place puts me off.  Always remember we want to try the local foods so even if there is a place you think should be tried, send me the info and I'll check it out.

Most recent Steak excursions:
Outback Steakhouse, Paul Huff Parkway, Cleveland TN
Grade:
Price: $$$
Service: 85% The service is normally pretty good there but they are usually crowded so I have to take into consideration the bad days and some bad servers.
Stars: *** This is an average because there has been good and bad eating there.
     Outback has been a pretty good addition to Cleveland's many restaurants.  They have a diverse menu and I agree with the prices are good for the quality.  Until more recent years I had never had a bad experience there.
     On a recent excursion for the great steak we went to Outback.  The steak wasn't cooked properly and the service lacked which was strange because it wasn't as busy as normal.  You would think that the service would be better when they didn't have people waiting out the doors for a seat.  Sadly no, it wasn't a good day for them, that's for sure.

Logan's Roadhouse, Keith Street, Cleveland TN
Grade:
Price: $$ -$$$  There prices range from smaller steak portions aka(petite sirloins) to special cuts(filets, ny strips, etc).  This is one restaurant that still surprises me.  The prices are very good for what you get.
Service: 99% So far at Logan's in Cleveland service has been good.  Sometimes they are busy and it can get loud but service has been consistent even with a large party of ten or more.
Stars: ***** You heard me right!  I give them five stars for all around experience.  Even on their most busy days you can get a good steak cooked right at Logan's.  This is one of the only five stars I have ever given a steakhouse chain.  The fact is in all the years that Logan's has been open in Cleveland, TN I have never had a bad experience.  They have a consistency which is rare in the restaurant world.  Most chains restaurants strive to get consistency in their product.  This is one which knows what they are doing.
     I say if you don't want to wing it and try something new that this is the place to go for a steak.  They also have many different items on the menu as well.  They also normally have a two meal special which is a good price.  It's normally around $20.00.
     This is the only chain steakhouse in Cleveland which can cook a simple sirloin good, tender, and juicy.  They must train the cooks well.

O' Charley's, Paul Huff Parkway, Cleveland, TN
Price:  Ranges from $-$$$
Service:  Servers 95%  Food 0% I don't know if it's the food itself not being prepared properly or if the cook staff don't know what they are doing but they CANNOT produce a good steak.  The quality of product has gone to the dogs.  I have worked every restaurant job you can think of from bussing tables, cooking, too managing and with that experience I can say that they have definitely changed their restaurant distributors.  This is where you get your meats, and prepackaged materials like frozen pies for desserts.  I don't know who the distributor is but the steaks are now terrible, their famous chicken tenders terrible, and my favorite food on the menu which was their caramel pie now terrible.
Stars: This restaurant gets no stars.  Yeah, that's right.  The fact is you could have the best staff in the world but if you don't have a good product then it doesn't matter.
     I had an awful experience there with my favorite fellow foodie, my mom.  I ordered a steak medium rare three different times and they were unable to produce the product.  It did not exist and I refuse to eat a steak which is well done because it dries out and and destroys the meat.  This was surprising to me because I wasn't ordering a cheap sirloin and the amount of times that they tried to re-cook it probably cost the place thirty dollars at least.
     I emailed a manager and he wanted us to come back saying something about how they got a new flat top and that the food would be better this time around.  He even offered a gift card so we wouldn't be paying for the new meal.  Well what led me to eat there again was that I used to love the place and with my experience I knew that grills have hot spots which hurt the consistency of the product. AKA if you haven't been trained properly to locate hot spots on a grill you will have a steak which is well done on one side and raw on the other, when all you were looking for was a comfortable medium.
     I called the restaurant in advance telling them that I was coming to have that steak, hoping that they would wow me because they knew I had previously had a problem.  One of the managers even told the cooks that I had had a problem in the past with the food.  I would assume that was "Do this one right this time!" in disguise.  Would you believe it, our food was even worse this time around.  Even with a new flat top the steak was cooked well on one side and raw on the other.  Same problem, different day.  I told the manager and even called the store manager this time and explained what happened.  He said he was sorry and he hoped they could get the kitchen staff in better order.
     Can you believe they wanted to waist another set of gift cards on me.  I sent them back to corporate with an explanation of why it didn't matter if they paid the bill or not.  It wasn't worth my time.
     Now like I said this is steak we are talking about.  The only thing I know about this place now is steak, chicken tenders, and my beloved caramel pie.  Those three things you should not get at this place.  You should go somewhere else.  Now if you do like something else at this place, please let me know because I am willing to say that they may have something decent on their menu but I cannot say I've had it.


PRICE GUIDE:  This is a price based per person.

     $1-10  ($)

     $10-15  ($$)

     $15-20  ($$$)

     $20-30  ($$$$)

     $30- up  ($$$$$)  In which case, I will explain prices and how much it cost for however many guests were with me and what we ordered.

     STAR GUIDE:

     I judge a restaurant on stars that look like this *.  One star being edible and five stars being great.  When a restaurant is beyond great the blog info will show its greatness with five stars and an explanation of course. 

     SERVICE GUIDE:

     Service grades are in %'s and will be from 0% to 100%, based on the service and how the employees performed.

Yummy's Asian Cuisine, 25th Street, Cleveland TN

     Three years ago I checked out Yummy's on my Birthday with a good friend of mine.  I tried the Teriyaki Tofu which was a great dish.  My next visit I had great expectation for what I thought to be a good place to eat.  I was once again mistaken in my journey of culinary mediocrity in Cleveland.
     Once again my mother and I were going out for dinner with my nieces and nephews.  They wanted some sort of Asian Cuisine but knowing I wouldn't go to a buffet they decided to go to Yummy's.  They had never been there.  With a good review from the last time I went, we had hope for the place.
     At first glance the restaurant really hadn't changed much from the last time I was there.  When you step in you see the sushi bar and some chairs for waiting.  There is a check out to the right and tables with a separating wall which fills the rest of the space.  The restaurant was empty and for a Friday evening this was rare in Cleveland. The smell of ammonia was strong in the air and it seemed that they had just finished cleaning something.
     The tables were dark colored with an artistic flair which was interesting and my nieces and nephews enjoyed looking at the shells that were underneath the glass.  For some reason the tables reminded me of that bad seventies glass furniture which had fish tanks in them.
     I ordered water to drink and it tasted like burned plastic.  The rest of our group ordered soda or tea.  We got our menus after our drink orders and the prices had inflated in the three years since I had been there.  They did have a special for Teriyaki Chicken and Hibachi Chicken which was $6.95.  The regular price of this meal with an extra two prawns, and salad was $11.95.  That was understandable because prawns are expensive.  For people that don't know prawns are just big shrimp.
     We ordered two regular Hibachi Chicken's one special Hibachi Chicken and because there was no kids meals on the menu we planned on sharing our meals with my five year old niece.  Also we ordered takeout for my bf because he couldn't come out that night.  He got General Tso's Chicken a favorite of his.  It cost $9.50 and came with fried rice.
     They had brought a bowl of stale and greasy fried wantons out for the soup that wouldn't come for forty-five minutes.  This in a restaurant which had maybe ten guests all together.  We got our mediocre Miso Soup and salad finally.  The soup was awful but it wasn't very good either.  I am a huge Miso fan so I was a bit disappointed.  The salad was in a glass bowl full of water in the bottom and a lot of ginger dressing which normally I love but was watered down.  The salad, made of a bowl of lettuce and a half slice of tomato which had seen better days hung out on the table uneaten for obvious reasons(above.)
     When we finally got our food the chicken was dry and the sauce made it taste terrible aka I couldn't eat it.  The fried rice was pretty good though and so I ate it.  I am not a fan of shrimp so I ordered them to give to my niece and nephew.  Also they were not Prawns.  Prawns like I explained above are large Shrimp.  These were small shrimp but not so small that it was the baby shrimp.  My party explained to me that the shrimp was the best thing on their plates.
     I am not a great meat eater and usually even at a restaurant prepare to take food home because I try to eat six ounces or less of meat.  But Veggies I go crazy over.  When I saw that the stir fried veggies looked fresh I got so excited.  There was broccoli, zucchini, onions, peppers and carrots.  They tasted like burning plastic, just like my water.  I couldn't eat them.  So thus far I have ate one thing out of our entire order after tasting the food, fried rice.  To say the least my party was disappointed with our meal.  I worry about whether the food is safe to eat because the rest of my party got the burned plastic taste as well.
     When my bf, ate the food he said the General Tso's Chicken was overcooked chicken and dense.  He said the taste was alright, not the best he had ever had because that's when I make it at home or he gets in in New York City.  He didn't eat the fried rice, so I did because when I got home from dinner I was still hungry.
     My final word on Yummy's Asian Cuisine is this.  For one they need some sort of kids meal or smaller portions for children. They are overpriced especially for the quality of the food.  There one saving grace and the only edible part of our meal was the fried rice.

Grade:
Prices: Range from $-$$$$$6.95 to well over twenty for other things like lobster or steak.  Our final price was almost $60.00 no dessert, sushi or appetizers.
Service: 0% I can't give it a percentage grade because the service was bad and we waited forever for the check.
Stars: I give this restaurant 1 star because  the all around experience wasn't good.  Over cooked food in an unpleasant atmosphere.  They receive a star only for fried rice.