Cleveland restaurants Archives

Café Roma (Cleveland, Tennessee)

January 6, 2016

Café Roma is a Cleveland, Tennessee favorite, and after my braised pork shoulder dish…I understand why! It’s a great Italian option for lunch or dinner.

So, for those of you who were wondering after you read my post about Yesterday’s at Willie’s, we ended back at Scott’s Furniture in Cleveland to buy the first sofa that we liked. Go figure. I know you guys are very interested in my personal life. It arrives today. It’s the little things, you know.

Anyway, going to purchase our new sofa meant that we needed to go back to Cleveland, so we decided to eat at another restaurant up there. It’s kind of a trek for us, so we don’t get a lot of opportunities to go up there unless we plan it out. We were torn between two places that were both pretty close to the furniture store (and both pretty highly rated on Yelp!), Café Roma and Taco Shack. Since I hadn’t done a post about an Italian restaurant in a good long time, we decided to go with Café Roma.

Café Roma is located in downtown Cleveland, very close to the courthouse and to Lee University. Unlike downtown Chattanooga, downtown Cleveland offers free two-hour parking on the street. I think I’ll move there (not really, but how nice!). We arrived around 1 p.m. and there were only a couple of other tables occupied, so we were seated immediately. Our server, Whitney, filled our water glasses and brought Philip a drink menu while we perused the lunch menu. They had a fairly small beer selection, but Philip decided on the Rogue Hazelnut brown ale and was very happy with it. I was intrigued by several of their cocktails but didn’t want to pay $8 or $9.

The night before we went, we watched In Defense of Food, a PBS documentary based on Michael Pollan‘s book by the same name (which you should read if you have not) (⬅️affiliate link). In the documentary, Pollan cut up crusty bread and piled it with fresh mozzarella, heirloom tomatoes, and basil, then drizzled it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This led to Philip and me agreeing that we needed to order the caprese-fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper, olive oil, and balsamic reduction-from the antipasti menu. It was served to us with a couple of pieces of what Whitney referred to as their house bread, which was pretty focaccia-ish. The only minor issue that I had with the caprese was that the tomato really wasn’t the greatest, but that’s what you get when you order something with fresh tomatoes in December. I can accept that, especially since with the other ingredients you didn’t really notice that it was a winter tomato. I just love caprese. I resolve to make more caprese in 2016. Amen and amen.

As I was perusing Yelp!, I read the menu for Café Roma and knew instinctively what I would order: braised pork shoulder. The braised pork shoulder consisted of chunks of braised pork shoulder (you weren’t expecting that, were you?), butternut squash, roasted red pepper, spinach, and linguine in a sauce consisting of some of the braising liquid and a brown butter sage sauce. And it.was.wonderful. The pork was amazingly tender and seasoned beautifully, the butternut squash was cooked well, and the roasted red peppers were actually roasted (I hate when you get a roasted red pepper that still has crunch to it). I would have liked to have tasted the sage a little more in the sauce, but it was still delicious, if a bit messy. That was only because my sorry self cannot twirl noodles for peanuts, so I ended up splashing broth all over the paper tablecloth like a two-year-old was sitting there. Oops. There was also a wedge of fresh focaccia served with the pasta.

Philip decided to go with the penne Bolognese, described as “penne pasta with a traditional rich meat sauce”. Bolognese sauce is traditionally a tomato sauce with meat (sometimes two or three types of meat) long-simmered with cream or milk added at the end. This sauce was more of an orange sauce than a red sauce, so it definitely had dairy added. It was a little bit spicy (probably red pepper) and didn’t have much in the way of chunks aside from the meat. Philip did say that he would have liked for it to have been a bit more meaty, but it was very good, very flavorful.

The prices are a bit higher for their dinner menu, but the lunch menu is very reasonably priced, with entrees and sandwiches ranging from $8.25 to $9.50 (they have a small selection of “dinner entrees” available for lunch priced from $12 to $19). Our total for Philip’s beer, the caprese ($8), my braised pork shoulder ($9.25), and Philip’s penne bolognese ($8.25) was $32.24. The atmosphere was very nice, with white tablecloths, fresh flowers on each table, and low lighting (and mouthwash in a St. Germain bottle in the ladies’ room-again, it’s the little things! Don’t worry, it had a pour spout and a stack of Dixie cups.) and Whitney was friendly and attentive. We enjoyed Café Roma very much and definitely recommend it for tasty Italian food!

Café Roma is located at 220 North Ocoee Street, Cleveland, Tennessee, 37311. They are open for lunch Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., and for dinner Monday-Thursday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday-Saturday, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. You can call them at 423-339-1488. You can read more about Café Roma on their website, http://caferomatn.com/. You can also like Café Roma on Facebook.

This post contains an affiliate link. This means that if you click through and make a purchase, I will earn a small commission. This does not affect the price to you. For more information, please see my disclosures. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Yesterday’s at Willie’s Diner

December 31, 2015

Yesterday’s at Willie’s Diner serves good food at good prices in Cleveland, Tennessee, in the former location of Jenkin’s Deli.

Buying new furniture is kind of a drag, y’all. I mean. I like the idea of getting new furniture, I just want it to magically appear in my living room without me having to sit on fifty different sofas, measure, figure out how everything will fit in my house, and figure out what to do with the old furniture.

You may be wondering what furniture shopping has to do with a restaurant post. Well, we ended up at Scott’s Furniture in Cleveland (which was a good call…it’s looking like we’ll be purchasing our furniture from them). Since we rarely get up there and therefore rarely get a chance to eat at the many Cleveland restaurants we need to try (I have a pretty detailed list), we decided to have lunch while we were up there.

We basically decided to eat at the first place on the list that we saw while driving, since we’re pretty unfamiliar with the Cleveland area. The first place we saw? Yesterday’s at Willie’s Diner. Yesterday’s at Willie’s is located in the former Jenkins Deli location on Mouse Creek Road (just past the intersection at Keith Street). Jenkins has moved to a new location (well, not so new…it’s been a while) on Spring Creek Boulevard…I need to visit there sometime to check out their new location.

It wasn’t very crowded, as we went after the typical “lunch” time. We were quickly seated by a friendly server. One look at the menu clued us in to the nature of the restaurant. The front of the menu states that Yesterday’s at Willie’s is owned by a couple with the last name Jenkins…so I am pretty sure that the establishment did not change ownership. There were a handful of appetizers, soups, salads, some barbecue entrees, several sandwiches, and a few entrees. The menu is not the same as Jenkins’ menu-it is somewhat more limited-but I did see some Jenkins favorites, such as the chicken salad and the deli burger.

And…that’s exactly what we ordered. Honestly, if I’d remembered that when we went to Jenkins that I ordered exactly the same thing, I would have gotten something different, but I didn’t think to check (and I was almost certain that I had ordered the burger last time). I got the half chicken salad sandwich with the fresh, house made potato chips. The chicken sandwich is a good portion with one slice of grilled Texas toast and a generous (but not outrageous) portion of chicken salad. The chicken salad is made with shredded chicken, which is how I like it. It has some herbs, celery, and plenty of garlic, and, while I would not say it is dripping with mayo, it’s definitely not dry. The chips are pretty much amazing…thick but not too thick, very crispy, and sprinkled with a perfect portion of seasoned salt.

And Philip, well, he got the burger. We can be a little predictable at times. He decided to order the burger with cheddar cheese and steak fries on the side (you can order any side that you like, with an additional charge for onion rings or a baked potato). The burger here is very good…a decent size (not too big, not too small) and cooked very well. The bun is griddled so that it’s warm with very crispy edges, just how I like it. It was served with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, mayo, and mustard, and had just the right amount of everything. It held together well. The steak fries were just standard frozen steak fries.

At $5.99 for my half sandwich and chips, $9.45 for Philip’s burger and fries (that includes an additional $.50 for the cheese), and two waters, our total was just under $17 pre-tip…not a bad price, I’d say. Our server, Rachel, was very friendly and attentive. The atmosphere here is pretty standard “tavern” atmosphere…dark wood, lots of pictures and signs hanging on the wall, and lots of graffiti where patrons have signed the walls over the years. We would definitely go back.

Yesterday’s at Willie’s Diner is located at 88 Mouse Creek Road NW, Cleveland, TN 37312. They are open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and Friday-Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (closed Sunday). You can call them at (423) 790-5346. They do not have a website, but you can like Yesterday’s at Willie’s on Facebook.

Deli-Boys of Cleveland

July 13, 2015

It’s too bad it took me so long to get to Deli-Boys, because this was one of the best sandwiches I’ve had a in a while! It’s worth the drive to Cleveland, TN, for sure.

Deli-Boys is located in Cleveland, and I’ll admit, I don’t give Cleveland much love on here. I promise it isn’t intentional! It’s kind of far away (45 minutes to an hour depending on the route I take and how fast we drive) so it requires a little bit of planning ahead. Every time I think about it, it seems too late to try to venture in that direction.

I was telling Philip, though, I’m starting to run low on places to review in Chattanooga-I’ve pretty much exhausted Soddy-Daisy and Hixson, and there are a few places downtown but a lot of them are only open during the day on weekdays, making them a little more tricky. We’ve got to start visiting places a little more “off the beaten path”, so if you have suggestions for Brainerd, East Ridge, Harrison, Ooltewah, Collegedale, Cleveland, and North Georgia, please let me know!

So anyway….I started thinking this morning about where we should go and I honestly couldn’t think of anywhere in Chattanooga that I was itching to try today. We needed to go to my parents’ house in Soddy before we got moving, so I suggested to Philip that we just keep moving north through Dayton and take the back way to Cleveland. My brother had suggested that I review Deli-Boys ages ago, and since my brother and I have similar restaurant preferences, I knew I could trust his suggestion.

Deli-Boys is located in a strip mall on Keith Street, just past Smoothie King. It’s on the side of the building, so you need to know where you are going or look for the sign out front to be sure that you can find it. We got there at about 1:00 and it was pretty crowded, though we were able to walk right up and give our order. By the time we left, the tables were pretty much full. The lady at the counter was extremely friendly, as was the guy who brought our food to the table and bussed our trash while we ate.

Deli-Boys offers sandwiches that you can build yourself (ham, chicken, turkey, roast beef, corned beef, and pastrami), specialty sandwiches (Italian, club, Cajun, meatball, veggie, chicken farm, pizza sub, Reuben, Rachel, steak and cheese, chicken and cheese, French dip, grilled cheese, turkey fajita, Caribbean, and BBQ) and all sandwiches come in small (3″), medium (6″), and large (12″, I assume). They also serve salads (house, Greek, Italian, chef, chicken, or tuna) and baked potatoes (deli, chili, veggie, cheesy, and “just baked” with butter and sour cream) and soup of the day.

I considered ordering the Rachel. Different restaurants have different interpretations of the Rachel-some make it just like a Reuben expect with turkey instead of corned beef-but their Rachel is corned beef, pastrami, or turkey, 1000 Island dressing, melted Swiss, and hot slaw or coleslaw instead of the sauerkraut that is signature on a Reuben. However, I knew that Philip was planning to order a Reuben so I decided to order something else so that our orders wouldn’t be too similar. I decided instead to build my own-pastrami (I adore pastrami, which is basically just peppered corned beef) with Muenster cheese, steamed and topped with Boar’s Head horseradish mayo and Boar’s head spicy mustard, both recommended by the lady at the counter, lettuce, tomato, and pickle, on a whole wheat sub. I love that you can order a small sandwich. It was more than enough food for me and didn’t leave me feeling overly stuffed. It was a delicious sandwich. The meat, cheese, and bread were heated through (there is nothing I hate more than a sandwich that is supposed to be warm but turns out to be cold in the middle) and all the ingredients were very fresh, including the bread, which is baked there. The bread was soft and chewy, pretty much a perfect sub roll. The horseradish mayo and spicy mustard were a fantastic complement to the Boar’s Head pastrami. As a side I just had salt & vinegar chips, but there are other sides available, including slaw, potato salad, macaroni salad, side salad, and mac & cheese.

As I mentioned before, Philip ordered the Reuben, which is pretty much his standard deli order, at least on the first visit to a new place. The Reuben was served on grilled marble rye with Boar’s Head corned beef, melted Swiss, 1000 island dressing, and sauerkraut. I assume that they grill their sandwiches on a panini press, because the bread was deeply ridged and Philip said that it was the crispiest Reuben he’d ever had, which he said was definitely a positive. While he said that Vine Street Market still stands as his #1 Reuben, the Reuben here was definitely one of the best that he’d had-very fresh, ingredients well balanced, and everything heated through just right.

Our total for two small sandwiches, two bags of chips, and two drinks was around $14. I noticed that they had cookies on the counter, but I didn’t notice until we were walking out that they had a cake stand with cupcakes, including homemade Hostess-style cupcakes, which I kind of wish I’d gotten (but I have crack pie in my freezer, so I am saving my sweet tooth for that). The people were very friendly, the service was quick and efficient, and this is obviously a popular place for the locals. They also offer catering.

If you have reason to head to Cleveland (or even if you don’t!) you should check out Deli-Boys!

Deli-Boys is located in the Colony Square Plaza in 2538 Keith Street, Cleveland, TN 37312. They are open Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (closed Sunday). You can call them at 423-472-8868. You can visit their website, www.deliboysonline.com. You can also like Deli-Boys on Facebook and follow @deliboysonline on Twitter.

Jenkin’s Deli, Cleveland, TN-July 28, 2011

July 29, 2012

I can’t believe I’ve been doing restaurant reviews here on Chattavore for nearly a year and a half and I haven’t reviewed a single Cleveland restaurant! It’s not exactly convenient for me, but there are lots of local restaurants there and I’ve totally missed a gold mine of opportunity! I have thought about (and even suggested) Jenkin’s Deli on several occasions but there was always a reason that it didn’t seem like a good idea. Finally, the fact that I didn’t have eggs with which to cook Saturday morning breakfast provided me a perfect excuse for us to have lunch at Jenkin’s (I’ve been there a few times but all before the birth of the blog)!

Jenkin’s Deli has been around since 1976 and has two locations, one in Cleveland and one in Athens. They are the number one restaurant in Cleveland on Urbanspoon…so clearly they are doing something right. When we arrived shortly after noon, they were packed out and we had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated. We could have eaten at the bar without waiting but we didn’t realize that until right before we were seated anyway (by the way, they have an unorthodox approach to seating….when you walk in, instead of giving your name and the number in your party to a host or hostess, you write it down. There was a host and a hostess working and they were not only seating people but cleaning off tables as well).

The walls and the floors in Jenkin’s are very dark wood. It has a decor similar to what you used to see in Applebee’s or TGIFriday’s…lots of music and movie memorabilia plus photos of locals, newspaper clippings, etc. The restaurant has been in this location since very early on, after they outgrew their original location at the Cleveland Mall (I have no idea if that is what is now referred to as Bradley Square Mall or not). I learned this from the 1985 document proclaiming Jenkin’s as Cleveland’s official gathering place that I read while I was waiting to use the restroom….which is my only real beef with this place. It’s a single-person restroom! There was someone in the restroom and two people waiting in line when I got there…so I had lots of reading time. It might be time to figure out plan B for the restroom!

Our server, Hannah, greeted us and took our drink order very quickly. We also decided to order spinach dip off the appetizer menu ($5.99). They offer the typical casual dining appetizers…chips and salsa, fried pickles (which would normally make me salivate, but I wanted some spinach dip!), cheese sticks, and their very popular chicken salad (more about this in a minute). I don’t believe that their chips are homemade, but they were pretty good all the same. I liked the spinach dip but wouldn’t say it was the best I’ve ever had…I prefer a thicker dip with more spinach. This dip was more like a queso with some spinach and a few artichokes mixed in (I like big chunks of artichokes). It was a little spicy-I’m pretty sure there was cayenne in it-but not overly so. It definitely got hotter the more we ate. I would order it again.

I believe I have been to Jenkin’s twice…the first time I had chicken tenders (I was in a different place back then) and the second time I had a burger. I liked both and contemplated ordering a burger again today, but decided instead to go with the chicken salad, which they are known for (and actually sell in bulk quantities for people to take home)….my mom told me it was great. I went with the half-portion chicken salad sandwich, which is served on Texas toast, with the house made kettle chips (yea yea yea! House made chips!) for $5.59. I did really enjoy the chicken salad….it was creamy and perfectly seasoned, no nuts, onions (or if there were, they were very finely chopped), grapes, etc. I would have preferred the sandwich served on whole wheat bread-perhaps from the Bread Basket, which is located almost directly across the street?-but I would definitely order this chicken salad again. Or order it in bulk to try to decode the recipe myself! I loved the chips, thick-cut but not overly thick….very crispy and not too salty. Score!

Philip decided to get the Deli burger ($7.49) plus smoked cheddar for $0.50 and bacon for $1.00. He decided on the fries instead of the chips. The Deli burger is a half-pound burger (they also offer a quarter-pound burger for $5.49) that has a great grilled flavor. It is served with lettuce, tomato, and onion, plus a little paper cup of mayo on the side (ketchup and mustard are on the table). The burger was delicious and the smoked cheddar and bacon finished it perfectly. Philip was less than thrilled with the fries…not that they were bad, but they just weren’t stellar. I think they were probably frozen, which was a bit of a disappointment given that the chips were (a) homemade; and (b) delicious. Anyway, Philip was very happy with his burger.

Our final bill was around $22 before tip (we drank water). Our server was friendly and adorable (she looked like Taylor Swift) and kept our drinks filled…which is a big deal for us. We were very happy.

Jenkin’s offers an interesting variety of dishes…some your “typical” casual dining fare (chicken tenders, fish and chips, chicken strip salad) but others are a little more unusual, like chicken Florentine (topped with spinach dip) and Zippy Chippy chicken (topped with peppers, mushrooms, onions, and Monterey Jack cheese). They have a pretty varied selection of homemade soups (vegetable beef, cream of broccoli, French onion, black bean, chicken and rice, and a soup of the day) and several desserts (I noticed peanut butter pie and French silk pie on the menu board).

One more thing I have to say about Jenkin’s….if you’ve read my About, you know that I am an exceptional education (otherwise known as special education) teacher, and I have an uncle who has Down syndrome. People with disabilities are a huge part of my life, and I have a soft spot for businesses that care about their interests. Some articles hanging on a bulletin board by the restroom profiled a couple of ladies that attend the Trousdale School, a school in Bradley County for adults with disabilities, who are employed by Jenkin’s. If I knew nothing else of this restaurant, that would have won me over on the spot. This is a restaurant that cares about the community and cares about people-all people. If for no other reason than that…you should eat there.

Jenkin’s Deli is located at 88 Mouse Creek Road NW, Cleveland, TN 37312. You can call them at 423-478-1648. There is a website listed on their Urbanspoon page (www.jenkins-deli.com) but it was not working while I was typing this so I suspect it is no longer active. They do have a Facebook page. Check them out!