Tuesday, February 26, 2008

2020 Martini Cafe and Lounge

2020 Center Street
Cleveland, OH 44113
(216) 776 0202
www.2020martini.com


Saturday afternoon after a downtown lunch, a friend of mine suggested we go check out a new place that opened up on the West Bank of the Flats of Cleveland. As most people from or around Cleveland know, the Flats have been struggling to get going again for some time.
The Stonebridge Condominiums, a newer addition to Cleveland's downtown living, now has the 2020 Martini Cafe and Lounge on it's ground floor. It is a huge space decorated with a theatrical theme with Italian accents, which is apparent from the stone facade at the entrance made to look like an Italian street corner. As you pass through the glass door you can go left to the cafe decorated in the a palette of deep chocolate booths and comfy chairs and sofas. Or, you can continue into the main dining area with towering ceilings and an open kitchen. Then to your right are modern rolled couches in the complimentary colors of bright oranges and blues, surrounding a full bar. They did pay attention to the decorative detail for the vents in the ceiling were painted to look like olives in martini glasses. Nice touch.
We ordered a few drinks and some coffees and relaxed on the couches near the glass patio doors that will be a wonderful place to enjoy outside seating once the weather changes.
The pours on the cocktails were perfect and the staff seemed very eager to accommodate. As we relaxed, we looked over the menu for both the restaurant and the bar. The selections they offer ranged from appetizers of calamari and shrimp cocktails to stone oven fired pizzas and sandwiches. Since we had just come from lunch we did not dine there, so we will have to return at another time to sample their cuisine. Unfortunately, as we read the menu, we saw multiple misspellings and grammatical errors. Something as simple as misspelling Dom Perignon, on a champagne bottle list of only four or five options! I don't think anyone would pay $200 for a bottle of "Dom Piernon". Also, their "Quattro Formaggi" pizza listed five cheeses...
Other than fixing these details, I will return and hope them all the best in the future. Cleveland's Flats definitely needs to keep moving in this direction of new innovative spaces and I hope that other places follow suit.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

sounds like a cool place, with an excellent view. and are their glasses curved, or is there an optical illusion in the photo? woof woof.

Simone said...

Yes, the space is pretty cool. And yes the glasses are curved. They have pretty nice glassware all around. The martini glasses are the ones with thick bottomed stems too.

Anonymous said...

cool. thick martini glass stems are important...they're far too tipsy otherwise. (or maybe it's me.)