A friend of mine recommended that I try some restaurants located in Hudson, Ohio. For those of you not familiar with Hudson, it is about 45 miles from here located on SR 91 between Akron and Cleveland. It is easily accessible (about a 45 minute drive)…Ohio Turnpike to the I 480 exit; then 480 to Route 91 (Twinsburg) exit; turn left off the freeway and down the pike about 3 miles. It is another charming New England-esque village with great shopping both on Main Street drag and a small shopping mall one block behind the Main Street stores. Beware of traffic. Hudson is a popular destination and has lots of Main Street traffic during high shopping hours!!This trip we decided to try the Rosewood Grill located on Route 303 in the Turner’s Mill building about one block east of Main Street. This is a great place. Wow! Wow! Wow! Whoever designed this place knew what they were doing. Whoever designed the menu knew what they were doing. Whoever hires the help knows what they are doing. Whoever is cooking the food knows what he/she is doing. This place is a homerun.
It’s located in an old mill converted into the restaurant and some high rent offices. The building is impressive. The restaurant entrance is to the left of the main building and down a ramp. As you enter, to your left, is their outdoor patio. The centerpiece of the patio is a mammoth gas fueled fire pit surrounded by at least 20 seats. The effect is something terrific, and it also serves a purpose for those waiting for tables and want to wait outside. It was a nippy last Saturday night and the space around the fire pit was almost filled.
As you go into the restaurant, a large bar area is off to the left and the dining area is off to the right. It is eye candy. The entire restaurant is done in light earth tones of wood and stone. It is modern, without losing the ambience of being in an old mill with stone walls. These guys must have had a major lighting designer with lighting playing a major part in the restaurant’s overall appearance.
The bar has comfortable bar stools that actually slide on the floor making for easy in and out! It is a long bar whose backdrop is a window into the kitchen where you can watch all of the action, and there is plenty to watch. You wonder how these folks keep from running into each other.
Waiting for our table, my wife and I went to the bar and were informed it was a full service bar and we were welcome to have dinner there if we wanted. That is one of our favorite things to do, and that’s where we stayed. Good move on our part…Gina, our waitress, was terrific, friendly, helpful, knowledgeable about the menu, wine and drinks, and one of the hardest working bartender/server I have ever seen. She made the night absolutely fun and enjoyable.
The menu is eclectic with expensive choices in the $25.00-35.00 range, but also offering a wide array of sandwiches and salads and some killer flatbread pizzas. For an appetizer, we opted for a flatbread pizza made with a port cherry reduction, blue cheese and arugula. OMG. Die and go to heaven time. You can add a salad to your entrée for $3.00, and it is large enough to split between you. So we did…with an outstanding balsamic dressing. For a main course, my wife had butternut squash ravioli topped with shredded chicken and winter veggies all in a sage butter sauce. OMG again!! I had a sirloin steak with a cab reduction; cheddar mashed potatoes, and grilled asparagus. OMG again and again!! We split a dessert of a non-upside down pineapple cake…which turned out to be an absolutely delicious muffin served with the best vanilla bean ice cream I have ever had, and pineapple glazed in a heavy syrup. I am starting to shake.
IMHO, the prices here are reasonable. Good food with the atmospherics, you get a lot of bang for the buck. Our tab for dinner plus two drinks came to $65.00…and it was worth every penny.
Two criticisms: 1) The Rosewood Grill has a no reservation policy, although it does have call ahead seating. You are free to eat at the bar, and there are some bar tables also available for dinner on first come first served. 2) The “ta-da” girls around the hostess station, my uber pet peeve, are a little disorganized. I don’t know why it takes three to look for my name on the call ahead seating list, then give me the buzzer, then look me up to see what face went with buzzer ten minutes later. Such are the minds of “ta-da” girls.
The Rosewood Grill is worth the drive. It is owned by Hospitality Restaurants in Cleveland, which owns several other establishments such as the Blue Point Grill and Delmonico’s Steakhouse. It would get five meatballs but for the two criticisms I mentioned above. Be sure to visit its great website and listen to Michael Stanley’s version of Rosewood Bitters, as well as some of the music that is streamed onto the site.
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