For more than 20 years, Noosa Bistro has been among the mainstays on the Mentor dining scene. Originally Red Back Jack’s, the restaurant arrived in Lake County from Cleveland’s warehouse district in 1997 and was rebranded Noosa in 2002.
Last year, owners Rob and Susan Stanovsek packed up and moved from their spot on Mentor Avenue, just east of Route 306, a few miles down the road to Diamond Center, taking over a space most recently occupied by Brown Derby. After a fairly extensive remodeling, Noosa reopened in the fall.
>> Look back at when the new Noosa Bistro was ready to open
The transformation of the place is striking. Gone are all the dark tones and dim lighting. The footprint of the dining area has changed, too, with the old step-down space to the right of the entrance walled off and an equally spacious room opened up to the rear of the bar. Everything is contemporary, with a beige-gray color scheme, modern pendant lights and chandeliers and painted beadboard soffits. It’s a welcome, stark contrast to previous establishments that have called the end unit of this shopping strip home.
The menu has been slightly expanded but still features a mix of classic American cuisine with a lean toward seafood. There’s a handful of signature pizzas available, which I don’t recall from trips to the former location (although I wasn’t a frequent visitor), and prime rib is available on weekends.
On a recent Saturday evening, my wife and I settled in with a couple of appetizers from a wide-but-not-deep starter menu. The crab dip ($10.90) was served with toasted baguette slices and was piping-hot, a layer of cheese resting atop the slightly sweet concoction. I thought it was a solid dish, one you’d feel confident recommending to friends even if you couldn’t bring yourself to rave about it.
What you could rave about — and it was evident from our entry to exit — was the service at Noosa. Everyone is extremely professional and attentive, from the hostess to everyone who approached our table. It was refreshing to encounter such exemplary staff. No question, ownership knows what it’s doing when it comes to hiring.
Our other appetizer was the truffle fries ($6.90), hand-cut potato strips with some skin, topped with truffle oil, blue cheese and a balsamic drizzle. As I recall, it’s a Noosa staple, and it did not disappoint. I’m of the opinion truffle oil is a little gimmicky, but balsamic vinegar on fries is almost always going to win me over. It was refreshing to have a topped-fries dish that wasn’t heavy-handed on the toppings, as some places err in this department.
For the value-conscious, the discrepancy between the pricing on the appetizers and salads versus the entrees is a tad wider than you might find at similar venues. Perhaps it’s just me, but I don’t seem to find myself at very many places that offer good $7 appetizers and want $34 for a filet. There’s a bit of a disconnect there, but it’s hard to argue against a place that’s been around so long. I do respect Noosa’s longevity a ton.
For her entrée, my wife ordered another Noosa staple, the chicken marsala ($17.90). This is not your grandmother’s chicken marsala. It’s cream-based, which I like, and it’s pulled-off well. My wife doesn’t care much for mushrooms, which might make one wonder why she’d order an entrée that is mushroom-laden, but that’s a protest for another day. I liked it more than she did, but she did enjoy the garlic mashed potatoes and green beans that accompanied it.
It’s worth mentioning that when we visited, we were a week away from a 10-day vacation in Florida, where we’d eat a lot of fish. So we purposely stayed away from seafood here. We were definite land-lubbers on this evening.
I settled on a burger, specifically the Bistro burger ($10.90), which is a classic cheeseburger with your choice of cheddar, Swiss or provolone with lettuce, tomato and red onion. It was OK. I ordered it medium, and it was cooked exactly how I’d expect a medium burger to be, but the beef wasn’t very flavorful. Perhaps it was under-seasoned (likely), but it could have been that it just wasn’t very good beef.
My burger reminded me of what I’ve kind of always thought of Noosa: There’s an old joke that goes something like, “You can be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but can’t you ever just be ‘whelmed?’” I like the appetizers, but am just “whelmed” by the entrees, especially considering some of the price points. Maybe it’s a mistake to not order the prime rib, but when you’ve had a just-OK burger for $11, it might be hard to pull the trigger on $29 plates.
And that somewhat belies all the rest of what Noosa encompasses. The ambience is great. The service is impeccable. Case in point: When we were walking out, we noticed a couple we know sitting at the bar. We joined them, and the bartender and kitchen went out of their way to accommodate an ad lib, off-the-menu item for them. I think that’s awesome, and we hung out for a while and enjoyed a great evening.
By the way, the bar is exceptional. There are more craft beers on tap than a place that bills itself as “fine dining” normally would have, plus signature cocktails that got rave reviews from our party.
Fair or not, one of my own barometers is “Would I bring an out-of-town guest there?” In that regard, I get more satisfaction from a place that might be kind of dive-y but has extraordinary food. Noosa Bistro, then, for me is kind of the opposite — a great place in many other ways but with mostly ordinary food.
Noosa Bistro
9500 Diamond Center Drive
Mentor
440-953-1088
Location: On the south side of Diamond Center Drive, just east of Heisley Road.
Type of restaurant: Fine-dining/bistro.
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday; bar open until midnight every night.
Liquor and wine: Full bar.
Facilities for the handicapped: Yes.
Credit cards: All major.
Cuisine: Classic American.
Vegetarian: Several options.
Special diets: Ask your server.
Kid-friendliness: Not really a kid place.
Outdoor dining: Yes.
Dress code: Smart-casual.
Reservations: Accepted.
WiFi: Yes.
Prices: Moderate to slightly pricey — appetizers mostly in the $7-to-$10 range; burgers and salads $8 to $11; entrees $18 to $34.
Value: Fair to good.
Ratings (of five):
Food: 3.
Atmosphere: 4.5.
Service: 5.
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