Joey’s Bistro Bar

My boyfriend and I eat here a couple of times a month because we are regular movie goers to the Cedar Lee theater on Saturday nights. Service has always been efficient, we let them know ahead of time what time we need to leave and have never had a problem.
The garlic buttered pull apart bread is SOOOO good! Entrée portions are generous, and taste great. The way they made over the space from the previous restaurant is a real improvement.

We wanted to like this neighborhood spot, but left thinking it deserves a restaurant makeover. We went in after the movies and were the only people there; the server greeted us and then diverted to handle a larger party that came in after us and we got served by the bartender. I’m not sure how two tables qualifies as a service challenge.
That said, the servers were friendly.
The garlic bread that was delivered was reminiscent of greasy Pillsbury dough balls lightly salted with a hint of garlic. The oil on the table could not possibly have been olive, more like corn or canola or safflower. Tasteless, with an acidic aftertaste.
My caprese salad consisted of three slices of an unripe hothouse beefsteak tomato thinly sliced with packaged mozzarella. That said, the lettuce salad that accompanied it was the highlight of the meal, fresh and well dressed.
The kitchen was completely out of veal, so I ordered the chicken parm. I got a large breast, tasteless and tastelessly breaded, with a tasteless fresh tomato sauce which also topped the boxed linguine.
My daughter’s angel hair pesto was uninspired and bland, and my wife suggested that a restaurant makeover artist would have said her Carbonara resembled no Carbonara served in any other restaurant. It wasn’t as tasteless as everything else, instead it was heavily garlicky.
Sorry but we’re not going back.

Great food. Only reason they don’t get ⁵⁄₅ stars is that the service was lacking. Were only one out of two couples in the whole restaurant and it still took a long time for the food to come out and the waitress wasn’t very attentive as far as our water glasses were concerned. However once the food came out it was fabulous. Would try this again especially in the summer when their store front garage door can be open.

We have not been here before, and saw that they were on
. To say that we’re were shocked with the food, is an understatement. The restaurant is kid friendly, and the server was new but friendly. Even the owner stopped by to shake my hand and say hi.
The meatballs were big, flavorful and had a great marinara sauce. The crab cakes were meaty, had very little filler, and had a unique green sauce served with them. The hot peppers were hot, could have used a little more garlic, and also were served with the same great marinara sauce. The pizza was delicious, and the veal was tender, juicy, and not overpowered with lemon or capers.
The only area of improvement to the menu was the fried dough dessert. It lacked any creativity, didn’t have enough powdered sugar, and just felt like fried pizza dough. I would add a variety of dipping sauces (chocolate, Nutella, raspberry, caramel, whip cream), and it would be the perfect way to end a great meal.
All in all, I can’t wait to go back and try more things on the menus. Nice job!!!

Quaint restaurant with a full bar and awesome décor. Came here on a date and would definitely go back. Dim lights set the mood and the wood floors add to the ambiance. Server seamed to be a college student but was fairly attentive and did not over visit the table. Ordered the eggplant napoleon for an app… wow delicious! Both our meals came out hot and in a timely fashion. We finished with a bottle of wine for desert that was just perfect. I’ll be back for sure, date or no date.

My wife and I had dinner at Joey’s last night. We were greeted and sat by the owner, Michael, and enjoyed attentive and friendly service throughout the evening. Nice ambiance — Joey’s is well decorated and the lighting and music creates a pleasant relaxing atmosphere. The complimentary pull-​apart bread was arrived warm and delicious. My wife ordered the toasted cheese ravioli and I had a Delmonico steak with angel hair pasta. We were both very impressed with our meals. The house made crème brûlée was excellent! We will be back again for sure.

Killed two birds with one stone when we had the hankering for Italian and a
coupon. This is one of the many awesome restaurants on Lee Road in University Heights. Walked in to a very clean establishment, looked very traditional Italian. Our waitress was super awesome, so attentive, had lots of good suggestions and at the end gift us a $ 10 coupon to return.
Food came out fast. Started with fresh baked pull apart garlic bread. Intentionally had to stop myself from devouring this little pieces of heaven. Moved on to some calamari. This is one of those special places that actually give both the rings and tentacles. Lightly breaded and was in a medley of lightly breaded/​fried onions and banana peppers, topped with this amazing tomato sauce (not too chunky/​light, had a hint of sweet, tasted so fresh).
Entrees do not come with salads, but we ordered some. I got the Joeys Caesar salad, came in a 12 diameter bowl of greens with cheese slices, grape tomatoes and artichokes. Suggest adding grilled chicken and making that your entrée.
Main entrée was the $ 14 chicken parmesan. This guy was large and in charge. Pasta al dente. Chicken was a thick and tender serving. Perfectly breaded. Asked for seconds on sauce. With all I consumed, yes I took half home.
I’ll be seeing you again soon Joeys, one of my new fave Italian spots.

Went here on a Saturday night with the lady. We read all these bad reviews and were a little cautious but went in with an open mind. Well this certainly was no Jimmy O’Neill’s.
Bread came out warm with oil and garlic. Excellent
Started with the calamari, rings and identical. It was cooked about perfect. Lightly breaded, and the marinara sauce was fantastic. Not to sweet.
we each got a salad. My Mediterranean was great. Blue cheese, fesh fancy greens. I can not tell you how nice it is to get a salad that is not bagged iceberg mix.
Girls Caesar r salad was very good, Greens, croutons, artichokes and a great Caesar dressing.
My Veal Parmesan was excellent. I ordered the pasta with meat sauce, it was fantastic you could actually taste the sausage. there sauce is excellent. There were also fresh tomatoes under the mozzarella cheese. My only critique is that they should put the sauce on top of the cheese so it stays crispy.
Our server was supper attentive and did an overall good job. They also gave us a 10 $ card to come back.

One of our favorite Italian restaurants. Fabulous pizza and light & tasty chew pose ravioli that never disappoints. Fabulous friendly staff. A neighborhood gem for casual dining.

My gff and I just had a terrific experience at joeys. Had the stuffed peppers and flat bread pizza. Super good. Love Ruth.

The food is excellent, the service is excellent, the wine choices are non-​existent. They have a list, but no wine that is on the list. Get with it folks, you will not survive if you cannot please your customers. I have been there four times in 6 weeks and the last two times there were only three red wine choices. This ruins my dinner!!!

We came to Joey’s on a Monday night with 5 adults and 1 child, hoping to avoid the crowds and keep my 2 year old daughter happy. There was a distinctly off-​putting urinal smell hanging in the air, and despite the restaurant being nearly empty, it took nearly 30 minutes for us to even get our entrée orders placed. Once we did, the food came out relatively quickly, and the salads and main courses were all delicious. However, dessert was a completely different story.
My wife and I used to frequent this spot when it was Jimmy O’Neill’s, just for a slice of their awesome beet cake and maybe a glass of wine. Imagine our surprise and delight when «Famous Beet Cake» appeared on Joey’s menu. So we ordered a slice, and convinced my wife’s parents to do the same. Even though the description left us a little dubious, we were just hoping that somehow some way, Joey’s made a deal with Jimmy to bring back the recipe we so missed…
Big Mistake. Not only did it take nearly 20 minutes to prepare, what came from the kitchen bore no resemblance to the beet cake of yore in either taste or presentation. It was sickly sweet, with a vague plastic aftertaste. Instead of a rich chocolate interior, we were given a light-​brownish mass with no distinct flavor profile other than sugar. Gone was the delicious chocolate ganache and homemade whipped cream — in their stead, some hershey’s syrup drizzled on top and a scoop of nondescript vanilla ice cream on the side. It was so awful, no one at the table wanted to finish it.
To summarize: Slow service, delicious traditional Italian entrees, terrible dessert. If you have children with a short attention span, beware.

This place was really good to take kids. Food is reasonably priced and tasty. Our waitress was delightful and very attentive. We are outdoors on their cute little patio area. Sauce was really good on the fried mozzarella as well as the Chicken Florentine. Garlic bread that is complimentary is awesome. Go here for comfort food. I left stuffed and with leftovers. The prices didn’t break the bank either. A nice addition to Cedar Lee which can be hit or miss.

Horrible service at Bar which was not crowded at all! My friend and I stood for over 10 minutes waiting to order drinks before my friend finally asked after several times to be ignored to finally have someone come over. No apologies given by bartender. Never to go there again.

New to the area we were casually walking around looking at the menus of the several restaurants in the area and while we were looking at joeys a waiter came out and was extremely nice and basically convinced us to come in even though we were hesitant since we had our 2 year old and 3 month old with us and weren’t looking to be somewhere too formal. Long story short we were there for happy hour which is awesome and the place was nearly empty until we were about done with our meal. I got the chicken florentine and my husband the beef sandwich. Both were delicious. We each had two alcoholic drinks and a kids meal and our bill was $ 53. Pretty awesome! Will definitely be back!

Decent but pricy. I had a huge portion of lasagna that was pretty tasty. I bought expensive cannoli that isn’t anything like what you’d find at Corbo’s so I’d probably never get that again. If you go on a Tuesday night, be warned: it gets chilly bc they leave the side wall open for the karaōke night.

I ordered takeout, so I cannot comment on the service. Their menu consists of pasta dishes and pizza, as well as appetizers. We had the black and blue risotto fritters for an appetizer. They were two large patties, heavily breaded and very greasy. My biggest disappointment is that the proteins were barely flavored and thrown together with the pasta. I am used to having Italian food that has flavors blended together, this seemed randomly thrown together. I had penne pasta with chicken. The pasta was drenched in sauce, and grilled, tasteless chicken placed on top. With all of the fine Italian eateries in the area, I will not be back.

So, I love it when we decide to just go some place new because it’s just that; new:)
Such was the case with Joey’s. We happened upon this Italian-​themed bistro-​bar on a visit to Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. We don’t do Italian often, and we thought it would be a nice change.
We arrived on a cool evening and there wasn’t a large crowd; the service was immediate and excellent.
The place has a warm, Tuscan-​décor with a full bar, lots of seating, indoor and out. We got a nice table in the back and got started with their garlic… well, it wasn’t bread, it was, as the waiter mentioned, «garlic balls». It was a pull-​apart bread, nicely crispy and drenched in a garlic sauce that made both of us want more. We also got a nice bottle of wine and just sat back and enjoyed,
(did I mention they have special nights, like Wednesday being half-​off bottles of house wines?)
We got a chance to meet the owner, who told us about the food selections and the waiter was very helpful. We both ended up getting the chicken picatta, which was flavorful and I have to say, I’ve never had Italian food with brussel sprouts, but they were GREAT.
The food was nice too because it was flavorful and not overwhelming, and not, well, run of the mill. We really enjoyed the experience. The prices are about mid-​range and overall, we were really impressed. Speaking of which, I can see many a young couple coming here for a romantic evening over drinks, and even desserts.
I was also told that, for the local crowds like the students, they’re planning on special College Nights, as well as things like Happy Hour and Ladies Nights, which you wouldn’t expect from a place this classy, but I admire any place that diversifies:)
All in all, we rate Joey’s Bistro Bar very high on the «Mambo Italiano» scale, so stop in an enjoy!

This place was odd, and not what we expected. The name makes you think it’s a mom and pop pizza place, however, the interior is very nice, and the prices were mid-​range. Our waiter was attentive and friendly, and gave us plenty of time to look over the menu-​which had a little bit of everything: apps, pizza, fresh calamari and mozzarella, steak, salmon and of course, pasta.
I had a cocktail and my husband had a beer. These were good; as a matter of fact, my cocktail was one of the best I have ever ordered in a restaurant-​no joke! I ended up having a second.
We skipped appetizers, and ordered a seafood pasta dish and chicken piccata; both with side salads. The salads were generic enough– tomato, lettuce, mozzarella, italian dressing. The bread they were served with was wonderful-​and I am very picky about bread! It was fresh and flavorful.
Now, many people will say, there’s not enough flavor or whatever in this food… but that’s because it’s not loaded with salt and sugar like a lot of other places prepare it (for the discriminating American palate). For me, it was nice to eat at an Italian place where the sauce wasn’t a salty, garlicky, buttery mess, nor a sugary, paste-​y concoction slapped on reheated noodles. This place tastes homemade, the healthy way. Like how I would cook it at home. No breaded fried junk slapped with salt.
With that being said: I really enjoyed my chicken piccata. My husband ate every bite of his linguini seafood– the noodles were a true al dente, the seafood wasn’t super sea-​food tasting (fresher) and there wasn’t some crazy large portion size that tempted you to keep eating just because it’s there.
The ambiance was very nice; the bar area was spacious, and indoor and outdoor seating was offered and was readily available.
This place is on par with la dolce vida in little Italy. It’s easier to get a table here, better parking and it’s very inviting. Despite the name, it’s a good place to take a date.
If it wasn’t for a gift card, I wouldn’t have known it existed. We tipped very high for the excellent service and I was very glad we went out to this place.

«Meh. I’ve experienced better». I couldn’t give it more than that.
From all the hype I have heard about Joey’s in Chagrin, I was really expecting to be wowed. I was not.
Calamari: ok, but nothing special. Lots of tentacles.
Chicken Florentine: Pretty good, I didn’t order it. Had one bite before my friend gobbled it up
Antipasto Salad: OMG! Can you say pass the oregano? I really should have told the server that the dressing was sooo overpowering, it was hard to eat.
But service wasn’t that great to begin with, so I figured I may not see another dish for awhile. I really hate when that happens!
And lastly, we kept eyeballing bread baskets? Our server was MIA most of the time, so we didn’t have the opportunity to ask for one. Maybe they aren’t standard on the table?
We will never know. Won’t be back for seconds.