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Sportsman Restaurant



Review by Joel Kirk


101 Saint Clair Avenue Northeast

Cleveland OH 44114

(216) 861-5168


The Atmosphere


Grandpa’s basement.   This is the epitome of the feel of Sportsman.  From the wood paneled walls to the large Cleveland mural, everything about this place reminds you of hanging out with Grandpa in his basement, listening to some Hank Williams Jr…you know, when country was sung “right”.  At least that’s what my Grandpa would have said.  Sportsman is a deli where you can get in and get out pretty fast or sit down and bask in the appeal.  The tables are plain, the seats are kind of uncomfortable but when you walk in, how can oyu not expect that?  You’ll be willing to sit in a place like this for some good food, right? Well…that’s the catch here….


The Menu

Sportsman has a lot of different sandwiches and foods on their menu.  It’s got the standards (Corn Beef, Ham, Turkey) and then some local flair (The Clevelander, The Bostonian, etc.) Most of their selection is sandwiches but they do have soups and salads available as well. They have a decent amount of things to choose from but the prices are a bit high for the quality of the food.  We’ll get to that next.

The FOOD

Basic.  Not only does it feel like you’re in grandpa’s basement…but it feels like he was left to his own devices to make the food for you guys while you hang out.  Grandma had a girls night planned so Grandpa had to make some sandwiches.  I’m a bit of a bread snob…I like good fresh bread with my sandwich and it seems like they are using boring store bought bread for their sandwiches.  They might not be but it’s not very impressive whatever it is.  The price of the sandwiches includes a side of Macaroni salad, Potato salad or Coleslaw and a pickle.  Unfortunately on my visit they had no potato salad so I had the macaroni salad.  It wasn’t too great.  Very runny and way too creamy.


I also had the Bostonian (Ham, Turkey, Swiss).  The meat is good but the bread really drags this sandwich down to just “MEH” standards.  For the price (around $8 per sandwich) they should really look at doing something different with the bread.  The other two with me had the Clevelander (Roast Beef and Corned Beef…guess Cleveland is beefy?) and the Corned Beef.

They both agree that the bread just drags the sandwich down.  Hate to be such a downer but thought you should all know what to expect.

Departing

Well…all in all, it’s not a bad place.  Just sort of a bland place.  Great atmosphere for a hole in the wall corner deli…just needs to work on getting some fun put into the food.  I’d recommend stopping in for the selection of deli meats…maybe just take your own bread in?

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