Route 6 Cafe

CLOSED

15625 Detroit Avenue
Cleveland, OH‎
(216) 521-7836‎

Review by Joel Kirk

The Atmosphere

Route 6 Café is a newer place in Lakewood’s assortment of restaurants. It’s a trendy place with an upscale hipster vibe that really draws you in once you walk through the doors. Contemporary Art adorns the walls and the dining room is decorated very modern and tastefully. It sorts of feels like you’re walking into a Quentin Tarantino movie set, with its bright colors and vibrant aura. At any moment, you could be eating a meal when a slow motion blood bath happens right behind you. That kind of feel. Very cool.

We sat at the bar for lunch to talk with the server and enjoy the view from the bar.

When we got there, we parked on the street at a meter. I didn’t spot a parking lot but Lakewood has plenty of street parking available. Route 6 is a very clean place with a kitchen that is open to the dining room. I like this at it gives you a view of what’s going on back there and brings the food action right to your face. The place makes a great first impression on you and leaves you excited to try the food.

We got there around 11:45 but there seemed to be a slow lunch crowd. We were hoping that this wasn’t a sign and that it had more to do with the relative newness of the joint. This is a great place to take a business lunch or meet a friend out to reconnect and talk. It has a great vibe to it and could easily become a favorite hang out of this EATer.

The Menu/Service

Route 6 Café’s menu is brought to you folded up. You get to unfold it like a map…goes along with their Route 6 theme. Pretty fun, quirky and I appreciated the tie-in. They have a variety of things to choose from, appetizers, sandwiches, entrees, etc.

The pricing seemed right on for the place and the style of food. Our server was great and she kept us talking with her about the place, etc. She was quick to recommend some of her favorite dishes. Unfortunately, when we were there…we were the only patrons of the place at the time. It gets busier there later on but we were there before noon. We weren’t able to see the service of other tables on this visit but I have a feeling that their service would be just as good as ours was. We had a great server. She took care of us and was very down to earth cool. We didn’t have to wait long for our food but we were the only ones eating at the time so that should be expected.

The FOOD

We started with the Long Beach Quesa, which is a Monterrey Jack cheese quesadilla stuffed with crab, shrimp and peppers. It’s served with both salsa and sour cream. I liked this appetizer as it was a different twist on a pretty common dish. It’s something that foodies can appreciate.

I took our servers suggestion and got the BLTM…which is a Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Mozzarella. It’s served with a basil-infused mayo and is an AWESOME sandwich. Fresh, light and extremely satisfying. The fresh mozzarella chunks really take this BLT over the top. You get your choice of potato salad or fries with your sandwich so I went with the fries as Chris did the potato salad. The fries were OK, nothing too great but still good.

Chris got the Havana Ham sandwich, which is a Cuban style sandwich served with Brie, pickle and Dijon on focaccia bread. He had the potato salad with his. Chris stated that the Dijon was a bit too strong on the sandwich and it almost overpowers the taste of the sandwich. With it being Cuban style, this has to be somewhat expected but unfortunately for Chris it was a bit too much for his taste. He said beyond that, the Ham was fantastic as was the Brie. The potato salad was good and fresh, definitely not too much mayonnaise or mustard in this which some can do from time to time.

Departing

Route 6 Café is a great little spot. We really recommend and giving it a shot. It’s newer to the Lakewood scene but it’s worth your time. I can see myself going there again for dinner and trying some of their other dishes. We left very satisfied overall and not feeling too full. We got our kicks….at Route 6….

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