Cleveland/ chose Balaton, excellent!

Tomorrow, dinner. I know about the two places in the reviews; One is lunch only, the other is Hungarian and Mrs Mosca might not be inclined to experiment that direction.

How about American, Italian, etc? We will be at the Hilton Airport, but will have the GPS.

Try Alton's by the Cleveland Zoo. No, they don't serve zoo rejects but some of the finest Italian I have ever had. It is in a very small strip mall which I think gives better odds to fine dining. A local spot. Google it for phone and directions. 

Try Michael Symon's Lolita's. http://www.lolabistro.com/
I have been there many times and it is always great...Russ

Euclid, I googled it and found nothing; is the spelling correct? Is it Aldo's, maybe? That's the closest I can get with the Cleveland dining guide.

I think we'll try Balaton, but who knows. I like some of the Toledo suggestions for the ride home.

Tom,

I totally recommend Balaton, it was in my top 10 list for last year.
The Szekely Goulash is a must

Mosca-
Most of my meals in Cleveland have been for Polish or Hungarian food.  You already know about Balaton and Sokolowski's University Inn, both of which come highly recommended.

You can get better than average Chinese at Bo Loong and they even offer dim sum.  I can't remember the name of it, but the Thai place across the street is okay, too.

If you want to try some lake perch, check out Flat Iron Cafe in the Flats.  They bill themselves as an Irish Pub and the rest of their food is quite good, too.

http://www.flatironcafe.com/

Balaton it is, thanks all!

Forgot the doggone camera, probably just as well.

At 6PM we walked right in and were seated; there is a sign saying reservations are recommended, but we were the second tableful. When we left around 7, there were maybe 6 tables filled, so there is some business on a Thursday night.

The salads were normal, but the Hungarian dressing was great; we dipped the chewy, crusty home made bread in it, and we bought a pint to take home. The potato pancake appetizer was excellent, served with sour cream and home made applesauce. The 'cakes were like an uptown version of the 'cakes we get at the church bazaar, much larger and much less greasy; they'd go over very well at the bazaar.

WJ, even though you suggested the goulash I ordered the sampler, just to get more tastes into one visit. The cabbage rolls were pretty decent, a little vinegary for me but good. The veal paprikash was outstanding; I could eat that every night for a week. The spaetzel was awesome; to be more specific, I could eat the veal paprikash over spaetzel every night for a week. The wiener schnitzel was OK enough. Schnitzel is a texture food among bold flavors, though, and I think it suffered in comparison. The coating was nice and granular and crispy, and the veal was tender, but the overall impression was, OK. Mrs Mosca got the chicken schnitzel, IMO it was better by a little bit. The chicken was very tender.

I ordered a cherry strudel for dessert, and it was excellent; not very sweet, awesomely flaky, nice bit of sour cherry in there. Small, but powerful, double packed flavor in a tight package. Which is good, because I was pretty damn stuffed by then, even though I didn't finish anything but the paprikash and schnitzel.


Highly recommended. We will return.

The veal paprikash was outstanding; I could eat that every night for a week. The spaetzel was awesome; to be more specific, I could eat the veal paprikash over spaetzel every night for a week.

Nice to hear people steer you good 'round these parts. Nice report!