Rav’s Creekside–Twinsburg Hangout

Over the years, I have driven by Rav’s Creekside any number of times, and I always meant to stop and check it out.  Well with a Groupon in hand, I finally managed to see what Rav’s is like and I was pleasantly pleased. 

Located at 9224 Darrow Road, Twinsburg, Rav’s is at the North End of a strip of shops.  The end location gives them the advantage of having a large deck on the side overlooking Tinkers Creek; I imagine this is a nice place to hang out during the summer.

Going in to Rav’s through the double doors you find a largish bar/restaurant without much to distinguish it from many similar locations, other then the large wall of windows leading to the deck.  The décor is ok, but certainly not why people come here.  There is a large elevated bar area, with a dining room area on one side and what looked to be a couple of pool tables on the other side.  There are plenty of beer signs and a few flat screen TVs to round out the atmosphere.

The menu at Rav’s (which you can see here) is a mix of bar food mainstays with some small tweaks.  What I did find was that the food was generally prepared with fresh ingredients and at least some care in the preparation.  Not everything completely hit the mark, but I do appreciate that the attempt was made to elevate the food.  With the Groupon to spend, I got a bowl of the Cream of Mushroom Soup, the Fish and Chips and an order of the Calamari. 

The Mushroom Soup should probably have been described as a a Mushroom Bisque, since it had was a bit thinner then a cream soup and had some onions and celery along with a lot of mushrooms.  With that said the soup was tasty and nicely seasoned.  A good start to the meal. 

Up next was the side salad that came with the dinner. A bit bigger then I expected, with nothing too radical, but there were two kinds of shredded cheese and the house dressing was mild, but flavorful.  All of the ingredients were fresh and flavorful, a good way to get your meal started.

The fish and chips were a real surprise, with two huge fillets of tasty white fish breaded and then nicely fried over a large helping of fresh cut french fries served with a nice tarter sauce.  The fish itself was excellent, tender and moist but fully cooked, the breading was ok, but seemed a bit grainy to me.  The dinner was good and the portion size was very large.  At this point I was ready to call an end to the meal, but the Calamari, which I had ordered as an appetizer then came out. 

The calamari (most of which went home for a later meal) were an interesting dish.  First the squid appeared to be fresh, but had been cut into bigger pieces then you usually see, which resulted in something closer to squid nuggets rather then the rings and tentacles most places have.  The breading (which was different then that used on the fish) was good, if a little heavier then I prefer for Calamari.  The dipping sauce was a different variation on a tarter sauce, with a bit more of an herb taste.   The sprinkling of grated cheese was a nice thought, but got a bit overwhelmed by the larger squid pieces.  I probably would pass on the Calamari at Rav’s next time, but that is more an issue of personal taste rather then an huge criticism of the dish, I just like my Calamari to be a bit lighter and more delicate, this was just a different approach.

Overall, I was impressed by the quality of the food, the large portions and the good service I got at Rav’s.  Probably not one of the places you need to seek out, but if you are in the Twinsburg area and want to fill up on some good food, you might want to give them a try.  Plus if it is summer time the creekside deck could be a cool place to enjoy.

Mandarain Seafood Buffet - OK Chinese in Twinsburg

I have a confession to make, I have a weakness for Chinese Buffets; fortunately I have managed to mostly avoid them the last couple of years mainly due to the fact that they generally aren't that good and the price has been creeping up.  I recently got a $2 off coupon for Mandrain Seafood Buffet in Twinsburg so I figured I would give it another try.  Mandrain is located at 2695 Creekside Drive in Twinsburg, close to the 480 exit at Darrow Road (map is here) and right next to the Gander Mountain. 

I have been to Mandrain quite a few times in the past and very little has changed, which is both good and bad.  The decor is a modern look, but it isn't at all distinctive or original, its fine but certainly not something that is really noticeable.  About the most interesting thing is that the buffet tables are in the middle of the space with seating areas on either side.  The lunch buffet was $6.50 which I thought was acceptable because of the coupon. 

Lets start off with the items that fall on the good side of things.  They have a seafood soup which is usually very tasty, nicely complimented by the crisp and colorful shrimp chips.  The shrip toast was flavorful and not overdone as it often has been in the past.  The vegetables such as the peapods and green beans were nicely cooked and had good flavor.  Although a close call, the sushi which is set up at the sushi bar at the back of the buffet is good by Chinese buffet standards; it has decent flavor and while not a great assortment there is enough variety to make a nice plate.  I would like for more seasoning in the sushi rice to compliment the seafood, but overall pretty good with the best thing being the handrolled crab salad rolls. 

The medicore is where most of the food I tried fell.  Things such as the fried shrimp, the rice noodle dish, the crab salad, the fried rice and most of the other items were ok, although lacking much flavor.  I enjoy Chinese and most other Asian foods because of the unique and different flavor profiles, unfortunately Mandrain and most other Chinese buffets I have tried in the area tend to make the food as bland as possible to appeal to a broad swath of the population; I understand this, I just don't have to like it.  Desserts for the most part fall into this as well, with some flavor, but not enough to make it worth the calories.

Finally I have to mention the really bad, which were the shrimp in the Seafood Trio, they were very bad with no flavor and either a rubbery or mealy texture depending on the shrimp.  I realize that having certain items on a buffet makes it hard to get the cooking exactly right, but I have had shrimp on enough buffets to know that it is possible to get them right and these were not anywhere near that.  Especially disapointing when you consider this is suppose to be a seafood buffet and the only shrimp in the steam tables were these and some overly sweet batter fried shrimp. 

Finally a word about service, while I don't expect a lot at a buffet, the waitress went by me for about 5 to 10 minutes before asking what I would like to drink and the only way I could get my check was by standing up and putting on my coat; not a good peformance at all.

The bottom line is that while there is a pretty good variety at Mandrain, most of the food has little flavor or distinctiveness.  There is a sushi selection, but no make your own Mongolian grill like some buffets.  I probably won't be back to Mandrain unless something major changes, but your mileage may vary.