Restaurants in Ashtabula

Though it isn’t a matchmaking service, Grovewood Tavern is responsible for more than 150 successful relationships in the past decade, all of which were realized over dinner. The brick-enclosed restaurant specializes in the delicious puppy love between food and drink, hosting meals that pair fine wines, beers, and spirits with bites from a globally conscious kitchen. The courses encourage guests to savor combinations in the moment, but also nod to the history inside the glassware. Trivia and origin stories accompany the drinks, detailing their flavors and the favorable reviews they've received. Some dinners benefit from presentation by expert hosts, including vineyard aficionados and people who know how the ghosts are added to each bottle of spirits.

Outside of these showcases, visitors can still enjoy selections from the tavern's regular menu. Duck-burger sliders and spice-rubbed ahi-tuna sandwiches dispel any worries about stereotypical pub fare, and the entrees' emphasis on local and organic ingredients adds a refreshing ease of conscience to each bite. Grovewood’s catalog of savory meats ranges from Japanese-style barbecued chicken to the bison pot roast, which, according to a 2007 feature in the Plain Dealer, "falls gloriously apart, upon gentle forkage." Chefs accommodate vegetarians and vegans as well. A wealth of meat- and gluten-free options speckles the menu's pages, and the pairing dinners list substitutions for nonveggie helpings, replacing tea-smoked duck breast with grilled tofu and skirt steak with vegan beef.

T.G.I. Friday's transforms the six worst days of the week into the only day of the week that is acceptable to most Americans. Friday's is equipped to fill your life with Jack Daniel's sauce and endless salad and breadsticks. The multipronged menu contains prongs for burgers, sandwiches, salads and soups, seafood, pastas, chicken, and more so that any craving-flame can be put out.

West End Bistro houses a bar on the ground floor, while a lofted dining room provides a peaceful space for face stuffing amid shades of rich brown and cool jade green. This two-tiered house of comestibles keeps spaces for social mingling and private eating in their own domains, helping patrons avoid chatting up their food in the confusion that would otherwise result. While upstairs, peruse the menus, which come in lunch and dinner varieties. For lunch, keep it light with a chicken salad croissant ($9) topped with whole-grain mustard aioli, red onions, celery, and basil, served with a side of fresh fruit; or go hog-wild and consume an entire mushroom and chevre pizza ($12), an edible circle coated in caramelized onions, fresh thyme, roasted red peppers, provolone, garlic chips, and sherry gastrique.

Cafe 56 entertains hardcore health fans with an impressive array of salads, backed by a selection of fast-serving soups, wraps, and sandwiches for pacifying enraged lunch-time tummies. Entertain a date with stories about your underwater tea party with the Kraken while diving into the Romantic Interlude ($6), a Greek salad with crumbled feta and Bermuda onions, served with oregano red-wine vinaigrette. If one yearns for a salad that exhibits brash coolness and impeccable vocals, then they'll look no further than Flank Sinatra ($6), where shredded mozzarella, marinated steak, and oven-roasted tomatoes produce the salad equivalent of a well-executed pop standard. Each salad comes with your choice of 16 kinds of dressing—traditionalists choose old standbys such as buttermilk ranch while experimental dressing explorers dabble with fat-free toasted sesame.

Under the guidance of chef Matthew Anderson, whose cooking has been spotlighted on WKYC, Umami serves a contemporary pan-Asian menu that changes with the seasons. Locally sourced vegetables, tofu, meats, and goat's-milk products are at the core of Umami’s innovative Japanese cuisine, working in harmony with imported, never-frozen seafood to earn praise in publications such as Cleveland Scene and Cleveland.com’s A-list.

Diners enjoy their small and large plates beneath delicate pendant lights that softly illuminate the romantic setting decorated with floral artwork and bamboo shoots. Umami offers a small list of wines, beers, and sakes that harmonize with meals, as well as tasty cocktails such as the Lotus with lychee and ginger.

The Glenwillow Grille's tasty menu features a wide variety of savory starters, salads, flatbreads, sandwiches, and specialty entrees that will sweep your taste buds off their soft-palated shoes. Lay the foundation for your feast with an order of stuffed banana peppers ($8) filled to the brims with spicy Italian sausage and creamy ricotta cheese, topped with a marinara-mozzarella classic combo. Sandwiches allow diners to hold hands with their meals and eat them too, featuring stratified delights such as Italian paninis ($10) and patty melts with gruyere cheese and sautéed onions on toasted rye bread ($10). Grilled flatbreads up the low-altitude food ante even higher with well-balanced margherita ($9), pesto-chicken ($12), and spinach- and artichoke-topped ($11) thin crusts. The jumbo coconut shrimp is a chef specialty, combining socially butterflied shrimp rolled in coconut-tempura batter with an entourage of pineapple, red-pepper, and spinach risotto ($17), and a plate of Glenwillow's pasta of the day ($14) has the power to make all eaters feel relevant, even if they don't have cable.