Restaurants in Niles

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.

In the old times, markets were the center of social life, and aluminum was more precious than gold. Today's deal is more valuable than Charles Martin Hall's electrolytic process for refining aluminum. Stop by the cozy Italian market il Mercato to use your $5 Groupon toward $10 worth of fresh and premium bites and sips. You can purchase as many as you want, but are limited to one use per visit.

Executive Chef Greg Alauzen has designed every dish on Cioppino's sumptuous dinner menu. Whet your appetite with his selection of oysters on the half-shell ($12) before moving onto his signature dish, Cioppino ($29)—a heaping platter of branzino, mahi mahi, little-neck clams, PEI mussels, Dungeness crab, scallops, whole prawn, onion, and fennel, all served with grilled crostini. The only thing missing is the lobster, which you can get in ravioli ($23) or risotto ($12) form. Those with more landlubbing tastes will prefer an Elysian Fields Farm lamb with sautéed escarole and white beans ($38), New York strip steak ($34), or the veggie-friendly potato gnocchi ($16). Since seafood tends to make for poor desserts, top your feast with vanilla-bean crème brûlée ($6) and gelato ($5), or warm beignets tossed in cinnamon and sugar with a raspberry dipping sauce ($6).

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.

Willow's atmosphere walks the line between sophistication and accessibility, and chef/owner Michael Rudman's lunch and dinner menus follow suit by politely one-upping their diners' every expectation via innovative dishes and dashing drinks. The restaurant's signature dish, lump crab cakes, comes blissfully broiled and drizzled with a tangy red onion caper sauce and lemon-pepper asparagus ($27 as a dinner entree). Other favorites include the sautéed Alaskan halibut served on braised fennel with tomatoes that have been slow-cooked overnight and a cabernet wine sauce ($24). There are also a few vegetarian dishes offered, such as the Japanese pumpkin ravioli topped with sage, cabbage, pine nuts, and shaved parmesan ($15). If you're dining with the family, there is a special kids' menu. If not, there is a special adult martini menu (featuring a more complicated crayon maze) and adult wine menu to artfully accompany plates and lubricate parched conversations.

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.