I have been to The Lemon Grove twice now. The reason it's getting a high rating of four stars is because 1) the food is excellent! 2) it wasn't very busy either time (both on Saturday evenings!), and 3) you have to support hip restaurants in poor downtown Youngstown.
The reasons it didn't get MORE than four stars: 1) upon my second visit, the menu had shrunk from 8-ish pages down to TWO...for no reason 2) service should have been better based on the number of people in the restaurant.
I'd recommend the quesadillas (if you have the option of having the regular-sized menu!) or the bbq chicken flatbread pizza. It looked like they had a good selection of beers on tap also, if that is your thing.
The inside of the place has a nice atmosphere, in my opinion! Artsy photos of Ytown decorate the walls and there is a spot for bands to play in the back. The bathrooms were clean.
All in all, I'm surprised by the low reviews of this place. I plan on returning, but if they offer that limited menu on my third visit I won't be back a fourth time.
I attended their "Grand Opening" night last night. They had a "soft" opening for a few weeks up till last night and I went to check it out. For all of the hype about this opening night, I was somewhat surprised it was not packed. It was busy, but by all means not crowded. The Zoo (who played that night) is one of the biggest bands in Youngstown too.
Beer was overpriced.
I really want to give Lemon Grove more stars, but alas the outright rudeness of the bartender forces me to only give two.
Visited Y-town with friends following the Big Tap In (a must for any craft/micro beer lover). Â A band I had seen in the 'burgh was playing at Lemon Grove, plus we received a $2 off admission coupon at the event. Â Lemon Grove boasts a hipster-ish decor and a very diverse range of clientele, inc. Real Housewives of Y-town, old hippies, young professionals, and more.
Nice selection of drafts and very reasonable prices. Â Clean bathrooms. Â Even though a band was playing, you could easily carry on a conversation while also enjoying the live music.
Now for the bad. Â Yes, the bar was fairly busy; not packed by any means. Â The bartenders were clearly stressed, so I don't think they get this large of crowd often. Â My friend went to the bar to order 3 drinks, patiently waited her turn, and began to give the bartender our order. Â After only getting one drink out, he turned away and ran off, as she tried to get his attention to let him know she was not done ordering (to save him the extra trip). Â She began to tell us and the neighboring patrons at the bar how rude he was, and he proceeded to come back and GET IN HER FACE claiming he wasn't being rude but she was! Â It doesn't even matter if she was being rude, the bartender cannot treat a customer like that. Â For the record, she wasn't being rude, and the other patrons also were shocked that the bartender flew off the handle. Â We did end up getting our other drinks (one of which was wrong, but I didn't want to correct him and get him even more riled up).
I would like to give the bar another chance, and I hope this was a one-time customer service glitch.
HIPSTER ALERT!
Yup, in the heart of Youngstown there is a burgeoning hipster hideout, The Lemon Grove!
I have a lot of mixed feelings about places like this. Â I appreciate having a place to hang out in a city that's been on the decline for forty years. Â I love the effort that Jacob has put into making this a real "community" oriented hangout. Â The food here is great, the service is excellent, thank you Brooke and Jillian. Â The people are always friendly and the atmosphere is pretty casual. Â This is a nice place to catch some live entertainment.
--but--
The bands that play here can be pretty hit-or-miss, and charging cover in Youngstown is pretty laughable. Â I would avoid this place if there is a cover and your buddy's band isn't playing.
Both the dining area and menu are filled with messages like "corporations aren't people", but you can still get yourself a tall PBR because it tastes ironic? Â
And while I appreciate local and organic menu items, messages like, "down with the evil agri-business" make me chuckle because there is no place in America where I can't order a Coca-cola which is loaded with High Fructose Corn Syrup- the largest bi-product of said agri-business.
So, while I appreciate the effort, the hipster-ness of this and other hipster hideouts does now and always will rub me the wrong way.
I'm from San Francisco and was visiting Canfield, OH because the boyfriend is from there. We were invited out by some of his friends so we all met at the lemon grove.
To get in they didn't even card and even when ordering drinks they still didn't card.I could have been drinking with minors, which is not something I want to do.
I must say that its a hell of a lot cheaper to drink in Youngstown, Oh than San Francisco, Ca. So $2 tall boy PBR was amazing and worth every penny. I'm not sure what overpriced is in Ohio, but damn your money there goes father than it does out here.
When we arrived there was some band playing that wasn't good. Finally the band ended and some decent music was being played, but that wasn't till the end of the night when we were leaving anyways. I wanted to dance and never got the chance.
The decor feels like some hipster bar in the Mission back home in SF. They have couches to sit on in the back....I didn't sit on them because they looked filthy. The place overall just felt dirty.
Maybe if I ever return here I'll give it another chance because let's be honest Youngstown, Ohio is not a happening place to be when you're in your 20's. This place is cool when there is no where else to go....I guess.
Meh. So-so. The food is mediocre. The beer selection is good. But everything is over-priced. I decided not to go there anymore after being asked to pay 3 dollars to enter just because some (likely) crappy band was going to be playing while I drank my expensive pint and used their wifi. I went somewhere else instead.
Review Source:Initial take, based on a 10:30 AM Wi-Fi scab and a cup of tea, is that this place has great potential. Â It's downtown location may not do it well, given the propensity for eateries along Federal street to vanish after a short run. Â They offer an all-organic menu, coffee, tea and some cool microbrews on tap. Â The bottled selection looks stellar too, with Great Lakes, Rust Belt, Sierra Nevada, Rogue, and a Kentucky Bourbon Barrel. Â
I took a sangwich with me, the Beefy Italian. Â Very good roast beef, and the garlic remoulade was not overpowering as I'd feared. Â Like Tim said, it wasn't real warm (heated) but it had sat on the table while I wrapped up and then took the ride to my final destination. Â I'm gonna give them a pass on that. Â
Service was great, and the small but respectable crowd included a local politician.
The beers alone warrant a return, and the fact that they have music makes it doubly worth another shot.
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