Big City Chop House

I was here twice over the holiday season and both times left the place scratching my head as to how they manage to stay in business. Situated next door to Crave and the successor to Jacob Good, this place in nearly always empty. The bar and dining room are beautiful to see, the food is always quite good and I recall a wine tasting dinner I had there a couple of years ago that absolutely blew me away.
Service here is the BIG issue. I walked in on a weeknight in December planning on meeting some friends in the bar at 5:30. Although the bar had only 4 patrons and there was NOBODY in the dining room, I was told to leave because they had a private holiday party taking up the bar at 6:30. Hmmm. An hour away – empty bar stools – the promise of a few customers for 30 minutes or so – my plea to the bartender was to no avail. I ended up trudging next door to Crave – which was PACKED with people – bellied up to the bar and met my friends there. The comical end to this story is that the 3 guys sitting next to us at the bar finally left after their meal and drinks to go next door to Big City to join in the holiday party I’d been kicked out of an hour before. Ha!
My second time at Big City was an accident because we intended to have lunch at Crave but they were lined up outside and we couldn’t get a table for 7. Note to self – ALWAYS make a reservation at Crave. The dining room was about half filled but they didn’t have a table big enough for the 7 of us. After a lengthy wait while the guy put a couple of tables together, we finally were seated. 10 minutes later the guy returned to take our orders – an exceptionally long time at lunch. The food took it’s time coming from the kitchen but it was all delightful. My salmon was quite good and everyone around the table was happy. However a few glances around the room proved that ours was the only table with no warm bread basket (something I had looked forward to sampling) and it took so long to get our checks finalized that half the group had to leave to get back to work before their change ever arrived.
Overall – really very good food, although a bit pricy. Service always is terrible and slow and you’re never made to feel that they enjoyed having you there. That is if they let you stay in the first place.

We went for lunch, and the food and service were both great. Prices were comparable to other DT Akron restaurants. Parking is difficult for lunch because there's no valet. I'm VERY particular on service, and this was some of the best in Akron.

Overpriced and underflavored. If you want better, go to Hyde Park, Flemings or Diamond Grill. I'd be suprised if it lasts a year.