Lakewood’s only steakhouse isn’t exactly a steakhouse.
“We take great care to source and butcher our meats properly and make sure they’re of the greatest quality,” says owner and chef Andrew Mansour, “but at the same time, nothing else on the menu is an afterthought.”
Mansour is a Cleveland Heights native who trained under Michelin-starred chefs and helped open restaurants in Miami and the Hamptons. He chose the word artis for the name of his first endeavor because it means “skill” or “craft” in Latin. And while a steakhouse with an ancient moniker could easily be stodgy and boring, Mansour’s objective is to be exactly the opposite. In all ways, from its eclectic menu to its retro yellow facade and bright, airy interior, Artis aspires to a chic Miami Beach vibe.
“There are a lot of fun, middle-end concepts out there, but we wanted to be fancy and fun all at the same time,” Mansour says. “We’re trying to be more fun than the average restaurant, and the average steakhouse in particular.”
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When he and his team execute the best version of their artis, the results are impressive — and just plain delicious. Standouts include the crispy Nashville-inspired chicken thighs ($18), glazed in a zingy harissa sauce and paired with sweet, cooling pickle rounds, and Moroccan spiced meatballs ($19), which are surprisingly light and infinitely cozy. The most unusual item on the menu is the delicate soup dumplings ($19), Artis’s answer to the typical steakhouse soup. Though they’re served in a traditional bamboo steaming basket, they’re filled with a nontraditional (and absolutely delicious) lobster bisque.
Everything on the menu is designed to be shared, and it all comes out of the kitchen as it’s ready. The menu is divided into four sections that denote how long it will take to receive each dish: Now, Soon, In A While and Worth The Wait; a separate charbroiled section features six cuts of steak sourced from Certified Angus Beef and Ohio Angus plus a rack of Australian lamb.
“Shareable is the way I like to eat, and it’s the way that I think people are transitioning to eating,” Mansour says. “It allows you to experience so much more. It keeps you stimulated.” It also follows French Laundry chef Thomas Keller’s philosophy of the law of diminishing returns, which says: Your food becomes less interesting as you keep eating it, so why not move on to something else?
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Impressively, Artis’s eclectic menu doesn’t feel disparate or discombobulated, as “global cuisine” often does. Mansour has thoughtfully and skillfully integrated Middle Eastern, Asian and Latin American influences, never going too far in any one direction so that nothing overpowers anything else.
“It was one of my challenges,” he reflects. “How do you put all of these cuisines on the menu and make sure there aren’t any clashing flavors at the same time? I’m not an expert on any of them, but I know the cuisine of each region well enough that I can pull out a flavor or tweak a dish so that it still exemplifies the original but works better for us.”
If local buzz is any indication, it seems to be working. Since opening in August, Artis has amassed a following of devotees, including two of my most trusted foodie friends, who quickly deemed it their new favorite. The Lakewood community Facebook group, too, has been abuzz with praise. “We loved everything!” one woman gushed; “Beautiful space, excellent service, amazing food!” another proclaimed.
It’s clear that when Artis gets it right, it gets it really, really right. The problem is that, within these first few months of service, it hasn’t always hit its mark.
Though each dish on my first visit was well-crafted and undeniably tasty, somehow, the experience just felt… slightly off. Everything I ordered turned out to be a bit too close in flavor profile, a little too sour — the kimchi fried rice, the lemony hummus, the citrus-centric cocktail. The oversized plates were too large for our small table, requiring a frantic shuffle as each new dish was delivered. And the space, though lively, was a little too bright, a little too jam-packed and a lot too loud. My friend and I could barely hear one another, much less our server.
As a restaurant reviewer, though, I know better than to judge a place off just one visit. Plus, Artis’s potential felt obvious, despite a not-quite-up-to-par first experience. If anything, I felt determined to try again; I wanted the Artis everyone else experienced.
When I went back a few nights later, I was thrilled with the results — truly, an almost perfect meal and ambiance. This time, my friends and I were seated in the restaurant’s back room, which has moodier lighting and less aggressive acoustics. By soliciting recommendations in advance from a few Artis devotees, we ordered smarter, too. Fan favorites this time around included the meatballs, chicken thighs and soup dumplings along with thinly sliced, house-cured salmon toast ($17) and a chocolate bourbon pecan cake in sticky caramel sauce ($12).
We split six dishes and one dessert, plus a cocktail apiece, which made for a balanced assortment that hit all the right notes and didn’t overpower our palates. We felt satisfied but not overly stuffed, and by the time the last plate was cleared, I had all but forgotten about the off-kilter first visit.
I worry, though, that others in my position might not have returned, instead writing off a promising new restaurant before it’s had the chance to emerge from its working-out-the-kinks phase.
The good news is that the staff, for their part, seem to be aware of the inconsistencies and open to community feedback, responding thoughtfully to a handful of less-than-stellar online reviews and frequently tweaking the menu to get it just right — all things that bode well for a stable future.
First impressions matter, yes, but they can also be misleading, like when a much-anticipated restaurant doesn’t quite hit all its marks in its early stages. My second trip to Artis reminded me that sometimes, a follow-up adage is warranted: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” — especially when lobster bisque soup dumplings are involved.
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