Rafferty’s

Located in the heart of the town centre, Rafferty’s is an oasis in Cleveland’s commercial district. Cane armchairs and tables spill out onto the foot path, and palm trees signal the entrance into the restaurant. There are pictures of citrus everywhere, which adds to the idea of an ‘oasis’ (on my tropical island, there would be citrus trees, fo’ sho’.)
Everywhere you go in Cleveland, it seems that being able to order a caesar salad with chicken ($ 15.90 here) is still big news. Skip this, and go for a seriously old school food bar treat: the steak burger. They take a more sophisticated approach to an olden goldie, but still keep in the classic details. It’s made with a rib eye fillet steak, tomato, lettuce, EGG, BEETROOT, and tomato sauce ($ 12.90 with chips). The only thing that’s missing is pineapple! I nearly died from happiness while I inspected my burger for all of the promised ingredients.
The coffee is quite nice too. There’s no table service, you have to go up to the counter and ask for what you want. You take a number and sit down and wait while your food is made. All in all, I quite like Rafferty’s. I was more than happy to have to lean over my plate while I ate my burger because it was so juicy. I wiped the juice off my chin when I was done, but the grin still remained. That was the best burger I’ve had in a long time.