The Black Lantern

This place is out of business. We were in town for work and planned to have dinner here, but when we arrived it was closed.

Very nice atmosphere. Had quiet dinner. Food was good. Waitress exceptional. Will visit again.

Bad experience this evening! Free breadsticks were doughy — tasted packaged and not baked. Waited over 45 minutes for food. Brie cheese appetizer was ok but lukewarm. Husband got the bacon wrapped salmon — Gordon Foods?! Son got chicken parmesan — Gordon Foods?!! Daughter-​in-​law got goat cheese/​spinach/​Kalmata olives flatbread and the crust was not good! Prices called for made from scratch — nothing tasted like it!

Great food. Great ambiance. Reasonable prices. This was my first time at the black lantern and I was impressed. The food was excellent! The rolls you get before dinner are so yummy! I ordered the pork chop and I have never tasted such a delicious pork chop in my life! The quesadilla appetizer was delicious! My fiancé ordered a smothered chicken entrée that was delicious but a smaller portion than what he would have liked. We drank wine, ate great food and had an excellent time. Try this place out if you can make the trek down the stairs! You won’t be disappointed!

If my review was based only on food, The Black Lantern would get all five stars! The food was well on its way to being orgasmic. Granted, this was our first visit, but if everything else is on par with the Prime Rib and the bacon-​wrapped salmon, the food life just doesn’t get much better!
A note for people like my husband: If you don’t like dried cranberries on your house salad, ask for them to be omitted. Will save you time in picking them off ;) I, however, love a salad that way, especially when it is served chilled and not room temperature (which it was-​CHILLED!!!) and the sesame-​ginger dressing was equally lovable!
The Prime Rib (that I SHOULD have ordered)…cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, and my beloved, who generally can eat a LOT of meat, had leftovers! Well worth the price ($ 22 for 16 oz cut). If it were my order, I would have asked for more au jus… there was only a small condiment cup’s worth served with it, so if you like au jus, ask for more of it!
The Bacon-​Wrapped Salmon with Goat Cheese and Spinach, topped with Lemon Aioli. I will admit, it was a first for me, never having had bacon on seafood. The menu noted that the bacon would be crispy, so I was sold. How can you NOT want crispy bacon? This is one semi-​complaint. The bacon was barely browned, and more greasy than anything. HOWEVER, this did not detract from the entire collaboration of flavors! I ate probably ½ of my entrée, because it was so rich and filling, there was just no room for more. I would definitely order it again, but I would request that the bacon be well done, just my personal preference!
Breadsticks and butter. Divine.
Wine, full glass, Riesling. Fine. House brand and I’m not a wine connoisseur, so yeah!
Beer: This is my beloved’s issue. Severely lacking in imports (for his taste)…no Heineken or Stella. Bummer. If you like craft beers, they have several listed. Neither of us are into those, so I can’t advise you on the adequacy of the listings.
And now…
1. I don’t know if it’s hidden or what, but there seems to be absolutely no handicapped-​accessible entrance for the restaurant. It’s in the basement of a very old building and the only means of access is a somewhat steepish stairway. It’s sad because this would be a lovely place to take our parents for a meal, but without an accessible entrance that won’t happen.
2. Service. Off to a fairly slow, slow start. This seems kind of odd, given that there were staff, and according to their updates, a large party being served which took precedence? It would seem logical to provide more staff on a Saturday evening dinner hour to make up for those helping the large parties. Our server was lovely, but clearly she could have used some more assistance.
3. There may have been an issue with the restaurant’s ventilation system, but it was rather smoky from the kitchen… all throughout the restaurant. Not a big issue, and it certainly upped the appetite, with the maddening, heavenly smell of cooking meats! Again, since this is our first visit, I have no clue if that was the norm or not.
Side note: Not sure about the guy who reviewed and said the menu is all Americana (sandwiches and salads)…that is NOT the menu we saw.
Other side note: the music and its volume level were absolutely perfect!!! I hope that doesn’t change.
The Black Lantern is definitely worth checking out, especially if you’re tired of the same ol’-same ol’!!!

honestly, nothing fancy, but good solid americana sandwiches, burgers, and salads. very pleasantly surprised while passing through town. glad I found it

Excellent steaks. Great staff. Good beer selection.

The food is excellent and reasonably priced. The décor is nice and service is friendly and prompt.

The first thing you notice when walking in is the moldy smell. The place is below ground level, but a restaurant that smells is not a good thing.
Once inside, the place does have a nice enough décor. But the floor looks like it hasn’t been vacuumed in quite some time. And the restrooms were dirty.
The bread is bread sticks, apparently made in the business which is directly above this restaurant, and they were very good. The salads were likewise very good, very fresh.
My meal was chicken oscar. A chicken breast with an unformed crab cake and asparagus on top of it, a vegetable medley and baked potato as my sides. The potato was ok, but the vegetables weren’t particularly fresh. The crab topping was pretty good, and I did quite like that. But the chicken breast was tough, part inedible. Overall my entrée was not good.
My wife’s was good though, she liked it, a shrimp dish. And of our companions, he liked his well enough, though she had the same meal I did and basically felt as I did about it.
The service got off to a rocky start as it took a long time for our drink order to be taken, and when she brought them, she didn’t have half the drinks. But after that the service was adequate.
It’s a long drive from Toledo for us, so we won’t try it again. But if we lived near it, we probably would try it again in the hopes of it normally being much better.