Most of the time surprises are not a good thing when visiting a restaurant.
And there were plenty of surprises in store for us as we ventured to boldly go where we had never been before on a recent weeknight to try out the relatively new Astro Restaurant in Cleveland.
This sci-fi themed restaurant has taken over the old Hard Rock space inside Tower City.
The creative team behind the new eatery is the same one behind the horror-themed Haunted House Restaurant in Cleveland Heights.
The first surprise — and this was a pleasant one — was the fact we were able to find a free parking space in the street not too far away.
We made reservations, but in truth we really didn't need to since the restaurant was pretty empty on a Wednesday night.
Our friendly waitress said the restaurant is not too busy during the week particularly when the sports teams are out of town.
The place apparently is as busy as the Mos Eisley Cantina in "Star Wars" on the weekends when it serves brunch.
The restaurant is a feast for the eyes as murals and full-size characters from sci-fi movies and TV shows call the place home.
They have a fun drink menu with sci-fi inspired concoctions like Tatooine Sunset ($14) and the Princess Leia ($13).
The drinks come in fun glasses and are quite tasty.
The sci-fi theme carries over to the menu with fun names like the Ben 10, a tofu sandwich, which unfortunately for our daughter was not available the night we visited.
Instead she opted for the Astro Salad ($10.99).
The salad comes with a generous portion of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, pickled red onions, cheese, herb croutons and house vinaigrette.
It also comes with bacon crumbles but our daughter asked for those to be left off so it would be a nice vegetarian substitution.
There were a number of choices on the menu.
My wife, Jennifer, ordered the Astro Alfredo ($20.99) and added the grilled chicken for an additional $9.99.
The entrée comes with a housemade classic Alfredo sauce, linguine noodles, spinach, caramelized onions, roasted red peppers garnished with crispy fried linguine noodles.
The sauce was nice and thick and the portion was quite generous and provided a nice leftover lunch the following day.
I was in the mood for a sandwich so I picked the Drax the Destroyer ($22.99), named after Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" character.
It came with a generous hamburger patty topped with onion jam, smoked gouda, thick slices of bacon and garlic aioli.
The top bun had the restaurant's outer space logo seared on it for a nice added touch.
The Grippo tots seasoned with Cajun spices were a nice addition.
The seating is comfortable and it is cool to sit back and listen to theme songs from classic sci-fi movies and shows playing from the speakers.
And there are plenty of TVs in sight all playing different sci-fi movies from "Star Wars" to "The Terminator."
At one point, I expected Storm Troopers to stomp in with my bill.
Instead, came a pleasant surprise.
We were the last table left in the place and our waitress came up to tell us that the kitchen had accidentally made an additional chicken entrée for a to-go order and the chef wanted to know if we wanted it boxed up to take home for lunch the next day.
The chicken was excellent the next day and so were the potato halves that were not like anything I've ever seen before.
The seasoning on the chicken reminded me of the Cajun spices that were on the Grippo tots, so that was a treat.
All in all, the Astro Restaurant was a fun place to visit without having to travel to another whole galaxy far, far away.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Astro Restaurant in Cleveland offers a far out dining experience 🛸 | Local Flavor
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