Bal­a­ton Hun­gar­i­an Restau­rant Opens in New Bain­bridge Location

Full-ser­vice din­ing returns for the first time in more than a year

Pho­to by Emanuel Wallace

Veal crepe at Balaton.

Bal­a­ton restau­rant closed its doors to the pub­lic in ear­ly 2022 but the own­ers, at that time, said they were pur­su­ing a new loca­tion. Late last year they announced that they had indeed found a new home in Bain­bridge (8564 E. Wash­ing­ton St.), specif­i­cal­ly Mar­ket Square at the cor­ner of Rt. 306 and E. Washington.

At long last, Bal­a­ton reopens to the pub­lic for dine-ser­vice today after more than a year.

This is the fourth loca­tion for Bal­a­ton since Therezia Olah launched the restau­rant as a small take­out spot on Buck­eye Road in the ear­ly 1960s. A few years lat­er she grad­u­at­ed to a larg­er full-ser­vice restau­rant far­ther up Buck­eye Road. That restau­rant thrived there from the mid-1960s until 1998, when the fam­i­ly relo­cat­ed to Shak­er Square.

“It has been tough the last cou­ple of years because of Covid, but the loca­tion is also tough,” own­er Kriszti­na Pon­ti told Scene. “A lot of our clients, we wish we could be clos­er to. It’s not easy to get to Shak­er Square, park­ing has been always a prob­lem and the area changed.”

After clos­ing its din­ing room in ear­ly 2022, Bal­a­ton had been oper­at­ing as a ghost kitchen only. Start­ing today, the restau­rant will return to full-ser­vice din­ing in its new home.

Source:clevelandscene.com