Winking Lizard Tavern

Dogbrick

Ohio

4.25/5  rDev +11.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

This Winking Lizard location is on Huron near Jacobs field in a wedge-shaped building. Street parking and garages are plentiful but during an Indians or Browns game a close spot would be harder to find.

Inside it is pretty cramped and maze-like, mostly due to the shape of the building. There is a small patio as well. Lots of TVs everwhere, with some breweriana (tap handles). There are windows lining both sides of the bar which is nice.

The beer selection beats just about anybody in the area. There are well over 100 beers available in bottles, and around 16 on draught. The bottles beers run the gamut from Stone, North Coast, GLBC, Ayinger, Victory, Bell's etc etc. There are a couple of gems on draught too such as Nosferatu and Rodenbach(!). What's more, they have a monthly featured beer that comes with a glass ($1 additional, it's not really free).

The Winking Lizard chain also has a wonderful beer club. If you try either 50 or 100 (depending on what time of year you start up) beers in their beer tour, you get a nice jacket for your effort. It costs $10 to sign up. The best part of this club is you don't get sacked with a bunch of crappy macros you have to try along the way. Pretty much everything on the list is quality stuff.

The service after an Indians game was pretty good.

The food at the Lizard is above average pub fare. A nice selection of wings, sandwiches and pizza.

Some people will always hate this place but where else can you get a Rodenbach on tap within walking distance of a ball park?

10-03-2005 14:07:24 | More by Dogbrick

cokes

Wisconsin

3.73/5  rDev -1.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

Update 9/07. I'm gonna boost this up a bit. Upon a second visit (on a much less busy occasion) the service was much improved. The food, too, while standard pug grub, was decent. They, once again were out of their "glass of the month" (this time a Great Lakes Oktoberfest Stein this time on the 8th of the month)...so why advertise? That irks me.
The tap selection is fairly modest, but with some ringers (Great Lakes, natch, a couple middle-of-the-road Belgians, and a rotating "hoppy" tap). The bottles are where it's at, with 100 mostly solid offerings. Considering the quality, the beers (and to a lesser extent-given the location-, the food) are pretty reasonable, if not cheap.
Upon further review, I like this place. It's what a sports pub should be. But get some fucking beer-of-the-month glasses, would you? Or stop hyping it.

Original thoughts follow:

This is a big triangular place located right in the heart of downtown Cleveland right by Jacob's Field and Gund Arena.
Upon entering, it become clear that this is a sport bar. Lots of TVs and quite loud. Looks classier on the outside than it is within. The bar area is large, but was quite crowded the Friday night I was there. We did manage to find some room before getting a table.

The service was pretty grisly. Could have been the fact both the Indians and the Browns were playing that night, or maybe because the city had spent most of the previous night without power. No matter what, I don't expect to have the waitress roll her eyes at me when I order a beer. The bartender was equally unpleasant when informing me that their advertised "Big Beer of the Month", Triple Karmeliet, was sold out. Keep in mind it was the 15th of the month. He didn't much care to talk about it either.

WL does atone for most of its misgivings in the number of beers it offers. The tap selection is not huge, but the bottled offerings are numerous and wide-reaching. Reasonably priced too. Probably about 100 total beers. I'd like to have seen more regional stuff, but I can't complain with what they had.

Food was below average, greasy pubgrub. Wings were mediocre, as was the spice-less "cajun" burger.

Stop in for a beer or six. Just don't expect to engage in any sort of conversation with the staff. Eat someplace else.

09-02-2003 04:34:25 | More by cokes