April 15, 2009
This chain has so much potential. Too bad they serve the LCD (lowest common denominator) that thinks drinking Spaten is livin’ large. Not a bad place, but there’s better in the area.

December 24, 2008
Downtown Cleveland with doors on both sides of the corner. There the Saturday night before Bengals-Browns football game. Crowded put the service was good and the beers served quickly. Nice selection of taps and bottles. Had the fish dinner and the portion was good size and flavor was good.

August 31, 2008
Downtown Cleveland. A nice sized sports bar with a nice beer selection. Lots of macro imports along with a very nice tap and bottle list of micros. The food was standard sports bar stuff (wings and burgers). Service was decent enough for as busy as the place was. A good place to hit before or after an Indians game.

February 22, 2008
Downtown (Gateway) location - stopped in here for dinner because it was really close to my hotel - typical American sports bar atmosphere, with loads of televisions everywhere - I was there at happy hour, and it wasn’t very crowded - the majority of people inside were drinking Bud or Stella - the taps were dominated by Great Lakes (which you can get at any bar in town), and the standard British imports, with a few exceptions in the form of a Founders IPA and something else I can’t remember - their bottle list had a couple of bottles from most regional breweries (Bells Amber, Founder Scotch Ale, etc.) as well as a few fairly common belgian imports - in short, the beer selection wasn’t what I’d been lead to believe based on some other ratings of the place - the food was greasy, salty, ho-hum American fare - not a bad place to have a beer if you’ve got no other options - reminds me of Max’s in Baltimore, without the impressive beer selection.

January 9, 2008
This rating is for the location by the ballpark. I stopped in here before an Indians game, so it was stuffed to the gills. There were plenty of TVs, and it would make a great place to watch some sports.. if you can find a place to sit/stand. There was a very solid beer selection, and I found the prices (and overall beer selection) to be a tad high, but considerably lower than other bars I can think of that advertise large beer lists. The service was solid, especially considering how busy it was.

December 19, 2007
(Visited 10/2005): 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. The Winking Lizard chain also has a beer tour. It costs $10 to sign up. 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?

December 19, 2007
Nice little beer establishment in the Gateway section of downtown Cleveland. Visited during a weekday, during happy hour, where 22oz drafts were $1 off. Place was very busy, but the service was still quick. OK draught selection, a few GLBC’s, a couple Belgians, mostlty micros. Bottle selection was interesting, a few German oddities, and Rochefort 8 were the highlights. Food was another story burger was dry, not much to it... Still, worth a stop if you’re in town.

August 8, 2007
This is a good place to try new beers as long as you don’t let your server pour them (have you ever seen someone upend a bottle of Rochefort 8 to make sure you get all of it, including the yeast?) Nice menu with decent specials, I reccomend the spicy garlic boneless wings. This is a small chain but with very good quality control, what you get at one you will get at the rest. As far as ambiance goes I think the Lakewood or Avon locations are the best.

July 4, 2007
Saturday dinner was insanely busy before the Indians vs. Devil Rays baseball game at 7pm -- typically like a local loud-music/people/TVs sports grill and bar. With no reservations booked, we sat at the bar for a quick and yummy pint of draft root beer and perused the long bottle list before soon being given a table. Service was thankfully organized with a good system in place for keeping track of us, if a little robotic. An appetizer of pork riblets held quite tasty meat despite being over-barbecue-sauced -- they’re better known for the chicken wings. Beer selection is outstanding with fridges full of bottles lining at least two walls and several interesting and fresh things available on tap. We were kind of curious *why on earth* someone would ever think of mixing a Canadian and Guinness together half and half, but they do things like that here...

July 2, 2007
Stopped in before the Indians game. This place was stupid busy even a few hours before game time. I was pretty disappointed with the food. Riblets and BoMan Chicken burger were not so great. The guys who ordered wings said they were solid. Had an ok pint of Bells Two Hearted, and a superb draft rootbeer. Tap list was just ok, bottle list had more to offer in my opinion. Basically a sports bar, and its fairly loud. Service was friendly and decent but had trouble even with the Two Hearted which was on special. Bit of a mixed bag, but we enjoyed our stop.