Winking Lizard Tavern

Pretty good! Tried to go here on a Thursday night for dinner but they wouldn’t let me in since it was 5 o’clock and I’m not 21 yet. What a shame. Go to the one on Coventry, nicer people and they let me in since I frequently go!

Winking lizard has always been a go to for my entire life, I remember coming here 20 years ago.
They have wing night Monday and Tuesday, and they have top 3 or 4 wings in Cleveland.
Everything else on the menu is great.
I like getting their soups.
Always awesome customer service here. I’ve never left upset or disappointed.

They have suuuuuch a huge beer list, but aren’t great at updating it — they were out of two of the beers I ordered. Still pretty good though, and a fun place to stop by and sit outside in summer.

Went here on a recommendation and was very pleased! Great selection of beers. Had the pretzel with beer cheese appetizer and got 2 huge soft pretzels that were very tasty. Also had chicken wings and they were maybe the best I’ve had. Had the bourbon style and parm garlic and they were great. Big, fresh meaty wings. Staff was awesome. Josh gave me a short history of the building which was interesting. Glad I went, and would certainly go again if I go back to Cleveland.

Food was pretty good. Service was terrible. Never got asked how I wanted my burger cooked. Took 15 min to come back with a box even tho I saw her walking around chatting with other servers. Didn’t ask how we wanted our bill split. Didn’t try to upsell or suggestive sell anything at all. Before we got our bill we all sat with empty drinks for a good ten minutes. Only getting the 3 stars cuz the food was good.

I love this place – best wings in CLE, in my opinion. Try the salt and vinegar dry-​rub ones… outstanding. I love the thick-​cut fries and the cole slaw.
I only wish they had a larger selection of hard ciders. I don’t like beer but love cider!

This is your typical run of the mill neighborhood bar (even though it’s a local chain). It’s a great place for groups, families and a great place to watch any sports event. They have a ton of tvs in both the bar area and the dining room. The food is sub-​par but they have a decent size menu to choose from so you can take a vegetarian and meat lover here. The beer list is pretty fantastic here! If you like to try new beers this would be a good place to start.

It has great beers selection, decent food, lots of TV and a 16 page menu with decent service. If you looking for wings or good burger and beers it a great spot to watch a game.

Very large menu and food is decent. I’m there every week for a skeeball league so I would like to see them change up the menu, especially the side dish options, just a little maybe once a year to keep it new. Shannon is our server for the skeeball league and she is awesome.

I came here a lot during the rec sports seasons. A group of 10 – 15 of us would come in sweaty and tired and get a few drinks with a meal. The servers were able to accommodate our large group every single time except for two when some Thursday football was on. It was always Thursdays, so most of us took advantage of their $ 5 burger special. I got the Turkey burger almost every single time and I love it. The fries are fine, but I usually end up with the steamed broccoli. A little salt and they make for a healthy and tasty alternative to fries.
This is a great place for beer snobs. They have an extensive beer list that changes every month. They already have a great beer selection, so even if you get tired of whatever they have, you can come back a few weeks later and get some of the new beers in rotation. They have the drink of the month which comes with a beer glass, and they usually have some other special where you can get a glass as well. I have never tried the beer tour because I don’t want to spend $ 600 on a jacket and a duffle bag. We did have people all drinking on one person’s tour, which seems like the only reasonable way to go about it.
If you’re down for skee-​ball, go up the stairs in the back to play with your friends. If you want a bar without all of the noise, head downstairs to Lizardville for a huge selection of craft beer. My favorite part of this is the pick-​6 packs that you can make.
I know I’ll be back here again. It’s a great casual restaurant for most occasions.

I am torn about this. I came to this location twice. I sat at a table once and the bar once. The table service was pretty good. The bar service was not up to par. So lets talk about my day at the bar. One I came because they were advertising and event for Cleveland Beer Week which was «A Taste of Bavaria». Only to get there and no one at the bar knew about this event. I thought, «That is strange» I did not see anything around to advertise the event… until I went to the restroom and there was a poster on the wall and on that poster was a list of events for Winking Lizards and the word «Cancelled» was written over it with pen (see photo). So I ordered a glass of Mead because you can not find Mead down south. Then I wanted to order a flight or paddle as the Lizard calls it. Paddles are $ 7, not bad. So the bar tender gave me a list of beers on tap that I was able to order for the paddle. I ordered my four beers for the paddle which were fine. Then the bill came in. Mead for $ 7 as the menu stated… then the paddle beers were itemized and it cost $ 10.25. I asked the bar tender and he said that due to Cleveland Beer Week the prices are different. I was like, «That would of been good to know» He looked at me and laughed and said I guess I should of said something. Well, no shit. False advertisement. I order something for $ 7 and charged $ 10.25. And then there was no sorry or even anything else. Kind of disheartening. Good place, poor service and employees.

Of course I have experienced better. Amazingly poor food. Bad wings… absolutely amazingly poorly cooked„ sauces not well made and soups are worst than canned. No, even a tavern must be good. The Lizard chain is already too comfortable and has so much clientele that they are doing a sloppy job. No, I won’t go back nor tell my friends.

Visiting From Virginia and my family recommended the winking lizard for a family dinner. Good beer selection, and service. My wife and I ordered the margaritas, and they tasted like lemon Gatorade — Not recommended. Food was ok at best. I’m sure there are better places for food in Lakewood.

(1) The food was great! I had the shrimp burger; as if it was made in the SF Bay Area! The cole slaw was also very good; not overly spicy.
(2) The selection of beer and whiskey was amazing!
(3) The staff was friendly and knowledgeable. Just sitting there listening to Jamie and Crystal giving lectures on the whiskeys and the beers was worth it!

The Worst place I have been in Lakewood the service honestly was so slow it took the server 20 mins to get my drink! The food is ok but I won’t be going back!

I live a block away from this place and since I enjoy beer and bar food I’ve been here about a thousand times. And yes, I have driven that one block before. It gets cold in the winter.
The Lakewood location is in a pretty cool building. The space is huge with some nice outdoor seating available. They also have outdoor TV’s that I like to look at when I run by in the summer. I don’t think that’s really a relevant detail, I just want everyone to know that I exercise (if no one knows you do it then what’s the point). Like all Wink locations they have a gigantic beer list that can be a little overwhelming. Honestly, I usually select beers randomly based on how «cool» I perceive the name to be. The wait staff can usually help you out with that a little bit, but it’s a huge list so asking them for recommendations almost seems cruel. I’ve had my fair share of mixed drinks here and I’ve always felt they were a little weak, but in their defense it’s probably a proper pour which is certainly less than what I’m pouring at home.
The food at the Winking Lizard is always going to be decent. I’ve never had a bad meal there, but I don’t know that I’ve had something so fantastic that I feel the need to specifically mention it in a Unilocal review. I’ve walked here to eat alone before which was pretty sad, but I can tell you I certainly wouldn’t have done that if I didn’t enjoy their food. I would also like to note that I have a small obsession with their BBQ sauce. I use it instead of ketchup with their fries and I even throw it on their popcorn because I am a disgusting individual and I have no respect for my body. Long story short, the BBQ sauce is good.
Final verdict: The Wink in Lakewood is a good place for casual beers and bar food, even dinner alone if you’re a lonely individual like that. Put the BBQ sauce on your popcorn, I swear it’s good. Then play drunken skeeball. That’s a solid evening right there. You won’t regret it.

It looked cool from the outside. Once inside it was a bit of a chopped up layout. WE did enjoy some free popcorn while we waited. The beer menu is pretty extensive. You can drink around the world with all beers listed with thier ratings. The little macaroni and cheese bites were unbelieveable!!!
But the service was slow, and the waitress seemed unconcerned. She was almost aloof to her job. We were pretty disapointed. The bathroom did not help the cause.

I am actually shocked I have waited this long to review The Winking Lizard. After all, I basically live here. It’s gotten to the point where they mind as well just set a bed up for under the bar.
Now, I can’t speak on the food really because with the exception of the Lizard Freckles (yes that is an actual item on the menu), I’ve never actually eaten here. What I can talk about though is their beer selection, and let me tell you: it’s quite the collection. They have everything from banana bread beer to German Hefeweizens, to ol’ reliable: Guinness. They safe is also very nice, and depending on who you get, very knowledgable about their extensive drink menu.
Overall, I am head-​over-​heels for the Winking Lizard, and a little part of me likes to think he’s winking at me.

i love the winking lizard. it has a great beer selection, which i have conquered (having completed two world tours of beer!). The bar area is huge. There are a ton of tvs showing whatever game is on. It can be kind of annoying during football games.
Wing nights and $ 5 pizzas on Monday and Tuesday, Rib night on Wednesday and cheaper burgers on Thursday.
i love their salads. I love the turkey burger. And i usually love whatever their seasonal food menu is.
I am happy to have a Winking Lizard near my home!

The Winking Lizard is a ubiquitous Cleveland institution — there are 14 locations (7 of which are within 20 miles of my house) and they stretch as far south as Columbus. I’ve been a frequent customer most of my adult life. I cringe a little when I think about how many nights I spent at that little front bar in the Coventry location, Guinness in hand, dreading the short winter walk back to my Coventry apartment. But when it comes to Winking Lizard’s, this particular location has to be the gem of the franchise.
Plopped inside the renovated guts of an old Elk’s Lodge building on Cleveland’s West Side, it’s just beautiful. Über-​elevated ceilings, dark woodwork, and a cavernous main room are all parts of what make this Winking Lizard the best. If I had to describe it in only a few words, not an easy feat for this guy, I’d say it’s part Dave and Busters and part German beer hall.
There are two main reasons I frequent the Lizard, beer and beer. When it comes to beer selection it’s hard to compete with Winking Lizard. They have one of the best draught lists in NE Ohio (dozens of taps and hundreds of bottles) and their World Tour of Beers is a Cleveland-​area institution. If you’re like me and you have to have a different beer every time you’re out, you can’t go wrong here. They also have a glass of the month beer where you get to keep the glass. Kudos to the guys behind their beer list. It’s chock full of useful data like style, brewery location, ABV, and serving size. Cheers indeed.
The menu is also pretty expansive for a bar-​type restaurant. Chances are if you like food they’ve got something for you. Burgers, ribs, salads, pizza, wraps, sandwiches… the list goes on and on. Did I mention that they’ve also got some of the best wings I’ve ever had? Crispy, hot with flavor out the ying yang. Try the spicy sesame. Just do it. I’ve never really had a bad meal here. The burgers are tasty and actually cooked to order, the wings, as I’ve already mentioned, are killer, and the grilled chicken sandwiches are always on point. Oh yeah, and their house BBQ sauce is fantastic on their fries.
I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the Winking Lizard. As a native I grew up on them so I’m probably a bit biased. Bias aside though, they are a solid joint with better than decent bar food and a beer-​geek-​sized brew list. On the down side (see, I can be objective) they can get a tad loud, especially during sports-​type events. Not bad I suppose, just not my thing.
P.S.
If anyone from WL reads this you’ve gotta add that German soft pretzel app you had during October to the permanent menu. IMHO anyplace with a beer list like yours needs a soft pretzel on the menu. Just sayin’.