The music is the sports bar was great with a lot of base. We had the beer battered onion rings and nachos to start. The choice of draft beers seem endless. Lots of good choices. I had a $3. shot to start the evening followed with a 22oz beer. For the main corse we had the black bean burger and a veggie wrap. Our friend ate a pulled pork sandwich and loved it. A must try is the BBQ sauce on the table. We watched the ball game while it rained outside with the stadium across the street. This place had great service with a friendly, helpful, wait staff. read more

This was my first visit on recommendations from Yelp. I ordered the brisket sandwich which came with fries. The brisket was so finely chopped it had no texture and almost no flavor. There was so much liquid the bread from the sandwich was saturated. The fries were good and the beer was good. I was so looking forward to a good brisket sandwich and this was not it read more

Great wings. Spicy sesame are amazing. Great place to watch the Ohio State game! Lots of TVs, great service. We'll be back. read more

Winking Lizard Tavern - American Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

My husband and I were in town for the baseball game (Go Yankees!!) We came here for a bite to eat and a drink. It was around 10:30p.m. but the place was still pretty busy. The hostess was very nice and got us a high top table rather quickly. Our waitress was sub-par and seemed to be distracted and irritated. We ordered an appetizer (pickle chips) and small deluxe pizza. They were "okay." I got a Long Island and my husband got a beer. Again, sub-par. read more

Sitting at a table and just got in an argument about a banner covering windows blocking TVS during game 1 of world series. To be fair, we moved the banner without asking and they replaced it higher to block more tvs. Customer service is officially dead. read more

Winking Lizard Tavern - American Near Me - Cleveland, Ohio

We were in Cleveland for the weekend and were hungry for lunch after visiting the Rock Hall of Fame. It was an incredibly hot and humid day so walking into the very cool Winking Lizard was a delight. We were seated quickly and approached by our very friendly server, Alex. $5 Patron margaritas went down easily. The entrees were generous and well prepared. I had a patty melt with a mac and cheese side (several side choices are allowed for the standard steak fries). We topped things off with a large brownie sundae. Everything was great and a welcome respite from the heat. read more

GOOD food, SOLID beer selection, SUBPAR service. Bo-Mans bacon cheeseburger was amazing. Our server just wasn't the greatest. More interested in talking than serving which is why this place didn't get five stars. Plus we got a show with a wacko patron. Very entertaining! Will be back. read more

This is the third Winking Lizard that I have visited and until now they were great. This is the WORST bar service I've ever seen. 5 minutes until one of three bartenders decided to ask if I wanted something to drink. I'm sitting at the bar....That was 15 minutes ago. I'm hungry, would love to order some food but apparently these guys are WAY too busy serving the 7 other people at the bar. I'm leaving as soon as this beer is gone. So, I decide to stay and see if things improved and get some food. Food was great! Service continued to be terrible. My bill included someone else's food. Bartender Scott said it was for my friend, strangely enough the ticket didn't reflect what he ordered and they billed him also! I was gonna add a star or two based on the food but now I want to take the 1 away read more

Glad we stopped here. The service was the best and the food was excellent. We sat out on the patio and it was a great atmosphere. read more

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Nice selection of Beers and complete Menu. Had a BIG Salad! Eat at the bar and free popcorn. Neat place!

No wonder this place has bad reviews. Probably because of the dizzy rude ass White male "GM" working as a host as you enter. I came in with my service dog - I'm a retired veteran with PTSD, not that that should matter, cause it clearly didn't to him - who has a small service dog who is ADA TRAINED to actively reduce panic attacks as well as alert to when certain medication should be taken. This guy would NOT let me dine on the PATIO with my service dog who at the time didn't have his vest (it is NOT required by any law for your service dog to wear a vest) - I said I can go back to my hotel a block away to get his vest and he began to make snide remarks and hop on his pompous high horse about how my dog is not allowed. My father (also a veteran) who was with me mistakenly told this idiot it was an emotional support animal because my dog deals with my mental disability. The "GM" then asks me what service does my dog provide at the top of his voice as he already had everyone around us staring - I told him it was none of his business but was forced anyway to announce my PTSD and mental disability that he was making WORSE only to still be refused. I told him he coulda taken 30 seconds to google the right answers instead of humiliating all of us and causing panic. He went in full Karen form by denying to look up the rules, acting above us and acting a damn fool to a nice family who just wanted some food the day before my mother's surgery. Thanks for the stress and the embarrassment, idiot. I told him we didn't wanna eat at the whispering lizard anyway. Only reason we were was because it was around the corner from our hotel but the reviews are trash. The food is also trash. I feel bad for anyone that works with this fool who wants to humiliate harmless people like it's his job. You shoulda been a bike cop instead, goofy. I thought about returning with the law printed out and done peacefully with my dog sitting on my damn head but I left it alone since I'd likely get E. coli from the food. -- for future reference KNOW YOUR ADA rules and have some hot damn RESPECT especially when speaking to a woman. You ain't shit. read more

We went there about 6 PM on a Wednesday, and it may have been happy hour but it had a very strong college bar feel about it (bordering on obnoxious). If that's what you're looking for, then fine, but that's not what we were wanting. But it is a tavern after all. The food was good service was OK. read more

Went here after visiting the R&R HOF with my husband and our two boys ages 6 and 9. It was perfect. Good burgers and kids menu. Plenty of tvs for the hubs to watch some sports and have a couple beers. Kids loved Queenie the iguana. I had a couple cosmos which were perfect after a long day with the kids. We walked back to the hotel happy and relaxed. Staff was super friendly and prices very reasonable! Would certainly recommend. read more

I have never had a BETTER Cobb Salad. Everything was fresh and perfectly chopped. Just in town for a few days on a sister road trip. Main objective was to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But we also managed to see a show at the House of Blues. There were so many choices of restaurants to pick from. But we were happy with our pick. read more

Condescending waiter tells me that's iced tea when I said it had no taste. Different shades of iceberg lettuce does not constitute mixed greens read more

The Winking Lizard Tavern was a convenient stop for us on a Wednesday night. Located just around the block from our hotel, we had no problem walking to this location. It was about 8:00pm when the 4 of us in my group decided to give the place a try. When we walked in we were greeted and asked what type of seating arrangement we would like. After getting seated our drink orders were taken quickly. Our drinks arrived by way of a different waitress who sat the wrong drink with the wrong person. Not a huge deal I suppose but not ideal regardless. The waitress for our table was very friendly but maybe a little too much in an obnoxious way. My order of 10 traditional style wings came out very hot. The flavor was outstanding, I loved every last one of them. It was fairly busy at this time since the Cavalier's crowd was still in town. But overall I had a good experience and would eat here again. read more

Being an advice traveler of 25 plus years. This has to be one of the rudest taverns I have had the unfortunately pleasure of visiting. The hostess told us just to go have a seat outside. Which we wanted too do. We waited forever for a waitress to find out we should have been seated. Upon which the MGR approach us because we had a chicken filet bag. Which was only a snack wrap. We had already order adult beverage and 2 cups of soup. They where all concerned about the wrap. The failed to notice we had already order more food. Poor consumer service upon the MGR here. I would NOT recommend this place. The drinks are weak Mgr is lousy. Only thing good about this place was our waitress. She did all she could to make up for poor Mgt. read more

Went here with the family after visiting the science museum. It's a short walk. Got our table in half the time promised. Food was okay.

Very horrible service. We sat at the bar the bartender was packed having to wait on outside tables as well. The bartender was angry and slamming things around. We waited and waited to order for about 30 minutes and then our food got there and I ordered the artichoke spinach dip with chips and it came with pita bread because they had run out of chips. They charge me three dollars extra for the pita. It took us 15 minutes to get our receipt to check out.All in all I was very unsatisfied with the performance and the atmosphere. I couldn't get the attention of any of the other servers or manager as they were all walking around doing nothing. Manager was standing changing TV channels. The couple beside me waited so long to get their ticket that they eventually just dined and dashed. I asked for a to-go Cup to put my dip And she handed me a Styrofoam container. So therefore my dip sloshed around and is not kept fresh. This was so disappointing.I Call the manager and let him know how understaffed andBad service was. read more

My boyfriend and I had a Saturday afternoon in the area, and we stopped here because it was close and nearly empty. That should have been a red flag since it was the weekend the convention was coming to town but we went anyway. We were seated quickly and then began our three hour ordeal of long waits. It didn't bother us too much. We were fine talking and in no hurry. But refills would have been nice more than once an hour. The food was mediocre. The drinks were actually pretty good and cheap, so that was the highlight of the visit. I wouldn't have bothered with a review if the following hadn't happened when I left - We were waiting outside for an Uber when a homeless man approached me. He was very friendly and didn't ask for money but for food. If I'm able to help someone who is hungry, I will so I asked him what he wanted. He said wings would be nice so I told him I could buy him some from the place I had just left. He said he didn't think he was allowed inside and I said he should be if he's a paying customer but just to make sure I went in to order them for him to go. I found our waitress from earlier up front since the place was dead and she didn't seem to actually service tables that she may have had. I told her I wanted twenty wings to go for the man with me and was asking him what flavor he wanted and what dressing when suddenly a manager appeared. Somehow my boyfriend and I had just spent three hours in this place with a waitress who was nonexistent for 95% of the time, and there was no manager in sight to make sure service was being provided. Apparently this place doesn't pride itself on service but it seems to definitely have a handle on treating other humans like trash. The manager who didn't make an appearance for our three hours of waiting was suddenly available and immediately told me he wasn't having any of this in the restaurant. I didn't understand and told him I was just ordering something to go for the man with me. He said no, he doesn't want any of this going on in the restaurant and we needed to leave. I asked him what was going on and he said anytime people like this come in and there is money involved there is usually more going on. I have no idea what that meant. Maybe I was buying or selling drugs? I then told the manager that my boyfriend and I had just spent plenty of money and time there and that now I was buying this man some wings. I told him that was all that was going on and that I needed to pay and go because my Uber was waiting. He finally accepted the idea that maybe I just wanted to buy some wings for a hungry guy and started to ring up my order. It came to 17 something so I gave him a $20 and told him to keep the change to which he replied "I don't want anything to do with this." What?? What could he possibly think was happening? I walked out and seconds later the homeless man was right behind me - they told him they would bring his order out to him and that he couldn't wait inside. I left and cried the whole way back to our hotel because of how they treated that man. My boyfriend called the restaurant to make sure the man got his food. They said he did but who knows. I sincerely hope that place goes out of business. For one it isn't a good restaurant. It was some of the worst service I've ever had, but that never upsets me to the point of hoping a place fails. I want them to close because of how they treated people that day. My boyfriend and I were free to spend all the money and time we wanted there that day and no one seemed to care. But minutes later I walk in with a homeless black man and the manager/cop on duty suddenly cares what is happening in his restaurant. I don't know if he had a problem because the man was black or because he was homeless. He wasn't wearing a sign that said he was homeless, so I guess I can only speculate about why the manager had a problem with the man having food from there. All I know is that in that afternoon I was suddenly brought back to a time when some people weren't allowed to eat in places everyone else could eat, and it broke my heart. Do not give this place your money. Or if you must, bring a black homeless man with you to order some take out just to see firsthand how that restaurant doesn't want to allow it. read more

The food was OK but the service sucked. I went just barely came by and we did not leave her a tip.

Quesadilla burger exceeded my expectations! A whole jalapeno included stuffed with "beer cheese?". So good!

Not prepared at all for a show right around the corner @ Public Hall tonight. No manager in sight! Very poor planning. Been waiting 25 mins so far just to get a drink at the bar... read more

Meh. The food was not really that great. We started with some hastily prepared "nachos". Nothing more than some stale tasting cold chips with non-melted cheese and way too many olives on top, only covered about a third of the chips as well. My 3 friends and I all got burgers, and not a single one of us ate more than a quarter of it. They were completely overcooked, rubbery, had no flavor to them, and I only asked for mine medium rare. The only reason I wouldn't give this a one star is because they treated us well and service was very cheery. read more

Visited Cleveland from Texas and was looking for a local restaurant instead of big chain. Staff was cool. Food was good for a good price. Atmosphere was good and so was the happy hour. Bartender could have been more attentive. Seems like I was a little ignored which is why they get 4 stars instead of 5. read more

Went twice because selection is very limited in downtown. First visit was all around lackluster and some of food was inedible. The second visit, the food was decent, but the server seemed annoys to be at work. read more

Would leave 0 stars if I could. Service is terrible, went to the check in desk and no one was there for 5 plus minutes. Decided to go to the bar and bar tender didn't want to serve us... She asked us to go back to the check in desk to get a table. NEVER AGAIN!!! read more

Above average burger, good service and large beer menu. Can't ask for more. Try the 1 pound burger it is juicy, big and tasty!

We have been to many of the local Winking Lizards and this location has the worst service. The food is good, but the service, including the manager, are dreadful. Slow and disrespectful. Also, they don't have air conditioning and won't open the doors. We should have left as soon as we walked in, because it was downhill from there. read more

Tried eating here in the weekend and it was hotter inside the restaurant than outside and there was no service on the patio.

If I could, I'd give this 3.5 stars: it's a solidly good pub, with good service, tons of beer options and good food. If any of those things listed were "great" I'd probably bump this up to 4 stars. Overall, it's a place I'll look to go back to when in Cleveland. I had a Caesar wrap. Other enjoyed the ribs and amazing salads. read more

This place is pretty much the epitome of A-OK. I've been here twice, one time being for post-5K drinks and the other for opening day drinks and dinner with a small group. During both visits, the service was great and the beer and food was exactly as expected. Nothing more, nothing less. I will say that from what I've seen, this bar is more my speed than any of the other sports bars downtown. Less people and a little easier to handle. read more

Some of the reviews here are rough. I have a friend that dislikes this place as well, but I never had a terrible time here. He food is average, but hope nobody comes here for fine dining. I would not come here during the week for lunch, it's packed. If you want the best service possible, sit at the bar. That may not always be the most comfy(or practical with a group), but I promise service will be faster. If nothing else the beer list is great and they always have the liquid crack from Willoughby. read more

The hotel recommended this spot because it was close. The service was less than desirable and food uneventful. If your downtown CLE then hit up a local place this is a chain inside a mall. read more

Could have been so much better. Service was slow, bordering on passive aggressive. Food was ok but not much better than Denny's. Quesadillas without guacamole? Seriously? Lucky location and cute name, but a disappointing experience. read more

This place sucks we waited for over thirty minutes and they seated two groups ahead of us what a piece of shit place don't go here they are shitty to customers and the hostess had no excuse. Can't comment on the food because they did not serve us but I can only Imagine it is shitty too. Don't go here. I would have given them no stars but yelp will not allow you to do that, screw the winking lizard read more

Great beer prices, selection, and big tvs to watch the game. Convenient to downtown hotels and first energy. We came for the women's world cup and had some of the wings and pfreds pfries. Pretty good all around. Beers are def the strong suit. read more

I'm trying to be fair because I came here in the midst of a Browns game - so the place was packed. But the waitress had absolutely zero personality and it was obvious she didn't want to be there. The buffalo chicken wrap was decent but I was surprised to get pre packaged sauces. The price was decent. I didn't get silverware until I asked for it. Not a horrible place but it wasn't a memorable experience that makes me say, "hey if you visit Cleveland be sure to eat there." I'm sure there are better places to eat. Sorry guys - read more

Delicious food in a casual, welcoming atmosphere. I had the Blue 'Shroom Burger and it was amazing... even the fries were perfectly made. I don't review much on Yelp but I wanted to review Winking Lizard... not only to share the news but to make sure I remember to come back the next time I'm in Cleveland. read more

In one word, Meh. On 8/16/14, my family and I traveled from states away, for a visit in a new place, Cleveland. We had planned on grabbing a bite to eat, then heading to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. On a trip to any new place, we always hope to find a neat, local, interesting place to eat. Winks was a short walk from the Hall, and had a neat outdoor patio. We found close parking, and headed into the restaurant. Our group of 5 stood at the host stand for a good 5 minutes before seeing the 'seat yourself' sign, hidden by the entrance. Both bartenders, and 2 servers walked by and made eye contact with us, and not a one of them said anything. Typically someone would have thrown us a quick 'oh you guys can seat yourself' . Not here. We found our way to the patio, and took a seat. I must also mention, that there were maybe 2 tables occupied inside the restaurant, 2 people seated at the bar, and 8 or so filled tables outside. Not very busy, considering the amount of servers on. After a few minutes, a smiling server said he would bring us menus. 5 minutes later a different, unsmiling server came to take our drink order. We asked for a drink menu, which he brought us a few minutes later. After deciding on drinks and food, and placing our orders, we waited a good 30 minutes for our food. Not too bad if the place was busy, but alas, it was not. When our food eventually came, it was brought by kitchen staff, and given to the wrong table, then to us, then to them, then back to us. The fries were greasy and cold. My black bean burger was soggy and bland. We didn't have napkins or utensils for the first 7 minutes of eating. I will say that they somewhat redeemed themselves with the bbq pork sandwich with coleslaw that my brother had ordered. My fiancé got the bison burger, and that wasn't half bad either. Now, I am not complaining for the sake of complaining. I just feel that we, the diners, deserve better. A smile, a hustle, better customer service. I am way ok with slow service and quick interactions at the table, if the place is swamped and the server is running around sweaty trying to take care of everyone. This was far from the case here. We could have chosen to eat at a chain restaurant, and get the same service and the same quality of food that we get at home. But we enjoy checking out what the locals have to offer, and choosing accordingly. I feel this time, we chose the wrong place. Cool location, decent cocktails, iffy food, unfriendly staff, bad service. We won't be back. read more