Winking Lizard Tavern

Had lunch with a friend.
She got the mini burger basket and I got the Cajun chicken sandwich.
She loved her little burgers. Finished all 3, and she hardly ever finishes her lunch.
My sandwich was ok, chicken was cooked well but was a little overwhelming with the Cajun spices. Could have maybe done with half the amount.
Was good overall. Will return.

My favorite pub to try beers. We love the boneless un-​breaded «wings,» spinach salad and beer flights. Fun for both families and a girls/​guys night out. Plenty for the kids to do with skiiball, shuffleboard and popcorn snacking. The BBQ ribs are also very good. A great choice for an informal rehearsal dinner or party.

I really want to love this place but can’t!
I love the remodel and the atmosphere however, every time I come I have the worst customer service experience!
Not friendly, doesn’t smile, doesn’t even look at me while I’m ordering.
Tonight I went to winking lizard and ordered the fish tacos that are on their lent menu. I never ever ever send back food but these tacos were disgusting. The salsa was very different (in a bad way) than any salsa I’ve ever eaten…
When I finally flagged down the waitress she had the most shocked looked on her face. But, offered to get me something else, so I did. What bothered me was that my drink was empty and she had to ask if I wanted a refill. I hadn’t even gotten my food at that point…
I feel like one of the problems they have here besides customer service, is that their menu is too BIG! There is way too much going on here. The paper menus filled with writing plus the giant bible looking menus. I feel like they should have a smaller menu and work on making those menu items great.

Order takeout and 30min later at home found out missing something called back and person who took my order immediately knew what was wrong passed the phone to manager who did nothing to rectify the issue. I’ve gone to numerous Winking Lizards up North and this place is not ran like the others. Such a shame will not be coming back to this location

Good wings! The dry rub is awesome. Great new remodel. I don’t care for the fact that if your at the whiskey bar you can’t order off the regular drink menu…

Brand new makeover, nice patio, great menu and a cigar bar that I have yet to try. But do you know what STILL sucks? THE SERVICE.
If these guys want to pull off the whiskey bar genre, they’re going to have to get some professional servers and a real hostess. If I wanted the whole chip-​on-​the-​shoulder I-don’t-wanna-be-here treatment, I’d hit a fast food drive through, and get my whiskey at Kroger.
Management would benefit from trips to neighbors Average Joe’s, Gallo’s, and Roosters. Where service is almost always top notch.

Good looking sports bar & restaurant. Lots of space, side rooms, & an outdoor patio with fireplace. Thursday nights were a burger special for $ 7, but I wasn’t feeling that. Ordered a small combo pizza and lemon pepper wings with a Yeungling. My buddy ordered the spinach and artichoke dip, the chips were exceptionally fresh and hot. The pizza and wings were hot and tasty. I’m glad I ordered the lemon and pepper dry rub instead of a sauce coating them– they were crunchy and savory, mmm! Glad my buddy’s family suggested WL, I probably would not have stopped by otherwise. Enjoyable joint, and one I would repeat if my travels bring me near a location. Will repeat and recommend!

I’d love to give this place 4 – 5 stars bc their food is great. I’ve never had even mediocre food at this location. However the service sucks Did you want your drink order filled after 20 minutes of your drink being empty? You’re better off going to the local speedway. Also, make sure to bring your coat, because they won’t be bothered to turn on the heat or turn down the a/​c for their customers. It’s all about keeping the shitty servers, such as Josh, happy. Also, be sure to only order beer. If you order a shot they will charge you the same as any other 2 to 2.5 oz. giving shot location, then they will proudly and shamelessly serve you a 1 oz. shot. I mean, come on lizard bethel… is this a joke?! Are you trying to get closed down?

I’ve been here many times and just recently stopped by since they re-​opened with their renovations. The place looks great now and seems to have more seating? (that could be a lie) The menu has also changed and seems to be scaled down a bit. They still have great daily specials, happy hours, and of course a million beer options. We’ve watched many games here, met large groups, had late night meals, and all were a good experience. Sometimes service can be slow here, but overall it is pretty good. I would recommend this place to anyone looking to catch a game or meet a group out.

This is a place that I like most times. Today we stopped in during the Buckeyes game and of course it was very busy. Our server was great and was really hustling. Even with being busy the food came out fairly fast. I was a little disappointed in the food quality today. My boneless wings were a little cold. I also ordered the Fred’s Preferred Fries that come with cheese and bacon. The fries themselves were very good but the cheese on the fries was the cheap liquid cheese while the bacon bits were very good. I will not eat «cheese» that at room temperature is in liquid form. If these fries were made with real melted cheddar cheese they would be fantastic. Unfortunately I will never order these again.

Really disappointed in the ‘new’ Bethel Road location for Winking Lizard. Instead of bringing the next level in craft beer restaurants, all they’ve done is copied the Grandview location in virtually every way, and mostly the bad ways. The bar area is smaller, unless you count the outdoor part of it (which I’ll never use, as I don’t like flies in my food). Serving this split bar is one sluggish bartender (is she new or did she comes from Crosswoods? Not sure) who is NOT up to the efficiency of the previous Bethel staff. And that’s what is really going to kill this location; having a single point of failure which bogs down the entire place. The kitchen seems to turn out the same food, but is also slower somehow. So put those two things together and the fancy new digs really don’t matter. The new building includes a cigar and whiskey bar, which doesn’t seem to be open, or maybe only at certain hours; again, I partake of neither item so it’s no big deal to me. There *is* a more family/​group-​oriented area separate from the main dining area, and that’s a long-​overdue idea; I’ll add a second star for that. Other aspects: menu, specials, TVs, parking, etc. are the same; mid-​priced bar food and craft beers with a lot of variety… if you can get them in a timely manner. Please: it’s a big new house; staff up and staff better and this place might just work again.
Notes: I removed my last update from April, as it no longer applied. Current update written after 3 visits to the refurbished location, seated in both bar and dining areas. Last thought: they had a chance to put the infamous smoking popcorn machine by some outgoing ventilation, doesn’t look like they did. Opportunity missed.

Remodeling is beautiful. Food is good. There’s my two stars. Waitstaff was awful. Delivered our food to the table and didn’t see them for an hour. The flies got my food on the patio before I could get a to-​go box. Wait for them to figure out their new environment before you go in… currently you will be disappointed. Headquarters send help to this location please!

Same as before with nicer furniture. Love the outside patio though. Great to watch OSU game on. Slow service, was packed night. Got boneless wings. Very heavily breaded with little chicken and dry.

Revamped and remodel this Winking may find itself too undistinguished to stand out. I’ve always felt the Cleveland chain was indecisive of it identity: is this a sports bar, a casual restaurant, a hang out? It seems they’ve ventured to fix that by redoing the joint, laying it out in the trendy gastropub sleekness that is fast becoming cliché, but only to find themselves back were they started. A wall of sports flashing TVs, popular adult music playing on the radio, and a menu of specialties makes it identity confusing all over again, and not one bit of it stands above any other place one can go.
The décor changes are: the square bar has been pulled as well as the booths. The bar is now on the Southern wall. Outside there is a patio bar and shade which looks nice even if it foregrounds the Bethal strip malls. In lue of the discarded booths are tables. More open now, the front and back rooms flow together. It is better lite now. Colors are earth tones. The lizard tank and fish nets are still there. The lobby still exists and the front entrance seems less roomy.
They of course have a huge beer selection. Bottles from stouts, ales, ciders, tripels from countries spanning Japan, Germany, and Belgium. They have about 20-​drafts, mostly seasonal themed.
I had their pulled chicken with steak fries. It was small, and dripping a bit much with their ‘award winning sauce’ (it seems everyone has an award winning sauce.) It was good, but I wouldn’t place it first in a contest.
I don’t know, the place is kinda blah to me. I thought the service was off kilter; I was asked by two different servers if I wanted a drink, then if I wanted a refill, and then for my order. You’d think after one time of this they’d know someone else has me covered. Not a complaint, but it makes me feel awkward. I also came to watch football, which they had on several TVs, but not the sound of any, as they had music. This was disappointing.
Winking Lizard has never been my favorite place, and the remodeling hasn’t changed that. But it is not awful.

This location closed a few months ago to remodel. Their web site and Unilocal both say they were open today. In fact the web site says they reopened yesterday ⁸⁄₂₅. This is a lie. We went there today because of the info we got from looking at 2 sources online only to find that they were still closed. Way to go Winking Lizard.

My boyfriend and I walked in expecting a bar.
It has a large bar, but more restaurant than we expected! Not a bad thing.
The food was good — we both ordered burgers and fries; very good burger! They have a large beer selection, we got something similar to blue moon and it was really good! I can’t remember the name of it.
We were pleasantly surprised by this nice restaurant-​bar and plan to go back.

I thought The Winking Lizard would be a good place to watch a football game, but we lasted less than a quarter before switching locations. The food was okay and they have a nice beer selection, however the booth we sat in was uncomfortable and had no good views of any of the tv’s. My options were to awkwardly bend over the table and twist to the left or squint to see the one far in the distance. Not the place to stay awhile.

Alright Winking Lizard, I need to bump you up a star.
Maybe I was biased when I started going to this Winking Lizard. The one I’m used to in Cleveland Heights leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve had burgers that were so dry they were inedible, I’ve had pretentious servers. I guess my expectations weren’t very high. This Winking Lizard, on the other hand, is okay in my book!
I’ve ordered quite a few things off of the menu now, and each time it’s been great. I’ve had really attentive servers, and servers who will go above and beyond to make sure I’m happy with my meal or drink; telling me their honest opinion of certain items on the menu, telling me how hoppy a beer is. I’ve enjoyed lunch, dinner, and happy hour here.
Shout out to those servers and bartenders who made me rethink my rating. We now come here fairly often, and each time is a pretty great time. At this point, I’m confident in giving the Wink a 4 star rating!

Pretty standard bar.
I love their beer selection, one of the few places I’ve been able to find my favorite Jackie O’s brew.
Patio is nice, semi secluded from Bethel Rd. It does get a bit loud on Fri & Sat nights. Not a 1^st date or quiet spot.
HUGE menu & everything I’ve had this far has been great.
Décor & Bathrooms leave a little to be desired, but I’ll take good food & brews over ambiance any day.
I like this place, I’ve been 3 times and plan to go back many more.

Wow, get their fried pickle. I had my first try of fried pickle here and ever since haven’t found another place that makes it as good as they do.
Wings + fried pickle + beer = a good time