Winking Lizard Tavern

Like coming here. Usually before heading out on a man-​date (food, beer and a comedian), we head to bdubs. We were getting burned out, so we tried this place. The waitress was kind, very open and funny as i got their first and chatted. Outstanding food, beer, whiskey and good times! Will make this the place to start man-​dates from now on!

My wife and I visited this location Saturday January 30^th @ 8:15 pm. Our waitress name was Sam may have been short for Samantha. Service was very good up until we received our food I ordered the wings and my wife ordered the Spare ribs, my wings were perfect but the ribs were not prepared like they should have been. They were very burnt and appeared to be dry as well. When we informed our waitress Sam her response was unbelievable she had the never to ask did we order them that way… As if you can order ribs well done or even medium well done how about rare ribs sounds goofy doesn’t it I thought so!!! She continued to show off her high level of intelligence with statements like you will have extra ribs when the new order would be brought to your table like some one want extra burnt ribs. She also stated she did not know how she placed the order to the kitchen are you confused because I sure was. It was if she did not have a clue on how to handle a situation like this one. She appeared as if she did not think and just stated whatever came to her mind no matter how ignorant it could be. The manager brought us out a new order of spare ribs and apologized for the first order his explanation for the burnt ribs made since and we could understand. The ribs there are very delicious meat falls off the bone. Sam later came over to check on us and if she could have kept her mouth shut she would have done herself a service and us as well. Unfortunately she did not keep her mouth closed and soon as started talking stupidity started flowing from her mouth and I quote «Well you guys got extra ribs tonight» Like we actually ate the extra burnt ribs no one would eat them, little did she know that the manager took the burnt ribs away upon providing us the new ones. Her tip was effected enormously because of her inability to provide service accordingly… When providing service never let your ignorance overwhelm your ability to provide outstanding service to your guest your tips depends on you!!!

Mediocrity at its best. The food is very «chain restaurant» style — my soup was actually served luke warm. The drink selection is decent but don’t expect an excellent level of bartender knowledge.
The Winking Lizard locations offer a neighborhood bar take on standard Applebees food.
Honestly I would give this location 3 stars. However, there is so many better places to eat and drink in the Grandview area.

Meh. Poor service has a way of negating a lot of positives. Went here the first time for lunch today. Love the menu, love the beer selection, love the televisions and love the atmosphere. What made this a three rather than a five star review was lack of service. Waitress never refilled drinks from the time she brought them to the table. Even though we had completely ran empty half way through the meal. What made it more irritating was the fact the place was ¾ empty and she and another waiter stood and talked with one another right in plain sight of us through much of our meal. It’s good that they have lots of help on hand as they always wil have someone to talk to. Really a shame as would have loved to given this five stars.

Good food, great service, parking available across the street in the abandoned Giant Eagle if their lot is full. Really good beer selection. Love the fire pit on the patio, just don’t let your shoes catch fire like mine almost did!

Unfortunately most of the generic-​at-​best food was served luke warm which made for a pretty underwhelming experience, however, the worst part was the fact that they find it acceptable to serve 2 pieces of celery with an order of wings as their «menu standard.» You can get more — but they make it clear that it will be an additional fee.

We love this place! Enormous menu — I aim to try something different every time and haven’t been disappointed yet.
They have a wonderful outdoor seating area which includes an outdoor bar with TV’s overhead — the place to go to watch sports.

Just like the name states if the big green guy isn’t sleeping or laying around he might wink at you a few times!!! Cold brews and many hot wings of different flavors. Great atmosphere for the messiest food experience. Bring the whole family and don’t even attempt a lovey dovey night out for two if your trying to impress just one lady cause you will lose her to the big green guy

Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of Winking Lizard’s food, but they have killer BBQ sauce. It’s not that the food is bad; it’s just that it’s inconsistent every time I go, and it never really exceeds good. The wings and ribs are decent, but the boneless wings are tiny and just not really worth getting. I think my favorite item here has to be the BBQ pork sandwich, and I get it with the Goldfinger sauce, which I think is their best sauce along with the in-​house BBQ sauce. I’d put that mustardy sauce on anything.
This location, in particular, is actually pretty nice, and I’m not sure if it’s because it’s new or not. I’ve been to the locations at Bethel and Crosswoods, and only the Bethel location is as lively as this spot. I also love the fact that they have a great patio with a nic firepit surrounded by comfortable furniture. This is a great spot to drink and eat outside that I don’t ever take advantage of even though I live within a mile of it.
Lastly, this place has a great selection of beers. They have a decent draft selection and a whole bunch of beers by the bottle that I’ve never heard of. I’m not sure when I’ll be back again now that I’m moving, and after this past time here, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t take advantage of the spot more often. They have a great drink and food specials, so give it a shot.

Great local-​ish spot for good beers, decent food, and an excellent patio. Great place to watch sports and hang with buddies!

After haunting the other two Winking Lizards in the area, I finally arrived at the Grandview location when there was a parking spot open. Hurray! Younger patrons will think of Hoggy’s but I will always recall this location as the Sisters Chicken and Biscuits place. WL has used all the interior room for seating, and there is a patio and exterior bar on the west side of the building. Which leads into the one thing that stood out during my visit: they left the two doors to the patio open. On a nice day, this works; when I stopped by, it was very warm and humid, and I’m not a fan of that. It may be that being this close to campus, the GV Lizard wants to emulate that sort of bar vibe, and I can see how that might work. But not when I’m eating. –1 star.
Food and drink: it’s a Winking Lizard, and these are as the same as at all the other locations, which is to say they’re good.
Service: The bartender was a bit of a dingbat. But no real issues.
Interior: I didn’t experience the noise that some reviewers have mentioned; with the doors closed that might be different.
Exterior: didn’t really check out the patio, but if you’re into that, it’s there. Parking is available if you’re lucky, and in a city like Cbus which lives by the car, that matters.

I’ve only been here for the drinks.
It’s solid, but nothing extraordinary. The drink prices aren’t great but sometimes the specials are agreeable. However, what they really have going for them is the outdoor seating. It can get pretty crowded but try going after 9 or 10 and it can get quiet, very enjoyable.

Winking Lizard has great drink specials and the large outdoor patio and bar is a great place to enjoy those specials on a nice day. Overall, the staff is very friendly staff and accommodating.
There is a good variety on the menu, but the food is nothing out of this world.

Pretty slow service compared to the other Winking Lizard locations I have been to. We stopped here for drinks, and managed to only have one drink in about an hour due to the constant waiting. The location is nice, but the building feels a little disjointed. The bar is in an odd location and we didn’t even notice there was another section to it. In fact, the disjointed feeling carried over to the atmosphere of the entire visit and none of the employees seemed really with it.
Of course the beer menu is good and I would have liked to order more. If the food is on par with the other locations, I wouldn’t mind giving this Lizard location another shot. They do have some stiff competition on 5^th Ave so I hope they can get things together.

Winking Lizard is a cool BW3’s alternative. They have a slightly more vast menu than BW3’s when it comes to food. Im a big fan of the boneless wings and have yet to have them in a sauce I didnt enjoy. I get them practically every time.
The bar is the big winner here, with a large number of drafts that change monthly as well as a large selection of bottled importa and donestics, theres always something new to try!

Perhaps I’ve lowered my standards, or perhaps I’ve taken a new perspective, but I’ve come around on the place a little.
A couple things helped. First, you’ll like this place better if you think of it as a good sports bar with some good beer rather than as a great beer bar. I’ve watched a lot of football there lately and it is a good place to see all the games. There are issues with the beer list that I covered in a previous review, but it’s a lot better than BDubs and reasonably priced too.
Second, I quit sitting at the bar and started sitting at tables. Generally I prefer the bar, as service is usually more immediate and bartenders typically know more about beer than servers. However, Winking Lizard bartenders are horrible and have pissed me off repeatedly. Luckily, they have a team of good servers who bring the quality of the service back up quite a bit. Table service is good here even if the bar sucks.
Go on a weekend for some football. Sit at a table. Get the beer cheese appetizer and the bacon cheese fries (real bacon, shredded cheese, and nacho cheese), and drink some okay beers. Not bad.

I came here for happy hour a few weeks ago. I don’t really have anything bad to say, besides the small parking lot that can fill up pretty quickly.
They have a pretty extensive beer collection, both bottled and draft. I found their staff to be friendly and knowledgeable. They also have some pretty decent drink specials. On that particular day, they had $ 5 32 oz Lagunitas IPA drafts. Not a bad deal.
The interior space is cozy but clean. We had pretty large group (10+) and spent the first part of the evening hanging around the bar. They were able to accommodate us at a table later on. Being in Grandview, it was a nice change of pace as compared to the busier bars in Short North or Arena District. Definitely more of a relaxed atmosphere.
Another draw of Winking Lizard is their outdoor patio. Their patio space is fairly extensive and exceeds their interior space. They have a nice modern gas fire pit which adds to the atmosphere as well as providing some heat during those chilly nights.
I enjoyed their Reuben sandwich. Their Russian dressing was on point and the thick cut fries were a good accompaniment. I can’t speak about their other items, but my friends seemed to enjoy their wings.
I would definitely come back.

These applies to all Winking Lizard locations:
–Amazing beer selection
–Food is affordable but mediocre
–Free popcorn
–Service is hit or miss
These are specific to the Winking Lizard on 5^th Ave:
–The parking lot is tiny. Go expecting to park on the street.
–The outdoor patio is here much nicer than at the Wink off of Bethel Rd.
I love the beer selection here, so I wish I could go more often. But with their mediocre food menu, I often get shot down by friends and family when I try to organize a dinner outing…

Winking Lizard is definitely a big improvement over the Hoggy’s that used to be here. I love that they created an awesome patio space that has lots of seating and a fire pit. It’s also great they have to option to open up the doors on nice days so some of the inside seating can take advantage of the weather, too.
I really dislike most of the inside seating, however. The building is split into two sections, much like Hoggy’s was. Seems like they were trying to create a ‘dining’ area and a ‘bar dining’ area, but really it just awkwardly splits the crowd and on busy weekends no one wants to get stuck in the lame seating area. It can also get REALLY loud. I felt like I couldn’t hear bf talking until we were tipsy-​screaming at each other about how our days were.
They offer a pretty good beer selection (Dogfish 90 Minute hellooooo — and goodbye). They do a beer tour thing but it never really enticed me. Seems to be relatively popular though and probably a great way to find some new beers to love.
The menu is largely greasy bar food offerings, though if you look hard enough you’ll find my guilt-​free go-​to, the Jerk Chicken Sandwich. Grilled chicken, LTO, and their yummy spicy Caribbean Jerk wing sauce. Pair that with a side of their butter-​free steamed broccoli or sauteed veggies and you have a pretty smart meal. Of course they also offer wings, burgers and chili/​cheese on nearly anything. But, the healthy option is there and I really appreciate that!
Parking is pretty terrible and I’ve noticed some neighboring businesses handing over their lots for nighttime parking, which helps. I always walk, so no worries for me.
The Liz is on our rotation of acceptable dinner/​boozing spots but never really at the top of the list. Regardless, we’ll keep coming back!