Winking Lizard

We visit the Winking Lizard fequently, but had the opportunity to go to Independence to meet some friends from out of town to watch Game 6 of the NBA finals. We had the pleasure of having Colleen as our sever and I must attribute the 5 star rating to her! She made it the best experience I’ve ever had at The Winking Lizard. She was fun, attentive, and courtesy. I wish she worked at my local Wink– we’d be there even more! The food was great, Colleen was great, and the Cavs won! All around a great experience.

Awesome experience! We came for a quick dinner before a business meeting. Mick, the manager was so accommodating. Seated us quickly, told our server we needed speedy service. Mariah accommodated our special meal eal requests perfectly. Will definitely be back!

I am a huge fan of Winking Lizard establishments. I’ve been to quite a few of them and always have great experiences. This location in particular has a great patio which was great to use when we were there and the weather was warm and sunny. I ordered some wings with the Caribbean sauce and homemade ranch, which might be the best wing sauce and ranch I’ve ever had. (Make sure you ask for the homemade ranch rather than the pre-​packaged ranch!) I love the long list of beer they have — I can always find something I’m in the mood for. The bartenders were very friendly. However, the one complaint I have towards this location is the parking lot. It is SO small for the size of the building/​number of people who come here after work. I had to circle the parking many times, along with many other cars, and still couldn’t find a spot. There is a hotel next door but they will tow your car if you park here during busy times and use up the hotel guests spots. Maybe it isn’t so bad on weekends but it is always a problem when I go there after work for happy hour. It’s such a shame that you have to stress over parking when the food and beer list is so good.

I went to the old Rockside location a lot when I was younger, and have only been to this one a couple times.
They have a nice patio. I’m not sure if they still have lizards inside, but that was always fun as a kid.
All of the locations have a huge selection of beer, which is nice. I’m usually a sucker for their cajun wings and the bacon cheeseburger on garlic bread.
As far as sports bars go, this is top notch. Free pop corn is always a bonus.

3.5
To begin with, I’m pleased to note there was, indeed, a lizard on premises. I can’t attest to whether or not he was winking but he was chilling out and living a decent life. So, there’s that. I’ll also note that trying to get some food in you at brunch time on Sunday in Independence is a chore. In what could have been a political revolt, my family finally decided to stop driving around looking for pancakes and
.something.
Winking Lizard, it was.
This is your standard sports bar so your expectations should begin and end with that. Because we’d been driving for quite some time and nerves were frayed, I was quick with my order. I started with an Arnold Palmer and settled on the Grilled Greek Salad. I know, I know. Salad at a sports bar? I’d been driving for way too long with relatives who were sniping at one another. Plus, I was trying to be mindful of my expanding gut. I had to think about my waistline. So, yes: salad. And, for a sports bar, Winking Lizard’s salad game was decent: romaine topped with chicken breast, feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, green olives, ad roasted red peppers in Greek dressing (In this case, Italian dressing with feta crumbles. Yes, more feta). It was exactly what you would imagine it to be — no better and no worse.
I will bet that to watch March Madness or anything other than Cleveland-​area sports, Winking Lizard is a no-​brainer. One of my relatives ordered onion rings and they were delicious. The sheer number of TVs demand that you pay attention to all of the sports. In a perfect world, I would have come here for some permutation of nachos, wings, burgers, and beer. That’s what it’s here for. But as a stopgap against intra-​familial violence, it did the trick.
Come here for the sports. Use it wisely. Thanks, though, for being open. I owe my family’s safety to you.

If you want a wide and varied selection of beer this is a good place for a stop. If your looking for food… not so good. I travel for work and have been here at least 6 times and have yet to find an item on the menu worth re-​ordering. Every meal ordered was/​looked rushed and tasted like it was thrown together in a cafeteria.
Have a beer and eat elsewhere.

2^nd to none beer selection that keeps this place a must go destination for me every time o come to Cleveland. The food is what you’d expect it to be, decent for the money but isn’t going to wow you. But the food is not why you come to the lizard. You come for the beer list, and the menu compliments your drinking adventure. The cigar patio is also great if that’s your thing. I recommend it highly to any beer lovers

Horrible service (although the waitress was easy on the eyes). On one of the very few visits from her, didn’t offer drink refills or anything else for that matter. Food was blah, not enough sauce on ribs or wings.

I’ve found the wings to be really good at the Winking Lizard’s I’ve visited. On this occasion however, the wings were luke warm and not as crispy chewy on the outside. I’m blaming monday and tuesday wing nights where traditional wings are 55 cents each. I suspect they cook up a lot and then just take from a big batch sitting there instead of cooking them to order. Too bad.

A couple of my friends were doing the Beer Tour so we frequented the different Lizards all around town. This is a nice central location for meeting friends who live all over, it’s right off the freeway. If weather permits, the outdoor patio offers breathtaking views of the city all the way to downtown. Plenty of seating inside however with lots of TVs to watch games.
BEER: List goes on for miles. First thing I usually do is see what special of the day is offered. There is usually some 32 oz of beer for $ 5 (last time was a sierra Nevada). Not so many beers offered on draft but a very interested array for the brew-​curious.
FOOD: I used to go on Mon and Tues for the wing nights. Lately I prefer to get them naked and just get the sauce on the side, that way the wings stay crispy in my opinion. Seems like some of the Lizards have their own specials though (some have seasonal menus and other locations don’t). Last time I was there I ordered the Greek salad, which was chok full of foliage, Kalamata olives, red onion, feta cheese and greek vinegrette dressing. They give a heaping portion for a mere $ 8.99.
This particular location has their own parking lot, clean bathrooms. Service varies at times. I can’t consistently say they are always prompt or friendly. Some of the servers are just better than others which I have noticed in the 100 times I’ve been here lol

Went out with my co-​workers for lunch and decided the weather was perfect for a little patio time at Winking Lizard. All around this place is great; it offers an excellent beer list, has consistently good food (it’s not outstanding, but it’s better than a lot of places around here), is very reasonably priced, and the staff is friendly. Although this place seemed to be steady, our party of eight was seated right away.
For food I opted for the Pulled Chicken Melt: it comes on sourdough bread with BBQ sauce, bacon, and Gouda cheese. To really set things off I added a little coleslaw to my melt and it was petty tasty. The slightly crispy steak fries were enjoyable as well. I can’t speak on the alcoholic beverages as this was a work lunch, but my water with lemon suit me just fine. Everyone seemed to like what they ordered and the waitress was on top of things. No complaints here!
All in all I think Winking Lizard is always a safe bet for food or drinks!

My first time in winking lizard and will not be my that. Went in for a late lunch early supper, greeted, and seated promptly. The menu is so so big. A large variety to choose from in food as well as beer. It took at least 15 minutes to just read the beer list.
Waitress was very attentive but not so much that she would have become a pest. Once order was placed, everything came out quickly, however we never felt rushed.
I’m coming back here again for sure.

Pretty good place. Food was good, had the hot wings and the pretzels which were both high quality.
Top marks for beer selection and the crowd at the bar was mostly happy hour goers or business people from out of town so easy to strike up a conversation.
Service was alright, not the most helpful or attentive but you never went with an empty cup. Parking was also kind of a nightmare but all in all I’d go again.

I went with 8 coworkers for an early dinner after work on a Friday. The dining room was pretty empty. I think only two tables were being used. Myself and another coworker got there about a half hour early because we knew our group was rather large. They refused to seat us until half our party was there… even though the dining room had plenty of space. The hostess was also far from friendly when she was conveying this and once half our party arrived, it was as if she couldn’t be bothered to seat us. Drinks were tasty and I’m in love with the pulled chicken BBQ melt. Yum!

Well, after a long day of training, Company decided to take us out for dinner. Landed at this place. Got in, and waited for about 30 mins, which is not bad for a group of 12. They later sat down, and ordered drinks (They have quite an extensive beer menu — awesome!!!) Got a Pilsner that I cant remember the name of since it had a very strange name. Oh well, Appetizers were ordered next, which were great, We had some loaded nachos, as well as some grilled cheese, and some poppers. Entrees were next, I ordered the 12oz steak (it was either that or ribs). One of my co workers ordered some ribs loved them. Steak was ok, flavorful on some spots, but didnt rock my socks, then again my expectations were low, it is a bar after all.
Overall, great spot to catch some sports, and decent food. I’d go again next time I’m in town. 3.5 Stars

This place deserves a great review. I stayed in a hotel across the street for a year while working in Cleveland and I ate here once sometimes twice per week.
Monday and Tuesday are the best day for their wing special, and I LOVE wings.
Thai (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
Spicy garlic (¹⁰⁄₁₀)
Cajun (⁸⁄₁₀)
Spicy Sesame (⁷⁄₁₀)
Goldfinger (⁹⁄₁₀)
These were my personal favorites. I always go with original «bone in» wings.
Loaded nachos (meatless) (⁸⁄₁₀)
–The only way these could be better was if they made their own chips and their own salsa.
Hanson Burger (⁹⁄₁₀)
–I love mushroom onion and swiss, and a hand made beef patty. Nothing packaged/​frozen here.
St. Louis ribs (⁸⁄₁₀)
–Pretty good, but not great.
Beer Battered Haddock (8.5÷10)
–Very good and a large portion.
It’s always a good idea to check out their monthly specials. They had some crab cakes there during Lent last year that were so good that I placed a second order «to go» before I left.
The pizzas are fantastic. The 9″ is the perfect size to eat some while you’re there and have some left for later.
I really enjoyed the «World Tour of Beers». I still have my mini-​cooler half way prize. Great idea, and a great way to get people trying new beers. Often times the manager would stop by the table and ask what I thought of different beers that I had tried or ask about other beers that I’ve tried that they didn’t have.
Keep up the good work, this place is a great sports bar!

The winking lizard is a pretty cool bar inside for sure! It’s very wide open inside and I like the mini leg lamps that’s themed after the Christmas story movie, comical really and this is certainly the highlight of this place.
The food is inexpensive here but certainly a no thrills menu for sure. It’s your typical pub grub menu with it prodomitily geared around chicken menu items. I had the chicken cajun wrap and I thought it tasted ok, however I didn’t taste much in the like of cajun seasoning at all, it tasted more so like grilled chicken to be honest!
The staff here is ok seeing as how the place is generally busy all the time, they keep on hustling and moving around at the tables their assigned too!
Maybe I’ll stop back in again sometime and grab a beer when I’m in the area.

Myself and 8 of my friends stopped in to get together for the holidays. Parking is a little bit odd because the restaurant shares it’s parking lot seemingly with the adjacent hotel. However, it’s like any other winking lizard I have been in. The bathrooms were pretty clean, it had a unique footprint to the restaurant, and our table was out on the patio which had garage doors that were closed so it gave the space a temporary feeling however it was plenty warm And they had plenty of room to seat us.
The server was very very busy, which would explain sometimes why she was missing in action. But our food when we ordered it came very fast and it was hot and tasty. Our drinks, when we needed refills, respect a little bit too far apart. Again or for server girl was running around like a mad person because I believe they had over booked her stations and they may have been a little under staffed. Over all because of my local winking lizard I’m not a super big fan of this chain, but this particular franchise seems to be doing pretty well.

I love there wings, I eat here whenever I am home.
I love the 911, Spicy Garlic, and Hot. I have tried the pizza, also good. I love the free popcorn they offer, nice little snack until you get your food. One of the best deserts I have ever had is the Funnel cake sticks. Has sports bar option or fine dining, can get very busy after work or during sporting events.
Love this place, great service, great atmosphere, and great food.

I will always have a special place in my heart for Winking Lizard. I met my wife back in the late 90’s when we both lived in Cleveland Heights. We spent countless nights hanging out at the Coventry location with our friends so the emotional connection is undeniable. All mushiness aside, I’ll try to be as objective as I can.
There are really two main reasons you should come to this or any other Winking Lizard:
1. The Beer
2. Reasonably priced and pretty tasty pub food
The beer selection at Winking Lizard is pretty spectacular. Long before the current craft beer craziness, the Lizard was bringing beer to the masses. They’ve got a bottles list that features hundreds of options and a very well-​maintained and regularly rotated draught selection that typically numbers in the dozens. They’ve also got something called the World Tour of Beers. For $ 10 you sign up get some membership tchotchke and you’re on your way. Finish 50 beers and you get a wall clock. Finish the tour (100 beers) and you get a jacket and an invitation to a tour-finisher’s soirée. I’m pretty sure you’ll end up spending close to $ 600 in the process but I guess that’s not the point.
I haven’t really had any bad food at this or any of the other locations I’ve been to over the years. Now, I’m not saying it’s high-​class cuisine full of complexity and prepared by graduates of Le Cordon Bleu. It’s bar food. That being said, the menu is pretty large and it has just about everything — pizza, burgers, wings, entrée-​like options, salads and even ribs. The wing sauces are tasty, the cajun chicken spinach salad is among my favorite things to order (warm bacon vinaigrette, mmmm) and I could stuff myself sick on their fries dipped in their house BBQ sauce. Some other highlights include a grilled salmon that’s surprisingly good and the fried pickle chips (Lizard Freckles).
Just so I can feel confident that I’ve given a fair and balanced review, I’ve got to include some of the not-​so-​good. When it comes to this location in particular I’ll hit a few of the major PsITA:
1. Parking sucks in a major way — the Lizard shares a lot that’s right next to a hotel that typically booked solid with business travellers. It gets bad enough that they have to staff lot attendants if that tells you anything.
2. It’s loud and it’s crowded nearly all the time — If you go anytime on the weekend, may God have mercy on your soul. If you go anytime during the week, especially Tuesdays and during happy hour, it’s nearly as bad. Your best chances are before 4pm or after 6pm Mon, Wed and Thurs.
There are also a few things that most of the NE Ohio Lizards have in common that aren’t so good:
1. Hit or miss service — The Lizards are consistent in their inconsistency. I’ve had great service and I’ve had nearly non-​existent service. Roll the dice and go in with low expectations.
2. Bar seating is at a premium — If you plan to pop a squat at the wooden altar you had better get there early (see #2 above).
Like I said, I’ve got a soft spot for Winking Lizard so I guess I tend to look past some of their shortcomings, sort of like those little annoying habits your SO has that you find a little endearing (in small doses, of course). All in all, it’s still a solid place for good food and a beer list that’s long if a bit dizzying. If you haven’t been to one I might recommend you make the trek to Cleveland Heights, that’s my favorite. But don’t take my word for it, they’ve got 14 locations. You’re bound to have your own.