Winking Lizard

Good beer selection, lots of TVs, free popcorn. Never had anything bad here but it is probably a bit more expensive than it should be. I usually get the Bowman’s steak and cheese. Monday and Tuesday are good for wings.

I ordered a mild sauce wing, and it came out as extra spicy. He brought me a new order, but I was surprised to see that he charged me for both when I got the bill. Plus, their ranch comes in a plastic packet… Step it up winking lizard, I’m less than impressed.

For the first time, in many visits, my husband and I had horrible service tonight. Our waitress was more concerned about flirting than helping us. My portion of food was so small that I ordered an appetizer to go… It never showed up!!! We are usually very generous tippers, but not tonight!

Our experience at the lizard was very under under whelming the bartender ignored us all night. Wait 30 minutes for a drink we ordered 15 mild wings. 30 minutes later no wings. The bartender said we ordered 15 minutes ago. After 45 minutes we had our wings. Order was wrong. 5 were hot wings. Bartender again argued with us. I told him I did not want the hot wings. He opened the box, stuck his nose in them to smell. Yuk yuk yuk. Didn’t want them at all. Really bad service on the patio. Not recommend will not be back.

My wife surprised me on Halloween with big bucket of wings.
We both have patronized the Lizard for years and have usually always had a good meal.
The wings we had that night were bland and lacked any flavor. These were sorry wings.
I had to mix up some of my own wing sauce to half way enjoy them.
I’m not sure if it was the night and the staff was pissed they had to work or what.
The lizard in Mentor needs to take notice as Quaker Steak and BW3 are always good or they will lose my business.

This is a pretty uncomfortable review for me to write, because I really enjoy the winking lizard, the kids enjoy going there, and overall it’s a really solid and decent place to grab a bite and a beer. However this night did nothing short of infuriate me and I’ll tell you why.
I arrived at the lizard with the kids while my wife is running about 10 minutes behind. Our server was very nice and relatively new by her own admission. I ordered a black and tan which everybody knows is Guinness mixed with another beer and that beer alternates regionally. The beer came out in an imperial pint glass as Guinness should… but it was ²⁄₃ full. ²⁄₃! I pointed this out to my relatively inexperienced to server, but she stated oh you have to give it time to settle and it will filll right back up. Now I’ve been drinking Guinness for quite some time, and it never did quite fill up. I ask the server to go and get the manager so he can correct the pour. The manager on duty did show up and proceeded to tell me that because it was a black and tan, they put it in an imperial glass although they do this so they do not have to wait for the head to settle. Now I am NOT saying the Customer is always right, but you do not serve a beer in a glass two thirds full. And then proceeded to argue with a customer in front of his kids by telling him he is wrong and the restaurant is right and they’re not going to change it.
Naturally, this infuriated me and I asked the server to give me my bill as we’re going to get out. At this time the wife showed up and calmed me down… but now I can’t enjoy a meal with an ahole know it all «manager» who’s only response to a complaint should have been «I’ll fix that right away sir».
Piss off lizard. There’s plenty of other choices of places to eat in mentor.

Nice selection of beers. There beer club does not work for people passing through like myself. The beers were good and the bartender was nice and even cleaned the bottles for me since I collect beer bottles so I could take them with me.

Took way too long for everything. Good beer and wing selection but that is about it. Super noisy, server was ok, nothing to wrote home about. Was never checked on once we got our food. Won’t be stopping back anytime soon.

Great place for families to take there kids ! The have games of course the lizard is there in his cage. One thing happens ever time in order salmon ! It comes out not cooked. So if you go here order what you should order at a able wings fried food and burgers !!!

I have been here multiple times and loved it more each time i went. Right when i walked in they have a free popcorn that was impressive. The price was pretty good and service was very good every time. Ive had from amazing wings to great pizzas and some pretty good burgers i recommend this to anyone. Probably my favorite restaurant ever!

I went here with high expectations as everyone I know praises the Winking Lizard. And they were right! First of all, I want to steal the iguana. That said, the food was delicious! I got my usual spinach and artichoke dip, and it was some of the best spinach and artichoke dip I’ve ever had. Prices were fair, and the décor was really cool! My only complaint is that because I was with my sister and her friend, who were minors, my non minor friend and I were not allowed to drink. I have never heard of any other restaurant having that policy. Overall a pleasant experience, and I will be back!

Been here several times I never considered this close to the original Winking Lizard in terms of food or atmosphere sometime you just can’t copy the original. I found the service leaves a little to be desired and the food is average at best located in a strip mall it just doesn’t have much appeal it has always been busy but considering the choices in the immediate area and I understand why. I would never go out of my way to come here I would stop in for a few drinks with friends then go somewhere else for food. It can get a little loud at times.

We stopped back in for a quick dinner before my boyfriend’s son’s baseball game.
If there’s one thing from this that I’d like to communicate to some sort of management there: Your staff does not care, nor do they want customers to even come in. Or at least that what it seems like. And if your staff is that bad, not even your food or awesome beer selection can save you.
The food isn’t even the bad part. My buffalo chicken salad, although simple, was good. They let you pick from the sauces and the spicy garlic is delightfully spicy. They throw that on some iceberg, celery, tomato and cheese and it’s good. Plus, their homemade ranch dressing is spot on (don’t judge me!)
But the service. Jeeezus. Did they put out an ad calling for all bitter, angry females stuck in their 2002 high school glory days? We walked in and the hostess literally refused to even look at us, let alone seat us until she figured out the damn popcorn machine (and trust me, although not rocket science, it took her a good 7 or 8 minutes.) After waiting, staring at her uncomfortably fumble with this machine for almost 10 minutes, she then, with an attitude, sat us.
We had about .5 seconds to choose what we wanted from the menu and when we asked her for more time, she left us alone for about 20 minutes. Cool – I’m now 86 years old and can order my food. Mind you, this place was empty. Not kind of empty. Empty. There was ONE table behind us, and I’ll get to that in a minute.
Once it was the year 2025 and we finally got to order, the food was fine and she was quick with the tab, of course, since she wanted to get paid. But what really threw me was the absolutely awkward conversation she had with the table behind us. It was so bad that I almost intervened or called the manager. Basically what happened is all four of them (totally nice people) ordered the soup of the day. When our waitress came back to check on them, they politely told her that the soup was so salty it was borderline inedible. Not her fault, obviously, and not one of them blamed her or attacked her for it. But she literally DID NOT know what to do with that information. After a lot of «ummms» and «wells» she finally spit out, «I don’t really know what to tell you – I can tell the cook that it’s not good, but I don’t know what you want me to do.» Bahahahahahahaha ha ha ha. Maybe you could apologize, offer to get the manager, take it off their check… have SOME plan of action.
I have no tolerance for this bratty, «I don’t give a crap, I’m off in 15 minutes» attitude in the service industry. I’ve been there. I’ve bartended for years. You don’t treat paying customers like crap. Listen, I’m sorry Ashley or Tammy called you in on your day off, but if you hate your job, there are plenty of people out there who would graciously take it off your hands and appreciate it. Trust me.
If you have any desire for even half-​assed service, don’t come here. You probably won’t even get that.

My family and I really enjoy going to the Winking Lizard. I have tried many of their different dishes and I have not found one I didn’t like. It’s an all-​around good place. The hamburgers are good, I like their corned beef, and (of course) their wings!
For their spring menu, they added a lamb burger… Which is awesome!
Great beer selection too!

Poor customer service! Would not recommend. Server did not acknowledge or apologize for 2 burger orders taking 30mins! I mean there was only 5 tables in the whole restaurant, including us!!! No excuse! Server name Em. Serious thumbs down!

This was our latest stop and more than likely the last bar ‘experiment’ we will try for awhile. The tavern is rich with local lore and history, which is neat if you want a history lesson. As for us, we like the entertainment and dining portion of our visits more than tavern history.
The server was polite, friendly, made some suggestions for us when we asked what was good, and overall did fine. Nothing special, and also nothing wrong.
The food was blah. Thats the best way to describe it. I tried the pulled pork, which I love trying because some bars will blow your mind with how good it is. This was bland, dry, no vinegar, no sweetness… just blah. The bun was just something out of a bag. Having had good barbecue from North Carolina and Texas, I know what it should taste like and this was way off the mark.
Normally we wouldn’t leave a bad review if we just try one meal here, as we rarely eat the whole menu. That being said, the salad my wife was served was close to inexcusable. Nothing ruins a salad quicker than chicken that is obviously out of a bag and wet, soggy lettuce. The least you could have done is try to convince us that the salad was fresh, even when we know it isn’t.
Anyways, in fairness, we did NOT eat the whole menu but the things we did eat, to include an appetizer, tasted like it came straight out of a bag and/​or box. Zero originality in this place. If you want a beer, might be a good spot. If you want food, find something else.

Try not to go to the east side but yesterday I had no choice. Typical Mentor spot in a strip mall. Big restaurant with games for the kids. Food came out right and fairly quickly. Server was OK. not very friendly. We were the only table there and our tab would of been higher had we felt more welcome. Next time ya might wana be nicer to the table of 6 Irish people who drink more than they eat at lunch…

We passed through Mentor on our way to Niagara Falls looking for some local vittles. Was a Thursday and whoohooo $ 5.99 burger night. We were seated right away (was around 6pm). The server was fantastic — very knowledgable and friendly and suggested an appetizer of southwest ‘eggrolls’. Was extremely good, the new soda anyway you want it feature is always a good thing — raspberry coke zero, dont know why its not bottled and only fountain. Anyway I had a maui maui burger w/​grilled pineapple and teriaki and was one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. I would definitely make a trip back on a road trip!
Hats off to the local lizard!

For being a neighborhood watering hole in a strip mall, this winking lizard has more character than you’d expect. I met a friend here for her Thursday night skee ball league. Yes, they have that here, and I’m pretty sure all of the Winking Lizards have skee ball leagues. All deserve at least 3 stars for that alone. The great beer (and gluten free beer) selection gives it another star. It was hopping for a Thursday in the burbs. The server hussled and was very friendly.

Visited from out of town and my business acquaintance took me here to watch the Cavs game. Great service, full bar and lots of beers on tap. There are plentiful TV screens behind the bar area to watch the games on and lots of seating which made it much more appealing than the always over-​packed and crowded Buffalo Wild Wings down the road.