November 8, 2009
We males like to have lists to conquer, so having the World Tour of Beers opportunity every year to conquer 100 beers is too much of a challenge to pass up. Working in Ohio frequently, this small chain has become my most-visited beer bar nationwide (working on my 7th Tour). The Tour is sufficiently automated now that you can get your credits at any of their fourteen Ohio locations and view your status online. Their main list of beers gets changed yearly, plus they have three different monthly specials for Belgian, Hoppy, and Seasonal beers, plus a monthly beer glass. The food is very bar-food oriented, and it’s unpretentious but good. The wings are larger than usual with no breading, and they’ll cook them crispy on request. Orginal house salad with blue cheese dressing and shredded corned beef, pairs nicely with the wings. As witness to the wings quality, the Crosswoods location put the BW3 store next door out of business. The owners spend a lot of time searching for interesting beers around the world that they can offer for 12 months. That’s not particularly easy to do, especially for beers from some of the smaller brewers. Each year, the percentage of totally new beers on the tour increases, with over half of them this year new from last year. For me, it’s a really good education process, and their Tour handbook gives good descriptions of the beers. They have special events throughout the year, and one unique experience was a beer dinner hosted by Garrett Oliver. One of my favorite offerings from this year’s tour is the collaborative Schneider Brooklyner Hopfen Weisse, continuing the Brooklyn influence. When I get near the end of each year without having conquered the list, I host clients with the offer of free beer as long as it’s from my unfinished list. And the icing on the cake is the visit with the lovely Lucy on the way out the door.

August 31, 2009
I don’t think I’ll be returning to Winking Lizard. My experience there wasn’t terrible, but there just wasn’t anything there that will drive repeat business from me. It wasn’t a great beer experience, and it wasn’t enough of a good restaurant experience to cause me to drag the fam and non-beer lovers back there either. Ambience reminded me of a Joe’s Crab Shack or a Dixie Grill…bright, modern, glitzy. There are a lot of TV’s, so this would be a fine place to watch the big game, but I usually do that at home. We sat at the bar. The wait-staff seemed a little disorganized…it seemed like there were 10 people behind the bar (on a Tuesday afternoon), and there seemed to be some confusion over who was waiting on us. There were maybe 10 beers on tap, but no real standouts. The draft list was sort of thoughtlessly populated – not a lot of diversity among the choices. The bottle list was long, but again there wasn’t anything I had to have. My tendency is to drink what’s on tap, drinking bottles only if there is something REALLY interesting on the bottle list. The food was pretty lousy. I had wings, a patty melt, and shells and cheese. I thought the wings would be terrific in a place like this, but honestly all the food was marginal. To sum-up – OK ambience, a large but not really appealing beer selection, confused service, and marginal food. Why would I return?

October 25, 2008
Cool sports bar well known for its beer selection. Good mixed crowd, and there always seems to be some sort of after-wedding party going on when I’m there. Must be due to all the hotels across the street. Food is good and a good value. Their pizzas are surprisingly delectable, and their wing sauces are pretty good too. Service is hit or miss. It could be really good or it could be really bad depending on who you get. Beer selection is obviously good for a place that has 100+ bottles. However, their bottle selection hasn’t changed at all in quite a while. It used to change more frequently and unfortunately, a lot of the better beers they had are no longer on the menu. Their tap selection is pretty good. Strong emphasis on Great Lakes (Lizard is based out Cleveland, ya know) with Dortmunder on tap as well as a seasonal. They always offer a monthly IPA or bitter on their hoppy hoppy handle. The monthly keep the glass special is always a big hit and a way to build up your glassware collection. Still one of the better places in C-Town to grab a beer and a bite, so long as you catch the servers on a good night.

August 28, 2008
Man let me tell you about this place.I have been on a beer tour of Columbus hosted by the one and only sexxxy Beer Virgin! She has taken me all over and i really loved this place.It has everything u need.Plenty of tvs, great food and a huge beer selection.Our server this evening was great.She took great care of us and even let us know she was leaving and that a new server, who was just as good was taking over.I had the buffalo chicken sandwich and garlic wings, fantastic!The beer selection was great. I got to try 4 new beers plus the Sam Adams rep was there doing a national taste test to see which brew people will vote on so they can brew it.They had a Coffe stout and a Blackberry Wit.I loved the Coffee Stout and that what I voted for.This was a great place to hang out and will want to visit here next time im in town.Thank you Dawn for taking me to such a great place!!

May 16, 2008
Large pub with too much of a franchise atmosphere. Atmosphere is between family friendly and sports-bar. Something like 15 big tv screens. About 20 taps, 1/3 were half interesting (entry level beers from Great Lakes, Sierra Nevada and such) and the other 2/3 was truly pathetic with classics such as Miller Lite, Labatt Blue, Newcastle and such. The bottle selection however is pretty cool. About 100 bottles Americans and import with a few not-so-common ones on the import side. I got myself a Traquair 900 reasonably priced at $.7.75. Standard American beers such as 60 minutes and Dirty Bastard were in the $3.50 to $4.00 range. Also had Signature Ale in small 12oz bottles which I had never seen before.

April 21, 2008
I go to the Winking Lizard when I want a better-than-average beer that most bars don’t carry and I want to people watch. This bar has a lot to offer beer geeks: a World of Beers Tour (with incentives), a very extensive bottled beer list, and a Glass of the Month with beer inclusive for about 5-7 bucks. 50% of the time you will get someone who is well-versed in beer. My fave picks here are the wings, and the White Bread Pizza. This location has the better food and specials of the two Columbus WL locations, in my opinion.

January 19, 2008
They had Chimaywhite on tap, old leg humper and the Hoe... They used the proper glasses for serving and the food was not bad. Very good selection I will return for sure.

February 23, 2007
Pretty good food as it was in downtown Cleveland. Service wasn’t as good, I had to correct the waitress over a comment she made about a beer. Great selection. I hope that someday they’ll have one in Dayton.

January 14, 2007
Visited location at 23. Very nice place. Huge selection of beer. Food was good, however, they did mess up my friends order so had to deduct points for that. Service was otherwise good, fast and friendly. Neat place. Will definitely return.

August 5, 2006
Usually has about 18 beers on draught, some rotate monthly including the "Beer of the Month ("Keep the Glass Special"), "Hoppy, Hoppy", Belgian, and Seasonal handles. Also has over 100 bottles, some of which rotate yearly. Good drink and food specials every day for happy hour. A great place to drink and eat. Fodd selection is typical, but their wings and burgers are quite tasty! !!!Achtung!!! - The bottle prices are pretty high (sometimes 300% or more of bottleshop prices!).