So I have two nights in Cleveland July 23 + 24. We will be staying downtown, but I haven't chosen where yet. What are the best breweries/taprooms, beer bars, and restaurants? Preferably downtown-ish or a reasonable Uber/Lyft away. My wife loves steak, Mexican, and Chinese or Thai or middle eastern. Especially if it's melt-your-face-off spicy. Apologies for my lack of research.
@cu29 Best in Cleveland is Fat Head's, easy. However, is not downtown and is located near the airport (both locations, I prefer the new Beer Hall in Middleburg Heights). Maybe a 15-20min uber from downtown. But honestly, best beer in the city so I would highly recommend it. Specialize in west coast IPA's (Head Hunter, Hop JuJu), but also have killer German stuff (Starlight Helles, Goggle Fogger Hefeweizen), among other things... Belgian styles, fruited sours, barrel aged beers, great porter/stouts. Food menu is decent, I like the pizza but suggest probably finding another place in the area for food overall. Aladdin's is just down the street (Middle Eastern place popular here). Runner-ups would be Masthead and Noble Beast. Masthead if you like hazy-IPA's as that is basically what they mostly focus on these days, but also have some other variety on. Masthead does pizza's for food which in my experience have been decent (but I wasn't blown away by any means). Noble Beast is nearby and does a bit more German-influenced stuff. I have always enjoyed the food I have gotten from there. It's an easy trip from Masthead to here, they are just shy of a half mile apart. Hofbrauhaus is right in the same area as both Noble Beast and Masthead, if you have never been and like those styles of beer. You can easily walk from Masthead, less than half mile apart. Saucy is a fairly underrated brewery within Cleveland, about 2 miles away from Masthead and Noble Beast. Nice variety on draft and they make solid beers overall. They also focus on Pizza as their food of choice. Never have eaten it though, it looks good however! If you Uber on over to Ohio City area, you have Great Lakes, Market Garden, Hansa and Platform (down the road a little bit from the other three). Plenty of great food options in that area as well, it's basically a busy neighborhood filled with a bunch of bars, restaurants, breweries. Tremont (10min from downtown) is a little old neighborhood that is filled with some high end restaurants worth checking into at least. Tremont Tap House is also located here, a really nice beer bar. Word of caution, both Tremont/Ohio City can get interesting characters late evening and such, so just be careful. No issue during the day, but just something to keep in mind! Hope this at least gives some ideas!
I don't know of a really good Thai place in the area, but I love Phnom Penh on 25th in Ohio City. You can get noodles there hot enough to make you sweat like a pig. Szechuan Gourmet is my pick for Chinese. There are many good options for Vietnamese, oddly. Do a quick search to find a place. There is also an authentic Korean restaurant on Pearl rd in Parma; probably a $15 Uber. Invertalon has you covered on the beer stuff.
Thanks, everyone. I really appreciate it! Definitely more than enough good suggestions to keep us occupied. I have a feeling Cleveland ain't gonna disappoint..... Prost!
In addition to the above mentioned, Bottle House brewing and Butcher and the Brewer are solid as well. Michael Symon has a couple good restaurants (Lola and Mabel’s) on the same street as BATB.
I'm back from Cleveland. Cleveland represented well. Our 6;12am flight there was 1/3 full, allowing us to lay down to nap. Arrived at the airport, where the tourist booth lady walked us to the Red Line replacement bus. Accidentally got off at the wrong train station to get downtown. A Cleveland resident at the train station got on the next bus with us, and made sure we got off at the correct station. An RTA employee assisted us in buying our train ticket, and rode on the train with us to Tower City, and directed to the best exit point considering we had luggage with us. While on the train, a couple of residents gave us their tourist/city tips. Walked to our hotel, where we were allowed to check in early at 11:00am. A good start! Our first beer stop was at the busy Masthead, which was only a couple of blocks from our Hampton Inn. I liked their beers, especially The Colony Collapse NEIPA. The wife loved it too, which is really saying something.... Noble Beast was next. The beers were fine. And the wife had an order of the Island Reaper wings. They were actually a touch too spicy for her, which surprised me. Ended up at HB Cleveland. Great space. But only ten people sitting inside, and several more outside. I had their house-brewed weiss, which is a close approximation to the Munich original. On day 2, I popped in to Butcher and the Brewer. It was early, and they weren't open yet. But the employee who was there invited me in to take a look. Nice space. Sadly, I never made it back for beers. Then off to Ohio City. Had some great Mitchell's ice cream after visiting the West Side Market. Visited Market Garden Brewery (another great space with an attractive outdoor seating area), Hansa, Great Lakes, and Saucy. My pizza at Saucy was delicious, and the beers were good as well. Another local recommended Forest City Brewery, but we ran out of time. Day 3 was a late hotel check out followed by an Ohio City Burrito burrito at the restaurant near our hotel. A short walk got us to the lakefront east of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A good spot for some pictures. Then off to the airport. Good advice, all. Thanks. I look forward to a return trip!
I agree with @mambossa except Brick and Barrel down the street from Forest City is good. Sounds like an excellent tour!
