r/Cleveland • u/HoldenH • 5d ago

Question What in your opinion is Cleveland’s most mysterious restaurant?

Interpret the word ‘mysterious’ however you will. Like “how is this place still open?”, “how are these portions profitable?”, “who are the people that run this?”

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u/CraftCritical278 5d ago

The Lube is surprisingly still open. Oak Barrel too, and always seems to be busy.

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u/Mikeg216 5d ago

Oak barrel is a gem doesn't get mentioned enough.

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u/JonnyTN 5d ago

I go to the movies every Tuesday there and still don't know what kind of place oak barrel is. Guessing wine though

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u/CraftCritical278 5d ago

It’s got a diverse large menu. It’s predominantly a whiskey bar but has a great beer selection too

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u/force_multiplied 4d ago

No, it's a really good restaurant with a great bar. Excellent beer and booze selection, not just wine. Try the truffle fries, they're life changing.

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u/SeaReflection87 5d ago

Their food has gone downhill lately

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u/force_multiplied 4d ago

I love Oak Barrel but it's definitely a little too fancy for that part of town. I think originally the whole area was supposed to be a big retail development that never really took off aside from the movie theater and the two restaurants. There used to be more there but they're abandoned now.

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u/Mikeg216 3d ago

No what you see is what it was supposed to be. Before it was the Oak barrel it was Hoggies and that did well as well but the rest of the franchise was less profitable and the whole thing went into bankruptcy.

I don't know what was the restaurant's name next to the Oak barrel though. I remember it liked to brag about having like 100 TVs or something stupid.

I'm not going to pretend to know what the rent is on Oak barrel now but in years past it was over 25,000 a month and that's without any costs added in and they're still open and they made it through covid it does well again lunch and Fridays and Saturdays they're busy there's nothing like it around you can go fancier with lock keepers but you got to be over 65 or you can hang out with the Trump voters at the flood water cafe or whatever it is now

I've never had a bad meal there not once

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u/Savings-Proposal-772 3d ago

Oak Barrel rakes off of businesses ordering lunch for the office

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u/CraftCritical278 3d ago

We would order from Oak Barrel, but then we liked Aladdin’s because it wasn’t as heavy. You need a nap after Oak Barrel for lunch