Bar #10 The Shamrock Tavern (Deceased)

There are a couple bars in Lakewood that everyone refers to as Lakewood's biggest secret. All those bars really do have great food, beer and environments, but everyone knows it. To find Lakewood's biggest secret you must go to the end of the rainbow...well, Madison and find a Shamrock Tavern, Bar #10.

When you enter the Shamrock you are surrounded by games and windows. You've got pinball, a two person sit down Galaga and Pacman arcade game, a pool table, the Claw, an electronic shuffle board and horse shoes in the back patio. Along the walls and the booths are antique and Irish symbolic stained glass windows. The bartender was very friendly and our service quick.

Their on-tap options are small currently having a specialty, a domestic and a light beer. I went with Stella, a very drinkable beer that is both flawless and uninteresting. Their bottled selection wasn't bad and allowed me to try my first Black Label Beer. I don't drink urine, but if I wanted to, then I would go with the cold, fizzy urine taste of the Canadian beer with a black label.

The Shamrock Tavern makes all of it's own food including its bread. I went with the local favorite bahn mi, a brisket sandwich with pickled jalapenos and other good stuff with Jojos. All of it was great. Everything on their menu had this same unique take to your standards. Next time I go to the Shamrock I'll be trying the jalepeno poppers with chorizo inside.

Katie was defeated by the claw. The lack of drop button raises the level of practice needed for success.

We started off the evening with confusing game of shuffle board. We set up our own scoring for three people playing instead of two. Johnny broke out early but his high attack playing style was better at stopping scoring then getting points for him. Katie and I went neck and neck till the end. With victory in my grasp sent my final disk at about 50 miles an hour sending all my discs off the board leaving her winning by default. So, she went home to get ready to go to Chicago for Johnny's surprise birthday party the following day.

Our next game was Galaga. If you haven't played, the game is simple, you move left and right shooting aliens that shuffle back while they shoot and swoop at you. I got a top 10 score! When the other person is playing you get to see the game at the perspective of the aliens, sitting above the screen.

We made our way out back past a large dining room that hasn't been updated in a couple decades besides the large flat screen TV at it's entrance. There was a large patio out back with a nice view of the surrounding neighborhood. I don't know if the neighborhood would agree with that. The pit was set up mainly for daytime use to appease the neighbors and was still wet from the earlier rain. We weren't detered, as Johnny said, “with enough beer, anything is possible.” After jury rigging some extra lighting (we still couldn't be sure where the shoes landed when we threw them but we knew where to aim.) and our shoes getting a bit muddy the game was on. John's bounces were truer than mine and after a longer time than should have been required he won the day.

The Shamrock may not be made of gold but I will keep going back. There's plenty you'll want to do, eat and drink. Every other Friday the tavern is filled to the brim with an epic night of karaoke. There is too much awesome to this bar to just pick one thing, and if you're lucky, next time you go out you'll pick a Shamrock.

Awesome: Games, Customer Service, Food (quality and price), Horseshoes, Size

11922 Madison Ave

216-521-9740

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shamrock-Tavern/114037981960235