Bar #52 Pug Mahones (Deceased)

Taken by Pug Mahones

There are many important parts to creating a successful bar. Selection, value, food, entertainment, and atmosphere are some obvious pieces to the puzzle of building a bar that will survive. This week's bar did well in many respects but excelled in one in particular, service. Bar #52, is Pug Mahones, home to one of our newest favorite bartenders.

This week's Every Bar in Lakewood's trip came on the heels of the Winter Vortex. A two day siege of wind chills reaching -40 degrees, bypassing the frigid temperatures of the North Pole. As the temperatures raised back up to a balmy fucky cold again, cabin fever screamed out that I needed to see people, and numb the memories of the being numb, via beer. So, we set off into the new, pretty, and less painful snowfall. The snow did prevent me from getting a picture of the front sign.

Upon entering the bar, 10 minutes late, to a mildly busy Pug Mahones I had to preform the always awkward, walking around the bar looking for friends that haven't arrived. It is a mixture of your eyes darting around wildly and walking slowly in random directions like a ghost from Pacman. It turned out I was there first. I immediately sent out the customary text messages to everyone else making them feel bad for showing up late. At least until they realized they arrived only a couple minutes after I did. This included Jon who was almost standing behind me as I hit send.

Pug Mahones looks like your standard bar (wood booths, big TVs, an assortment of beer items on the walls) but with a lot of extras. The booths all come equipped with their own small flat screen TVs. There are a couple video games including a Pacman machine with a bunch of Atari games included. You've also got foosball, skee ball, and a punching bag machine.

Pug Mahones has a level assortment of beer options with as many domestic favorites as interesting craft beers that you may not have tried before. I went with, what may be the only pumpkin beer still on tap in Lakewood, Crooked River's Eerie Nights Pumpkin Ale. It was a good beer that embraced its pumpkin side without hiding it with too many spices. Eerie Nights was little on head but big on aroma. Looking online for this brewery you would think they were out of business. Make sure you try their beers while you can. They may not be long for this world, but if the rest of their beers are this good I hope they stick around.

We were greeted by Chrissy the bartender, once we had come to terms with both being late but almost the exact same amount of late. She was both friendly and engaging, the type of bartender that feels like your friend by the time your first beer is paid for. She was enthusiastic and knowledgeable about craft beer and the bar she worked in. Also, even though she was working a full bar plus our table, she never left us waiting. This is one of the major ingredients that allows bars to be successful.

Having a bartender that one's customers will want to keep visiting means repeat customers and creates a bar that survives for the long haul. When it comes down to it, a bar's personnel is the real difference between different bars. There are always multiple bars with the combination of good food, types of beers, prices, entertainment and so forth that you're looking for, but having a staff you get along with and does their job well is always the game changer.

Pug Mahones is currently having menu issues. They didn't have enough for the 6 of us; they only had two to spare. There were also misprints throughout it. If you are bored you can play find the baccon! This is probably due to it being designed for free. As a person that's done a lot over the years for nonprofits it always annoys me when volunteers slack off because they aren't actually getting paid. If you want to do something, do it right because, it's still a reflection on you. I'll assume I've been holding up with this ideal on the blog because the internet is rarely kind to any kind of weakness or failure. On a positive note, the menu did have lots of options and a new menu should be coming out soon.

I was told by a random patron that the burgers, which were also on special, were good. I got the bacon cheddar burger with homemade fries. It was better than average. Everyone was happy with their food with one exception. The cook forgot our pregnant friend's BLT. Perhaps, he is a thrill seeker that enjoys tempting painful death. We gave it more time than we should have since all of her ingredients were included on my burger that I received 15 minutes previous. I told Chrissy and she practically ran into the back and made sure that it was done at the maximum speed possible.

We made sure that we cashed out when the shift change was happening; so that we could tip Chrissy for her service. Remember, if your bartender/waitress takes care of you then you need to take care of her or him.

The patrons of Pug Mahones all seemed fairly random, not falling into any type or age bracket. They were neither angry nor rowdy. They were just people content to concentrate on their drinking and talking to their immediate neighbors. Classic rock was played all night on the juke box by a single person and his wife...or daughter, we weren't able to figure that one out...People watching is fun!

Pug Mahones is a pretty cool bar. It's a good place to watch the game. I love having the option of the little personal TVs in case you just wanted to watch curling this winter. They have a lot of games you can play. I was happy enough with the food and beer options, as most people will be. On occasions, in the past, I've had to say that I don't know if the service is always bad or if this was just a bad night. This time I have the opposite to say, I had great service but can't guarantee that it's always in the running for best service in town. Especially, when one considers their menu situation. Bar #52 has a lot to offer and great service offering it. It's time you accept their offer.

17625 Detroit Rd
216-228-8874
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Bar #14: Manja

Different people see hipsters in different ways.  To some, hipsters are lazy people that apathetically like old clothing and random things ironically.  To others, hipsters are people that pay attention to what is cool before the mainstream knows about it and what should be cool again.  Manja is known as a hipster bar but is it cool or is it simply ironically bad.

There are rules to follow when going to a bar. Rule #1, don't show up to a bar the minute they open. To be a hipster you need a certain nonchalance. You can't be nonchalant during an hour defined by being happy. Manja rejects so called "happy hours", not only by having beer prices competitive with the other bars temporary price drops but by rejecting the happy hour time block altogether. Manja usually opens around 9. Unfortunately, I start work every morning at 7:15. Staying out late on weekdays is rarely a good option. This brings us to why I broke rule #1, I wanted enough time to get a good feel for the bar and catch, at least the beginning, of the comedy show that night.

We were the only people in the bar for the first hour. We talked with John the bartender while we drank our first beers. He had two pythons, one of which is recently deceased. The snake's sibling may be acquired, you'll find a sign with a picture in the bar.Manja is a great mixture trendiness and college dorm room. This is seen by comparing the designer bar and hanging lights with the vintage couches and painting of Kramer. Pink Floyd was prevalent on the speakers but you can pick the music.

Some would say that a bar named Manja must have amazing food. However, Manja is so ironic that it offers nothing to eat all. Most of the beer options are working class cheap beers like PBR. I added the renowned Yuengling to my beers on tap list. Yuengling had been one of the most sought after beers to move to Ohio. The demand was so high that it was unable to handle starting sales to our state. A year ago Yuengling decided that was enough and opened an entire factory in Kentucky just so that Ohio could partake. It seems to be a success because I rarely can find a bar that doesn't carry it. It's probably my favorite of the mass produced beers of the US.

After our talk of John's snake, we moved on to the Sociability Center to play Foosball. As mentioned previously, I am not good at Foosball. I did come up tied playing against Johnny 1 game to 1. John, paid for our games and also for the two games we played against him. Bar Rule #2, do not play the bar game against the bar owner; you will lose. I was happy that I scored a point, but after only scoring 1 point you can never accept the "good job" by your opponent without a scowl. The owner may be a vampire, which would explain why the bar isn't open while the sun's out and his lightning fast reflexes on the Foosball table.

Around 10, people started showing up, including the funny people. By 10:30 the bar had a nice crowd but the little voice in my head start complaining that I had to wake up in 7 hours for a 13 hour day. Unfortunately, I had to leave with the night obviously feeling unfinished.  I'll leave you with a To Be Continued on the tale of Manja so that I can go there while people are around.

Obviously, I would go back to Manja. It's got a hip and friendly atmosphere and crowd, cheap beer, and a great downloaded list of songs on the giant pay ipod.  Once you're tired of your old bar head over to Manja where the party's just beginning.

Awesome: Customer Service, Atmosphere

13373 Madison Ave

216-221-5445

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