Lounge Leo

Would easily miss this place if it weren’t for all the rave reviews from fellow CASE grad students, which is in walking distance (less than a block) from school. My eyebrows turned up from what I thought would be totes divey from the outside. Quite small inside, almost like a hallway. Step down the two stairs to what is about the size of living room and hence the «lounge» portion of the namesake. It’s got some white leather couches that suggests romance and a unisex bathroom. Prices were decent. Staff was friendly and attentive. Parking difficult because it’s on Murray Hill.

My neighborhood spot. We meet Great people every time we stop! Thanks Michael, you are the best! See you soon!

Lounge Leo is not to be confused with Lounge Lido or Lido Lounge. This is a mellow bar I have been meaning to check out for years. I went on V-​Day with my special valentine Steve L. They even put the TLC Red Light Special on for our slow jam. They carry the new to Ohio New Belgium Ranger IPA in an approximately 20 oz mug for $ 5. The bartender was a sweetheart. This is a nice bar to stop at if in the Little Italy area.

Im here on Valentines Day with my best friend. Its lit up all red like TLC’s — Red Light Special.
Its a pretty cool bar, the seats right by the door aren’t a power move,?i have 80 degree air blowin on me when its 15 outside. Kinda makes me nauseous.
We got two huge beers for 10 $, good deal.

A great little gem in little Italy. They have about everything you could want and a laid back attitude. Very easy to strike up a conversation with the clientele or bar tenders. Really great prices as well.

If you want a casual place to drink and hang out after work, this is the place. They have happy hour from 4 – 7 everyday– $ 1 off drinks and draft beers (20 ounce) are $ 2 – 4 depending on the type. They usually have Yeungling for $ 2. This is a great neighborhood bar and the bartenders are very nice. They don’t serve food but you are welcome to bring food in. Valentino’s Pizza and Algebra Teahouse are just half a block away!

This gem is literally the only place to have a cocktail in Little Italy that does not have food… (which is what I like about it because sometimes you just want a nice cocktail in a nice corner bar) so if you are in the area for dinner and want a pre-​dinner or post-​dinner cocktail. this is THE perfect spot.
You will not find a more enthusiastic owner or friendlier crowd. You can definitely say that Lounge Leo, «isnt full of strangers, but friends you havent met yet». It is the ultimate Little Italy hang out for locals, service industry folks, local cops, and everyone in between.
FYI: The blond bartender on Fridays (Nicholle Lottman) was featured in Playboy magazine as Playboy’s «sexiest bartender of the year 2010»… she’s an all natural beauty, inside and out.
Its a tiny spot, but well done and full of love. Easily in my top ten list of best places to have a cocktail.

I like the feel of this place, but I’m always nervous to come for some reason. It feels almost like a small club that I’m not part of, but certainly welcome to join. I can’t really explain my nerves, but I can get past them for this place and maybe then, if I go more, it’ll be a little more comfortable.
From outside, you would not guess how cool and chill the inside is. Lounge is the perfect word for it and you immediately become friends with whoever is in there (or at least spark up a conversation from one end of the place to the other). It’s so small, you can bond with your fellow drinkers without shouting!
The jukebox is always playing something and I’m pretty sure that those who play it never have bad taste. The music just fills the place, but you can still have a conversation. Perfect.
Reason for the 3: I had already imbibed enough earlier in the night that I didn’t partake in anything but a couple of beers, so I can’t judge the cocktails. I also want to feel like I’m part of the cool lounge club before I up my rating. Guess I’ll just have to go more often!

Old Man Bar is the best. Perhaps it’s not for everyone but there is no better weekday bar than OMB. Weekends can be a different story — during the summers the clientele tends to be 30-​to-​40-​something «guidos» on Friday and Saturday night — but for the rest of the week it’s a great place to drink. Mike and Keith are funny, friendly, and generous. Best bartenders ever!

Such a neighborhood gem. We spent the night across the street at the Washington Square Inn, and this was a perfect stop on our way to the room. Got to meet Mike, the proprietor and had a great time. There are actually two distinct spaces. The bar area is the louder of the two. Small bar with a few 2 tops lining the side wall. Very modern and almost clubby looking. Digital jukebox in the back with everything from Ciera to AC/​DC to Johnny Cash — a crowd pleaser. The room in the back has a few couches and would probably be great if you came with a bunch of friends.
Only one beer on tap, but who cares — there’s everything else to choose from! The place is completely unpretentious too. We saw everything from old guys in sweats to girls in their short skirt club gear. Fantastic people watching!
I’d be in trouble if I lived within walking distance of this place! :)

Great little place… and I mean LITTLE.
Lounge Leo is one of those places that you have to be «in the know» to find… or a CASE student. Nestled amidst a primarily residential street, you may just miss it if you blink. I think this is THE smallest bar in Cleveland. They do have a little back room area, but I like to be where the action is up front.
While this place lacks in square footage, they make up for it in good drinks and tunes. They have one of those digital jukeboxes where you can play practically any (popular) song in the world. The beer selection is somewhat limited, but you can get just about any mixed drink you desire.
Since this place stays open later than most places in Little Italy, they get a big local service crowd late night. It’s almost always happening.
I love this place!

«Ubriaco Depravazione» last stop.
We’d been talking about hitting this place for months. I was really psyched to finally visit the famed Lounge Leo. It was a thursday, so it was empty. But we made it ours for the night. Two of our party peeled off and called it a night. Only the hardcore night owls were left. The space? Weird early 80’s/90’s ish club décor ala a C&C music factory video meets the house at the end of Goodfellas where Karen and Henry get busted. The definition of the word guido. I can say that, i am one. The jukebox however, betrays the décor completely! It is straight college kid stuff. Katy Perry, Smiths, Bauhaus, Eagles, new Madonna and other alternative/​pop music. It was a strange juxtaposition. I was thinking disco versions of Sinatra, Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and maybe some sweaty Eurotrash jams.
The bartender was quiet and accommodating to our louder members.
I had a Red Stripe (not a really good beer selection). And Killian’s on tap? WTF? This isn’t Riley O’Shaunessy’s, this is Lounge friggin’ Leo over here! Thought about maybe a Bombay Sapphire, but it was feeling like my evening was coming to a close, so i kept it light. Some a-​hole ordered shots of Sambucca and then Wild Turkey. Yeah… time to leave.
Rolled out into the night to the strains of Peter Murphy caterwauling his gothic heart out.
Would i come back here? Ehhh… maybe if i knew someone in the area or at CASE, but not just randomly. Everyone should definitely try it once, though.

I have to admit, the only reason I gave this place the fourth star is because I have so many great memories there. The bartenders made the drinks good and strong, and I never had to deal with the beer being out, because I don’t like beer. I stuck to rum and cokes and long islands, and no bartender really screws up a long island unless they’re heavy on the sour mix.
The décor is so awesome that it seems like it was swiped from a swankier, more downtown sort of lounge bar. When they converted the place from the Old Man Store to the Old Man Bar, they did such an incredible job. The couches in the back were comfortable places to sip your drinks and people watch as people passed you for the bathroom in the back. Oh, the outfits I have seen.
The thing that I miss most about this bar is the sense of it being ours. A place where my college friends and I always hung out, where we could get a good drink and share a lot of laughs. My fiancé and I haven’t found a bar with that same sense of community since moving out of Cleveland.

I feel like it is almost not fair for me to review Lounge Leo (aka The Old Man Bar). If I were to review the OMB based on it’s bar quality, it would probably be three stars.
The liquor selection is pretty good. Not stellar, but they generally have what you want. The bartenders also make a pretty good (read: strong) drink. The are also willing to put up with shenanigans. For example, when the Watchmen movie came out my friends were very excited. It seemed like a good idea to have a Dr. Manhattan. What is a Dr. Manhattan? Well, it should just be a blue Manhattan. Makes sense right? The guy is blue! The drink recipe as far as we figured should just be a Manhattan with Blue Curaçao. The OMB didn’t have vermouth or bitters, so we basically had a drink of bourbon and Blue Curaçao. They made it and laughed at us. It tasted awful, but it is what we wanted. I’ve got to give them credit for it.
As far as beer goes, they have a lackluster selection with only two beers on tap. Usually, one of those beers is out as well.
Now, here is where I have a hard time knocking this bar: the atmosphere is great. It may have been because I lived down the street from the OMB for three years, but it became one of my favorite places to go. It has a dark, low key bar area and a downstairs «lounge» with couches and tables (as well as bathrooms — see Matthew G’s review). Lounge Leo is a very small place, but it isn’t the kind of place that attracts a lot of people. If you can commandeer the lounge with your friends, the OMB will become your final destination for the night. It is way to easy to spend hours here.
As a bar, Lounge Leo or the Old Man Bar, is a fairly ordinary place, but it has come to feel like an extension of my home because of the warm atmosphere, friendly staff, and it’s overall fun-​factor.

Here’s a place treasured by those who frequent it. Is it overwhelmingly impressive? No, but it does have a rather out-​of-​place charm that its most frequent guests cannot do with out. The OMB, yeah… I don’t know many who call it Lounge Leo, attracts a oddly diverse group of people. It kind of makes sense: the place is so small, that if you can claim an area of the bar, you’ve essentially claimed the whole place. This is, of course, an appealing prospect, one which I think causes the diverse crowd to make it’s attempt on the place. The ideal situation is definitely to head to the back room with a group and claim the few white, pleather couches as your conversing grounds. Attendance is very hit or miss; you could as easily find yourself the only one or find yourself unable to move. What else could you expect of a bar of this size?
Maybe the biggest drawback on the place is inventory control: only two taps in the place, generally only one of which is being used at a time, but only if they haven’t run out of that beer. They are even out of liquors more than is likely appropriate.
Another downside is the bathroom, which is nice and clean enough, unto itself, but it has a paper thin door and is inescapably enjoined to the back room, which can be a tad bit awkward for those on the nearest couch. As a single person, unisex bathroom, those on the nearest couch will likely find themselves acting as the bathroom gatekeeper, informing intending users of its non-​vancant status.
Prices are fair enough, the opportunities for location domination are appealing, and the owner’s beard is a must see.

This place is the definition of a hidden gem. Buried just off the main restaurant strip in Little Italy, the «Old Man Bar» (see history in other reviews) is everything you wanted but never thought you could have in a next-​door watering hole. They have absurdly cheap huge draft beers and a sexy, swanky atmosphere. The back room is equipped with plush white couches and mirrors galore, giving the impression that you’re in a major metropolis. It’s actually a little jarring to step back outside to a quiet neighborhood after a night of drinking with friends here.
I wouldn’t make the trip from out of town to a place like this– it’s not that kind of joint. And the beer selection, to a total snob like me, is pretty thin. But if you live in the area, this is the place to go. Staff is friendly and fun, the patrons are great, and the atmosphere can’t be beat.

Hands down my favorite bar in Cleveland. I lived down the street when I was in undergrad, when it was the Old Man Store. Then they closed and we got word they were going to re-​open as a bar. It felt like it took forever; the anticipation was terrible! Then finally, it opened.
It really took us all by shock. We had our expectations for bars in Little Italy (like Lou’s Tavern) and didn’t expect something that looked like it was stolen from Manhattan. The freakin’ lights all have network addresses so they can be programmed! This place was swanky. But yet, it was still the OMS that used to sell us six packs. Being just down the street and having a large group of friends in walking distance, it was was way too easy to show up with 20 people and just take over the bar. And $ 4 for a large Amber Bock? God I miss this bar!
I stop by every time I’m in town. Michael, Ang, and Keith, keep it up!

Being a very avid traveler, and connoisseur of more eclectic lounge styled establishments in some of the major cities, I was VERY impressed with this small lounge in the heart of Little Italy in Cleveland. Everything is done with style and is not overstated. The drinks are fabulous, and they even stock a respectable wine selection!
Completely worth the visit while you are in town! Bravo!

To clarify: While its technical name is Lounge Leo, no one calls it that. This place is, and will forever be «The Old Man Bar.» Before it was the Old Man Bar, it was the «Old Man Store,» a haven for oppressed underagers seeking beer — so named after the Old Man who ran it, and was presumably too near-​sighted or apathetic to card.
Then, the Old Man’s son took over the store and reinvented the business. What used to be a seizure-​inducing fluorescent light has been replaced by a veritable cornucopia of psychedelic effects. Over each table hangs a cluster of LEDs, hypnotizing in their prismatic cycle.
The real metamorphosis occurred in the back room. Where there used to be ice packs, there are mirrors, ceiling lights, and immensely large, overstuffed sofas upon which, although you were initially perched decorously, you now find yourself hugging dearly having just survived the apocalypse of The Four Horsemen (Jim, Jack, Johnnie, & Jose).
As for the Old Man, his title has been usurped by his son, and he is now affectionately referred to as «The Old Old Man»

They definitely poor a good drink and have some good beers fresh on tap. This is a great spot to check out after a dinner in the neighborhood going a little off the beaten path of Mayfield Rd. to hang out with some friends.
I haven’t noticed the Lounge to be exclusive to one particular group of people, but for the most part its patrons seem to be people in the service industry seeing as the neighborhood has a number of great restaraunts.
While some places in Little Italy tend to be discriminative of non-​Italians, the Lounge is more eclectic and not as insular.
I like the modern décor inside making it a very cozy watering hole.