Smedley's Bar & Grill

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  It's a cool old school place ! Live music is great !  It's cool to step back into time, and enter a place like this !  If smoking REALLY bothers you, well, you might not enjoy Smed's.  But if your looking for something laid back where you can wear your old blue jeans and T-Shirt, hear some good live music, then YES ! You will have fun !

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  Posted on 05.09.13 James H.

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  Been meaning to try Smedleys for a while now, as it's a West Park fixture. Went there Sat. About six (6). Walked in found a table, and sat down, still not sure if they have a service staff. Place was loud and full of smoke and smokers. Add this to the fact that the place is both dirty and a mess, we decided to go to across the street to P.J.s and have a good meal. A real disappointment.

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  Posted on 12.17.12 Bob O.

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  I don't understand how they get away with letting people smoke cigarettes inside there.  I don't like smoke.

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  Posted on 12.12.12 amy d.

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  The first time I ended up at Smedley's, I was on a "hang out" (as in, not a date, but we're going to sleep together) with a tall lanky 24 yr old. I had moved to Kamm's corner about a year before, but being a staunch Ohio City bar fly (read: hipster snob), I hadn't bothered to walk the three blocks to any of the bars actually by my house. They seemed too full of pastel polo shirts and women who thought they ought to have babies by 24, before they would consider going to school. This guy had a bunch of his younger friends there, and I felt my 31 years really keenly, also I was having Common Grounds flashbacks to high school, and acting on those feelings, we made out a lot by the back door.
  
  I hadn't been back for a while, because I didn't want to run into that guy, but then I found myself on another "hang out" with a guy on a Sunday afternoon. This guy was actually in my age group, thank god, and we had decided to go on a tour of dive bars. We started at the Rowley Inn, which had been cheap and fun, but then got sort of uncomfortable when a lot of the more exuberant regulars showed up, so I suggested Smedley's next because it was closer to where we lived, and the memory I had of it was just dirty enough to qualify.
  
  This time we walked in through the front door, and it was immediately exactly what we wanted. The bar was clean and warm and the staff was nice. There was a group of either off duty firemen or policemen playing pool in the back, and a guy spinning old 60s and 70s rock in the front. It seemed like the place where any of the patrons would stand up to and kick out troublemakers. The clientele oozed old school attitude - family, country, beer. We talked about music a lot, I bounced around on my stool to the songs, we ogled the military and police badges on the wall. The music was just loud enough to force us to lean in when talking, but not so loud you couldn't hear what the other person was trying to tell you about late 90's indie rock. If the Rowley is the kind of dive bar where someone might be scared of the hipsters ruining it, then Smedley's is the kind of bar which nothing can ever ruin because it is exactly the same as it's been for 20 years and will continue to be that way no matter how many of those damn kids show up. Seeing as my date and I were just old enough to not be those kids anymore, it was perfect. Later, instead of making out in a car, we went and listened to vinyl while drinking wine in his living room. This is called growing up.
  
  If you've ever wanted to have a fireman buy you a drink, this is the place to go. Or a police man. I imagine one of those two groups is going to pissed off I assumed the other group hangs out at Their Bar.

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  Posted on 05.08.12 Bridget C.

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  I have been going to Smedley's on and off for the better part of the last few years.  I am not sure how exactly I have not done an actual review on it as it is one of my favorite bars in the Kamm's Corner area.  Long before there were all those crazy improvements done on the south side of Lorain Smedley's stood as one of the only bars in the area.  It's a shot and beer joint.  The drinks are strong and the beer is pretty cheap.  They don't carry much as far as crafts and microbrews or anything either.  Above anything else this is a military and biker bar.  We are talking hardcore stuff here too.  
  
  It's American proud with Military regalia hanging from most of the wall space.  If it isn't military related it's Harley related.  There is a small stage in the front of the bar for the bands you can find playing on the weekends or the now legendary Thursday night jam night hosted by Rob "Stibbs" Stibrick, who you can find behind the bar Saturday nights.  Debatable but this is one of the best musician jam nights in Cleveland.  The bar is a bit on the dingy side.  It's not dirty or anything but has a rough look to it much like its patrons.  If some of the folks from across the street came in they might look a bit out of place.  There isn't much trouble here at all even though it has the reputation of a biker bar.  I have never felt out of place, or uncomfortable here.  However I could see people getting a little weirded out here because honestly some of those biker folks tend to look intimidating.  
  
  Service is usually pretty quick at the bar and they always have some decent food specials going on.  They have a pool table in the back, table and bar seating.  The jukebox is filled with classic rock, a little metal and heavy on the Southern rock.  Between Otis and Stibbs running this place it stays pretty trouble free and you will always feel welcome.  If you go in here looking for trouble though, it is going to find you quickly.  So be respectful above all else so you don't have to leave out the back door.

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  Posted on 07.19.10 Jason B.

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