“Lakewood has always been a hot interest for us,” says founding partner Cory Rowland. “And up there on Madison you’ve got great neighbors like Barrio, Buckeye Beer Engine and Mars Bar down the street.”
As the name suggests, Two Bucks is like the two-dollar store of taverns. When it first launched, every item on the restaurant’s menu was priced to move at $2. While that’s no longer the case, there are still many bargains to be had, including a roster of two-dollar drinks and eats.
“We try to bridge the gap between the mom-and-pop corner bar and a corporate restaurant,” Rowland notes. “We try to keep our prices as low as possible while still being a scratch kitchen.”
The motto here is “happy hour all day every day,” with shots of Jameson and Tito’s, plus numerous domestic beers all fetching just two dollars. Bar snacks like sliders, fried pickles, pork rinds and hand-cut french fries also cost just $2 each. Priced between $6 and $8, appetizers like fried shrooms, loaded fries, pretzels with beer cheese and cauliflower wings also go easy on the wallet. The rest of the American-style menu is flushed out with salads and wraps, grilled burgers and sandwiches, flatbreads and a selection of eight different mac and cheese dishes starring everything from pulled pork to lobster.
The roomy double storefront already is in good condition, but the company will add cosmetic touches to make the space fit with the Two Bucks brand. The kitchen needs to be upgraded and a new draft system will offer between 10 and 16 pours.
Barring any unforeseen obstacles, Two Bucks Lakewood should be open by mid March.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2019.
It will be rather spooky going to 15607 Madison to consume food and booze. Before he was evicted to make way for Roxu, there was a unisex hair salon called Elements in that same space for over twenty years. I was the owner’s customer for longer than that, and my wife had her hair done by the owner since the late Seventies.
He moved down the street after he was kicked out, but there was a fire during renovation of the new space, and then after he found yet another storefront near Warren Road, he died of colon cancer…two years ago this week. We will drink a few toasts on opening day. He was a good dude, and his passing was mourned throughout Lakewood.
Their $2 shots/drinks are a single Oz pour. Most other bars are 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pours and sometimes more. If you do the math its no cheaper to drink at Two Bucks where under age drinking and fights are the norm. Pass.
What a great name for people that shop strictly on price and not value. They should try calling it free stuff or the dollar bar and see how many show up.
What sort of composite meat is pictured there?
Looks like pulled pork, covered with some kind of toxic waste that appears to be Cheeze Whiz. YUK!
Is this place really a chain of dive bars? Perhaps the ghost of the dude who used to cut hair there (see above) will make sure that this same-old-same-old boozery and food joint fails like the previous tenants have done. One can only hope!
You guys are all fucking idiots. See y’all there probably!! Keyboard warriors
Hmmmm,it is always fun reading post from folks, who hide behind screen names.
Jess…we can…
No, I won’t be there…I can eat better and drink more cheaply elsewhere…like at home. Homegrown!
I won’t have to spend two bucks on a four-square-inch slider, or eight bucks on shrooms or pretzels.
That’s easy on the wallet? Not where I come from. And I won’t have drunken kids puking on my New Balance shoes…and I’ll have better company…cats!
Easy for another keyboard warrior to call “keyboard warrior.”
No, Katie Pee, you’re the idiot. I most definitely will not be there.
Worst bar ever. Tried the one in North Olmsted and the bartenders were awful. Food was ok. The entire place smelled like urine. As it began to get busy, getting a drink was impossible. How this concept works is a mystery. Ended up spending the same amount of money, if not more, than we would have elsewhere. Im sure young people live this place because they can afford it but for anyone else, id stay away.