Review: At Birdietown in Lakewood, Mini-Golf, Cocktails, and Food Collide for Fun

Walk into any of the dozen or so Puttshack locations sprinkled across the United States and you’re immediately bombarded by the lights, sounds and sensations of a futuristic mini-golf experience. Birdietown Mini Golf + Lounge takes a different approach. This new Lakewood destination is closer in spirit to the pastoral milieu of a well-manicured golf course than a blinkering amusement arcade. While the former boasts proprietary technology that digitally tracks a player’s strokes and score, the latter opts for the simplicity of the tried-and-tested paper scorecard and No. 2 pencil. Let me tell you: there are no mulligans when Big Brother is keeping score.

Our foursome enjoyed mulligans galore at Birdietown, where indoor mini-golf, cocktails, food and fun collide in a mature and meticulously designed two-level space. The one-off attraction is owned locally by Tim and Erin Frazee and anchors The Nest complex in Birdtown. Since opening this past winter, the place has been mobbed by couples and small groups looking for a unique way to pass the time. Like venues that feature shuffleboard, duckpin bowling and classic arcade games, Birdietown blends a sense of nostalgia with modern amenities.

Upon arrival we checked in for our reservation and hit the bar for bevvies. We ordered craft cocktails like the So Fresh, So Clean ($13), an aromatic blend of mint vodka, lychee, Pernod and jasmine, a French 75 ($10), sparkling rose ($13) and local draft beer ($7). We had a few minutes until our tee time so we did some exploring. From the bar to the dining room to the upper and lower level nine-hole courses, everything is bespoke and beautiful. Custom-built furniture, dramatic lighting, artistic photography and soaring ceilings give the upstairs space a buoyant quality while the lower level is dimmer, moodier and lounge-like.

After getting fitted for putters and grabbing balls, we hit the first hole. At first blush the course is compact, the holes pocket-size. But there was such care and attention paid to the design and construction of all 18 holes that a player is immediately engaged. Is this a course for daily stimulation? No, but it more than ably fits the bill for periodic amusement. Our group racked up some holes in one, more than a few bogeys and the odd quintuple bogey, but still managed to finish in time for our dinner reservation.

We sat in the sun-soaked dining room that looks out onto Madison Ave. and sipped from a bottle of Hedges cabernet sauvignon from the Columbia Valley ($48). The menu, devised by Jill Vedaa, is an easygoing mix of small plates, burgers and larger items with the chef’s signature global flair. Vedaa staples like white bean puree and her ethereal crispy calamari ($15) with coconut glaze are here, joined by a decadent pimento cheese dip ($13) paired with a mountain of dark, thin house-fried potato chips.

Let’s move away from calling every crab cake a “lump crab cake” unless it contains sizeable pieces of sweet meat. These ($25) do not, but they are nevertheless delicious, pan-fried until crisp and served with a citrusy aioli and carrot slaw. The pairing of lamb meatballs ($17) with cucumber mint labneh is a match made in heaven and the confit chicken wings ($15) are finger-licking good. Sweet potatoes are rarely a better option than classic spuds in most applications and that’s the case here with the sweet potato skins ($16), which are stuffed with blue cheese and bacon.

Restaurant ribs tend to be over-cooked to the point of fall-off-the-bone mush, but the baby backs ($16) served here retain the appropriate bite of real meat. The sauce isn’t scorched and there is loads of meat on the bones. Vedaa offers a welcome departure from the smash-burger craze with her big, beautiful pub-style bacon burger ($16) and fries. For a light vegetarian dish, consider the mushroom toast ($17) starring whipped ricotta, sweet caramelized onions and savory wild mushrooms.

While walk-ins are welcome, management recommends making reservations for golf, dinner or both. We were there on a pretty chill Thursday, but our experience was timely, efficient and at a pace of our own. We played the main-floor Club Course but look forward to hitting the lower-level Lounge Course on our next visit. Because Birdietown is adults-only in the evenings, the atmosphere never descends into Chuck E. Cheese territory. In fact, mini-golf makes a surprisingly appealing backdrop to dinner and drinks. Who knew?

Birdietown Mini Golf + Lounge
12501 Madison Ave., Lakewood
birdietowncle.com

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This article appears in Cleveland SCENE 06/05/25 Best of Cleveland.