It depends on for what you're looking, BUT, if you want a laid back, old-school, good-time Cleveland bar, the Sachsenheim is the place for you. I'd never been there prior to this evening, but I'd read some reviews and figured it was time to go. I met a couple of friends on Wednesday wing night for a few drinks.
I was the first to arrive at about 9 p.m. and was a little wary of going in by myself since the place is located in a mildly sketchy neighborhood. In truth, it's just an old working class area and I knew that there was nothing to fear. So after waiting 10 minutes for my pals who ended up being 25 minutes late, I decided to enter. There were a few other customers, but the place was pretty empty. I asked the barmaid about the draft beer selection (about which I'd read) and she replied with about 5 or 6 quality German drafts. I settled on the Kronenbourg 1664 and sipped on it while waiting. The beer was fresh and cold.
My friends arrived around 9:25. One ordered a Warsteiner and the other ordered some German IPA. They too were quality beers. Since it was wing night, we ordered 1 pound of chipotle dry-rub wings and 1 pound of hot buffalo wings. We did not order any blue cheese dressing. This proved to be a MAJOR mistake. The wings arrived and were beautiful. The dry-rub were well coated with rub and the buffalo were doused in sauce. We attacked the dry-rub. The attack was short lived. While the flavor was fantastic, the heat on the dry-rub wings was ridiculous. The three of us were sweating and crying. To cool off, we actually ate some buffalo wings. Our mouths were scorched. In spite of the pain, the wings were VERY tasty and fresh. The meat was white and the skin was crispy. After acting like babies, we asked the cook (and apparently the majordomo) to bring us a blue cheese. Although my two friends had had enough, I dipped the dry-rub wings into the blue cheese and it properly balanced the heat. The cook later told us that the dry-rub chipotle wasn't really that hot and that the REAL hot wings were the "death by pepper" and habanero.
After the wings were finished (we actually left 3 of them), we had a few more beers and played a few tunes on the juke box. The place emptied out and we discovered that there was a ping-pong table in the back of the room. Since my good friend Blanco and I are players, we were pleasantly surprised by this discovery and played a game using the house paddles and ball. Unfortunately Blanco got the best of me in a 22-20 overtime win. The top-notch barmaid informed us that Wednesday nights during the cold months are ping-pong nights and that many players congregate, sweat, swear, and have a good time at the table. We will certainly be joining them this year!
This joint is solid. The lines of the beer taps are CLEAN which is a complete rarity in Cleveland these days. Just about every time I drink a draft beer in a restaurant or bar, I taste the nasty (although usually faint) aftertaste of unclean tap lines; like some sort of rotting mold of which the owners are unaware and the patrons are too kind to mention. Not the case at the Sachsenheim. The barmaid was friendly and informative about the history of the place, the food was fresh and properly prepared, and the atmosphere was casual and old-style. If this is what you like, get there ASAP.