UnBAR Cafe

Melissa Garrett-Hirsch opened UnBAR Cafe on 20 January 2020 in a 3,000-square-foot Larchmere Boulevard space shared with the Nola Movement yoga studio, and the name states the concept plainly: the social function of a bar, minus the alcohol. The interior is deliberately domestic — green and purple walls, inspirational quotes lettered where you will actually read them, art chosen to be positive — and regulars describe it as walking into a loved one's living room. Garrett-Hirsch has said she wanted people to get a virtual hug at the door, and that she was very deliberate about it: everywhere you look, you see something positive. She built the menu partly by asking customers what they wanted, and the soup on the board arrived because somebody came in and said they needed a good soup.

The drinks are made by a mixologist who specialises in non-alcoholic work, so the evening list runs to constructed mocktails rather than juice and soda, alongside espresso drinks, teas and smoothies, with a light, health-conscious food menu behind them. What has made the cafe stick is the programming: comedy shows, game nights, karaoke, poetry nights and book clubs fill the Thursday-to-Saturday evenings, which is when the room stays open to 10pm. Ideastream's 2024 feature on Cleveland's sober bars used UnBAR as one of the two anchors of the city's scene, quoting Garrett-Hirsch on the practical point that customers can bring friends who do drink — their friends can have the alcoholic beverage, but they do not have to.

The cafe sits on the Larchmere retail strip within the Buckeye-Shaker neighbourhood, a short walk from Shaker Square, and is listed among Cleveland's Black-owned businesses. Its own website is currently offline and ordering runs through Toast, so hours are best confirmed before a long trip.