CLEVELAND — New flavors and colors fill the revamped waterfront staple Shooters in Cleveland. The restaurant welcomed hundreds of new visitors and former regulars at its grand opening this week.
Lifelong Cleveland residents Derrick Bryant and Karen Bryant were among many who’ve made their way downtown to visit a familiar spot. The pair are both former Shooters employees.
“They’ve always been a favorites down here,” Karen Bryant said. “… So yeah, it’s one of the best places to be down in the Flats.”
The restaurant first opened in the West Bank in 1987 and reopened its doors Tuesday after nearly two years of million-dollar renovations under a new ownership group, which includes Cleveland-born artist Machine Gun Kelly.
Shooters Executive Chef Ryan Boone said the restaurant is also offering a new coastal menu but is keeping Cleveland at its core.
“Our goal was to keep the spirit that always was Shooters: a place to gather, a place to pull up your boat, to grab a beer, to have a bite of food. And we just wanted to update it. Bring it into what 2026 would look like, in a space like this, and hope it has another 40-year run,” Boone said.
Brittany Orlando works along the Cuyahoga River as the owner of CLE Tiki Barge and Cleveland Water Taxi.
Cleveland Tiki Bar, founded in 2020, offers two-hour party bookings on the water and seat up to 49 passengers. (Brittany Orlando)
She said the recent development is a sign of a larger transformation in the area, after several Flats bar permanently closed their doors in the East Bank last winter citing economic concerns.
“So that’s just more foot traffic on our side of the water. I think it’s going to complement us tremendously,” Orlando said. “And all the business on that side, you know, it’ll bring attention to Jacob’s Pavilion and the Aquarium, concerts, Globe Iron, Harbor and all the places over there on the West Bank.”
Orlando is also a board member for nonprofit Flats Forward, which she said is leading efforts to boost economic growth in the East and West Bank neighborhoods.
“Our goal as Flats Forward, as business owners down there, is to move forward, change things, see what we can do to make it better, safer, more desirable,” she said. “… And that’s what our goal is right now, to overcome that and push forward.”
Cleveland Water taxi provides “hop-on-hop-off” transportation in partnership with multiple businesses along the waterfront. (Brittany Orlando)
After launching water taxi services last July, Orlando said, she’s now expanding travel services across the water, which she hopes will help foster a more interconnected community.
In a statement written to Spectrum News 1, Jim Haviland, executive director of Flats Forward, wrote, the organization “is pleased to be supporting the new ownership group on maximizing the use of their dock for visitation by boat.”
“So we are going to designate one of our water taxis to pick ups and drop off from the West Bank of the flats to North Coast Harbor, and then back to the East and West Bank and do a loop, while the other boat will continue the river route all day long,” she said.
While many are excited to explore reimagined spaces in the riverfront district, Karen Bryant and Derrick Bryant said, other parts of the city will never change.
“We now feel the people are still friendly, that still seems the same,” Karen Bryant said. “You’ll be greeted as you walk. All that’s still the same.”
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‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source spectrumnews1.com ’
