Best of Cleveland 2017: Hidden Bar

A hotel bar shouldn’t be kiddie stuff. Quiet and intimate, it should be a secret adult hideaway for non-work conversation or to avoid talking all together. Tucked inside the lobby of the Drury Plaza Hotel Cleveland Downtown, The Teacher’s Lounge is schoolbook strict about that tradition. Built in 1930s, the historic building formerly housed the Board of Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, hence the name. “Like the teacher’s lounge at school, this is a place you go to escape and get away from the madness,” says Drury Plaza Hotel general manager Scott Schmelzer. Perfectly mixed cocktails such as the minty Bourbon Smash ($9) and civilized nibbles such as the bourbon and Brie flatbread pizza ($10) help take the edge off the 6 p.m. blues. “After a rough day at work, it’s a sanctuary that just gives you the feeling of, ‘Ah,’ ” says Schmelzer. 1380 E. Sixth St., Cleveland, 216-357-3100, druryhotels.com