Yeah, I agree with this. Cleveland does have some really nice areas, and some top notch cultural institutions (art museum, symphony, rock hall). But in terms of offering vibrant, walkable neighborhoods, there is very, very little to pick from. Almost all of the neighborhoods are characterized by very plain looking detached housing. Very little brick or ornamentation, very few functioning business districts...just kind of utilitarian. Downtown is clean but very quiet and hardly any street level retail, even when it comes to little corner stores and the like. You can walk for blocks in downtown Cleveland and not come across a single commercial use. That was shocking when I visited for the first time.
Ohio City is pretty nice. Never got the appeal of their other 'premier' neighborhood of Tremont, though. It has some nice restaurants and bars, but they feel just scattered throughout the neighborhood rather than forming any real district. And for all the hype I had seen about Tremont, I found it quite non-descript at best, ugly at worst. This doesn't seem like a neighborhood deserving of the hype it gets:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4805...7i13312!8i6656
That said, there is some cool stuff in Cleveland. I really like their Little Italy, even if it's tiny. I think Shaker Square is very cool and unique, and very pretty:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.4835...7i13312!8i6656
Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights are great inner suburbs, and are great areas to walk around. Lakewood isn't very pretty, but it's pretty dense and has some great bars and restaurants. There is definitely cool stuff throughout the Cleveland area, but you kind of have to work to find it. And a lot of the 'connective tissue' between the cool stuff is just boring/ugly. IMO.