Places to eat in the Cincinnati Ohio area

 
 I will be in the Cincinnati Ohio area in a couple months. I was looking for some good Roadfood places at eat as I will be there for four days. 
 
 THANKS
 
 Porkchop

Area? (east, west, north, downtown, N KY?)

donw9876


Area? (east, west, north, downtown, N KY?)

I guess mainly downtown, but really open to any area.
 
 
I will have a car.

Here are more than 70 pages of where to eat in the Cincinnati area:

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/WhereToEat-Cincinnati-and-NKy-open-chat-m462476.aspx

porkchop922

donw9876


Area? (east, west, north, downtown, N KY?)

I guess mainly downtown, but really open to any area.
 
 
I will have a car.

You may find some ideas in this thread also:


http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/Southwest-Ohio-and-Environs-Open-Chat-m523987.aspx

The other threads are open chats on a number of subjects, and might be a bit difficult to wade through.  If you could provide some paramaters such as types of food or how much you would like to spend, a number of people would be happy to provide some recommendations for the area.

Will this be your first time in Cincinnati?

Scotties on Vine is the oldest and Best Italian in Cincinnati. Ask for Marco...his family owns it.

My experience eating at Scotti's was anything but good but that was decades ago when I was working downtown.

Close to downtown, here are my recommendations

1) The 3 local specialties in one sitting
If this is your first visit to Cincinnati, there are three local specialties you really should sample.  By order of importance: cincinnati style chili, goetta, and double decker sandwiches.  Well, really, the first two, and the third is a very distant third.  All three can be had almost 24 hours a day just north of downtown at Camp Washington Chili.
http://www.roadfood.com/R...ashington-chili-parlor

If you cant get out of downtown and just want to try the chili, there are several Skyline Chili locations downtown - ask a local to point you toward one.  Not as good as Camp Washington, and no goetta or dbl deckers, but it's solidly good and you'll get the experience of Cincinnati Style chili.  make sure get the chili as a 'coney' and as a 'way'.   read the menu, both terms are explained.

2) Fine Dining
The best fine dining downtown at present is to be had at the Palace at the Cincinnatian Hotel.  If you want a night of fine dining, this is where you should go
http://winemedinemecincin...he-cincinnatian-hotel/

3) The classic expense account steakhouse
We have a Mortons, but they suck.   Go instead to locally-owned Jeff Ruby's at the corner of 7th and Walnut.  They age their own meat on premises.  Everythign I have ever had there has been good.    If you want to travel over the river, the same steaks can be had at the Waterfront in Covington, and the Waterfront also has a more extensive seafood selection

4) A good burger and beer at a dive
Madonna's on 7th between Walnut and Vine.  The joint is inexpensive, smokey, small - and they make a damn good basic burger.  Ask for grilled onions.

5) Breakfast
There are no great breakfasts downtown, but the best of a weak crop is First Watch on 7th between Main and Walnut.  Yes, its a chain.  It's also quite good.  Skip Hathaways, which is reviewed here but has been stripped of it's 40's era charm

6) Pizza
There is no great pizza downtown, but they do a better-than-average pie at Cafe Martin on Vine across from the Main Branch of the Cincinnati Public Library.  A pretty good pie can also be had at Newport Pizza Company, in Newport (just across the river form downtown Cincinnati)

7) Deli
Some people are gonna rave about the corned beef at Izzy's, with two locations downtown.  I don't get it.  Go to Silverglades at 9th and Sycamore, they can pretty much make you any sandwich you want with boar's heads meats and plenty of other deli specialties, including usually 3-4 soups a day.

8) Ice cream
I prefer Aglamesis, but only Graeters, which has a national following, is to be found downtown, and right on the east side of Fountain Square

9) White Castles
These aren't available everywhere.  There are plenty of locations in Cincinnati, including one in Newport which is just across the bridge from downtown Cincinnati.  If you dont have White castle in your area, make a point to stop in and get you a sackful.

10) Best bang for the buck
Teriyaki chicken and steamed veggies over white rice at Sakkio of Japan in the Carew Tower Lower level food court (lower level).  Yes, this is another chain.  But I assure you, this is very, very good - one of the mods here has gone so far as to describe it as the best teriyaki chicken he has ever had.  You get a ton of food, they cook it right in front of you as you watch through a glass panel, and its 4.99.  99 cents more to double the meat if you are extra hungry.  This item is better as a lunch than as a dinner due to volume - more likely to get fresher product at lunchtime


 

Tj's recommendations are always sound.   I suspect he may have copied this list from a prior posting though, as smoking is no longer allowed on the Ohio side of the river in public establishments. I also believe Madonna's has changed it's name back to Hamburger Mary's, though I could be thinking of a different place.

Speaking of smoke, if you can put up with it, The Anchor Grill in Covington is my absolute favorite greasy spoon for breakfast.

Madonna's is very smokey despite the ban on smoking in Ohio :-)

Madonna's (on 7th) is not the same as Hamburger Mary's (on Vine).   Hamburger Mary's became Universal Cafe for a while and then reopened recently once again as Hamburger Mary's.  The burger at Hamburger Mary's is not good, despite the name. 

I don't like Anchor Grill because they do not make fresh biscuits but instead simply microwave a frozen prebaked commercial biscuit directly out of the freezer.

Thanks for all the great information !!

A spurious fast food type suggestion if you're in the Eastgate area: Roy Rogers Roast Beef on Rt. 32, about 2 miles west of I-275 on the south side of the highway. I ate there last night. Their plain roast beef sandwich tastes like something from a deli - just excellent.

I don't get why there aren't more of these places around here.

Though most of these have been mentioned, maybe concurring opinions will help you choose. These are places I suggest:
Izzy's (for the potato pancake)
Aglamesis for ice cream & candy
Adriatico's for pizza
Mac's Pizza for the deep fried calzone (goes well with their $2.25-2.50 beer of the month)
Thai Express on McMillan (the Red Pepper also has good pad thai)
for Italian, Trattoria Roma (though service can be very slow) or Vincenzo's
Camp Washington Chili (1st) or Skyline (2nd)
Original Pancake House
Mr. Gene's Dog House (though they're closed for winter)
Homer's Smorgasboard (super cheap with TONS of hearty fare)

I will second Izzy's and the OPH.

If you are used to truly good corned beef and/or pastrami, do not go to Izzy's

donw9876


A spurious fast food type suggestion if you're in the Eastgate area: Roy Rogers Roast Beef on Rt. 32, about 2 miles west of I-275 on the south side of the highway. I ate there last night. Their plain roast beef sandwich tastes like something from a deli - just excellent.

I don't get why there aren't more of these places around here.

At one time there were several of these scattered around Greater Cincinnati, but the location on 32 has been the only one left for many years.  At that time, the chain was owned (locally, anyway) by Frisch's and most of the stores were located adjacent to Frisch's locations.  I don't know if that one is still under their control, and I don't know why that one survived while the other ones failed.  I've been to that one a couple of times in the last decade but I fondly remember visiting the NCH "Roy's" for the best fast-food fish sandwich around.  They also had something special called (I think) a Double R-Bar Burger, which was a hamburger with that great roast beef on the second deck.

There is indeed a derelict Frisch's across the street from this Roy Rodgers, pretty obviously long closed.