In case you were looking to make a trip to the Queen City, take a look at some of my favorite places to eat in Cincinnati, OH.
Here is my roundup of favorite places to eat in Cincinnati.
I am originally from Dayton OH, which is 47 miles north of Cincinnati. I lived in Dayton, OH my entire life up until the age of 18 where I left to attend the University of Cincinnati and stayed put. Dayton is not what I would call a mega metropolis to visit in the state of Ohio. The big cities in Ohio to visit are Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus. The 3 C’s ( I just came up with that). I have been to them all and there are some pretty fine and great places for fun and to eat in every city. However, in my 16 years of living in Cincinnati, I have grown to love a few local places that make my belly happy and I want to share each of them with you. Oh, I can’t wait to share this list.
It would only be right to start the list off with a place I visit every year for my birthday! I love Taste of Belgium to pieces. It is one of my most favorite places in the city and I highly recommend going! If you haven’t gone to Taste of Belgium be sure to order the Waffle and Chicken. No, not Chicken and Waffles, the dish is called Waffle and Chicken. It is a perfectly cooked chicken breast that has been cooked to the perfect setting of crispness and doused in hot sauce served with a Belgian style waffle that is thick, dense, and sweet! There are other delicious items on the menu such as the McWaffle, Smoked Salmon Baguette, and they have a really good burger! This is one of the must-visit places in Cincinnati.
This is a place that is relatively new to me in Cincinnati. Recently during a visit I had with the Ohio Poultry Association, I fell in love with macarons. I had the most amazing macarons from a bakery in Columbus, OH called Pistacia Vera. If you are in or near the Columbus, OH area you have to go there for these amazing macarons and a fabulous Almond Croissant. The next best place, if you are in the Cincinnati area, is the Macaron Bar. They have locations at the Kenwood Towne Center, Hyde Park, and downtown Cincinnati. You have to try the Salted Caramel, Vanilla Bean, and Pistachio Macarons.
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Holtman’s Donuts
Ahhhh, I don’t even know where to begin. I love donuts in general, first of all. But the donuts from this place are sent from heaven. I can tell how good a donut bakery is based upon the glazed donut. You see the glazed donut has to have a light and airy dough and slightly crisp glaze that cracks when you bite into the donut. This place is amazing. The best thing about the Holtsman donuts location downtown Cincinnati is that they are open until 9 pm and on the weekend it is open until 2 am! How amazing is that?! You can get a delicious glazed donut at 2 am in the morning. There is one location on Vine Street in downtown Cincinnati and there is one being built in the West Chester area (closer to me)!
Where do I begin? We go to this place once a year for my husbands birthday! It is his favorite place in Cincinnati to eat. Senate is a small restaurant that has two locations in Cincinnati. One downtown on Vine Street and another in Blue Ash in Summit Park. Senate serves gourmet street food such as hot dogs, burgers, and other gourmet specialties. When my husband and I go to Senate we always get the Poutine (mouth watering), I get the “Trailer Park” Hot Dog and my husband gets the “Lindsay Lohan” hot dog, we get an order of french fries fried in duck fat, and an order of the Warm Pretzel Beignets with Caramel Mascarpone. With an order like that, you can only eat at this place once a year otherwise your butt will get as big as the Senate.
I found out about this place a couple of years ago when I went to a college tailgate party. There was a dozen of these cookies. What made these cookies special was not just the flavor, it was how big and thick they are! You’ll eat one of these cookies and you are full for a couple of hours. I loved these cookies so much I order 2 dozen of them for my wedding rehearsal. That is how big and thick they are! They have classic cookie flavors such as Snickerdoodle, Macadamia Nut Cookies, and, my favorite, Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are the best cookies in the city!
I absolutely love Pho! It is one of my favorite things to eat on the face of this planet! I always order a large bowl of chicken pho and ask for extra cilantro. Cilantro makes Pho taste awesome. Pho Lang Thang has located downtown Cincinnati in the Findlay Market. They also serve other Vietnamese classics such as Bahn Mi Sandwiches and delicious Fried Spring Rolls! Findlay Market has other restaurants that are awesome places to eat in Cincinnati
7. Bakersfield
This place has the best guacamole in town and is absolutely one of my favorite places to eat in Cincinnati! I love this place so much because of its fish tacos. The fish tacos are my favorite thing to eat there. Bakersfield also has a pretty good Short Rib Torta and Queso Cheese Dip. I’ve also heard that Bakersfield has pretty good Margaritas that they sell by the pitcher but I have not had them yet. The one thing about Bakersfield is they are always on a wait on the weekend evenings. I’m talking up to 3 hours! Yep, they are that good but the location is pretty small at the same time. Get there right when they open or you can go during lunch!
I have other favorite places to eat in Cincinnati like Busken Bakery, Dancing Roll (the best sushi in the city), Terry’s Turf Club (one of the best places in Cincinnati for burgers), Aglamesis Brothers (awesome ice cream and candy), Parkers Tavern (THE BEST BRUNCH IN THE CITY!!!!!), Mortons, and any Jeff Ruby’s restaurant. Cincinnati has a lot to offer foodies and the list keeps growing! There are other places that I have yet to go but have heard amazing things about! In fact, I got an awesome city map artwork from Modern Map Art. You can get artwork of your skyline or a map printout of the city! The artwork is a gorgeous and perfect way to “rep your city”. You can even put pins in your map print out to map out all of your favorite places to eat or have fun.
CLICK HERE TO VISIT MODERN MAP ART TODAY!
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