The 100 Best Places to Eat in Cincinnati

Chef Jose Salazar's tapas bar runs on small plates and a staff that functions more as a personal concierge than a waitstaff, pacing courses, pairing wines, and gently talking you into things you didn't know you wanted. The Spanish and Latin American menu moves through blistered peppers and embutidos before landing on a paella that's the exception to the small-plates rule. A James Beard nominee, and the kind of room that feels like the party started without you but will absolutely let you in.

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Restaurant
2. AAA Three Diamonds
3. USA Today Restaurants of the Year

Pasta anchors the menu, but the chef insists Wildweed isn't an Italian restaurant, and a rib eye with umeboshi, seaweed jelly, and fermented crab makes a reasonable case. This Over-the-Rhine dinner spot grew out of years of pop-ups, and the bar counter lets you watch the kitchen work through every strange, precise move. Named to the New York Times Restaurant List and a James Beard nominee, it earns the attention without seeming to chase it.

1. Midwest Living 2025 · Best of the Midwest
2. The 50 One To Watch Award 2026 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
3. James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · David Jackman

The art deco bones of this Walnut Hills live-fire Mediterranean restaurant are half the reason to book a table, the kitchen being the other half. The chef leans hard into the eastern Mediterranean, the kind of cooking where roasted vegetables become pita dips and hamachi collar gets a glossy glaze. Regulars have already claimed favorite bartenders, which for a restaurant this new is saying something. A 2024 New York Times Restaurant List pick and a 2025 James Beard Emerging Chef semifinalist.

1. USA Today Restaurants of the Year
2. The New York Times 2024 · The Restaurant List
3. James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Emerging Chef · Jordan Anthony-Brown

The kitchen is literally front and center here, open to the room so the whole team works in full view, moving like they own the place, which they kind of do. Nolia is a casual dinner spot where servers wear branded sweatshirts and the skillet cornbread arrives with a scoop of cane-syrup butter melting dramatically on top. Southern ease, exposed brick, and a menu that quietly runs gluten-free without making a cause of it. The house hot sauces are made from scratch, and one will have you fanning yourself.

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
2. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Jeffrey Harris
3. Esquire The Best New Restaurants in America

The famed red door on Sixth Street opens into one of Cincinnati's most serious fine dining rooms, the kind where comfort food quietly arrives in formalwear. The kitchen has been around forever, occupying the old Maisonette address, and the pommes soufflées remain a knowing nod to that lineage. The menu moves between reliable classics and sharper seasonal swings, and dessert gets the same attention as everything before it.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Cincinnati Magazine #1 · Best Restaurants

Stained-glass windows were the starting point for the entire bar design, which tells you something about how deliberately this Eastern European restaurant was built. The menu pulls from the chef's grandmother's recipes, pierogi and pelmeni and khachapuri landing hot, and the medovik changes flavors every few months just to keep you coming back. A James Beard nominee, and Cincinnati Magazine's number-five restaurant.

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Sarah Dworak
2. Cincinnati Magazine #5 · Best Restaurants
3. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Martini: Axe of Perun · Best of the City

1. Time Out The best bakeries in America

The sweet corn bibingka is topped with what looks like white chocolate but turns out to be Cheddar, which tells you everything about how this all-day cafe operates. Mornings run on Asian-American pastries and a line out the door; evenings pivot to Japanese-inflected yōshoku cooking. The team earned a James Beard nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef and a nod from Bon Appétit's best new restaurants list, and the Cincinnati chili ramen has developed its own local mythology.

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Nominee · Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker · Elaine Uykimpang Bentz
2. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
3. The New York Times 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now

Complimentary housemade pita arrives warm at this Lebanese restaurant in Mason, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. The mezza menus run long enough that most tables over-order on appetizers before the kebabs and shawarma ever arrive, which is its own kind of problem to have. The owner has been known to stop at every table with pairing advice, then greet returning guests by name. Come without a hard stop time.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Cincinnati Magazine #9 · Best Restaurants

The entrance is easy to miss: a staircase beside Boca's red door, leading well below street level. Sotto is a pasta-forward Italian speakeasy downtown, where the team makes things by hand and pours a lot of table wine, and the antipasti menu will quietly destroy your willpower before the main event arrives. Truffle season turns the tajarin into something quietly serious. The descent sets the mood, and there are enough steps that ordering a second pasta feels almost responsible.

1. AAA Three Diamonds
2. Cincinnati Magazine #3 · Best Restaurants

An Italian restaurant on Sycamore where the bread basket arrives housemade, breadsticks and focaccia folded in together, and the menu moves through antipasti, pasta, and secondi at a pace that discourages rushing. The crispy potato gnocchi has a following, and the malfatti comes cacio e pepe style, which is either a provocation or a compliment depending on your Roman loyalties. Tiramisu closes things out.

1. AAA Four Diamonds
2. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Gnocchi · Best of the City

1. James Beard Awards 2026 · Nominee · Best Chef: Southeast · David Willocks
2. Eater The Best New Restaurants in America

1. James Beard Awards 2023 · Winner · America's Classics: Great Lakes

Custom Rookwood pottery displayed above the open kitchen pass sets the tone at Jose Salazar's namesake restaurant, a mid-sized dining room where servers stand with hands clasped, quietly hunting for glasses to refill. The format is tapas in spirit: order everything at once, and the team paces it out. Dishes lean seasonal and arrive with an almost theatrical commitment to color, the kind of cooking that makes you notice it before you taste it.

1. Cincinnati Magazine #10 · Best Restaurants
2. James Beard Awards 2022 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Jose Salazar

1. AAA Approved
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Hideki and Yuko Harada

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

Housemade pasta is the whole point here, pulled from family recipes that the team takes seriously enough to name the restaurant after the grandparents who inspired them. It's a warm, mid-range Italian dining room where the menu stays short on purpose. The Sunday sauce, built around rich braised meats over spaghetti, is the kind of dish that explains why some recipes get handed down. Soft-serve gelato, taken as an affogato, closes things out properly.

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

1. AAA Three Diamonds

The door on Vine Street is easy to walk past, which is a shame because the tapas inside are hard to forget. This Mediterranean small-plates spot in Over-the-Rhine keeps things playful, from wood-fired octopus to a hummus plate that changes daily and pulls regulars in on its own. The pistachio baklava arrives as a thick slab of filling with pastry almost as an afterthought, and the servers watch you react like they've seen it before and still enjoy it.

1. Cincinnati Magazine #6 · Best Restaurants

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

Secondhand china covers the walls and lands on the table at this mostly French restaurant in Over-the-Rhine, which leans firmly away from the stiff Euro-bistro formula. The room is bright and a little grandmotherly, the service moves fast, and the pastry program is treated with the seriousness it deserves. Pain maison and mille-feuille are the arguments for arriving hungry and leaving slower than you planned.

1. Cincinnati Magazine #8 · Best Restaurants
2. Cincinnati Magazine 2024 · Ravioli Sheet · Best of the City

1. AAA Approved

A pizzeria in a small town outside Modena where the menu lists four distinct doughs, crispy, high-hydration, fried, and pan, and the staff politely declines modifications on certain pies to protect the tradition behind them. A tasting menu called "Leavened and Doughs" runs six courses for anyone who wants to commit fully. The wine, beer, and spirits list runs deep. Named among Italy's excellent pizzerias by 50 Top Pizza.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza Italy Excellent Pizzerias

1. AAA Approved

1. AAA Approved

A Belgian bistro that takes the waffle seriously enough to turn it into a vehicle for a Hot Brown, which is either inspired or unsettling depending on your feelings about Kentucky. Waffles and galettes anchor the menu alongside steak frites and mussels, with an open kitchen and hardwood floors giving the room a casual, neighborhood feel. The s'mores waffle exists, and that seems like information worth having.

1. AAA Approved

The Argentine parrilla, a communal spread of grilled meats built for two or four, anchors this Latin American and Italian-influenced restaurant on Race Street. Small plates dominate the menu, which pushes sharing over soloing, and the short rib gnocchi has a way of making people forget they ordered it to split. Locally sourced ingredients throughout, with a crowd that seems to have read the room before arriving.

1. AAA Approved

A craft brewery and taproom in Sharonville with a covered patio, an upper deck, and a rotating roster of house beers that runs from straightforward lagers to whatever the small-batch experiment of the moment happens to be. The kitchen keeps pace with burgers, shareable plates, and a few heartier options, the kind of pub menu that gives you a reason to stay for a third pint.

1. AAA Approved

Terracotta details nod to Naples in an otherwise contemporary dining room, which sets the tone for a Neapolitan-leaning pizza shop that takes its craft seriously without taking itself too seriously. The dough is airy and well-cooked, the toppings paired with real intention, and the fried montanarine are quietly worth the detour on their own. Listed among 50 Top Pizza Italy's Excellent Pizzerias, this is Carpi's most convincing argument for staying local.

1. 50 Top Pizza 50 Top Pizza Italy Excellent Pizzerias

1. Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
2. James Beard Awards 2023 · Semifinalist · Best Chef: Great Lakes · Francisco Alfaro

A medical-grade centrifuge sits behind the bar at this East Walnut Hills cocktail spot, which tells you something about the ambition level before you've ordered. The menu changes twice a year and follows the adventures of a small pigeon, which sounds precious until you're drinking something clarified by milk-wash or cryo-concentrated into a flavor you can't quite name. The kind of place where the science is real and the whimsy is, somehow, also real.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Mad Scientist Cocktails · Best of the City
2. Cincinnati Magazine 2024 · Bar Mascot · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Old West Bar · Best of the City

A coffee shop in Over-the-Rhine that roasts its own beans on-site, sourcing from family farms across South America and Africa. The decaf goes through a water-bath process that pulls the caffeine without gutting the flavor, which is a harder trick than it sounds. Good place to sit with a book and feel quietly virtuous about your afternoon cup.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Decaf Coffee · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Decaf Coffee · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Festive Coffee: Eggnog Cappuccino · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Parkside Pastries · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Dry Bar · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Tiki Bar · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Festive Coffee: Eggnog Cappuccino · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Festive Coffee: Eggnog Cappuccino · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Festive Coffee: Eggnog Cappuccino · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Festive Coffee: Eggnog Cappuccino · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Public Art · Best of the City

Warm booth seating, a patio with live music some nights, and servers who can actually talk you through the list make this Evanston wine bar feel more like a neighborhood living room than a tasting room. Whites, reds, rosés, and cocktails share menu space with charcuterie and flatbread pizzas, so a glass rarely stays lonely. The kind of place where a quick drink tends to turn into a longer evening without anyone minding.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2024 · Wine Bar · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Cheese Pull · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Empanada · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Empanada · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Treasure Trove of Weird Things · Best of the City
2. Cincinnati Magazine 2024 · Recycler · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Brownie: Dubai Chocolate Brownie · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Vintage Books · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Charms and Keychains · Best of the City

Dorothy Lane Market is a gourmet grocery store that Dayton has kept to itself for years, and Cincinnati finally got its first location. The butcher shop has a dry-aging chamber you can actually see, the cheese selection is serious, and there's a wine bar tucked in if you need a reason to linger. Bring a tote bag and a budget, because you will not be leaving with just one thing.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Grocery Store · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Sensory Deprivation Tanks · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Vintage Cassettes · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Pockets · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Plant Nursery for Edibles · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Walk-Up Pizza · Best of the City

The taxidermied animals have names, and some of them are not for sale because the owners simply like them too much to let go. Hail is a record shop and curiosity store in Covington where vintage vinyl shares floor space with mounted creatures sourced from antique dealers. Berry the Bear and friends are permanent residents; the records turn over. A useful stop if your living room needs both a new album and a peacock.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Taxidermy · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Vegan Sandwich · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Specialty Lattes · Best of the City

A passage hidden behind a wardrobe connects the two sides of this Ft. Thomas bookstore and café, which is either charming or a mild fire-code concern, depending on your disposition. The shelves lean heavily into fiction, especially romantasy, fantasy, mystery, and horror. There's a coffee counter on one side and a small bourbon bar on the other, which covers the full spectrum of how a reading session can go.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Cozy Bookstore · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Repurposed Art Supplies · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Natural Wine Bar · Best of the City

A hay wagon rolls you out to the pumpkin patch, where you pick your own and pay by the pound on the way back. Irons Fruit Farm is an old-school u-pick operation outside Cincinnati, and come fall it draws families who treat the whole afternoon as the event. The apple cider alone is reason to linger at the main building after. A small tip: if your toddler proves uncooperative, the pumpkins near checkout have no idea.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Pumpkin Picking · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Read · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Compete · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Mango Lassi · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2024 · Coffee Cart · Best of the City

A matcha café that sources its tea directly from a family farm in Shizuoka, which means the starting point is better than most. Little Matcha landed in Covington after starting as a pop-up, and the menu rotates every two weeks so the seasonal lattes, strawberry one week, ube the next, stay worth revisiting. Hojicha and genmaicha lattes fill out the board, but the matcha is clearly the main event here.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Matcha · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Monthly Ceramics Class · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Local Moving Company · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Play · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Monthly Specials · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Place to Adopt a Cat · Best of the City

Glazed, caramelized Spam wrapped in nori is on the menu, and at Onolicious it is a completely reasonable lunch. This casual Hawaiian spot grew from a food hall stall into its own brick-and-mortar, serving shoyu chicken and musubi to a city that has taken the whole thing rather seriously. The team brings a laid-back luau spirit to downtown Cincinnati, which is a sentence that works out better than you'd expect.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Hawaiian Restaurant · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Home Organizer · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Lampshades · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Fashion Design Showcase · Best of the City

The glass case runs long and cold, stocked with Ohio-raised Wagyu and whole-animal cuts that make you reconsider your dinner plans on the spot. Rekas is a butcher shop and deli in the old Cincinnati tradition, where you can take home a porterhouse or just let someone else do the work and order a Wagyu roast beef sandwich. The team behind Wyoming Meat Market built this one, and it shows in the quality of what's in the case.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Butcher Shop · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Antique Mall to Sip and Shop · Best of the City

Fabric lovers, Silk Road Textiles in College Hill is your answer to the great JoAnn's void. This independent fabric shop carries an impressive range of ethically sourced textiles from around the world, whether you're sewing a garment or reupholstering a sad armchair. The staff actually knows their stuff, and regular in-store classes cover sewing, quilting, crocheting, and more, so beginners have no excuse to stay stuck on YouTube tutorials.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Joann’s Replacement · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Clean Girl Aesthetic · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Vintage Purses · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Explore · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Nail Salon · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · ASL Classes · Best of the City

A doughnut shop in Norwood where pimento cheese, hot honey, Parmesan, and crushed red pepper can all end up on the same pastry. The vegan brioche dough is the constant, chewy and sturdy enough to hold whatever combination the team feels like trying next. Regulars like Butter & Salt anchor the case, while a rotating monthly menu swings further out. The savory side is where things get genuinely strange, in the best possible sense.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Unusual Doughnuts · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Swim · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Hidden Art Gallery · Best of the City

The Crystalary is a fine mineral gallery in Mt. Lookout where smoky quartz from Switzerland shares shelf space with vintage Cordey China figurines. The team behind it has spent decades sourcing high-quality crystals and minerals for serious collectors, and the curation shows. It's the kind of shop that makes you realize you've been underestimating rocks your entire life.

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Crystal Shop · Best of the City

1. Cincinnati Magazine 2025 · Jazz Mondays · Best of the City