Metropole

We love Metropole!

We stayed at 21C for a week last year for my birthday. We ate at Metropole once. We revisited this past Monday for dinner before a show.

I love the ambiance of Metropole. It's comfortable and low-key, yet still quite fancy. I do love that the dress code is 'casual'. That said, there were some folks there dressed to the nines.

Last year I remember the Crispy Deviled Eggs and Tuna Tartar. The deviled eggs are outstanding. I'm sorry we didn't get them again. We did, however, order the Tuna Tartar, which is a little flavor bomb! One of the best bites of the night.

We did order oysters with raspberry cocktail sauce. It was a special and it certainly sounded delicious. They didn't hit the mark for us. The sauce was good, but the oysters were the slightest bit sandy and tasted more of the ocean than I'd prefer. I considered giving four stars just because of this dish, but everything else about Metropole is truly great.

I started with a Hocus Pocus cocktail, which included a house made curry syrup. The last ingredient on the menu is "magic". This cocktail is truly magical. The flavors are difficult to explain. Suffice to say, it's unlike any cocktail any of us have ever tasted before.

For dinner we ordered the Herb Brined Chicken and the Black Hawk Smash Burger. The chicken was fantastic. The chicken itself was moist and flavorful. The burnt carrot risotto was cooked to perfection. Everything else on the plate combined with the chicken was extraordinary. It was SO good! And... it was a LOT of food. Much as I tried, I still left a bit of the risotto behind.

Mark thoroughly enjoyed his burger. He raved about everything, including the bun, which was apparently soft and actually had flavor that supported the burger itself. I can attest the fries were great because I stole a few from his plate.

On to dessert. Last time we were here they had a corn ice cream that was unique and out of this world. On Monday I had a dip of chocolate and a dip of pumpkin. The ice cream melts exactly how a high end ice cream should. Mark ordered the Mocha Mousse, which as a nice size dessert that was simply delicious. I got a few bites. The mocha flavor was very present and the crunchy crust was fantastic with the more smooshy mousse. I absolutely recommend the Mocha Mousse dessert.

Our waitress was kind and attentive with the perfect amount of attention for our dining needs.

There are so many things we haven't tried, we will have to come back again and again.

Visited tonight with family for a pre-show dinner. (Just across the street from the Aronoff). We arrived early and took advantage of the hotel museum while our table was being prepared. We were seated on tine for our reservation and given a host (David) who was attentive and considerate about pacing ourselves to get to the show on time.

To start, we ordered a bit of everything for the table - bread, deviled eggs, blackened peppers, cheese and jam with toast, and oysters on the half shell. It was all great and fun that the table got to experiment with foods.

We all tried something different for our main course and did a little sharing-steak, salmon, duck, and the excellent recommendation of the rigatoni bolognese.

While we were pressed for time we still managed an olive oil cake with whipped cream and fig sauce for dessert - YUM

Wonderful evening, food, and service. If you are headed downtown or to a show at the Aronoff - this would be a place to try!

Quick service on a Sunday morning. Had the omelette with a side of bacon and it was excellent. This is a classic American breakfast restaurant. Has a unique touch with the penguins

I usually head over here for a couple drinks before going to the Arnoff and it's always enjoyable! They are usually busy, but the Team is very attentive and you don't have to wait long for service. Drinks are switched up frequently and make for fun afternoon/evening. The interior is nice & dim - a little moody, which is always nice.

Great ambiance and service. The salmon was cooked perfectly! To note - I was confused by the accompaniments, and my potatoes and lentils were undercooked. However, neither was enough to dissuade me from reordering as the salmon was absolutely delicious.

I recently found myself staying at 21c Museum Hotel in downtown Cincinnati on a work trip, one of their food offerings and connected to the Hotel is Metropole. I visited twice while I was staying there!

The space is super cute with a fun tile on the floor and beautiful MCM style tables and chairs. They offer breakfast, lunch and dinner, which seems appropriate being connected to the hotel! They have a unique menu, with twists on classic dishes, such as fried devil eggs or pork belly breakfast burritos to name a few

My first visit was for a late night bite. I wasn't able to order from their standard dinner menu, as I visited after a work event and stopped by around 10 PM. They do offer a late night menu though, which i was grateful for and love when restaurants do. It took a hot minute for anyone to great us up front, but we were given and menu and told to order at the bar when ready. The bartender was really great and friendly, she helped me narrow down my choices and I as on the mark with her recommendations.

I opted for their burger that came with pickled red onions a delicious aioli amongst other delightful toppings. The burger was bomb and for $10 definitely hit the mark with quality. You can add fries for $6, which I did, because burgers and fries?! The fries did not hit the mark as much. They were good, but slightly pitiful for the price point. It could have been late night remnants, but the burger definitely stole the show. It was very flavorful and generous with toppings and extra juicy!

The next morning, I didn't have time to venture outside the hotel and preferred to give their breaky a try then brave the airport options and prices. The place itself was not busy, but no one greeted me up front for about 5 minutes. They definitely seemed a bit in the weeds for some reason.

I was offered a menu, though it seemed like an annoyance when I inquired on take out. I had already checked it out and knew I wanted the lox bagel to go and added an egg. I did ask the hostess how long she thought it would take, she let me know most likely 15-20 minutes, not horrible, not ideal but I thought I would give it a go.

At the 20 minute mark, the hostess let me know it was about to come out. After a few more minutes and whether being avoided, since the food was not quite ready or she was just busy, I asked another server on an ETA. They came back a few minutes later saying it was going to be another 10 or so minutes. At that point I told them to cancel the order altogether and that I needed to head out.

They weren't overly busy, and maybe it was just an off morning, but it felt a bit ridiculous for what I was ordering. I know that the front of house staff cannot control the speed of the back of house and vis versa, bur the service overall was a bit lacking and it felt like I was inconveniencing then.

The food I did had I enjoyed, the vibe seemed nice, but overall service was a inconsistent.

We celebrated an anniversary with dinner here and had an outstanding experience. The staff accommodated some special requests when reservations were made perfectly. Everything was superb. The staff was very friendly but the food was one of my Top 10 meals I've ever had.

We started with the bread and oysters. The oysters were fresh and served with a horseradish jam that was a very good mix of savory and sweet. I had the steak for the main course and my wife had the scallops. Unbelievable in taste and presentation on both. One of us usually has entree envy of the other but we were both in heaven. We shared the olive oil cake for dessert and that was the final touch on a perfect dining experience.

The restaurant is perfectly located across from the Aronoff so you can't go wrong enjoying a meal here before or after a show. If I could give more than 5 stars, I would!!

Yum! 5 star for the following and will be back!

1. Location:

Great location downtown, walkable but parking is tough. Cincinnati is growing and I'm excited to see the change in the past two years visiting, wish I would found this spot last time.

2. Service:

No frills no thrills! The hostess was nice, short and sat us. Box checked lol. Our waitress seemed like they were overloading her and she simply wanted to get the job done and keep moving on.

3. Food:

Got the burger, wow, beyond anything I expected. The bun was like a Hawaiian bread sesame meets a amazing blend of something that was perfectly squishy and firm all the same. The burger was delicious and the fries were homemade and had a little more salt than I like but still super yummy. I'd come here on the regular for the burger and fries for sure!

4. Ambience

So cute! Chic modern but classic beautiful interior decor! And the art gallery next door is fantastic! Love the dim lighting.

Metropole sent me home with this breakfast order today. I can't believe they charged me $16 for this Extremely burnt toast. There is nothing salvageable here. How could they not have noticed this. It even smells burnt. I won't ever be going there again.

The bartender stole money from us and the manager told us wrong information. No idea why this place has so many stars.