To Cincinnati Magazine Best Restaurants Where to Eat Now....."Oh Please... Shut Your Freakin' Pie Hole..."

Now comes the plaintiff to plead enough already of Slims, and Nectar, and ..... Why on earth hasn't Nicola's been # 1 ever??? Why is Hugo not in the top 5???

Everyone seems to  like the communal table at Slims. This has obscured the fact that they don't serve good food. Avec in Chicago for instance has a communal table and serves good food and the table is not the first thing people talk about...

I haven't been forced to goto Slims often... thankfully,  and not since November of 2008 where it seems there was an overhaul... However as the 'Much needed face-lift to the menu" implies the food was a quasi-pseudo-pretendo Carribean mish-mosh of well.. how shall we delicately put it.... bad food.. mercifully buffered by the COMMUNAL TABLE.... and the BYOBuffer of the bad food policy...

How it ever made it to the top 10, much less top 52 is a mystery, though I'm sure someone knows the answer....

 Nectar is just above Mediocre. My first visit, where I was aggressively questioned as to whether I had a reservation for a Half Empty restaurant, was a disaster. Of only 12 menu items ( which is not a problem).... 4 were unavailable....(PROBLEM!!!!). No wonder they only wanted reservations at 8:15.... they were out of food... and clearly not from having been SLAMMED...

If you have 30 items, being out of 4 is not good, but is understandable.....with 12.. ..??

"What.... " I'm sorry I missed some of that"........ "What? ..."HUH"... Oh I'm sorry I'm at Nectar, and you can't hear me because even though five people are here..... ITS TOO FREAKIN' LOUD>>>...

NIcola's has served the finest Italian (not continental american/italian/french cuisine ala Boca) food in the city since I've been here, and arguably the most consistently superb food in the city. At least one of the years that Boca was #1, Nicola's was the better place to eat. I did love Pigalls and had meals there that easily trumped PerSe, ( which no matter what anyone says, is not as great as the French Laundry.) I wouldn't take any of Pigall's #1's away, but for Nicolas to not have been # 1 ever is a travesty. ...

 this again, is a mystery...... someone knows the answer... and it's not a good one.

 I've had terrific meals at Hugo's. Yes, it's southern inspired, and yes it's gourmet, and yes it's excellent. 

HOW, WHO...please, slims above it????????  ?????  ?????????........???

Sean Daly has been serving superb food in Cincinnati since his time at Tinks. Hugo has excellent, tasty, true to the product, and source, food.  (ok, I don't love the pinch bowl..)( so what?)They serve some of the best seafood in the city, and have an excellent and fairly priced wine list. 

Clearly there's a bias in this process, ( Do you just start with last years top ten ??? and then what???) I'm sorry. ... did I mention that  Slims sucks?... 

Who eats food, and puts Riverside above Joan?? Has no one tried anything off of the Full Menu there? Some things one can't get anywhere in Cincinnati, or Chicago? Don't get me wrong, I like Riverside, but really now....

 Has no one tried anything off of the Japanese Menu??? Been there for Lunch???

GOOD FOOD NOW ( not mentioned previously)

JOAN

ICHIBAN

THE ROOKWOOD

PALACE

GOOD DRINKS NOW

TONIC 

THE ROOKWOOD

 

I'm sure the folks in the food department and Cincinnati Magazine are doing their best.. but.... 

It's a tough job and somebody else ought to be doing it.

ap

Comments

[awadagin pratt]

hey, thanks for the link. the process seems thorough enough. the problem is either what the top 25 starters are, or who's doing the eating, or some combination thereof. obviously no matter who does the voting, or how objective the tabulating is, it's subjective... and everyone's taste buds sing to different songs...
Quite similar to piano competitions, the result is only as good as the jury...
more soon, and thanks very much... Deli Lama!,
ap

[Deli Lama]

AP: If CM's "Top Ten Restaurants" and "Best New Restaurant" was only about food, I'm quite certain it would be a different list.

However, since you are convinced there is bias, I thought you might be interested in this peek behind the curtain:

http://epi-ventures.com/interviews/how-cincinnati-magazine-selects-best-restaurants/

[Tammy]

très magnifique... as always… astute and entertaining…