The demise last year of Mahogany’s restaurant at The Banks, located next to Holy Grail sports bar, the successful anchor of the riverfront neighborhood, opened prime space for another watering hole or restaurant. In January, the Grail’s local owners announced they would remodel and open an Italian restaurant in the vacant storefront. Just in time for Opening Day, along came Santo Graal — that’s Italian for “Holy Grail.”
In keeping with the casual style of almost every eatery or bar along The Banks, Santo Graal doesn’t go for anything upscale. It does stand out from many of the neighbors, though, by aiming for a somewhat older, more sedate clientele. While it does have a bar, with a few high-top tables along the sidewalk, the idea isn’t for patrons to stand around drinking beer like the young crowd next door. It’s a sit-down place hoping to appeal to families, groups who don’t want to talk over loud music and couples out for a night away from the kids.
But if that’s not what you’re looking for, there’s also a window where you can grab pizza by the slice and a soda without having to commit to a table.
The restaurant is relatively small, seating 110. As for remodeling, manager Matt Meyers says they “started from scratch,” and kept a design feature above the bar but otherwise gutted the interior. The bar and dining room are separated by a tall counter with chairs, and both are decorated with photographs that evoke traditional Italian images, from Frank Sinatra to The Sopranos and more interesting black-and-white shots of Roman landmarks.
My husband and I met two of our friends for dinner on a night when the Reds were away. It was Flying Pig weekend, though, so the area had some bustle, and the restaurant did steady business.
We had made reservations and were shown to a table immediately. Throughout the evening, service was friendly and accommodating but often lacking in experience. (Our server admitted she was opening her first-ever bottle of wine at our table; I talked her through the process and it actually was kind of fun to help her over the hump.)
While the restaurant stocks a basic hard-liquor bar and offers a couple dozen beers in cans and bottles ($3.50-$4.50), the emphasis skews toward wine, so we ordered a bottle from among the selection of 12 reds, six whites and three Italian sparklers. Glass prices range from $7-$13 and bottles run $26-$41. I asked the bartender for a recommendation and we liked his choice a lot: a Sonoma cabernet sauvignon from St. Francis winery ($35).
We all skipped the soups (minestrone and Italian wedding, each $4) and bready appetizers ($7-$9), deciding instead to start with salads, and each one was a hit. My grilled romaine wedge ($10; $5 for a “mini” with an entrée) included marinated cherry tomatoes and pancetta topped with gorgonzola cream. I liked how the smoky grilled edges of the lettuce melded with the creamy, cheesy dressing. The “Santo Graal” ($9; $5) added sweet peppers, radishes, cherry tomatoes, shaved fennel and balsamic vinaigrette atop tender Boston lettuce, a very fresh basis for the salad. And two of our party ordered the fig and prosciutto with pine nuts and pecorino on arugula ($9; $5), which had a good blend of flavors thanks to the bitter greens being offset by a sweet dressing.
Other menu items come under the headings Sandwiches & Slices, Pasta and (whole) Pizzas. Our friend, Amy, tries to avoid carbs and thus ordered the Smoked Chicken Salad sandwich ($8) — without the bread. She thought the chicken salad itself was fine but she disliked the side pasta salad, finding it too bland.
The rest of us ordered pasta: Chicken Cacciatore ($15) for me and my husband, and Sausage Fra Diavolo ($13) for our friend, Larry. The chicken dish was only OK. Larry liked his hot Italian sausage and even though what was billed as a “spicy” red sauce actually didn’t have much kick, the sausage gave the dish enough diavolo to live up to the name.
There are just two desserts on the menu, cannoli ($8) and a rotating dessert of the day ($8), which was a chocolate torte on our visit. We tried and liked both; the cannoli wasn’t too sweet, and the torte had an appealing pudding-like texture and a deep chocolate flavor.
Santo Graal fills a niche at The Banks for an affordably priced restaurant that gives sports fans and concert-goers a respite from the crowds. The food is familiar, mainstream Cincinnati Italian, and you can get a decent bottle of wine — which definitely is not common in that neighborhood. Although the food was hit-or-miss, it probably will do just fine.
Santo Graal Go: 180 E. Freedom Way, Downtown;
Call: 513-721-7222;
Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday; pizza window open later; restaurant open until 2 a.m. on game nights.
This article appears in May 13-19, 2015.
