20 Kid-Friendly Cincinnati Spots Where Parents Can Get a Damn Drink
By CityBeat Staff
Let's all raise a glass to parents. It's not an easy job — but someone's gotta do it.
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1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine A large brewery and event space in historic Over-the-Rhine (housed in an old Moerlein bottling plant) producing hoppy and sessionable ales. The brewery offers games like ping pong and cornhole. Taproom is 21+ after 8 p.m. on Thursday-Saturday nights and rooftop is always 21+.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger
5905 Hamilton Ave., College Hill This College Hill brewery is loaded with features that encourage interaction, including a 20-seater community table, reclaimed-wood bar and a gigantic Scrabble board that’s very popular with patrons after a few pints from the brewery’s wide-reaching tap list, or with kids who want something to do while their parents sip and chat. Head to the bathroom to see more than three decades’ worth of collected beer labels.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger
1 Levee Way, Newport Newport's Axis Alley recently reopened as Rotolo, an all-ages entertainment hub that offers bowling, bocce ball, billiards, air hockey, giant checkers, giant Connect Four, and giant Jenga — and more. They also offer a full bar and kitchen.
Photo via Facebook/RotoloNewport
Multiple locations This popular pizza chain offers a slew of creative pies — from barbecue chicken to a Killer Veggie — plus a nice selection of wine and local brews on tap. Each location also boasts large windows to see into the kitchen, allowing guests to watch their pizzas being made. Kids are encouraged to watch as cooks roll and hand-toss dough, add ingredients and put the finished product in the oven; adults are more than welcome, too.
Photo via Facebook.com/DeweysPizza
1331 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine 16-Bit has more than 50 free arcade games and a tasty selection of celeb-inspired cocktails for you to slurp down as you relive your childhood nerdy nostalgia sans the quarters. You play for free if you’re drinking, and things go kid-friendly from noon-5 p.m. every Sunday during Shorty Day. Check out booze-free drinking options like the Little Mermaid with orange and pineapple juice and grenadine.
Photo: Patty Salas
7815 Kenwood Road, Kenwood This locally owned state-of-the-art theater screens everything from commercial to indie to foreign films. Tickets are only $5 on Tuesday (some restrictions apply) and on Thursdays the theater offers $3 beers until 9 p.m. The bar offers plenty of local, domestic and craft beers, as well as wine and spirits.
Photo via Google Maps
4831 Spring Grove Ave., Spring Grove Village Taft’s Brewpourium is in an old streetcar warehouse and serves New Haven “apizza” — a crispy and coal-fired version of Neapolitan pizza. The space is industrial, big and very family-friendly; you’ll see plenty of kids and parents camped out at the interior picnic tables any time you visit. There’s also a fun game area with options like Pop-A-Shot in the back if you don’t trust your kids with the weighted table shuffleboard pucks.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger
6200 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge Pleasant Ridge’s Red Balloon Café + Play is a one-stop destination for baby care, play time and to grab a quick meal. While the menu has a number of kid-friendly options (cheese sticks, turkey cubes, freeze-dried strawberries), parents are welcome to let the playroom take the kids off their hands for a while and dine solo on scratch-made meals. They also offer wine, beer and mixed-drinks.
Photo: Brittany Thornton
224 Fairfield Ave., Bellevue What started as homebrewing experimentation between friends led to the opening of Darkness Brewing. The spirit of adventure is still quite alive in the Bellevue taproom, located just down the street from Party Source. Their specialty is dark beers, but they offer a variety of different brews ranging from pale ales to golden imperial stouts and session ales. Aside from their brews, Darkness has a wide variety of board and card games, live music, a petite art gallery and a food truck located right outside the building. Have a brew while the kiddos play.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger
3301 Madison Road, Oakley MadTree’s massive 10,000-square-foot beer garden is a fun family hangout — and in the winter, the patio is tented and heated. With 32 MadTree-exclusive taps, ambient lighting and an industrial brick façade leftover from the building’s factory days, there’s more than enough space to accommodate all the beer-drinking, cornhole-playing, dog-loving humans that hang at MadTree on the regular.
Photo: Phil Heidenreich
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