Greater Cincinnati Restaurants & Bars With Heated Patios, Igloos and Fire Pits for Outdoor Drinking

Kon Tiki on the Levee's Fire Lounge

1 Levee Way, Newport
Newport on the Levee's Kon-Tiki at Bridgeview Box Park is transforming into the Fire Lounge this winter, cozying up their space with heated igloos and winter tiki-themed cocktails. Beginning Friday, Nov. 20, the lounge will offer six reservable igloos that welcome up to eight guests and are rented for a two-hour period (three hours during the weekend day). The igloos, which overlook the Cincinnati skyline, come equipped with your own sound system, board games, blankets, bluetooth speakers, lounge seating, contactless ordering and adjustable heat controls. The igloos require a $100 minimum spend for weekday nights and weekend days; $200 for weekend nights. They require guests to be on one tab, and a 20% gratuity will be added. According to the site, the Fire Lounge will have special tiki-inspired winter and themed drinks and snacks to enjoy during your visit.
Photo: Provided by Kon Tiki

Braxton Brewing Co.

27 W. Seventh St., Covington
Braxton Brewing Co. opened its much-anticipated rooftop patio and bar in 2019, but the space has now been covered to keep the chilly weather out. The 5,000-square-foot deck features plenty of seating, a full bar and some pretty neat views of Covington and downtown Cincinnati. Braxton is also offering 2-hour reservations of heated “igloobars” for private parties of up to 8 for $30. Each features its own style with unique tables, chairs, couches and pillows.
Photo via Facebook.com/BraxtonBrewingCompany

Catch-a-Fire Pizza

9290 Kenwood Road, Blue Ash
Blue Ash's Catch-a-Fire Pizza has added outdoor igloos for private, enclosed dining. The igloos, which can seat up to eight people, come in three themes: Fireglow, Northern Lights, or Snowglobe. Each is heated and comes with bluetooth speakers for a custom music mix. And after each party leaves, the igloos are cleaned and sanitized during a 30-minute booking gap. The igloos are only available by reservation via catchafirepizza.com or call 513-514-0016.
Photo: Catch-a-Fire Pizza

Coppin’s at Hotel Covington

638 Madison Ave., Covington
Coppin's has transformed their patio into a cozy escape with string lights, heaters, a fireplace and warm throw blankets from Donna Salyers’ Fabulous Furs. The restaurant has also created a special new menu with soups, sandwiches and smaller bites like apple fritters and tots, plus a selection of desserts and housemade sodas. Guests can soak in the heat from the heaters or enjoy a Manhattan by the wood-burning fireplace. The bar menu features local draft beer, cider, wine as well as cocktails on draft.
Photo: Provided by Coppin's

Nomad KY

225 Fairfield Ave., Bellevue
Located on Bellevue’s bustling Fairfield Avenue, this new bar and eatery opened in the fall and offers a variety of cocktails, beer, wine and boozy milkshakes (and some seasonal warm cocktails), plus a petite menu of “totchos” and tacos. Their outdoor patio space features heaters to keep their guests comfortable as the temperatures drop.
Photo via Facebook/NomadKY

Queen City Radio

222 W. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine
The former auto body shop-turned multi-level Over-the-Rhine hang features rotating taps of local, regional and national beer, canned and bottled brews, and a small cocktail program. Enjoy a boozy bev gathered around one of their outdoor fire pits. Queen City Radio has added outdoor heaters to ensure customers are staying warm.
Photo via Facebook/QueenCityRadioBar

Pepp & Dolores

143 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine.
For the winter, Over-the-Rhine Italian eatery Pepp & Dolores has transformed their outdoor tent into an apres ski-inspired dining experience called "The Lodge." “When we first began offering outdoor dining, our goal was to make sure that experience matches the beauty and charm of dining inside at Pepp,” says Joe Lanni, co-founder of Thunderdome Restaurant Group (which oversees Pepp and other area restaurants), in a press release. “We knew, as the weather turned colder, we wanted to do more than just winterize our tent, we wanted it to be an elegant, seasonal dining destination.” The space features a dedicated outdoor bar to ensure "wine and cocktails (flow) freely and quickly;" a fresh air intake heating system which warms and circulates outside air; and they also have open-air, four-seat firepits by which to eat or sip.
Photo: Provided by Pepp & Dolores

MadTree Brewing

3301 Madison Road, Oakley
With 32 MadTree-exclusive taps, ambient lighting and an industrial brick facade left over from the building’s factory days, there’s more than enough space to accommodate all the beer-drinking humans that hang at the 10,000-square-foot outdoor beer garden on the regular. The garden in the process of being winterized with a heated tent; additionally, they will have fire pits outside of the tent.
Photo via Facebook/MadTree

Comfort Station

793 E. McMillan St., Walnut Hills
Located in a former 105-year-old rest area, Comfort Station is an airy nightlife destination full of hip cocktails and outdoor lounge spots. Though they typically offer a choice between two different atmospheres, one through an old women’s restroom door and one through an old men’s restroom door, this year — due to the pandemic — guests must enter through the bright blue women’s door. The main-floor space is replete with original skylights, plush blue-velvet seating and a living plant wall. From the main bar, you can access the back patio, which has multiple seating nooks, including an elevated perch with cushions, as well as a cozy fire pit.
Photo: Amy Elisabeth Spasoff

Covington Yard

401 Greenup St., Covington
This long-anticipated outdoor establishment opened in the fall, offering a small community of repurposed shipping containers housing local restaurants like Django Western Taco, Mr. Bulgogi and Yard Bird, plus a selection of draft and craft brews. The dog-friendly space is equipped with heaters.
Photo via Facebook/CovingtonYard

Bridgeview Box Park

1 Levee Way, Newport
Newport on the Levee’s Bridgeview Box Park is an outdoor entertainment space perched right above the Ohio River, offering spectacular views of the Cincinnati skyline. The space, a cluster of small food, drink and shopping vendors conglomerated where Mitchell’s Fish Market used to sit, utilizes shipping-like containers — hence “box park” — and are interspersed among a common outdoor area. Establishments include Che on Wheels, Bon Mi Street, The Little Spoon Bakery & Cafe, and an outpost for Wooden Cask Brewery and Second Sight Spirits. Another Bridgeview Boxpark vendor is Kon-Tiki — which recently transformed into the seasonal Fire Lounge, offering reservable heated igloos. As the weather cools down, the box park has heaters scattered throughout the area and they plan to cover and heat a portion of their outdoor space to keep their guests warm and safe.
Photo via Facebook/KonTikiOnTheLevee

Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom

1727 Logan St., Over-the-Rhine
There’s no need to truck over to Boston for fresh Sam Adams. This taproom across from the Samuel Adams Cincinnati Brewery features a massive indoor and outdoor space, with an array of unique beers brewed both on-site and across the street. The outdoor patio has heaters to keep you nice and toasty and a fire pit to gather around while sipping something cold.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

The Porch at Washington Park

1230 Elm St., Over-the Rhine
Washington Park's porch is the place to drink away the week’s worries with beer, wine and liquor. Enjoy local brews from the likes of Taft’s Ale House, Rhinegeist, Christian Moerlein and Fifty West and specialty cocktails while staying warm next to one of the standing heaters.
Photo via Facebok.com/PorchAtWashingtonPark

Upper Deck at the AC Hotel

135 Joe Nuxhall Way, Downtown
Winter weather won’t stop this downtown rooftop patio from keeping the party going. The AC Upper Deck at The Banks will transform into a winter wonderland, offering cozy, illuminated igloos this season. Once the temperature dips, the rooftop bar will feature four heated igloos that seat up to eight guests each and comply with coronavirus health precautions. Call in advance for reservations or sign up online. Check acupperdeck.com for information on restricted hours due to the coronavirus.
Photo via Facebook/ACUpperDeck

Monkey Bar & Grille

7837 Old 3C Highway, Maineville
As a family-owned operation, this place has not allowed any monkey business since its transformation from a biker bar, but it does permit a lot of fun. Enjoy fine bourbon or a frosty brew while chatting with friends outside next to one of their outdoor fire pits, and grab a bite from one of their rotating food trucks.
Photo via Facebook/TheMonkeyBarAndGrille

Mecca OTR

1429 Walnut St., Over-the-Rhine
This hip OTR hideaway is a welcoming hangout for those interested in no-frills drinking, L.A. vibes and vinyl tunes. Find the main courtyard entrance tucked away down 15th Street, and cross the big-ass gravel patio, past colorful street-art murals, a panoply of rainbow lighting and a plethora of communal seating to enter a world of hanging plants (in summer the patio is decked out in greenery) and the most creatively decorated — dare we say selfie-ready — bar bathrooms in the city. The patio keeps cozy in the colder months with a fire pit to gather round with friends. Get yourself a Chunker, an airplane-sized bottle of liquor inverted into a can of sparkling San Pellegrino flavored water.
Photo via Facebook/MeccaOTR

The Blind Lemon

936 Hatch St., Mount Adams
Walk down a set of stairs to find a secret, little hideaway: The Blind Lemon, Mount Adams’ favorite backyard bar since 1963. Outside, the relaxed garden patio is like a boho blend of Bourbon Street and Paris cafe life — it’s one of the most romantic drinking destinations in the city. Blind Lemon has a large outdoor wood-burning fireplace to warm you up Thursdays through Saturdays (weather permitting).
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Pins Mechanical Company

1124 Main St., Over-the-Rhine
The winter weather is nothing to worry about at Pins — they have special winter cocktails which you can enjoy around the fire pits on their rooftop patio, plus 35 beers on tap. From the Columbus-based Rise Brands, the group behind 16-Bit, this Over-the-Rhine bar has pinball machines and duckpin bowling lanes, plus other “old school” entertainment options like foosball, bocce ball and shuffleboard. This year, Pins has employed a special “Clean Team” to ensure safety for all guests, including glass barriers, social distancing enforcement, and using CureUV sanitizing technology to clean surfaces and game materials.
Photo: Hailey Bollinger

Pearl’s

3520 Eastern Ave., Columbia Tusculum
Located in a historic building in the heart of Columbia Tusculum (Cincinnati’s oldest neighborhood), Pearl’s offers a rooftop bar and large outdoor patio for the warmer months and serves classic cocktails and draft beer. Named after the building’s last resident — Pearl — the entire establishment was designed to maintain a sense of authenticity and honor its former use as a house. With string lights, ample seating, a cozy fireplace and even a TV or two, the exterior patio is one of the most comfortable places in town to grab a glass of wine or cocktail.
Photo via Facebook/PearlsCincy

Kon Tiki on the Levee

1 Levee Way, Newport
From November through March, Shires’ Garden will offer both rooftop igloos and terrace greenhouses that come with heating and a bluetooth speaker. Located on the 10th floor outdoor patio, the heated oases accommodate up to 8 guests and are reservable for 2 hours maximum.
Photo via theviewatshiresgarden.com