Summer is almost here, and Cincinnati’s food scene is heating up. Dozens of restaurants have opened in recent months, from Mexican joints to a ramen spot and a new Italian restaurant in Covington. Here’s a taste of what folks are buzzing over this season.

Nolia 1405 Clay St., Over-the-Rhine Nolia opened April 19 and is Cincinnati’s newest Southern-style restaurant, serving unique dishes inspired by Chef Jeff Harris’ upbringing in New Orleans while still staying authentic to himself rather than to his hometown’s traditional cuisine. Situated in the space formerly occupied by Please (famous for its selfie-friendly bathroom and James Beard Award-winning chef) the dining environment is upscale yet approachable, offering a menu stacked with dishes like delectable smoked chicken and Alabama white sauce, cider-stewed collard greens, redfish court-bouillon and much more. All of the side dishes are vegan and, while you should not expect them to play ragtime or serve hurricane cocktails in novelty cups, their drink menu will truly laissez les bon temps rouler, non? Photo: facebook.com/noliakitchen
Alcove 400-1410 Vine St. in Over-the-Rhine MadTree Brewing has opened a multi-level Over-the-Rhine bar, restaurant and event space called Alcove. MadTree describes Alcove’s main bar and restaurant as containing “a large bar, light-filled lounges, dining areas and an intimate private dining room for small groups.” The space also features a “lush outdoor patio space for lounging and dining.” The food menu is focused on farm-to-table dishes created by chef Stephen Williams of Bouquet Restaurant and Spoon: Kitchen and Market. The drink menu features housemade cocktails — utilizing herbs grown in that aforementioned greenhouse — and MadTree’s own brews will be on tap at the three bars located throughout. From a design standpoint, Alcove is stuffed with live greenery from Urban Blooms in every corner, creating a secret-garden-like feeling with living feature walls. In the event loft on the third floor, there’s even a massive chandelier made of ferns. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
La Cantina 326 E. Eighth St., Downtown The former Cheapside Cafe space downtown has gotten new life thanks to local Crown Restaurant Group (Crown Republic Gastropub, Losanti, Rosie’s Cocktails & Pies). It is now home to La Cantina, a restaurant offering a self-described mix of “contemporary, authentic Mexican cuisine and cocktails.” La Cantina started as a pop-up at Crown Republic Gastropub in July of last year. The menu there featured dishes including elote, Baja fish tacos and chicken mole, and the full restaurant offers similar inspiration. The cocktail program focuses on mezcal and tequila, featuring more than 50 agave-based spirits. La Cantina also carries Mexican coke, Topo Chico and horchata. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
Mama’s 621 Main St., Covington Covington’s Main Street — the heart of historically designated MainStrasse Village — boasts one of the best assortments of restaurants in Greater Cincinnati. A lion’s share of credit for that abundance goes to a restaurant group informally known as Otto’s Restaurant Family. MainStrasse residents Emily Wolff and Paul Weckman opened Otto’s in 2003. That was their only restaurant for more than 10 years, but since 2015 Wolff and Weckman have added popular Mexican eatery Frida and two casual spots at opposite ends of the commercial strip of Main Street: The Standard and Larry’s. And now the duo has Mama’s on Main, which opened in March, bringing traditional, pasta-oriented Italian fare to the neighborhood. If the difficulty getting a weekend reservation is any indicator, Mama’s has been a gold-plated hit right off the bat. Photo: Catie Viox for Zest Cincy
Soul Secrets 1434 Vine St., Over-the-Rhine Entrepreneur Candice Holloway is bringing a taste of her grandmother’s cooking to Over-the-Rhine. Holloway officially opened Soul Secrets, a Southern-style comfort food eatery, on April 30. The fast-casual restaurant focuses on soul food with a menu that includes family-recipe fried chicken, fried fish, cornbread, collard greens, hoppin’ John and mac and cheese, plus a selection of meat-free dishes like vegan salisbury steak and vegan pot pie. Brunch will launch this summer with items including shrimp and grits and chicken and waffles. Photo: facebook.com/SoulSecretsLLC
Decibel Korean Fried Chicken 922 E McMillan St., Walnut Hills From humble beginnings come great things — especially when we’re talking about Decibel Korean Fried Chicken. Brought to Cincinnati by the crew behind Dope! Asian Street Food, Decibel is the city’s first Korean fried chicken joint. The outfit now has a storefront location in Walnut Hills, adjacent to Esoteric Brewing, but Decibel launched in 2021 as an unnamed fried chicken pop-up in the Kroger On the Rhine food court, where the Dope! stall already was seeing great success. For the uninitiated, Korean fried chicken is an airier, crispier iteration of Southern-style fried chicken. Gone are the browned crunchy bits that stud American fried chicken; instead, Korean fried chicken is sheathed in a lightly golden-brown crust. Biting into Korean fried chicken might be best described as shattering that crust, and the crunch is outrageous. Photo:facebook.com/decibelchicken
Heyday 1527 Madison Road, East Walnut Hills This new burger joint in East Walnut Hills is sizzling with promise. Hailing from the owners of O Pie O, Heyday opened in the former pie cafe location on April 6. Owner Lou Ginocchio tells CityBeat in an email that Heyday will serve up a simple menu “using high-quality ingredients with employees who get the respect they deserve.” Guests can dine in or carry out flattop-smashed burgers and a side of Heyday’s unique hand-cut, dry-cured fries. Guests can also indulge in burgers and all of the fixings in the restaurant’s dining room, patio space or across the street at The Growler House, where they can order the full Heyday menu and get it delivered to their table. Photo: provided by Heyday
Warped Wing Brewing 5650 Tylersville Road, Mason Dayton-based Warped Wing Brewing Company opened its Mason location in February. The 13,000-square-foot location — in the former Brazenhead and Basil’s on Market space — features a large taproom with many of Warped Wing’s popular beers, like the Trotwood Lager, and collaboration with Mason-based Sonder Brewing, Ryesing Tides. The food menu features smoked wings plus loads of sandwiches, tacos, platters and sharable options that feature house-smoked meats. Photo: Provided by Warped Wing Brewing Company
Bandito Park + Cantina 3543 Columbia Parkway, Columbia Tusculum Bandito Food Park + Cantina, developed by Yolo Restaurant Group, opened in December. Yolo — made up of Ed Biery and local restaurateurs Trang Vo and Tobias Harris (of Lalo) — calls Bandito a “one-of-a-kind restaurant and event venue featuring an atmosphere that expresses an outer parklike celebration complete with fun food and beverages offered to match.” To accomplish that vibe, the interior of Bandito features a bar, a “container-like counter” and vintage trailer where guests can order food, picnic tables, fake turf floors and string lights. The menu includes tacos, burgers, chicken, hot dogs, salads, bowls and homemade salsas and sauces served up by executive chef Antonio Anaya. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
Café Alma 6111 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge Health-focused Mediterranean restaurant Café Alma recently opened its doors in the former space occupied by Molly Malone’s Irish Pub in Pleasant Ridge. The cafe creates delicious but healthy dishes by using high-quality ingredients packed with good flavors. Breakfast offers everything from a build-your-own omelet to four different options of the Middle Eastern breakfast favorite shakshuka. Heading into lunch, they have salad and sandwiches all packed with fresh ingredients. Café Alma also offers a full bar that features items like the Eddie Colada and the Molly Malone, an homage to the building’s previous occupants made with coffee, Irish whiskey, cane sugar and topped with whipped cream. If you’re looking for something non-alcoholic, grab one of the cafe’s many imaginative coffees like their creamy Nutella latte. Photo: Casey Roberts
Genki Ramen 3200 Vandercar Way, Oakley The popular Japanese-style ramen restaurant now boasts a third location in Oakley. The small chain’s newest location opened in April. Genki is expanding quickly, having opened its first location in Mason in June 2020 and the second in West Chester in November 2021. Stop by any of the spots and choose from over ten different types of ramen —like their shio paitan, which consists of an enticing blend of chicken broth, kikurage mushrooms, bamboo shoots, fish cakes, a soft boiled egg and barbecue pork. Photo: facebook.com/Genkiramenmason
Ford’s Garage 2692 Madison Road Suite 115, Norwood This Florida-based beer-and-burger chain with a tie to Henry Ford — as in the Ford Motor Company — recently opened in Rookwood Commons & Pavilion. Ford’s Garage, based out of Fort Myers, Florida — where Henry Ford had a winter home — is an official licensee of the Ford Motor Company and plays off that aspect by channeling a “1920s service station/prohibition bar” vibe. The menu is focused on black angus beef burgers. According to the restaurant, the burgers are dressed with “natural aged cheeses, fresh toppings, and sauces on artisan buns branded with the Ford’s Garage logo.” Photo: Provided by Ford's Garage
Green District 33 E. Sixth St. (in the Fifth Third Center lobby), Downtown Louisville-based build-your-own salad chain Green District is jumping into the Cincinnati market with a splash (or a crunch — whatever sound salads make). In July, Green District announced they would be setting up shop on Fountain Square — their first location in Ohio. That restaurant opened Jan. 11. But the company has also signed leases to open storefronts in two other area neighborhoods in 2022: Clifton and Blue Ash. The chain’s menu includes a handful of signature salads, plus wraps and bowls. You can also build your own from a selection of more than 50 ingredients and 12 Green District dressings. The menu also features salads with a local lean, like the 513, made with Grippo’s-spiced barbecue chicken, romaine, red cabbage, carrot, tomato, pickled jalapeno, cheddar, crispy onions, a barbecue drizzle and ranch dressing. Photo: Provided by Green District
Just Frites 1621 Dana Ave., Norwood We all know that sometimes side dishes can be the stars of the show and Just Frites knows exactly what’s up. The new fry-focused kitchen opened inside of Listermann Brewing Co. in March. The menu sticks to the restaurant’s namesake, serving up everything fry-related from plain fries to rotating specials of super-loaded bites like the You’ve Mett Your Match, french fries topped with liquid cheese, jalapeños and Queen City Hot Metts. Photo: facebook.com/ListermannBrewing
The OTR StillHouse is a distillery, winery and brewery in one located in a former 1890s ice manufacturing warehouse. Photo: Hailey Bollinger
Son of a Butcher 7630 Gibson St., Liberty Township The team behind Agave & Rye seems to have conquered the eccentric taco world and has now set its sights on steakhouses. The company’s new Son of a Butcher — colloquially referred to as S.O.B. — opened March 1 at Shindig Park, an event space in Liberty Center also helmed by the Agave & Rye team. Yavonne Sarber, founder of S.O.B. and Agave & Rye, tells CityBeat via email that the restaurant is “evolving the stuffy steakhouse into something magical.” Sarber says the look of S.O.B. plays off the same ethos of the Alice-in-Wonderland-meets-Baroque design of the Agave & Rye locations. Sarber says the menu features “something for everyone,” highlighting USDA Prime cuts, wagyu, caviar, shaved truffles and “gold leaf options.” There is a sweet and spicy bacon and blue cheese burger and a chopped salad. For vegetarians, look for cauliflower steaks and black truffle gnocchi. Photo: facebook.com/sobsteakhouse
El Barril Mexican Sports Bar & Grill 940 Pavilion Ave., Mount Adams El Barril Mexican Sports Bar & Grill opened last fall and takes over the space formerly occupied by Next Chapter. As its name suggests, the eatery is part restaurant — boasting both Mexican street food and bar bites — and part sports bar. The menu ranges from street tacos, piled-high nachos and meat-stuffed burritos to more traditional bar food like loaded burgers, mozzarella sticks and wings. Enjoy your feast in one of three indoor dining areas, or on the first- or second-floor patios Photo: Hailey Bollinger
BBQ High Life 3715 Madison Road, Oakley Oakley Kitchen Food Hall welcomed a new barbecue spot, BBQ High Life, on March 1. Previously based in Goshen, High Life offered carry-out and catering services. Its new menu at the Oakley Kitchen consists of six signature sandwiches and four classic barbecue side options. The eatery serves everything from a classic pulled-pork sandwich to the “Big Red Smokey,” which is made with split andouille sausage and topped with pulled pork and coleslaw. Photo: facebook.com/BBQ-High-Life
The Arepa Place 131 W. Elder St., Over-the-Rhine Breakfast/Brunch: 9 a.m.-noon Saturday; 10 a.m.-noon Sunday Never had an arepa? This is the place to learn why the rest of the world is catching on to these Latin American delights in a hurry. Originally launched as a Findlay Market pop-up tent by native Colombian Isis Arrieta-Dennis, The Arepa Place now has a brick-and-mortar market spot from which to serve its traditional corn flour street food specialty. Each arepa is grilled then sliced and stuffed with fillings ranging from mozzarella cheese and chorizo to fried plantains and black beans. The space might prove unassuming for a brunch spot due to its relatively small dining area, but the eatery offers top-notch breakfast food, with alcohol, which makes this a quirky off-the-radar (until now) brunch destination. Must Try: The arepa de huevo — a deep-fried cornmeal sandwich stuffed with egg and ground beef — along with a beer; Presidente, a Dominican pilsner, is worth a try. They also serve aguapanela, which is sugarcane water with lemon. Each dish comes with one salsa, but extra sides of the condiment are only $1 if you want to try a variety. — SMP Photo: Hailey Bollinger Photo: Hailey Bollinger
Cantina Agave 4110 Hamilton Ave., Northside Cantina Agave is a Latin-inspired dining and drinking destination in Northside. Located in the former Taqueria 251 space, the menu includes everything from tacos and margaritas to birria, chicharrones and churros. And, in addition to a massive patio and live music, the restaurant also offers a dedicated late-night menu available everyday until close “while supplies last,” they say. Photo: Catie Viox
Mi Cozumel 3100 Vandercar Way, Oakley If you can brave the long wait on the weekends, Mi Cozumel is an amazing place to enjoy a night. Their menu features massive imaginative margaritas like the one served in a bathtub that bubbles with dried ice and another that comes in a Patron bottle, on the food side of things they serve up street tacos and their popular flaming fajitas. Photo: Facebook.com/micozumel1