Photos: Inside East Walnut Hills’ New Tropical-Themed Restaurant, Solstice

East Walnut Hills just keeps on rolling along, debuting interesting bars and restaurants at a smoking-hot pace.

Even so, there have been casualties, most recently in the closing of the café/wine bar Symposium. And I still mourn the closure of Branch less than a year ago. But for every loss, the neighborhood picks up a couple of new places. With everything from the simply elegant Le Bar a Boeuf to the unique deli Pickled Pig, Walnut Hills boasts a satisfying variety of restaurants to rival those downtown or in Over-the-Rhine.  

The most recent newcomer is the tropical-themed Solstice, which opened late in June. The folks behind Solstice are familiar with the neighborhood, given that their charming cocktail bar, Anjou, is a stone’s throw away, on Woodburn Avenue.

In contrast to most taco-centric eateries, the cocktail menu doesn’t lean heavily on margaritas or other tequila drinks. That’s in part because it’s not a Mexican restaurant; instead, the focus is more generally on the tropical parts of our planet. Thus, drinks, as well as food, borrow from flavors developed near the equator — including Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. The food section of this menu is fairly simple, divided into “Sharables” and “Tacos.”

Solstice, 1544 Madison Road, East Walnut Hills. Info: solsticecinci.com.

Photos by Emory Davis