Restaurant Review: Vinyl

Last night I ate at Vinyl on Sycamore Street in Over The Rhine. I recently saw it in Cincinnati Magazine in a section on downtown revival and Dorota suggested checking it out after she saw it on a PBS special. They are all about "changing the city" so Aaron, Dorota and I headed there last night. If nothing else, the company was good! (Thanks for hanging out guys)

I'd say we enjoyed our experience overall. The first bonus is that they have a free parking lot! The atmosphere is pretty cool. The decor is retro diner chic with plenty of teal and chrome. There was world music playing in the background and the first Thursday of every month there is an international theme. This Thursday was Brazil and they had a special sampler platter available ($20). The shrimp and steak on the sampler were good but it also included an avocado shake which was not so great. It wasn't that bad but I wouldn't be interested in trying it again. Overall the food choices were mostly fusion cuisine with artsty, gourmet twists. [Can you tell I'm not a real food critic?]

For my main course I had Kobe beef sliders ($12) which were very good. The sandwich selections are in the $15 range but the rest of the entrees are over $20. The prices seemed a little high for the casual environment but I wouldn't say I felt ripped off. The food was very good but the main drawback was slow service. We probably waited about 45 minutes for our food (they blamed it on the porkchop special). There was a pretty good crowd there for a Thursday night dinner. I imagine they have a pretty busy weekend crowd after dinner as well.

All in all it was a fun, unique experience. Plus, it's downtown, so I would recommend checking it out sometime!