Holy Grail Tavern & Grille

Went up to Cincy back in August, with some friends to watch our beloved Reds take on the KC Royals. While there, we decided to walk across the street and stop in the Holy Grail. This pub is conveniently located straight across the street from the main entrance (and the Johnny Bench statue) to Great American Ball Park. The wait was short and the service was quick. It’s a great little place to relax and chill before the game, and they even have a large board in which the place the starting lineup of the day on. A sports fans dream!
The food was typical pub grub, but oh my… if you do anything here… get those Reuben Egg rolls. They are absolutely wonderful, and this from a man who doesn’t care for a Reuben sandwich. They were served hot, crisp and with a wonderful dipping sauce. Do yourselves a favor, stop in, eat about ½ dozen of these and drink a nice cold wheat beer. Hard to beat (unlike our Reds this past season).

There is a buff steroid eating jerk that works there that was incredibly rude. I have never been so insulted by a waiter or waitress in my life. He is a bar tender with a half sleeve tattoo on his right arm. He threatened me and one of my closest friends because of a football game being switch on the tv. I’ve never had Unilocal but I downloaded it for this reason exactly. I will never go back there, or give anyone a reason to even think about going.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Marvel Universe live! So the plan was, get a bite at Johnny Rockets and then, on to the show… Black Widow here I come! WHAT THE LOKI?! Johnny is gone but the Holy Grail was there becoming me. Sports bar, decent food, good service (was kinda of empty though so it might have helped the service) and it definitely served what I needed… food. Not bad, especially in the pinch.

No complaints. Stopped before a tour of GABP to have a couple beers. The Blueberry Ale was refreshing and light. Fairly quiet at 12:30 on a Saturday morning, so service was good. I can imagine it’s hopping before Reds or even Bengals games. Can’t speak to food, only the beer, of which there were plenty of options. I’d love to stop sometime before a game.

Visted this place 2 times over past 6 months from out of town. THE positives are the place is laid out well with lots of bar, tvs and good seating.
Unfortunately the food here is subpar. I have tried wings, burgers, quesadilla, chicken tortilla soup, and none of it was very good. I don’t understand it other than all times are very bland and seem low quality. I wish the food matched the atmosphere but it doesn’t. Will be trying something else now on.

In town on a road trip and came to Holy Grail after 6^th inning of Reds game to watch the Arkansas Razorbacks football game. Although there are 50+ tv’s in the place with several duplicating games, they wouldn’t change a TV because waitress and manager said the tv’s are preset and can’t be changed. I call BS. I understand wanting to avoid changing channels for everyone’s request but just about every other top 20 ranked team had their game on and I was in a corner where there were tv’s not even being watched. Not cool and not customer friendly. I was excited to check out this place but extremely disappointed and caused us to miss the first part of game trying to find another bar. Tin Roof was much more friendly.

Even on busy nights, I’ve been able to find a table fairly quickly and get good drink service. You may have to flag down service on game nights but just be patient and you’ll get good service. The «wings» were bite size but very tasty. Just get a larger order if you’re hungry. Perfect location for baseball games and waiting out rain delays.

Really good burger, and their Texas Chili was pretty good as well. They have a very friendly staff, and the Guinness was great. If I find myself in Ohio again, I would definitely go back.

Under average bar food, nachos were awful, pizza was stale. We’re from the Atlanta area and the last thing we wanted was to waste a meal on a bad experience in another city.

You can’t find a much more convenient place for food and drink before a Reds game than Holy Grail unless you actually eat in Great American Stadium. We got there about 2 hours before a game, and there was already a short waiting list for a table (they won’t give you an estimate for how long you will have to wait — we were a party of 4, about 8^th down the list, and we waited 15 minutes).
The beer selection has a little bit of everything from cheap beer to good local brews. I was very happy to find Great Lakes Burning River on the drink menu.
I would normally have a burger at a place like this, but I felt the need to eat slightly healthier this evening, so I ordered their «Big Chicken Salad» which actually comes in small and large (small big chicken salad???). It was pretty big, with sliced of blackened chicken garnishing it. But my bleu cheese dressing was the absolute weakest ever, obviously really really watered down (it poured way too easily) without any cheese in it at all.
This turned out to be an enjoyable place for dinner and beer before the game. I just wish they could have played up the Holy Grail theme even more in the place.

Went to Grail on a Saturday. Surprisingly, they weren’t busy at all yet it took over an hour to get our food, which was mediocre. Our drinks were delayed too. After asking the waitress three times to close the doors because we were cold– we ended up moving to another table on our own to get away from the cold. Don’t recommend going here. Definitely better bars near the stadium.

Decent club atmosphere type bar and restaurant. Food is better than you would expect. Worth a so on a bar hopping night or after a Reds game.

There are a lot of differences when comparing Cincinnati to Chicago. One is public washrooms.
I stopped in here to use the washroom in between my 10k and 5k while I was running the Flying Pig 3-​way challenge. I’m not sure that this is encouraged but it was not strictly discouraged. It is nice not being harassed or denied access simply because you are not a «paying» customer. I always make it a point to come back to places that give out free water or let me use the washroom specifically during or after my runs.
I will be sure to come back to Holy Grail to show my appreciation beyond this friendly review. Aka with my moolah
Beyond my appreciation for this courteous behavior, Holy Grail is large and in a prime downtown location. This is a sports bar with all the amenities that a sports bar needs. Televisions, alcohol, food, and ample amount of tall boy table space. Again, I look forward to spending some time here.

Food is your typical bar platters. I go for the multiple sports games constantly streaming whole throwing back multiple light beers. Great place for a sports game!

I’m standing inside of a place I have been a 1000 times yet I haven’t been for a few months now. I have forgotten how neat this place is and how excited it gets me for baseball season. Holy Grail has the perfect location that captures both their own atmosphere, the glorious ballpark and glimpses of Cincinnati’s riverbank. Glad to be back to enjoy their great beer list (yes, it may be 30 degrees in March but I’m drinkin’ Summer Shandy on tap here) and munch on some yummy food!

Standard Style Sports bar. They have a large array of TV’s and typically serves as a very lively environment for most major OH sporting events.
During this visit we received very poor service from the hostess upon arrival… VERY POOR, but that was made up in large order by our waitress!
Low Key, this place has one of the most underrated wings in the city. Nothing crazy, out of the box or exotic, just classic and done EXTREMELY well!!! I always get excited when we decide to head over here because I know wings will be a part of my experience.

We stopped by the Holy Grail at the Banks last night before the Cincinnati Cyclones game.
From the moment we walked in, it seemed to be a little off. The two girls that greeted us seemed to be less than thrilled to seat us, it was like we were interrupting their conversation. We asked for a table for 9. (The guys dropped us of at the door with the kids since it was raining, so we could go ahead and get a table or at least put our names in for one.) They were busy, but there were multiple open tables at this point so all they had to do was push two tables together and were able to seat us right away.
Our server was nice, but she had too many tables to be effective or attentive. She came over immediately and got drink orders for the two of us that were there with the two kids. She brought our drinks quickly. Then took a few minutes to come back and get the guys drinks.
We ordered our food and it took a little bit to arrive. Our server did come back and get one more round of drinks during this time. When our food came our, it was luke warm at best.
We ordered the Reuben Wrappers, hot wings (got extra sauce — thank goodness — cause they were soooo dry), and a side salad. We also ordered the Holy Grail Blueberry Ale and a Angry Balls (Angry Orchard with a shot of Fireball Whiskey) to drink. The food was luke warm and the wings were very dry, but we ate them because the server did not come back to check on us for along time. She came back only after we were almost done eating, so that did not even give us a chance to send anything back.
They also ran out of glassware while we were there and switched over to plastic cups for serving… the place was not even packed to capacity like I have seen it in the past. So I am not sure if this was an off night or what was going on.
Also, our drinks were not right on our check, we had two extra drinks on our bill, but we settled with the other couple afterwards, it was not worth waiting around for.
Overall, I think I would just stick to drinking before games and eat at one of the other establishments at the Banks before the games.

Great place to visit after any home game (baseball, football, hockey). Good hometown party atmosphere.
This place can get packed, but the bartenders do a great job to make sure everyone has a drink in their hand.
I can’t comment on the food, so this review is basically describing my bar experiences.

If you are thinking about going to Holy Grail Tavern & Grille, you are probably figuring out where to watch a sporting event or where to eat before the Reds game. If it’s in the winter time, this place is a graveyard, but in the summer, this place is a packed house.
Holy Grail’s food is alright, nothing special and nothing memorable, just a variety of bar food. The layout of the bar is pretty cool, with TVs every which way you turn and even tables with self serve taps. I think for a sporting event, Holy Grail is a great option, the bartenders and staff are really friendly, they have TVs galore, and they have a great selection of cheap beer and great drink specials during games. And although the food is just alright, let’s be honest, you aren’t coming here for the food anyway.

I am going to keep this short and sweet. The food here is decent. I like the wings and the nachos will fill you up… but lets be honest… you are coming here for the games and the beer.
Depending on the time of the year, this place will either be dead, or shoulder to shoulder. I am fine either way. During the winter you can find a table quickly and enjoy drinks and conversation with your friends.
Summer, and baseball turn this place into a sports paradise. The place takes on an different kind of energy and it is contagious. I drink Miller Lite, which runs $ 4 on game day for a 16oz aluminium bottle.
I have yet to sit at one of the tables with the self serve taps but I love the concept. I can’t wait for the warm weather and baseball to return to Cincinnati!