Mt. Lookout Square

The mt lookout square is a quaint gem with small businesses to warm your heart. Random offices and places like antique books, clock shops, and speciality stores rest into between a lively selection of pubs, pizza, ethnic cuisines, coffee shops, and venues. Located just a few blocks from multiple parks and Hyde park square and oakley. This square is usually full of many people– and dogs!

Parking is available in the middle of the square. Free parking on Sundays. Other days, you pay the parking meter. It’s a nice area to walk around from the big Catholic church at one end to UDF on the other. Not as quaint as other town squares on the East Side, but still a nice area to wander in the evening.

When I first moved to Cincinnati, I called Mt. Lookout the «inferior square». It isn’t as cute as Oakley Square, it doesn’t have the charm and green space of Hyde Park Square. However, this is actually now my favorite square. It has shops, coffee, bars, restaurants, a great used book store, gelato. For everyday necessities, there is a bank, CVS pharmacy, UDF for gas. There’s also an animal hospital, massage therapy, acupuncture, dentists, etc.
My favorites of the Square include: Buona Terra, Dust Jacket, Cloud 9 Sushi, Annabel’s. And I suspect the Wurst Bar will join this list when I eventually eat there.

There are many reasons to linger in Mt. Lookout Square. Great food, shops, coffee, bars. There’s even a used bookstore and a hobby shop.
I wish there was a green space to sit and hangout, but I think the area in the center of the square is much better as it is, utilized as a parking area.
And, yes, parking can be a frustration, but only if you mind walking. There’s typically plenty of parking up or down Delta.
Not to be missed: Zip’s, Annabel’s, Ruthai’s, and Ichiban (even though it doesn’t have an apostrophe in its name).

I love the roasting coffee smell you can occasionally get here. Parking is always a worry I have when I’m at Mt. Lookout Square, but I was there outside the meter hours and there was a spot right in front of where I wanted to be. For a Saturday night, with a wedding going on across the street, the place didn’t seem nearly as busy as I would have expected. But this time I was there for the Sushi. With 2 sushi places and a local coffee roaster, this place is a destination in itself. Again, the only downside is the parking.

There are many restaurants to choose from, however I hate the parking. My favorite places to go is Zips and Pera.

Hip little area in Cincinnati. Cute/​awesome coffee shop, lots of restaurants squeezed together and various bars. Parking sucks, and so do most of the people trying to drive aimlessly around the square. I imagine it would be fun to live in this area

I really enjoy this place, especially since I am a local to Mt. Lookout. The smell of roasting coffee beans intoxicates the saquare in the morning. At night revelers from Muz’s, Stand, Million’s, and MLT’s flood the streets on the weekend. 2 BYOB restaurants (Ruthai’s and Pera), 2 suhi resturants (Dancing and Ichiban); and other greats like Zip’s, Annabel’s, Nectar, etc. Its has so many options. The city just finished redoing the square infrastructure and streets, so it’s a bit easier to manuver in traffic.

Very quaint area! We passed through Mt. Lookout headed to a specific location in Hyde Park, but ended up turning around and coming back for dinner.
As Alexandra mentioned in her review, there are lots of stores, bars and service providers in a compact, walkable area.
As we enjoyed dinner at Betta’s, an Italian restaurant, we had the perfect window view of the area. Many people seem to enjoy grabbing an ice cream at the UDF and then sitting on the square’s benches to consume their dessert!

Next to it’s nearby big sister Hyde Park Square, Mt. Lookout isn’t as fancy or expensive. However, it has a lot of neat little businesses and culture to offer. It’s doesn’t offer the same volume in boutiques and shopping, but there are several bars, a drug store, some general services such as repairs, an animal hospital, and hair salons.
Mt. Lookout features the only traffic circle in the city (someone correct me if I’m wrong). The traffic from Delta and Linwood are funneled around a circle that surrounds a parking lot in the center of the square. The traffic is never that bad, maybe a little congested sometimes, but always moves quickly. Word is that they are going to be moving around some turn lanes and light order to smooth it up a bit.
Some of my favorite businesses in the square are Zip’s café (always a classic), Lucy Blue Pizza, and Mt. Lookout Joe. There is a small TV repair shop that does a good job. The meat market is wonderful. It used to be called Brache’s Meats but they have changed their name recently and may have been purchased yet again.