Whisky Bar

I met some collegues here on a Thursday and we had an OK time. The service was good, or should I say MY service was good. One of my companions had a hard time ordering a drink, but other than that I don’t have a lot of complaints. The reason for the 3 stars is that Whisky Bar is just ok. There’s not really anything about it that makes me want to go back. The food was not great, so the high-​ish prices surprised me, and I can think of similar places to go to have pretty much the same menu that I don’t have to drive to far to get to. The music was a little loud for the vibe they were going for which made conversation a little awkward. Like I said, we had an ok time, but I probably won’t be back down there for a while.

Great ambiance! I love the flag of the original thirteen colonies on the wall. Big open space. Beer-​pong and pool tables. Bartenders were friendly. Food selection was limited. I was here for a corporate holiday party. It was a nice place for it. In the words of Hemingway: «a clean, well-​lit place».

The service was surprisingly decent. However, signature drinks were weak with very little whiskey. I am from Kentucky where we have REAL whiskey and bourbon bars. Not a mash-​up of a club, live music venues, Applebee’s with a few extra bottles of whiskey (cheap stuff– no real top shelf choices).
There was also an awful band that was playing their terrible covers way to loud. I wouldn’t waste time at this place, walk the other direction and head back into town or Mt. Adams.
I received free coupons to this place when I signed my lease. They will not be used. I would be surprised if this place stays in business much longer.

I’ve been to whiskey bar twice now — and as long as you’re not eating, you should be fine. The first time was a Saturday night, and the place was great. They had a fun band and our glasses were never empty for long. The second time we went was on a quiet Wednesday night to use our Groupon for dinner, and it was pretty bad. The fries were soggy, the apps were lackluster, and the pizza came on a piece of cardboard. Overall, the place can definitely be fun at times, just don’t go here expecting anything resembling good bar food.

I stopped in here with some coworkers prior to a weeknight Reds game. We had some time to kill before the first pitch and were looking for a place in between our car and the park for a drink-​Whisky Bar fit the bill. They advertised a pre-​game drink special $ 2 or $ 3 Hudy on the sign outside, so that established my expectations. There was a pretty standard selection on tap (though they did have Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale as well). A co-​worker wanted a glass of wine, and was underwhelmed with the options-​though this isn’t the kind of place you go to drink wine.
We did end up ordering a few appetizers-​tots and chips & salsa. The tots were fine. There wasn’t enough salsa for the chips given. Overall, the selection wasn’t immense.
The service was a bit slow-​I believe our server was also responsible for the bar.
For the location, I would have expected the service to be a bit more cognizant of game time-​with a group of six walking in, ordering drinks and apps, we were trying to get out for the game, and instead of a check, she wanted to get us another round. If you find yourself in this situation, ask for your check with your order.
The location is great for a pre game drink if you park east of GABP. It also has a bit of space, so it’s good for groups and a good meeting place. It would also be a good location to watch a game, but I can’t image seeking this place out on a weekend night, maybe it’s a entirely different feel?

Went here on a Friday night around 7pm. I had a $ 30 living social deal. I was really not expecting much due to the very bad reviews.
The place is very open. It for sure is a drinking bar much rather than an eating place. But the open area was very much to my liking. They had a small 2 member band playing and another band was setting up for a later gig on a larger stage. The 2 member band was rather entertaining.
Now the food. My wife started with cheese sticks. She gave them a 3 out of 10. I did not eat them. I had a pizza which i would give a ⁵⁄₁₀. A lot of toppings and the sauce (their special hot sauce) was good. The crust was the culprit … very thin and soggy. My wife had a burger that she said was not good.
Service was poo. r Had a nice waitress/​barmaid but the 1^st thing she said was «we do not have a server so bear with me.» Not a good thing.
I would not come back for the food. But I would come back to have a drink. It looks like a real open fun place. We did not have to pay for cover due to our early entrance. The cover was 5 bucks for dudes, and chicks were FREE!

Don’t go to this place if you plan on eating! A friend and I went on a Monday night before a Red’s game, the place was dead and now I know why. We ordered a cheese sticks appetizer and 2 cheeseburgers; the «appetizer» was delivered the same time as the burgers which took no less than a full 30 minutes. It was clear the food had all been frozen and was most likely microwaved, it was awful! Thank goodness I had a groupon that paid for this meal which would have otherwise cost $ 27, but honestly the food wasn’t even worth the $ 14 I paid for the groupon. The ONLY good thing about this place is dollar drafts on game days. Save your money and go to Wendy’s!

Ohhh, man. Do not go here no matter what. These people are either not trying at all or have just concentrated an unbelievable amount of incompetence in one place. Visited this place on Saturday to watch the Reds Game at 7 with 3 of my friends. I thought it was weird that there was no one there, but it’s pretty clear why now. We were barely treated like customers.
The food is awful. Pretty clearly frozen food they microwave. The bread on the sandwiches was chewy, tater tots undercooked, all 4 of us agreed it was barely edible. Our waiter that didn’t care about us in the first place left without mentioning he was leaving, and no one else really cared to help us. Kept having to walk up to the bar to get drinks even though the visible staff outnumbered the customers. Nobody came and cleared our table after we were done, had to clear it ourselves. I stress to you there were at least 5 employees either playing with their phones or talking amongst themselves. Then the terrible middle aged 80’s cover band started sound checking and it was all downhill from there. Also, they tried to overcharge me by 9 dollars.
For the record, I am not the kind of person that goes to the trouble of writing negative reviews of anything. Just figured I’d share because this place is so comically, singularly terrible. I read the review of the I feel pretty confident in saying this is the worst restaurant and bar in Cincinnati. See for yourself if you don’t believe me. It won’t be there for long, and I will smile a very smug smile when I hear it has closed in a couple months.

We went for the first time on a Saturday night after the Reds’ game. It was loud but not too crowded. We waited for about 20 minutes to get the attention of the waitress but no luck. Finally went to the bar to order food and drinks. Heard someone ask for nachos but bartender told them they were out. Bartender was kind and prompt serving drinks and taking food order. Food took a v e r y long time to come out. Bartender brought the food, apologized, and explained that just one cook showed up. One burger was supposed to have avocado but we were told that they were out of those too. Other burger didn’t have the sauce that comes with it. Both burgers were mushy, like they had been microwaved. Buns were cold.
While we were eating and drinking, the band played their «between set» recorded music, the bar still had their regular background music, all while the band was doing the longest, loudest sound check. It was torture. Thank God for bar napkins, I tore one in half and stuck a piece in each ear. The amusing part is that a bunch of guys at the bar were singing along to the music the bar was playing. All of that noise pretty much chased away the after game crowd.
It’s really too bad — we had such high hopes that this could be a regular for us. We live within walking distance and it would have been the perfect «go to» location. If I want to recreate our experience I’ll turn all my radios full blast but to different stations, fire up the microwave, tear open a bag of chips, and wait to eat until it is all room temperature.
On the upside, the beer was cold.

This is a dirty, grimy, gross place. It doesn’t fit the new image downtown Cincinnati is projecting. The crowd is a mix between NJ and Country, which is to say you’ll see a lot of really dated, terrible styles (I counted two guys in bedazzled skull shirts and more than a handful in Ed Hardy.)
Avoid. Avoid at all costs. This caters to the same crowd Cadillac Ranch did, only worse. This is essentially the Nickelback of bars. I can’t stress enough how terrible this place is. Nor how terrible and out of the way the location is. Don’t go here. If you want the cheap country vibe go over the river. If you want a fun bar go to OTR. If you want a club go near Fountain Square. Just don’t go to this place.

Since there are always two sides to every story, I will continue with my review as though I didn’t read the Phone story.
We also stopped in on our way home Friday evening to check it out and have a quick drink. They were taking a $ 5 cover charge at the door due to the band. Since we were not looking to stay and hang out long and just wanted to peek inside and to have a quick drink, we decided to turn around and head out. One of the managers saw that we were leaving and we explained the reason and that we would ‘stop back’ another time when there wasn’t a cover charge. He insisted that we go on in — free of charge. I thought that was very, very nice and excellent customer service. Thank you!
When we got inside, we noticed that it was a younger, more nightclub (ish) crowed — which there is nothing wrong with — we are just a bit older (cough) and are more for the lower-​key, neighborhood type bars. But, we ordered a drink from the nice girl walking around taking orders. I do have to say that it was nice to have the waitresses taking orders from people standing because the bar was packed and it would have taken forever to get a drink. Our waitress was very fast with getting our drinks out to us. The drinks were very well poured and as we watched, it seemed as though the wait staff was very observant of when people needed drinks, etc.
Bottom Line: It is a bar for the younger (21 – 30) crowed that likes loud music and dancing. It’s nice that there is free parking for a downtown hot spot. I guess everything else will unfold in due time and maybe a second trip will be in our future (on a weeknight!) for Happy Hour since we live right next door.

So far, so good. The place looks excellent as they are celebrating their grand opening this weekend. Love the layout and can’t wait to see new additions (I’ve heard talk of a restaurant and cigar patio)! Huge selection of whiskey (obviously) at decent prices for downtown. Live music is a bit too loud for my liking, but I may be the only one who feels that way — everybody seemed to enjoy it.