moerlein lager house

5/10. i have total mixed reviews about this restaurant. its always packed and youre lucky to snag a bar seat. the staff is too busy to really concentrate on you. however, the three times ive been there the wait was 2 hours plus so we were in the "garden". the food looked better than it tasted; but the candied pork belly is fantastic!!! the view is reallygreattoo; but i have a view of cincy at home, so it wasnt a big up for me. always cool to support a local brewery though.

pretty good, not for kids.. i have eaten at moerlein twice and both times were good. the first time i was meeting a few friends before a reds game and i brought along my 5 year old son. i got the ridiculous more burger and he got a hot dog with fries. the more burger is good, but just way to messy and it just falls apart from the egg. very hard to eat. my son's hot dog was tough to bite into. it was like a rubber coating around the outside. i am all for a sausage with a snap, but this was even hard to cut with a knife.
the next time i went was with the wife. we ordered the muscles for an appetizer. now i am not a big fan of muscles, it is more my wife's thing, but these things were simply awesome! she eats them all the time and she said that this was the best muscles she has ever eaten. entree's came a little later, and honestly they were good but nothing to rave over. i got the braised short ribs. everything was done well. the green beans and potatoes that were with it were good. the ribs were good.... but i can make the same thing with a chuck roast and some thyme.... or time. the wife got the surf and turf, which i was jealous she got and not me.... at first. her filet was good. cooked well, and seasoned. the crab cake was good. then there was the spinach risotto that came with it. it may be petty to complain about a side dish, but this was awful. it was stiff, under seasoned, and way way over cooked to the point of it being mush. however, let's face it, risotto is only good when it is made to order and i doubt that this is.
anyway, moerlein has somegreatgreat beer. we had the best muscles ever, but the food is just good. nothing to rave about but nothing to turn my nose up at either. just if you bring the kids be sure to pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for them or something.

picture removed. apparently taking a picture of a huge chicken bone found in their food and posting it to urbanspoon is frowned upon. definitely won't be back and will tell everyone i know to avoid this place like the plague.


-----08 may, 2012-----

overall disappointing. i sincerely hope the owners read, and take seriously, the reviews regarding the food here because it doesn't seem their employees do. first, i have to say, that the beer, view and decor is all great. the food and the service, however, is lackluster. i came here with 4 people and we each ordered an entree. when the food was brought out we were missing the blackened tilapia. after about 10 minutes, waiting for the server to come back, he told us the tilapia was burnt and that it would be out shortly. my friend ordered the chicken melt sandwich and found a huge bone in it (picture attached). she brought it to the attention of the server, who apologized but left the plate, bone in all, on the table. at this point the tilapia still hadn't arrived. when he saw me take a picture of the bone he came over and said the manager would be out shortly. about 15-20 minutes later, when we were all finished with our meals, a woman brings out the tilapia and offers a halfhearted apology. my friend asked her if she was the manager and she said she was. my friend then asked her if she had seen the chicken bone and if it was brought to the attention of the kitchen. she said it was. i have my doubts. i really, really, wanted to like this place. the beer is agreatrepresentation of this city, the food is definitely not. there are plenty of places in downtown cincinnati where you can spend $30 and get amazing food made by professional and havegreatservice. save the moerlein lager house for beers before or after a game.

always a staple in any of my visits downtown. food is good, view over looking the river is fantastic. i've been there several times and have never received bad service.greatplace for a business outing as well.

moerlein's is located at the riverfront. got a nice view and usually gets full during the games days!! i have been there a few time now for dinners and special occasion. their flatbreads aregreatoptions for lunch/dinner. i tried buffalo chicken and caprese. both were quite nice. caprese has a distinct flavour of basil pesto and balsamiic glaze. wheat beers on the tap are good too.

stopped in for a business dinner while traveling. an easy walk across the roebling bridge from covington hotels and i preferred the food to other nearby restaurants i've tried. the food was better, the prices were better...the service was a little slow, but other than that, agreatexperience. i selected the dry-rubbed tri-tip sirloin with grilled asparagus and smoked cheddar mashed potatoes, and especially nice meal for the $20 price tag. the steak was well prepared, the asparagus tender and the potatoes flavorful. i finished with a apple almond bread pudding, which was excellent. not too sweet and not overly heavy, made it a very good finish. i would definitely recommend.

we spent monday and tuesday night of the all-star game at moerlein,and i couldn't have asked for a better experience! the entire staff deserves a round of applause! i know many of them were running on a few hours of sleep but the quality of food and service was not sacrificed! the establishment was packed wall to wall and it is agreatexample of of cincinnati has to offer! thank you!

i surprised my husband with tickets to a cincinnati reds game. while there, we were walking around checking out the stadium and my husband like to get “locals” opinions of where to eat. we had not eaten lunch and it was around 3 so my husband asked a police officer working the game here he would go. he said his after game favorite was moerlein lager house which in only a block or so from the game and was conveniently between the game and where we had parked. we had no idea what to expect but the inside décor was much more luxe than what we had expected.

the downstairs housed a large richly appointed bar and an opulent grand staircase led to the main dining room upstairs. since it was such a pretty day out my husband chose for us to be seated on the large wrap around patio. we had a table on the outside of the patio above the street below overlooking the river and a beautiful park below.

i had a margarita to drink and my husband had a local (moerlein) beer. my drink was wonderful. i don’t drink beer so i can’t vouch for that. my husband opted for fish and chips with jalapeno tartar sauce. he said the fish wasgreatbut the tartar sauce left a lot to be desired and that was the whole reason he ordered it because he wanted to try the tartar sauce. i do know that any tartar sauce i’ve ever seen looks chunky and this was extremely liquid. no form or shape whatsoever. complete liquid.

on the other hand, my sandwich was fantastic! i had the short rib grilled cheese with sweet potato fries. the fries were fresh made. my husband said he didn’t like them because they tasted like sweet potatoes… well, duh, that’s what sweet potatoes are supposed to taste like! i loved them and this is my review, so! the sandwich was one of the best tasting sandwiches i’ve ever eaten… “braised beef short ribs, sweet onion relish, butterkase (cheese) on parmesan sourdough bread” omg! need i say more? it pretty much melted in your mouth. let’s put it this way. i only ate like a quarter of it because it was so big. i gave hubs the other half, which he gobbled up! i took the remaining quarter back tour hotel and ate it a few hours later, cold from the fridge and it was still better than most sandwiches you’d get anywhere and still tender, even cold. if i ever get the chance to go there again, i know what i’m ordering! it was a little more than what i am accustomed to paying for lunch but well worth it!

amazing beer cheese anything! highly recommend the part garlic fries and smokestack bbq sandwich! service was a little delayed, but very friendly! they hadgreatsuggestions for other places as well, since we were out of towners!

great view, service, interesting entrees. we recently visited with a party of 10 to moerlein's on nuxall way. they called me around noon to confirm our large party reservation, which was a good sign. the service was very prompt and attentive, as the main server was in the process of training another server.
i had the squash wellington-with mushroom filling layered atop of the main layer of squash, colorful, with a base of spaeckel and more mushrooms in a pastry shell-very good meal. others had a variety of sandwiches, basic meals like meat loaf and potatoes, etc. with positive comments.greatroot beer and regular german microbrews! we would return.

great evening. good food,greatbeer. i highly recommend the lager house for a night out. everyone was friendly and efficient. we had reservations, arrived 30 minutes early thinking we would sit at the bar. but to our surprise, we were seated immediately. will return!

happy new year!. we had agreatdinner for new year's eve-greatservice,greatfood and beautiful views!

great service and so many nice people ...but. i really- really want to like this place but the food is just fair. i cannot get past mediocre food, no excuse. so maybe we go and have a beer and eat elsewhere. shorten the menu and do some things really well.
maybe i have not found it on the menu. i had the fish taco's (ugh) , the evening "special"-fair.
the choice for me? not sure we will return.
too manygreatoptions in this city.

loved the first visit, 2nd was bad. the first time i visited, a weekday lunch, the food was great. nice decorgreatlocation.

the second was bad from the beginning. aug 28th around 8pm we left the bengals game early and walked to the lager house. we asked for a table and the hostess grabbed a couple menus and ran off ahead, rushing past several more desirable tables in a nearly empty restaurant. she parked us in a corner overlooking an intersection.
it took a long while before the server arrived, she was okay. the food was not good. the fries were hot, but limp. likely cooked and then reheated. the fish in the fish and chips was soggy. steak overcooked

the environment wasgreatand the food was alright, but the service was embarrassing. i threw my husbands surprise 30th birthday dinner here yesterday evening. when i set my reservation they failed to inform me that a football game was happening that evening and that the parking was going to be a nightmare and extremely expensive. i felt awful for the guests i invited. half of our party didn't show because of this and we were rudely reminded of that when we had to ask if we could order dinner. they had to get another server to take over our table due to the lack of people. my salad and dinner was given to me at the same time and one of the guests never received her drink and when she brought it up to the server she replied, "oh, do you still want that"? the worst part was when they brought the birthday cake out, which i was told i could bring a store bought one, and it was still in the box. i tried to be as nice as i possibly could about this horrible presentation and said, " could you take it back to the kitchen and put it on a plate with candles?", apparently that was a huge issue because we brought our own cake and didn't order one of theirs - extremely unprofessional. i'm appalled by the service we received. i planned a really special evening and it was a disaster. the food and decor is nice, but the service is shocking.