Eighteen at the Radisson

Reviews 3

SC

Scott Aronoff

My party and I were absolutely shocked that this restaurant, Eighteen at the Radisson, is considered a fine dining establishment. We had checked the reviews online prior to going to the restaurant, so we thought we would have a wonderful meal and breathtaking views that our kids and out of town family (first time for both) would enjoy. What we got was a beautifully renovated restaurant complete with the most comfortable chairs we had ever sat in and yes, incredible views of the city on a picture-perfect night. What we didn’t get was upscale dining. Instead it was two tacky hostesses (one with a tattoo of a large butcher knife on her forearm) greeting us and a busser who filled our water and dipped his tie into my butter, water glass and bread. What happened to tucking your tie in to your shirt while pouring the drink? The server, Nikki, came over and impressed us at first. Like I said, we had my two kids with me and without asking first, Nikki returned to the table 15 minutes later with my son’s kids meal. I never understand why restaurants bring the kids meal so early. She served it to him without even asking us if we would prefer the kid’s meal before or during our meal. That would-be class and even casual dining restaurants do that. If she had, we would have said with our meal. But now, our son was eating right after we had salad and soup and he would be done before we even started. We mentioned that to Nikki and she said our meal was coming right out behind her. Eight minutes later, it arrived. Before I go delve into the meal I must say the best part of the whole dining experience were the rolls and butter. The great tasting butter complemented the warm toasted rolls perfectly. The meal came with the Linguini Carbonara being the best out of the whole order. It presented well and according to my brother-in-law was very good. We had two Filet Mignons one of which came out rare when specifically asked to be medium plus and told that there would not be any blood red look to the inside. My son had the Top Sirloin which we had to cut away about 25% of the steak to remove the gristle and fat. All the steaks had no flavor. None! It tasted and looked like a meal I could do at home without any seasonings or special training. After recooking my Filet, Nikki brought it back missing the mashed potatoes that were on the plate (which we ALL mentioned I wanted back), and in its place were additional green beans that I had taken off originally. It was the same steak complete with my knife wound but 1/3 of our shared potatoes were left in the kitchen. And, the taste was so bland; the shavings of butter didn’t help do it justice. That might have been better to order with the shavings of butter melted on the steak just prior to coming out of the kitchen. My wife ordered the Duck Breast and before I got my meal back she was already asking if it was cooked right. The duck had no flavor and was nothing of a fine restaurant taste. How can you consider these “delectable… carefully crafted (meals) by seasoned culinary experts in the kitchen?” For a steak house, it was very expensive for “cheap” quality food. And to top it off, the dessert options we heard when we sat down now dwindled to just a few. Nikki lead off the menu now with Graeter’s Ice Cream (one flavor only). Then we learned why it was first mentioned. Some of the other desserts were now not part of the repertoire. The chocolate cake had gone. How did you plan to “of course, leave us with a sweet dessert to top of the night” when at 6:40pm on a Saturday night you are out? We left without dessert and unfulfilled. So, when you say, “there are no doubt plenty of Cincinnati restaurants to choose from when dining… and if you’re looking to try out one of the best restaurants in Cincinnati,” I’d venture to say go elsewhere. All you will get at Eighteen at the Radisson is an experience that revolves around the view but doesn’t provide you fine dining at the core.

RA

Rachel Robinson

Meh pretty much sums it up perfectly!! Thought this would be a great place for Valentines dinner... Now I kinda wished I hadnt. We made reservations less than a week before we needed it, and had no problems with that end what-so-ever. Word of advice, go in the 2nd door from the parking lot and take the elevators up. They dont really put any signage up until youre IN the elevator. Tip 2? Pay attention to what letter section youre sitting in, because if you get up to use the restroom, itll be a lot easier to find your seat again. The restrooms and the lobby stay put, your table does not. We were seated after a very short wait, next to the window and our server said hed be with us shortly. They were still sort of busy, but not incredibly. 10 minutes later he finally came back and we asked for a wine list and he was gone again for awhile. We put our food order in and the salads came out pretty quickly, but by what I can only deem a food runner/bus boy/water filler. I saw that kid more than my waiter the entire night! The food came, and it was nice. The steaks were huge! But yes got it medium and it was dry... but not dry dry, it was juicy, it was more like they let it age way too long. was not worth $36. the potatoes were awesome though! And the Riesling was darn near perfect, could have been a tad more chilled, but nice. Yes the floor moves and I had been told you dont notice it, but you do... I get horrible motion sickness, and after about a half hour i was ready to go and not admire the view anymore. I suggest a table away from the window, maybe one that looks straight out over the city in a cozy booth might be better. The service was severely lacking. I had heard and seen him interacting with other tables, telling them their offerings and what not, when he was not pleasant to us AT ALL. I guess they had a special tasting menu for the evening for $120 a couple, he didnt ask us, but maybe because we were looking at the menu... but we were looking over the highway at the time, so there wasnt much else to look at. He didnt really stop at our table as he was passing through and asking everyone else if they were ok. It was the little things. Over all, maybe if was staying here, or just wanted a drink, they have a stationary bar, and a few tables, and they have a lounge area, where you can get a drink and sit in nice chairs and just watch the city... that might be nice... but for the food? Not really worth the money, and not even one time really....

CR

Crystal Mckeehan

Im sure the actual Eighteen at the Radisson is nice, but when I went for my first time it was not actually Eighteens Menu. I had called to see if the restaurant was open, a girl told me yes. So we went for dinner, had been waiting a long time to finally go, my mom and I were so excited to eat at the restaurant that high up and the moving floor. We arrive to the entire restaurant empty. We thought maybe its just slow for a Monday? We are giving a one sided paper menu with limited options. We were shocked to see how small the menu was. We ordered the steak which was good. Before the food cake out we asked the waitress why the floor wasnt moving? The waitress then tells us that its not actually open on Mondays and this was the hotel restaurant just using the top floor restaurant for the night. We were so disappointed that we were not told that to start. We asked to see the actual eighteen restaurant menu which was much better than the small one we had ordered from, and we were really upset to know that the day we finally get to go to this restaurant it would not be moving at all. The whole reason we wanted to go was for the moving floor. We had already ordered before any of this came to light so we were stuck with the food we had instead of being able to come back another night. The steak and fries were good. The broccoli was a tiny portion but it was good.

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