Nada

600 Walnut St
Cincinnati, OH 45202

(513) 721-6232


Nada is truly a joy to blog about for more than one reason. First off I want to talk about the atmosphere. Nada is a modern restaurant that incorporates bright, fun colors and dim lighting to make it feel more intimate. Although it is loud and very close quarters, it can still provide a romantic environment with candles at each table and large open windows. I would recommend suggesting a seat by the window when you make reservations because those tables seemed to be more separated from the other tables around them. The restaurant is on 2 levels and both level incorporate a bar and some bar seating. They have a full menu of specialty mixed drinks, wines, and imported beers. It would be a great place to go for some drinks after work or with friends on a night out.


Now lets go on to the food, if you didn't already know Nada is a Mexican restaurant, but not in a traditional sense. Some dishes come highly Americanized and they even offer green beans as a side dish. The chips and salsa cost extra but I was glad we got them because the chips came out warm and the salsa was delicious. The salsa almost had 2 flavors, initially it had a little bit of a sweet taste to it and then after it sat on your tongue it had a spicy kick at the end. It was not a very thick salsa but it was tasty nonetheless. For dinner, Tj and I decided to go with the "large plates" options. The other choices they have are tacos, soups and salads, or what they call iron pot dishes. Obviously they also have appetizers which we noticed a lot of people were ordering and having them with their drinks. The appetizers were very small and only came with 2 things on them per dish. For example if you order the taquitos appetizer there will only be 2 taquitos on the plate. So nothing big to share with a large group.


T.J. ordered the Yucatan Chicken which is described on the menu as an all spice-chile rubbed breast. The chicken came served over a bed of green beans with cauliflower, squash, and salsa also accompanying the plate. The chicken was juicy and the spices gave it such delicious flavor. I was glad that T.J. let me try a bite. All of the sides on the plate had different tastes, some were sweet and some were savory-would be great to eat all together but T.J. broke it apart and ate all the sides separately.

I ordered the chicken and corn enchiladas. This came with 3 enchiladas served in a very thick sauce. It was almost like a tortilla soup and it had a very spicy taste to it. They serve the meal with a spoon so you can spoon it over top of your enchiladas and it tasted so wonderful. The tortillas were soft and baked to perfection and inside of the tortilla they had corn, beans, salsa, and even couscous. Hands down it was the best enchilada I have ever tasted with so many different flavors that were pleasant to my taste buds. The meal was savory and spicy one of my favorite combinations! MUY BEUNO!

I felt the food was priced a little high for what you get. Our bill came out to be about 42 dollars, definitely nothing that would break the bank for just the 2 of us, but might be quite expensive for a family to go eat at (my family has 12 people). I will say it's probably not the best atmosphere for young children as it is noisy and there are a lot of people carrying hot food trays around and making alcoholic drinks. Best for a night out with the girls, date night, or drinks after work.

I can't wait to go back and try more of their menu although i'm not sure if I could stray from those enchiladas!!

Adios!!
Lauren

HUGO NOGO

HUGO
3235 Madison Road · Cincinnati, Ohio 45209 · 513.321.HUGO(4846)


I had originally told T.J. I wanted to try out NADA in downtown because I've heard great things, but it was too late to get reservations (obviously other people like it as well) and T.J. had a gift card to Hugo from www.restaurants.com. We decided to give it a try because it was something different and as T.J. pointed out it was romantic.

So, the reservations we got was for 8:30. When we went in, we didn't feel like celebrities like at the Waterfront, but instead felt like we were at a restaurant we shouldn't be in because we didn't make a certain amount of money. The atmosphere was indeed romantic, there were candles at each table and it was decorated very nice on the inside. However, nobody there was under the age of at least 40. We felt young, awkward, and out of place. When our waiter came, he actually wasn't the friendliest. He talked very little and didn't seem to pleased by our presence. He just mumbled a lot and was hard to understand.

When we recieved the menu there was not a huge variety of foods listed. The menu is described as southern sophistication. For an appetizer we tried the fritters. These were the best part of our meal because they were served with a chili jam that was sweet at first then followed by the spicy kick. I have to be honest and say that I really enjoyed these. After that, T.J. and I just went for the main course, although the menu is set up with 3 courses. T.J. got the New York Strip and I got the Free Range Chicken. The steak tasted charred and my chicken was absolutely nothing special. Since the restaurant was so "fancy" there were no sides that accompained the food. It was basically a piece of meat with decoration around the plate. My chicken was served on a bed of hash which was probably one of the nastiest things I've ever tasted. The texture was watery and gross on my tongue and it did not accompany the meal well. Tj's was served with onion straws on top of the steak which he said was "the best part."

Our drinks were often empty with nobody there to refill them even though many waiters and waitresses walked by. The table next to us provided the most enjoyable part of the night as they were being loud and cracking up laughing and even spilled wine at one point. Everyone else in the restaurant was staring at their rudeness but we were happy to see some sort of livliehood in that place.

Anyways, the meal was about 60 bucks which we really don't mind spending every once in awhile if the food is great and the service is good. HUGO did nothing to make our trip worth it, it's a shame to try to go out on a nice date and be utterly disappointed by not only the food, but the wait staff as well. Even though food critics in the past have labeled it as great, I would steer clear of this place.

With your best taste in mind,
Lauren

Dewey's Pizza

I know we have not updated in awhile but I have decided to keep up the blog because I still want to educate you wonderful people on the places I love to eat. I hope you will try them too and be just as thrilled.
On today's list.... Dewey's pizza, one of my favorite places to eat on a regular basis. Dewey's Pizza has locations in greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, Dayton, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Columbus. I once met a lady from Pennsylvania who was living temporarily in Cincinnati. She said when she went home she would miss Dewey's Pizza the most. I do not blame her.
First lets talk about the atmosphere, Dewey's is a fun environment and children especially like the glass windows to the kitchen where they can watch the cooks making their hand tossed doughs. Just like you see here.
So, as you would probably guess, their doughs are delicious.

So what do you get when you go here? NOT CHEESE.
Don't get me wrong, all of their pizza is excellent quality, but whey get cheese when they have a whole list of specialty pizzas that are waiting to awake your pizza taste buds.

My personal favorite....Ryan's Inferno. This pizza is Dewey's take on a buffalo chicken pizza. Trade the marinara sauce in for olive oil and you have your start. Accompany it with buffalo chicken, Gorgonzola cheese, red onion, ranch dressing, and celery. YUM!

Prefer veggie? Then how about trying their Billy Goat, olive oil sauce, minced garlic, light mozzarella, goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, green peppers, and fresh tomatoes. This pizza made a vegetable lover out of me!

Of course there is always an option to create your own pizza, but try one of theirs. They know what they're doing.

One thing is for sure, you will see toppings here that you would see at no other pizza place, so it creates a whole different experience for any pizza lover.

I think I'll go get some Dewey's now.
Elle.

Week 1 Lemon Grass

Lemon Grass Restaurant

Cuisine: Thai

2666 Madison Rd
Cincinnati, OH 45208

McGeej says:

I am a fan of Thai food, having heard so many good things from this restaurant I had to try it for myself. So me and ol' elle got the GPS out and set on our way to experience all the hype for ourselves. Elle, did a pretty good description of the place on the inside and how we felt so there is no sense repeating. I started off with the Lemongrass soup without chicken, and I must say that this soup is the most interesting thing I have had in a long time. It allows you to taste everything from sweet, to spicy, to bitter, and everything in between. It also had mushrooms served floating in the soup which was an excellent compliment to the rest of the flavors floating around with them. In our culture we are not used to tasting such herbs and spices that are used in this soup so I highly recommend trying it. For my meal I ordered the Lemongrass noodle, a mix of what we would call buttered noodles and Lo Mein with various vegetables and chicken in there. It had a sweet kind of taste that I wasn't fond of at first, but by the end of it I started to enjoy. I will be quite honest, I was a little jealous after tasting a bit of elle's food, but you'll have to read her section to see how that went. All in all, if you are a fan of Thai food you must visit Lemongrass very soon, and tell them you found them on Legit Dining!

Elle says:

Well let’s first start off with the atmosphere. The restaurant is very small, but is decorated pleasant and has an extremely welcoming feel. Although the restaurant is small, I never felt cluttered. I also felt like I got more attention from the waiters and waitresses. My water glass never got below the halfway point, as someone seemed to always be checking on me. For an appetizer I had crab ragoons. These are one of my favorite appetizers and here I was not disappointed. The shell was much softer than most that I have tasted and this made them easier to take bites. Oh yeah, they were amazingly tasty too! My favorite part of the meal had to be the main course-Teriyaki Chicken for me. The taste was nothing short of spectacular. It didn’t taste like any teriyaki sauce I have come across before. It had a little kick of spice, but was nothing too shocking. Plus if you prefer no spice you can get a spice level of 0 as the restaurant lets you chose your spice level between one & 10. The vegetables mixed in with the teriyaki were so tender, I found myself eating all of them-Something very rare for a girl who is vegetable-phobic. The mushrooms were cooked perfectly and savored in the sauce it equaled my favorite part of the meal. My only complaint was that a couple hours later I felt myself hungry again. The food didn’t seem to be extremely filling in the long run. It was a good date environment.

Taste Rating: 4 Forks

Would I return? J

Until Next Week!

Elle