Sunny Deli

I’ve walked by Sunny Deli mayhaps 1000 times during my tenure downtown, and have never jumped in for a dish. I righted that wrong today when my associate and I were looking for a quick lunch and were tired of the same-​ol same-​ol that can be downtown. They tout sandwiches and Korean food on the outside which kinda caught me off guard as they typically don’t go together, but what the heck, it’s worth a shot right?
When we went in there was a line of about 4 people waiting and one guy working behind the counter making everything fresh as it came up. I saw a salad and a sandwich go out before my meal and they looked OK at best, so I was a bit worried when I ordered my Bi Bim Bap but those worries quickly were calmed when I watched his preparation of the dish. For $ 8 you get large amounts of veggies and beef with egg atop a bed of white rice, served with spicy chili sauce on top made this a very tasty and healthy lunch option for downtown.
The lady behind me had the spicy chicken stir fry which also looked quite tasty and something I may try next go around.
The dining area is kinda boring, yet clean. Since it was nice outside we opted to get it to go and sat on Fountain Square and enjoyed the weather. I’ve also heard of people going to the top of Carew Tower to enjoy the view up there w/​their dish, which is now on my list of things to do.
Glad I stopped in today, will do so again!

A hidden gem in the middle of downtown! We ran into this place in our search for something healthy and decent to eat for lunch. We probably passed this place up countless times during my stay at the hilton, gut when we found it, we were definitely glad that we found it. Overall, it is a deli and have a variety of sandwiches, but the reason why this place is awesome and a gem is that it also serves basic Korean meals. I ordered the bi bim bap with white rice, beef, and extra spicy sauce on it. It was DELICIOUS! Definitely a change from eating American food during my trip. If ever I am in this area again on business, I will definitely go back for a piping hot bowl of rice Korean style.

This is a Korean restaurant inside the historic Carew Tower in downtown Cincinnati. They also serve sandwiches and breakfast. The Korean meals (I had bulgogi) come with rice and your choice of drink. It is NOT wheelchair accessible… you need to go up steps to get to the counter and seating. For the money, I got a large amount of food, it was tasty, and there were veggies mixed in with the meat. The owner was smiling and quickly prepared my food once I’d ordered. If I’m in the building again (I was checking out the roof top over look) I’d definitely eat here again. I don’t know if you can bring food onto the roof, but it would be a good picnic situation. Kind of romantic, no?

Sunny Deli is the kind of out-​of-​the-​way oddball that Unilocal was made to highlight. This is not to say I take the credit for highlighting this one, because I became aware of it through Unilocal reviews of Sunny Deli’s other location over on Seventh Street.
Although the ceilings aren’t low, this might be the deli you’d find in the Mertin-​Flemmer Building from «Being John Malkovich»: It’s tucked into a bizarre half-​floor walk-​up cubbyhole on the ground floor of Carew Tower, just past the elevators. Once inside, you almost expect to look over into a corner and see the very odd Dr. Lester from that movie having lunch.
But what you actually see inside is a pretty normal-​looking deli with a long and pretty standard deli menu. (No stooping required as in the Flemmer Building’s floor seven-​and-​a-​half.)
Except that the friendly proprietors are Korean and have added some Asian items like Mapo Tofu and bibimbap. These are the dishes that make this place stand out. They’re not the best versions of these dishes you’ve ever had, not by a long shot. But they make for a very satisfying and relatively healthy alternative for lunch-​time comfort food at only seven or eight bucks. Caveat: the bibimbap is available only on Wednesdays, and it is not is not made in the crispy-​rice dolsot style.
I’ve tried a sandwich or two from the deli. They’re competently assembled but not very memorable. At first glance, the sandwiches may seem like they’re a hair too expensive for what they are, but they come with a bottle of water and bag of chips.
A nice and somewhat different downtown lunch stop.