Taste of Belgium

I love this place and their authentic waffles. In addition to waffles they have excellent crepes, pizza and more… and now that their patio is open it is a perfect café to relax just blocks from the square.

I had a wonderful and delicious lunch experience today at Taste of Belgium downtown at the Banks in the Freedom Center. The menu had lots of tasty items to choose from including ways to pronounce the Belgium Ambergaire. The food was more creative than eating the usual museum style cafeteria grub. Even better than the MET (The Metropolitan Museum of Art Café) in New York City. Thank you, Taste of Belgium for having a vision and turning the Freedom Center Café into a destination lunch spot for the Banks.

Great outdoor patio seating over looking Covington and the Ohio river. Tons of street parking, but if there is a special event parking may be difficult. Moderately priced food, and tons of options. They also have some vegan fare. But the chicken and waffles is by far my favorite. The grilled cheese is great too.

I have had the infamous waffle at Findlay market. This did not, however, stop me from ordering yet another. I was quite curious about the crepes. I have had a lavender honey butter before and thought it was a great combo, so I decided to order the lavender sugar crêpe. The waffle — fabulous as usual. The crêpe — not so. I felt there was an imbalance of the sugar to lavender ratio. It was way too low. I knew this was supposed to be a sweet crêpe, but I ended up feeling like I was eating raw lavender buds straight from the fields. I am a huge lavender fan as I drink the tea straight from the buds all the time. But this crêpe was just not enjoyable for me. It needed a huge sweetness boost in my opinion. I will say that it was perfectly golden brown! Our waitress was cheery, which upped the enjoyment factor. I read that most people are underwhelmed by the austere décor, but I was not bothered at all. The sun was shining in on my table, and the patio was open for business I will probably revisit Taste of Belgium at this location, but I’ll be branching out my crêpe horizons.

I love, love, LOVE Taste of Belgium’s stand at Findlay Market. It’s one of the best stops in a market full of amazing stops. So when I heard they were opening a full café in the Freedom Center, I was overwhelmed with excitement! I had to get there to try their food! …
And then, I didn’t. I’m not sure why I didn’t get over there — perhaps because The Freedom Center is just so far away from anywhere I am on a daily basis. Even working out of Over-​the-​Rhine, it’s a pretty far trek.
Foolish Alex! How could I be missing this delicious food for so long! I finally got down there after planning a lunch gathering there for a few Unilocalers. And I saw what I had denied myself for so long.
Finding the place can be a little tricky. The Freedom Center is so giant that you’re a little intimidated when walking in. Just ask someone — they’ll help you. Or you can walk around the back of the building and there’s an entrance there as well.
Walking in, you’re not quite sure if you order at the counter or wait at a table. I sat down and a waitress did eventually come over to us after a while, so I guess you order at the table … unless she was waiting for us to go up to the counter. (Still not 100 percent on this one.)
I ordered the chicken salad baguette and it was delicious! The bread was clearly fresh cooked and crunch, the chicken salad was tasty and the side salad was crisp. The only thing I wasn’t thrilled with was that my salad dressing came in a tiny plastic take-​away cup. My hot sauce came the same way when I asked for it. No little bowls? That just felt kind of wasteful (and, made it feel a little like a high-​school café).
It’s very well priced too. A great sandwich with a side salad for like $ 7. A pizza for like $ 8. Nice. They also have all the waffles and crepes that they do have at the stand, if you’re craving that.
Out waitress was über-​friendly and smiled and made suggestions to what we might like. Wish I caught her name, but she was great.
And free wifi! Love that so mych.
The only real downside is, as many people have pointed out, there’s almost no atmosphere here at all. It feels like any other museum café, which is to say a little bland and sterile. Sitting outside cures that problem, but inside, it’s very white. Ah well, the food certainly makes up for it.
I had a great time out with some great people at this place! Darn it, I’m going to go out of my way to be in the neighborhood for lunch here.

Man am I glad I stumbled onto this place… kinda literally…
Seriously, I’m going to tell you now, go to the back of the building, towards the river, find the patio, and I swear there’s a door there. I walked right past the door not realizing it was a door. It blended well. Not that it’s crazy artsy awesome or anything… in fact its just the opposite. Kinda bland and dull, and needs some awesomely huge artwork on the wall or something. But seriously thats the only negative thing about this place.
Like i mentioned earlier, awesome patio. I feel like this would be a great place to just chill with some coffee and a waffle. in the morning. We walked in and went towards the counter but one of the ladies stopped us and asked if we were eating here. When we responded yes, she told us to have a seat, and brought menus over. The bonus, they have all their Findlay market goodies, and then some! The pizza’s looked amazing, albeit funny looking, but you know they’re handmade. I had the breakfast burrito and it was huge and amazing! The Cinnamon crêpe isn’t too bad either. I wanted a little more… sweetness maybe? or maybe I’m just used to the crunch with toast, but it was really good and came with a few pieces of fruit.
Word to the wise, if you get any of the sandwich type dishes, you’ll get a small salad on the side. And the take out menus have coupons on them! bonus!

I had seen/​heard rave reviews of Taste of Belgium on Unilocal,mostly on the Findlay location. But I went to the Freedom Center café for my first Taste of Belgium experience. I kept it simple and got a waffle. It was bliss. Heaven. But small! I could have easily eaten another one, so I ordered a dessert crêpe.
My crêpe was oozing with fresh bananas and melted nutella and presented beautifully. It was a nice size, about 3 times the size of the waffle. I’m a dessert lover, and this crêpe was top notch. Overall, the food here is excellent.
The downside: The service is firiendly but slow, and the atmosphere is average. The overall operation seems a bit disorganized. This is a faily new location, so perhaps they just need time to work out the kinks. And I wish the waffles were bigger!
I will go back for another one of those gorgeous dessert crepes, and I’ll check out the Findlay market location too.

As a long time fan of the Taste of Begium waffles at Findlay Market, I was excited to see they were branching out. Went there for lunch today and I am now a fan of the Freedom Center location also. I ordered the hand tossed wild mushroom pizza and it was excellent. Looking around at my table mates plates I have a list of what I want to try the next time.
The décor is bordering on cafeteria style, but who’s looking around when your food is this tasty.

Today was my second visit to The Taste of Belguim at The Freedom Center. I had the Wild Mushroom Pizza. I was also very pleased with this entrée. The price was good at around $ 8.00 for about a 10-​inch (ish) pizza. I have to add the (ish) to the size because you can tell that each personal pizza is hand made, so the shape of two pizza’s is never the same.
I hope they create a nifty tag line, like: Taste of Belgium — more than just waffles!
This may just become my go to place for lunch!

I’ve known the bliss that is a fresh, hot waffle from Taste of Belgium. It all started about three years ago when they provided food for one of the Cincinnati Zoo’s Wild About Wine events. I was immediately hooked! Then I started getting my fix on weekend visits to Findlay Market. Often I’ll get the traditional crêpe which has ham and gruyère cheese.
Well now they’ve branched out and offer a larger lunch menu at their café at The Banks. Attached to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, there’s seating inside as well as a patio with about 15 tables. I ate there with some friends today and after perusing the menu, decided to have the wild mushroom pizza. It’s a thinner, hand-​tossed crust with gruyère cheese and ample sauce. It was delicious! Someone nearby had a sweet crêpe with Nutella and bananas. It looked heavenly and I’d love to try that the next time I visit.

I love Taste of Belgium’s food and was really excited when they took over the café at The Freedom Center. This meant I could now enjoy Taste of Belgium for lunch occasionally. Since I am such a big fan of the food, it pains me to only rate their café at The Freedom Center 3 stars, but something is just missing here. The food is still fine, but everything else is lacking.
I have been there twice and both times had the same problems. The main problem is the wait. Both times the place was nearly empty but it took over 15 minutes to get my foods each time. The first time I can excuse as I ordered slices of pizza and it wasn’t cooked yet and they had only recently opened this location. They no longer have pizza on the menu, which is disappointing cause their pizza is great, but maybe this was a common problem. The 2^nd time however I don’t know what the hold up was. There was only one other person there and I ordered chicken fingers and fries (and of course a waffle), which definitely shouldn’t take 20 minutes to cook.
One other problem I have had both times is the fountain soft drinks. They were terrible. Something must be off about their water. If you go, buy a can of pop, skip the fountain cause the fountain beverages are nearly undrinkable.
Despite my mostly negative review, I do recommend Taste of Belgium. The food is really tasty. I am also a fan of The Freedom Center. I hope they can work these kinks out. I will still return to this location, just gotta make sure I have time for a long lunch that day.
(note: If you have the choice between this or the Findlay Market stand, go to Findlay. I give the Findlay Market location 5 stars)

This place is inside the Freedom Center and was difficult to find at first (I called three times! Once while standing in front of the place)
I am from LA and wanted to eat somewhere outside my hotel, or the convention center, and see a little bit of the city. We crossed the bridge and ventured over for some crepes… The reviews looked good. The food was good, but the service earned it an extra star!
We, like some other reviewers, weren’t feeling the love when we first walked in. But the friendly staff put us right at ease and we found our seats and a cup o’ joe quickly.
The server recommended a waffle sandwich that isn’t on the menu. I chose the ham and gruyère waffle sandwich, some friends had the Italian crêpe. My sandwich had the perfect combination of sweet and salty, with some fresh red onion to give it a kick. It’s a little messy to eat, so grab a few napkins and dig in! Good eats for hungry travelers. The Italian crêpe was savory, but seemed a little dry… like a little sauciness would do it some good, but I wouldn’t not order it again. The melted cheese and buckwheat crêpe went down well with a swig of coffee.
My fries arrived a bit cold, but when I told the server, they brought a fresh round of hot fries to replace them. The server, hostess, and manager all came by our table to make sure our meal was satisfactory, a quality that seems to be the norm in the Cinncinati/​North Kentucky area. Kudos to mid-​west for producing such friendly people.
Now if only we could get them to recycle their plastic bottles, and add toilet seat covers?

If you can find this place, you will be in for a treat. But good luck with the finding it part. My husband and I had a Groupon and so we were bound and determined to walk around the building twice until we figured out which (unmarked) door it was. Once inside, we still weren’t sure we were in the right place. I was expecting a cute little crêpe/​waffle place and this feels more like an airport cafeteria.
However, once the crepes was in front of us, all was forgiven. My husband had the delicious Italian crêpe and I had the even delicious-​er Turkey crêpe. Both were tasty, well-​prepared, and very filling. We shared a waffle for dessert, and I have to say I was a bit disappointed. After drooling over the website, I had been greatly anticipating the authentic Belgian waffle experience. Call me an ignorant American, but I found the waffle to be too crunchy and the flavor dull and doughy.
I found the menu to be very limited, and when my husband asked the waitress about it (she was great, by the way), we were told that they were transitioning to a larger menu and longer hours, and that they’d be adding a full espresso bar and a liquor license. I think we may go back for more crepes, and hopefully they’ll have more to offer the second time around.

UPDATE: Per my earlier review, I thought the new location was promising but they hadn’t had enough time to revamp the place after taking over from the old vendor at the Freedom Center.
Well, they’ve had enough time and it has definitely moved up in my book! I went a few weekends ago and sat outside at one of their lovely tables. Their new menu was almost impossible to choose from, everything looked so good. But, I’d already gone in wanting to try the new Chicken & Waffles so I went with that and OH MAN, it was amazing! I love Taste of Belgium waffles, so a freshly breaded chicken breast on top with hot sauce and maple syrup wasn’t a tough sell. It also came with a nice side salad. I am pretty picky about my salads but this one was excellent.
I’d say the service was a little on the slow side but I know they just had a big event and I could tell my chicken was freshly cooked so I won’t make a big stink out of that.
Definitely check it out!
***
I am a huge Taste of Belgium fan and am very excited that they took over the café at the Freedom Center. They really just started so I fully expect to revise this review up to 5 stars when they’ve really had a chance to make all their changes.
I ate the pulled pork sandwich today and thoroughly enjoyed it! The main reason for the lower rating is the set up of the café that was there when they moved in… so not their fault at all. I talked to a museum employee who told me they have big plans to re-​do the space and that will make a big difference. Right now the cash register and ordering area is a bit confusing and there isn’t much ambiance. But, I have confidence that will improve! I definitely recommend checking it out and encouraging them along the way.