The Green Dog Café

This place is amazing. The corn in my sister’s chihuahua bowl is literally right off the cob! For some reason we are the only ones here right now, which makes me sad because I feel like everyone in Cincinnati should be eating here right now! I will seriously drive all the way to Cinci again just to eat here.

DO NOT ORDER THEIR FOOD IF YOU ARE VEGAN. I placed a pick up order of the vegan green chow chow curry. After I paid for the order the cashier told me that it was not vegan, he said «We cannot guarantee this is vegan because of the shrimp paste we use.» 1. Thanks for telling me that after I already paid for the food 2. I had previously ordered this dish and no one said anything to me about it 3. What if I was allergic to shrimp??? 4. They should not advertise their food as vegan if it is clearly NOT vegan. I will say the cashier offered to make me something else, however, I was in a hurry (hence the reason I ordered pick up) and could not wait 20 minutes for them make me something else. Very disappointed with Green Dog Café. DO NOT ORDER THEIR FOOD IF YOU ARE VEGAN.

Favorite turkey burger in town! With salsa and avocado topping it how can you go wrong! All the food here is very fresh and satisfying. A heathy lunch or dinner stop close to Mt. Lookout square.

I’m looking forward to visiting this place again. The food was flavorful and the service friendly. It is a wonderful mix of earthy-​crunchy and diner delectable. I tried the huevos racheros and it really was delicious, though arrived luke warm. I think the server was on the newer side, as she also brought me the wrong dish initially, so I am willing to forgo slamming this too hard until I’ve had a sequel visit. The lemon zephyr pancakes were also delicious, though could have been warmer.
Overall, I think this place shows real promise as a regular eatery and the prices are far more reasonable than some other organic diners. Check them out!

Service was disorganized, food came out somewhat cold but still pretty good. The lemon pancakes were ok but didn’t blow my mind. Bacon was really good but kind of cold. The milk we ordered wasn’t very cold. So basically the foods temperature was not good. The guy cleaning the tables wasn’t leaving silverware and napkins and everyone had to ask for them. I probably won’t come back.

Meh pretty much sums it up for me. This place was not healthy enough to feel good about eating it but not delicious enough to be a splurge. Nothing was bad but nothing was particularly good either. We had a coupon so we tried a number of dishes to get to the minimum. We started with the lemon hummus. It was good but standard. Would have rather pita or crackers or smaller bread. It came with 4 thick pieces of bread which did not come close to using even half of the hummus. The serving was very large even though we elected for the small. I did like the accoutrements that were served with it. Sadly this was the highlight of the meal. I tried the soup of the day next. It was a spring vegetable. Entirely underwhelming. Flavors were bland and watery. For our entrees we had the quesadilla and the veggie burger. The quesadilla was ok. I ordered it vegetarian but they put chicken on it wasn’t a big deal for us since we just sometimes eat veggie but I could see it being an issue as there bill themselves as a vegetarian place. We almost tried the vegan option but it was just taking the cheese out… not exactly a good option. For the same price I would expect some sort of a substitute. Especially since the flavors were just ok. It needed the help. In the end we were glad for the chicken because we ended up just picking it out. The burger again was just ok. I had a couple of bites and just didn’t want anymore. I was so excited to try their house made veggie patty bit it just wasn’t very tasty. We were surprised because we really liked there sister restaurant Buz. I don’t think we will be returning.

The lemon zest pancakes were awesome and our family shared fries that couldn’t have be better. My wife had the Hey Perro wrap and she really liked it. Great place and we’ll definitely be back.

Just stopped here for breakfast/​brunch recently.
The food is wonderfully tasty. We tried the breakfast burrito, lemon zephyr pancakes, and huevos rancheros. All were dynamite in terms of taste. Servers were friendly.
A couple comments for improvement, food could have been served hotter. Pancakes were warm and huevos rancheros was almost cold when we got it. Initially our server gave us the wrong dish. I think this was just a kitchen-​to-​service miscommunication.
However, as previously mentioned, everything tasted excellent.

Great casual lunch spot in the Columbia-​Tusculum area. The food is not just «good by vegan standards» good (sorry vegan friends), it’s GOOD.
The sauces that come with the Green Dog fries are worth a trip by themselves. Get the fries. You deserve it.
The grilled salmon wrap is off. The. Chain.

Alright, Green Dog is so underrated that I’m kind of okay with not everyone knowing how wonderful it is. If i’m in the mood for a moderately healthy brunch meal without an hour wait, then this is my go-​to.
Everything they do here is wonderful. They home make their amazing poppyseed bread that they use for their Turkey BLT sandwich (one of the best things on the menu and is a huge portion). They even give you a large slice of it if you order a cup of soup. Now when I say cup, I mean it’s probably more than a cup because it comes in a giant bowl. Their side salads are always huge too, and some have kimchi on them, which I would definitely recommend. It is basically just an amazing addition to a salad with all of the salad dressing components, but with even more depth of flavor. Their entrée salads come in enormous bowls that could feed four people. Their breakfast burrito is huge and amazing, their soups are always the best, and their plates are delicious as well. You literally cannot go wrong.
All of their food is fresh and homemade, without being pretentious. You know they just love what they do and are cooking amazing food daily because they love to do it. The fact that they also give you huge portions of everything from the soup, to the salad, to the sandwich, again validates their $$ price-​range. Many other Cincinnati restaurants do not serve up that much food at that price-​point, and Green Dog definitely gives you their money’s worth. You also order at the cash register, so you don’t have to tip. Think about the few bucks you would have tipped had you gone somewhere downtown, and the price evens out, especially considering their portions.
Come here if you are looking for something healthy, filling, and local and you will not be disappointed! Did I mention they have alcohol?

Fantastic food, good prices. Lunch with family here today. Great menu with healthy and comfort foods. I ordered the heuvos rancheros, egg over easy on a tortilla, beans and cheese. They have several gluten free options. My wife had the curry chicken salad. Its a huge portion of delicious chicken salad with sides. We also shared french fries that are superb. Others things at table looking delicious were the lemon pancake, bacon, potatoes, and the biscuit. The place was very busy, they may be a bit understaffed, service was a bit slow.

This trip was a very happy accident! My brother text me last minute that he was in town, and this was literally the middle between our locations.
I ended up LOVING it! I got the Sliders that were on special, and they were fabulous. A little too much bread for their size, but still good. My brother got the BLT. It was the size of his face and recommends it to everyone who isn’t vegetarian/​vegan.
I’d love to give this place. 5 star rating, but because of the cement floors and walls, it was very loud. The place wasn’t even full, and I had a hard time having a conversation.
Overall, I hope to move to that side of the city soon to make it a regular stop!

I love having healthy options in Cincinnati. I’ve been here four times; the first three times I got the chihuahua bowl. It is phenomenal! It’s large enough to consider a meal two or three times over. I usually eat half and then save half to take to work with me the next day and I have more than enough. The fourth time I went, I tried their legendary fries — now I understand why everyone raves about them! They are so flavorful and the sauces that they come with are to die for. Yes, this place is somewhat pricey, but this isn’t McDonald’s! You are purchasing food that is actually good for you! I think it’s worth it. Will be back.

I had the harvest salad and added goat cheese and it was delicious. We also started with the edamame and that was great as well. Large portions, fresh food, and good atmosphere.

I just moved to Cincinnati from Chicago and was dying for «real» food. This place is SO GREAT. Fresh veggies on sandwiches & in wraps. Yummy yogurt sauces — so light yet so filling. The chicken quesadilla is amazing and the salmon wrap with black beans is scrumptious. Run. Don’t walk. Get your butt over there.

So good!!! This still might be one of my favorite places! I have never had a bad experience here :)

I’m happy to have this eco– and health-​conscious restaurant in my neighborhood. The selection offers some unique, yet approachable choices, and the location is convenient. It is a bit pricier, assuming in part that the ingredients they use are generally more expensive and also that they pay better wages than most restaurants. However, this is largely a self-​serve restaurant with not the most relaxing ambience. Additionally, I find that they often undercook their brown rice so that it’s rather inedible. Go in with this understanding, share an order of their amazing fries, and you’ll have a good experience.

** Vegan review **
BRASS TAX:
The conciousness of the menu, the cleanliness of the restaurant, and the service are what earn this place the 2 stars that I’m giving it. Consider those 2 stars a consolation prize because I will never be walking back through their doors for the food.
DETAILS:
My girlfriend and I had been trying to make our way to Green Dog for awhile. We were always intrigued by what we heard, the location, and the menu.
I really do appreciate anywhere that makes an effort to cater to our chosen diet, and Green Dog does this Kudos for that.
We stopped in for brunch on a Saturday morning. We both wanted the «ROSSZ KUTYA BURRITO,» but I have a thing about not getting the same entrée when we’re trying a new place. Being a gentleman, I let her get the burrito and I opted for the Veggie Burger/​Tomato Vegetable soup (soup of the day). Karma paid off.
THE BURGER AND SOUP:
The burger was dry, but had a good consistancy to it. I didn’t mind it, but it seemed basic. It was something that I could see myself doing better in the comfort of my own home. Not something I’d pay 12 $ (yes, pretty high) for.
The soup wasn’t bad, but it was a little strange. It had a LOT of horseraddish in it. Think of the equivalant of heating up a very potent bloody mary and that’s about the taste. I actually didn’t mind it and welcomed the bold accompaniment to my otherwise bland meal.
THE BURRITO:
When we looked at the menu, we saw that the «v» marked items with a vegan alternative. When a place offers a burrito for almost 10 $ and says there is a vegan alternative, I don’t expect them to REMOVE all the things outside of our diet. I expect them to SUBSTITUTE at least a couple things. This burrito consisted of black beans (I wasn’t there to see them prepared, but they were so poorly season that I’d say they came straight out of a can), potatoes (cut in chunks so large that they made the burrito difficult to eat), and peppers/​onions (extremely overcooked and underseasoned). It was listed to have come with salsas, but I never got a note of any.
TL;DR:
If you’re vegan, don’t bother.

I like it. I’ve been here a lot of times. They have good veggie food. It’s one of my favorite places to go for breakfast.

The Green Dog is a restaurant that I want to fall in love with – their local and health minded food mission is very appealing to the nutrition professional inside of me however the mediocre food and service leaves me wanting more every time I come.
Tonight I ordered the short rib slider special. The meat was tender and well seasoned however the slider was missing some sort of vinegary pickle to add a tartness to the dish. The sandwich was also on a regular white bun and for the price, could have been on something a little fancier. It came with corn chips that were okay… a little greasy, and they could have used a dip.
My mom ordered the BLT and her bread was not fully baked. Normally we love the bread here. I’ve always been impressed with their salads so maybe just stick to ordering one of those when you come here because I’ve yet to have any other menu item I truly love.

I have been coming to the Green Dog Café for a few years now, and the quality of the food has always been spot on.
The Hummus is my favorite. It has great texture/​flavor and comes with feta, grilled poppyseed bread, roasted red peppers AND olives. The small is great for sharing, and we often have leftovers that I take home and munch on for a few snacks.
This time I ordered the Celantro Pesto Quesadilla and it was fantastic.
The prices are high, but it’s worth getting quality foods. The portions are large enough to have seconds. So at first the price may seem high, but if you divide into two meals it is worth it!
Even my boyfriend loves this place, and he hates «lunch» places. He ordered the Salmon wrap.
We even got a glass of wine and a mixed drink.
Green dog is a great spot to get healthy vegan/​veggie foods.
xoxoxo

I really like the Green Dog Café! It took me a long time to convince my fiancé to come here with me, because this place has a reputation as being a vegan/​vegetarian establishment and that kind of scared him. Trust me, fellow meat lovers, there is something here for everyone!
My favorite item I’ve tried so far would be the Green Dog green chile cheese fries! These fries are HUGE (you could easily split this between 4+ people), loaded with black beans, green chiles, cheese, and more — it’s like nachos on your fries! Yes, they are almost $ 10 for an appetizer, but you’re paying for quality ingredients, huge portions, and great flavor! Totally worth it.
I’ve also had their chicken salad (also huge), their salmon wrap, and the BLT wrap. All of them were good, fresh, and very tasty.
They also have beer in bottles and drafts. When we were there draft craft beers were only $ 3…Not sure if that’s every night or not, but it was a pretty good deal. They also have a small outdoor patio and do food to-​go.
The service is good. You order at the front, and they bring it to you. No waitress service, so you have to get your own drink refills and to-​go boxes, but not a big deal. And the food comes out really fast.
I think the prices are a little high, but still worth it. I’ll definitely come back for more green chile cheese fries!

The concept seems to be a healthy, vegetarian friendly take on fast casual, but there are some odd disconnects, starting right as you enter the restaurant. No check-​in desk, no servers to explain the process, just a Chiptole-​like cattle wall and the vague suggestion of an ordering counter at the back.
The food has to be delivered to your table, so it’s hard to say who benefits by not offering table service. It comes across as a fairly callous way to enable them to turn tables faster while screwing the servers from the opportunity to make tips. (Which was definitely reflected in the frosty demeanor of the ones who interacted with us.)
Also, for a place promoting healthy food, the portions are enormous. We got a small hummus appetizer and two of the bowls, and it was too much food. The hummus plate featured some nicely grilled bread and good olives and roasted red peppers, but the hummus was unexceptional. The chow chow curry was downright dull, just chicken in a coconut broth over brown rice with no vegetables or curry flavor. We hear the sandwiches and fries are better, but hard to justify coming here for that with places like Terry’s close by.

First time green dog experience. I like it. If you’re not a meat eater, check this place out. You’ll be very satisfied with the selection. The place is huge too. Lots of volume in there.
I came here for breakfast and the vegetarian burrito was spot on. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food. I don’t know about the lunch/​dinner food. But I would guess it’s high quality as well.
This place is a go for me and I’ll be back

Eclectic atmosphere with fantastic food.
Organic, vegan or carnivore (like me), the variety here is a treat every time I’m in town.
I especially love the Gespatio.

Overall impression: Significant Room for Improvement
Green Dog Café specializes in all natural food in a comfortable setting. Their dishes are healthy, totally free of preservatives and antibiotics and are very well made. This review is not a condemnation of their food.
As Green Dog grows in popularity, the line to order continues to grow and grow and there has been a measurable decrease in the quality of service.
Wait times for this non-​table service restaurant now regularly exceed 25 minutes on weekday evenings. Food is often served cold as it was sitting out waiting for a food running to bring it to the table. This is unacceptable for a restaurant that seats less than 100 diners. For those who have never been, there is no wait staff at Green Dog, only food runners who double as table busers.
Management/​Ownership takes a heavy handed leadership role in the running of Buz, Green Dog’s sister restaurant next door. The only management at Green Dog is the cooking staff who is exceptionally busy with their own tasks.
My advice for ownership is to adjust their focus to Green Dog for the time being. It is either woefully understaffed or in dire need of proper training.

My boyfriend and I ended up here after we tried Annabel’s and we were told it was an hour and 45 min wait. I suggested GDC because I had heard it was good for vegetarian/​vegans. I was a little disappointed by the vegetarian options, to be honest. I was really hoping for some gimme lean or some type of veggie «meat». The huevos rancheros were good, but nothing life changing. The fries were excellent, and I really enjoyed the two dipping sauces. They do have outdoor seating, which was enjoyable since it was a gorgeous morning out. All in all, it wouldn’t be my first choice but it’s a good option if you don’t want to wait a long time for weekend brunch.

I love the concept of this place, and I like the menu. I would’ve loved to try their Turkey burger or something breakfast-​y, but I happened to be coughing up a lung so I settled for a bowl of their soup of the day, their turkey chili. It was very hearty (a bit spicy), but it came with a piece of bread which was very filling.
I also happened to get a side of their biscuit, and it is definitely worth the hype. It comes with butter and jam and its just sooooooooooo good.
Their fries look amazing, and it’s definitely something to get to share for the table.
Prices are steep, but it’s because of the ingredients they use, so it’s worth it. You have to get in line to order, but they bring it to your table.
tl;dr biscuit is the best thing there.

I came here last Saturday for a late lunch with my boyfriend after many of my friends recommended the fresh, local dishes.
He had the grilled chicken salad and I had the turkey burger. I really wanted the fries as my side but they would not substitute them, which I feel is a major mistake. Just upcharge a side like the soup. I don’t understand the problem here. I had the soup as a side and we got the fries as a starter.
The fries were absolutely to die for and I’m glad we shared them. The sauces were good, especially the curry sauce, I haven’t had anything like that in a while. His salad was probably better than my burger, the guac was good but there wasn’t enough toppings to balance the amount of (delicous) bread. The bread also came with the soup and salad and I was not dissappointed there.
Overall, the meal ended up over $ 50, which in my mind was way too much money for what we got. Yes, each of us had a drink (a mojito for him and a beer for me) and we had an appetizer and two meals, but it was lunch we ordered on a counter.
Another point to make, we sat outside since it was such a lovely day and every single table was full of dirty dishes. Another table and ours had to move dishes ourselves onto one very full table, to which one of the servers came out and said «Wow that is a lot of plates» when it was all said and done. I understand that it was after 2 PM, but having clean tables keeps the customers coming.
We might come back, might not. It’s probably a better place to hang with girlfriends or very healthy eaters.

I visited the Green Dog Café last week during a weeknight with a group of friends. The café is setup that you order first, get your drink and then choose a table and put a number on a stand. We had 6 people in our group and the food came in good time. I tasted the fresh guacamole and would recommend this starter to others. The chips were just right and guacamole was delicious. I ordered the roast turkey sandwich but with grilled chicken instead as I had turkey for lunch unfortunately. The tomato jam and basil purée added a nice sweet savory taste to it. The bread was fluffy and good. While the $ was a little more than I would like you could tell the quality of food was very good.

First negative: the girl that took our order was pretty unhappy and it truly showed. For some reason, she just hated us. My fiancé commented on her attitude before I had really noticed. (That says something because he rarely notices shit.)
Second negative: $ 15.00 for a friggin’ turkey burger. TURKEY. I’ve paid similar for a burger made from actual bloody cow meat. Also, we asked for it plain — no cheese, no veggies for our annoyingly picky kid. It was still $ 15.00 for a bun and some ground up friggin’ turkey and a few tortilla chips. I could maybe see paying that price if it came with fries or something. Fries were $ 5.00 extra. Total effing rip-​off. Tortilla chips. Really?
Third negative: Ugh. Everything.
This is so not the place to go if you actually like food and not just rabbity sprouts and shit.
Nope.

This place has been on my list for a while since it’s listed as having good vegetarian options. It’s on the inconvenient side of town for us, but my husband told me to note that they have a parking lot and he would be much more amenable to drive out there for a random dinner. So, when we tried to think of somewhere we’d like to go on a Thursday after work, this place finally made it to the top of the list. The Café has a spacious interior with a tray of paper menus available for perusal. We grabbed a couple and sat down to review, then went up to the front counter to place our order.
We started with the GD CHILE CHEESE FRIES. I was astounded at the size of this Starter and immediately regretted us both ordering entrees because I knew there was no way we would make much of a dent in this food, LOL. The fries were okay, but I definitely would have appreciated more cheese to balance the dish better. I ordered the GREEN DOG BURGER and got a side of the Vegetable Soup — there was an upcharge for soup as a side, so I really wished I hadn’t done that and had just chosen a standard side. My burger was okay, a bit crumbly and not the most flavorful. My husband had the CILANTRO PESTO QUESADILLA, which he thought was fine. We had also ordered a slice of Cheesecake for dessert — again, this was before we saw that humongous bowl of chili cheese fries, lol. This was the best part of the meal for me — delicious!
Everything seemed a bit on the pricey side for me — my burger came to $ 14.00 with a side, which definitely seems on the high side for a veggie burger. All of the food was fine, but not the best I’ve had at that price point.

I ate dinner here (for the first time) with a group of friends. I got the Green Chow Chow Curry bowl, and it was so good. All of my friends also thought their food was great. We will go back.
The atmosphere is relaxed and modern. You order at the counter and then they bring the food to you at your table. There are self serve drinks. There is also lots of outdoor seating, some with umbrellas.

An uppity Panera bread. It reminds me a lot of Northstar café in Columbus. We went for lunch and though there wasn’t a wait to order or find a seat, I had to circle around the parking lot 3 times before finding a spot. Lunch was ok, I ordered the chihuahua bowl and my friend had the green dog BLT, and we split the GD fries. The food came out timely, the fries were amazing and fresh, I didn’t particularly care for the spicy tomato banana ketchup. My chihuahua bowl was large but kinda bland, I ended up asking for hot sauce which helped! I tried a bite of the BLT and it was pretty delicious! The bacon was pretty thick and the basil mayo was a nice add. It was rather bready.
Our service wasn’t amazing nor was it bad, it was just kind of unfriendly and parking can be kind of difficult. I’d go back to try other things, they have a great selection of GF and V which is really nice.