The Original Montgomery Inn

Ribs were very good. Fell off the bone, seasoned nice and good portions. The single order is plenty for one person. Got the steamed broccoli and it was not even warm. Ambience is fun. Would definitely come back.

A born and raised Cincinnatian colleague of mine highly recommended this place, so I took my family on a Sunday night. Their parking lot is small, so even though I drove up in a filthy minivan I had to go with $ 3 valet parking if I wanted to eat. First off, it’s a beautiful restaurant, quite huge actually with numerous rooms for large parties and a great looking bar area. Based on atmosphere alone, it would rate ⁵⁄₅. Started with the Saratoga Chips appetizer which was served with their hot bbq sauce. Delicious, and large enough to feed my family of 4. Then came the free bread basket. I ordered the combo dinner of a pork chop and ribs, and I must say the ribs were some of the best I’ve ever had, which helped ease my pain of the $ 27 cost. The wife ordered chicken and crabcake and liked the chicken but felt the crabcake tasted more like bread than crab. Kids had kids meals and they come with a drink and cost about $ 6 – 7. Finished their meals with a single scoop of Graeter’s ice cream for $ 2.99. As you can see, the prices are on the high side, but to me this place is more of a special event place, so I won’t be back as a regular but I can definitely see myself going again and again with larger parties. Our server was great too.

I have ordered online from their website two times now and BOTH times I arrived and the order was unaccounted for. The host told me it never came through even though I showed my «order placed» notification on my phone. Not sure who is in charge but your online ordering needs some work, clearly. You have officially lost my business.

Food was amazing and our Waiter Matt was outstanding! The manager however was very rude when we check in and very unprofessional. He apologized for his unprofessionalism however that is the only reason I am rating this place a 3. We all have bad days but never take it out on a customer group of 16.
The food was so great!
They have these chips that come with bar b que sauce, which are so tasty! I also highly recommend the nachos which are the chips with brisket, cheese and all kinds of other greatness. I had the crabcake and shrimp for dinner with the green beans. My team had the ribs and shredded pork and no one complained. I would definitely come again !!

Lived up to the hype.
Usually trying a restaurant that’s been hyped up I leave a little disappointed. Didn’t happen tonight. I don’t think their barbecue sauce is all that good, but the ribs were delicious without being drowned in sauce. I’d love to know their techniques because they are mass producing near perfect ribs. Amazing.

I was told about this restsurant while on a business trip to Cincinnati.
Well worth the short distance drive and so easy to find.
Possibly the very best ribs I’ve ever had. Their crab cakes are also excellent.
Easy to understand why some Hollywood Stars make it a «Must» to have these ribs sent to them.
Well worth the effort to make the ride out of Cincinnati.

Way overrated by the locals. Overpriced, mediocre quality food. The sauce isn’t anything special. It tastes a lot like sort-​of-​spicy ketchup. The chain «City Barbeque» has much higher quality meat and sauce. Not recommended.

The restaurant is beautiful and the atmosphere is family friendly. However, my rating is not based on the appearance or atmosphere of the business but if it were I would give a higher rating. Instead, my rating is based on the value of the food. If the meals were ½ the price the value would be fantastic, but at $ 19 for a fish battered meal I expected a little more then one small baked sweet potato and three 2 ½ X 2 ½ square over cooked cod patties (reminded me of something I could pick up in the frozen food aisle). Another person in my party ordered the same meal and received the same overcooked fish.

We were in Cincinnati for Oktoberfest and decided to have dinner at the original Montgomery Inn location.
The building is quite large with a nice centrally located bar, two floors, lots of wood, a gift shop, and plenty of atmosphere.
Waitress served bread and butter as an appetizer and we ordered two meals with plans to share.
I chose the the Brisket Dinner (12 – 14 oz of Brisket, mashed sweet potatoes, broccoli, and homemade cornbread) and my wife ordered the pulled pork sandwich with macaroni and cheese.
The brisket was tender and flavorful, as was the pulled pork. We sampled both the original sauce and their chipotle version and enjoyed both.
Sweet potatoes and broccoli were also nice (sometimes steamed broccoli can be hard or bland but theirs was just right).
Cornbread was also amazing!
Do yourself a favor and visit the original location of this legendary establishment!

I’m from Kansas City, which creates an inherent dilemma whenever I see the word «BBQ» on a menu. That being said, I do appreciate the distinct cultural traditions and varieties which that most American of meals has to offer… sadly, Montgomery Inn seems to be coasting on the fumes of bygone days when a slab of pork ribs slathered in sauce was enough to satisfy.
Montgomery Inn provides overpriced, mediocre food in a fancy setting which will suffice for an aging baby boomer crowd but will leave anyone seeking true southern charm and flavors feeling disappointed and wondering why they darkened the door of the restaurant.

Busy night at MI last night. Looked like Christmas parties and large groups. Seated quickly though. Our servers were wonderful and made sure we always had a full glass and had everything we needed. Food arrived quickly and hot. The brisket is PHENOMENAL, yummy Saratoga chips and creamy Mac & Cheese. Why ⁴⁄₅ stars? The basic sides are basic. Don’t waste your time on mozzarella sticks that taste like they are from the freezer section. Same with fries — nothing special. When it comes to a great local restaurant, I expect it all to taste like they just sliced the potatoes and put them in the fryer. Go back? You bet.

Ever since I moved here, people have been raving about Montgomery Inn! I finally got the chance to attend a meeting held here. There are some hidden conference rooms upstairs. The waiters were all extremely helpful and nice. My water glass was always refilled and I got asked several times if I would like an iced tea or lemonade. For a pre-​set menu, we got so much food! There were more than 6 or 7 options to choose from. We even got to pick sides, with their famous chips as being an option.
I walked through the downstairs and it seemed like an awesome restaurant. It was a bit dark, but seemed like a cool, casual BBQ place with a bar in the middle. It seemed they even have a gift shop. I didn’t get a chance to stop in there. I went against the grain and got salmon with a baked potato. I was impressed with the salmon. The baked potato was just that, a baked potato with no toppings or anything. Luckily, it came with a salad before that I enjoyed and a side of green beans that were good. The bread basket had a healthy grain bread and regular French bread. I tried the grain bread but it was very salty for me. I did not eat more of the bread. As I said, I had an unusual experience here since it was a pre-​set menu. I liked it, but it was not as amazing as what I have heard from others. I think this place definitely deserves another chance and so hopefully I will get to try Montgomery Inn again. It’s hard for me to review as well because I am not a fan of ribs so even if I went back I don’t know if I would try them. Overall, I had an average experience here, but don’t want to write it off yet because I have heard such great things!

This place is SO good that I would baptize my future children with the sauce, the ribs are really good and the chips are NOM NOM NOM!!!
The place is pretty nice and price is not too bad for the experience you are getting, if you like blue cheese you have to try theirs. I would say if you are in Cincinnati you have to go here!

Such a cool place, loads of sports memorabilia everywhere which really shows how long this place has been around. We came with a decent sized group and were greeted warmly and seated quickly. All of the staff was very nice throughout our visit. I highly recommend Big Ted’s Platter if it’s your first time here. It gives you a chance to try different items and it was so big we split it between two of us and still had leftovers. Oh and the corn cakes are fantastic!

I was told this is an awesome place to get BBQ, I was sadly mistaken trusting some locals. LOL
Not only did they mess up my order but they forgot a few items. The sad part was they didn’t even have baked beans. What kind of BBQ joint doesn’t serve BBQ baked beans?
The pork ribs were overcooked and had probably 10 layers of BBQ sauce on them. The brisket sandwich that I didn’t order was very good as I just pulled the meat out of the middle of the bun and went to town.
Not sure I want to come back to this place.

This place is just okay. I have been here a few times with the most recent being this past Saturday night. I was with my little brother’s soccer team and we had a private room upstairs. There was a large number of us, so I was expecting it to take a little awhile. I was not expecting, however, forgetful servers and sub par food. Normally when it is a big group, I give servers a break. But, we had this booked way in advance so they knew they were coming and had time to prepare. I don’t really like BBQ, but I had a caesar salad with grilled chicken and balsamic dressing instead of caesar. It was probably the most lame chicken salad ever. The dressing was good, but that was it. Small portion for $ 16 and the chicken had no seasoning or anything. I have had better at panera… The others at my table had pulled pork, ribs, etc. and they said it was pretty good but it was also cold and not as good as expected. I think this place may be a tad overrated. Or I just came and had «meh» experiences. Worth trying once since I have heard others say the BBQ is good, but I don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon.

I had dinner with my family last night (a Tuesday) at Montgomery Inn. We got there right around 6PM, so the place was relatively empty. We were seated immediately on the first floor, and our server brought us our drinks and water while giving us time to look over the menu.
Do to some confusion on our part, it took us a long time to decide who was ordering what and when to order the to-​go food we wanted. Our server offered to bring the bread while we talked out our options and then take our order. We agreed. About three minutes later, she brought over the bread, but then left, not to be seen for another five minutes. At that point, I glanced over at a large party of 20 men, seeing that our server was now taking their drink orders. I turned back to my family, expressing the disappointing realization that our service was about to go from okay to poor as our server would be busy with this large party.
Then, probably from someone overhearing our discussion, a second server swooped in to take our order. Upon explanation, she said she was «partnering» with our first server to take care of multiple tables with this large party. Whatever the reasoning, I thought it was very professional of the staff to not sacrifice another table’s experience when a larger party arrives. Five stars for the service!
I took off one star however, for the food. While Montgomery Inn is a classic Cincinnati restaurant, there are a lot more «Cincinnati originals» spread around the city with much more interesting dining options and for a much better price. I like Montgomery Inn; it has a great environment, the barbeque is good, the saratoga chips are on point, but do not come here if you are looking for a unique Cincinnati institution. I/​my family comes here to celebrate a birthday when we want to do something a bit more upscale, but with food we can all agree on or when we have a larger party. Check out areas Downtown or in OTR to get that truly unique experience and visit Montgomery Inn if you are seriously into ribs, love Cincinnati sports, or just need a nice restaurant to host a large party.

I had to be in Cincinnati for a business meeting. So, after a grueling 8 hour LAX-​IAH-​CVG and a fairly easy drive to the hotel, I asked the front desk for a great local place for dinner. Everybody at the hotel, hands down, recommended this place. Well, after cleaning up and calling Über, I was on my way.
Maybe my SoCal expectations creeped up on me but given the amount of excitement and high regard this location seemed to have with the locals I encountered, I was expecting much more. The waiter recommended me a sampler plate which included crab cakes, tempura-​like shrimp, ribs, and some hot wings. He insisted that, in that way, I could try a little bit of everything.
Well, maybe that was the problem. All of the food tasted the same as in many other sport bars. Nothing special here unfortunately. I was expecting the ribs to be the «special» part of the sampler but even that left me underwhelmed. My salad was too refrigerated and the desert was ok… just ok.
Now, I didn’t try the steak, which seems to be the specialty here. So maybe you can fare better than me if you order that.
The positive? A great ambiance. The Bengals won that day so everybody was happy, tipsy and extremely friendly. That mid-​west politeness does not wear off because of alcohol. So even though they knew I was a «foreigner,» everybody was very nice.
In summary, if you want a quick bite and a good environment this is a good place. As long as you manage your expectations properly you can leave satisfied.

I have only had the catering menu but while the barbeque is solid, the Saratoga chips are amazing! They are sliced to the perfect thickness and have a great crispy texture. Seriously, the best chips ever. The ribs are solid: tender but without a smokey flavor. They are pretty comparable to City BBQ’s and not on Eli’s level. The pulled chicken and pork are also good, although the sauce is on the sweet side. The pork and beans are definitely very sweet but I did like the thick cuts of bacon. Overall, a solid option with vegetarian options (roasted veggie wraps and a decent lasagna).

Best ribs in the area. Nice staff. Monday’s and Tuesday’s all you can eat ribs for $ 25.99 ! Def got my money’s worth go here every year for birthday dinner.