Senate — Restaurant in Blue Ash

My wife and I ate dinner here last night and it was great!

We were visiting Cincinnati for the day and had gone to the CFTA Food Fest at Summit Park, but since it was raining we decided to head inside for a dry bite to eat. We checked the websites of the few other restaurants right there in Summit Park and decided on Senate, and it did not disappoint.

We got there a little before 4:30 pm, and the place mostly empty. We sat at a table near the bar to watch the college football games, the bartender did a great job waiting on us. To drink, we ordered the Fidel Castro and Kitten Fizz, and for an appetizer we ordered the Roasted Marrow Bones. The drinks came right out of course and they were delicious; the Roasted Marrow Bones came out a little while later (with toast and cranberry and onion jam), and it was literally a decent-sized bone (from a cow or calf?) that had been cut in half length-wise and put in the oven. All the rich, fatty marrow had melted and was perfect for spreading on the toast, I'd never had that before, but I would definitely have it again.

We took our time with our drinks and the appetizer since we were watching the football games, but once we finished with them I ordered a draft beer from Blue Ash (I don't recall the name), but it was good and went down real nice with an order of the Duck Fat Fries. These fries were great, we were a little skeptical at first as to whether we'd be able to taste the difference, but as soon as we'd eaten one there was absolutely no doubt. Highly recommended.

For the main course I ordered the Nashville Hot chicken sandwich and my wife ordered the Tuna Poke Bowl. She absolutely loved it; she's been on a poke kick now for a few weeks and so I've gotten to try several as well, and I've got to say this one was the best I tasted so far. My chicken sandwich was spectacular; I love spicy food and this sandwich had a good kick to it, but it still had great flavor (from the pickle brine I think), I would definitely order it again.

At this point we were incredibly full, but everything had been so good that I was curious about their desserts. I don't have a big sweet tooth, so I was a little hesitant, but since there were only three options, and two of the three were things I do actually like, beignets and bread pudding, so I asked the waitress which she liked and we got the beignets. If you thought you could only get good beignets at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, you are mistaken. They were fantastic, serving them with mascarpone was a great idea.

On paper, the menu can hardly be considered gourmet, but once you taste the food you'll have to reconsider what's gourmet and what's not because they've taken some pretty common dishes and made them quite a bit better, though you wouldn't expect it from the surprisingly-low prices. The decor is modern and attractive, it makes for an interesting but not intimidating atmosphere.

It's so nice to see restaurants that have been well-thought out and that execute in a great way, without charging an arm and a leg for it. I would gladly go back to Senate to try their...

I recently ate at this restaurant for the first time this past weekend. I actually wanted to eat at the restaurant across the street but the wait was an hour long. I was very surprised when we walked in and we're seated after 15 minutes. While we were waiting I ordered a cocktail from the the bar called the Miso Honey. It is described as being a combination of flavors topped with champagne. However I was given the champagne in a little sidecar shot glass for some reason. while the cocktail was tasty it was very sweet. We were greeted quickly after being seated and ordered the fresh market oysters and roasted marrow-bones as appetizers. While my daughter loved the oysters I feel that $18 for six oysters is very pricey. I ate roasted bone marrow growing up and what I was served at the Senate was very different. I enjoyed the cranberry and onion jam served along with it but the marrow was all fat and I think the cause of a stomach ache that I had during the night. For our dinners we of course ordered the hot dogs that this restaurant is known for. My daughter ordered the Trailer park, I ordered the Lindsay Lohan, and my husband ordered the dog of the day with a side of duck fat fries. since it was right after Thanksgiving the dog of the day was a hot dog smothered with mashed potatoes cranberry sauce and turkey which was a separate meal in itself. While the toppings were interesting and mine were good since I love goat cheese and bacon they totally smothered the hot dog flavor. We had to eat with a knife and fork not that that is necessarily a bad thing. The duck fat fries were unremarkable in my opinion. The lack of wait to be seated may be an indication that the price and popularity of the menu items is losing its local appeal. I feel that this visit was a...

My wife, friend, and I made a reservation a few hours in advance. This was the first time seeing our friend for a few months, as his girlfriend’s sister had passed away and he had been spending a lot of his time with his girlfriend’s family in mourning. It was important to see him, so we made a reservation here because we heard it was a good place to eat. We were seated and everything was going fine. We ordered, the food was fine. No complaints. 15 minutes into our being seated, our server tells us “ok guys, I am going to give you your checks now and I hope you have a great night!” He then proceeds to leave our table with the checks and flirt/commiserate with the hostess for the remainder of the time we are there. We honestly did not even have words, we were stunned into silence. In what world is something like this appropriate? We had reservations for 6:45 PM or thereabouts - not close to closing time AT ALL, and were in time for our reservation. You DO NOT kick us out of your restaurant when we just spent good money at it and are trying to catch up with our longtime friend. This was supposed to be a night out. We are just about the most docile and agreeable patrons you could ever ask for, and this is how your treat us? We will never be back, and we are telling everyone in our circle to avoid this place at all costs. I really hope management reads this, as whenever I have tried to call this place back…. no one picks up. Such shameful behavior in this economy to not even appreciate...