Cincinnati Dinner Train — Restaurant in Cincinnati

This is definitely a one of a kind dining experience in Cincinnati.

The only thing I'm really not a fan of is it can be expensive, it does get a little long towards the end, and they will stick you with random people if you're a couple to fill tables. The last point could be great or not so depending on the other couple you're with.

But on its perks. You get a 4 course meal for anywhere from $60-$100 a person. The food is phenomenal though! It would be nice if they included one drink with it though. You are seated at a 4 person table. Like I said, if you have 4 people great if not you will be assigned a random couple. Fortunately, we were seated with another younger couple who we had great conversation with for the 3 hours you're on the train. People who live along the route come out and wave as you go by too which is kind of neat. Some of the scenery is very unique and a part of the city you can only see this way. Other parts are boring and full of other trains at a station and lots of trees and one part full of dirty run down houses and yards. But the most part is full of nice neighborhoods and landmarks that the staff point out to you.

There is a bar car located at the back of the train. If its nice out the staff will slide open the side loading doors and you can watch the world go by behind the safety railing. They are very knowledgeable and love telling stories about the history of landmarks and the railway itself. The drinks are reasonably priced and included beer, simple mixed drinks and a pretty extensive wine list.

It starts in Madisonville and goes over 71 where you can wave to traffic. It then heads south through Oakley, goes by Lunken Airport and stops at Sawyer Point to change the engine over and back the same tracks to where it began. The courses come out with perfect timing to take up the trip down without feeling like you're gorging yourself. And the food is so good! When you book your trip, you will get your choice of 3 dishes, so you know what you're getting into before hand.

Its a great unique date/special occasion date idea, for sure. I'm looking forward to doing it...

A very nice idea, but poorly executed! Well organized and well staffed. Service was 5 star! Where they fall short, the dining room chairs were tubular frame aluminum chairs with a thin vinyl seat cushion. This is insane to think people can sit on these for 3.5 hours. My thighs are deeply bruised! It was nothing less than torcher after the first hour! These seats should have a minimum of a 2" dense foam padding for extended seating comfort, this isn't a high school cafeteria! The food was marginal. my medium-well prime rib was overcooked, tough and dry. The green beans, bland and soggy, I didn't even touch the baked potato, my plate was so bad, I didn't eat! The actual train ride was nice, but there was no real scenery, basically the backs of warehousing, your local variety of wooded green-lines to block the view of the train as it passes through town, a few nicely graffitied walls, and quite a few staged box cars on an adjacent track along the river. An occasional overpass gives hints of what part of town you are passing, and there was very little narration and history (this is a freight line track in modern times) and really not any real history other than one sandstone carving from the Philadelphia terminal, now ravaged by vandals. The Queen City Sisters were very good singers, but we only had 2 short visits in our car, one going out, one coming back for a total of 3 songs, and an additional happy birthday for a table in our car. These girls were the highlight of the trip. I rated service 5 star, because it was. Staffing was excellent! The train cars were nice and interesting, but gave atmosphere a 3 due to the overall lack of a view. The food... Could have had a better meal at ANY local steakhouse chain! A better narration of any type could improve, or add interest. Make sure you make reservations in groups of 4, bring your own seat cushions, and I suggest taking a deck of cards to pass...

The staff was very friendly and helpful. The train itself was nice ..restrooms very tiny, of course. The view from the train was awful! We had to sit across from total strangers the whole ride and share a table for four. I made our reservations in early May for August because that's the earliest you could reserve a ticket. I reserved a car that had minimal seating (desiring something more intimate) with two table seating options in hopes that we would get a two-person table in that car since we were reserving as early as possible. My husband and I were out celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary which only comes once in a lifetime. Needless to say we were very disappointed. If we must have to sit at a table of four.. they should at least have you sitting across from your party instead of having you facing complete strangers the whole 3 hour trip.

We will give it a two-star rating only because of the service provided by the friendly staff.

We give it a three-star for the food quality. The salmon was delicious and the cheesecake was delicious, The steak my husband ordered seemed to have almost been boiled instead of grilled (we even questioned at first if it was pork). Some of the other passengers steaks didn't look as bad as the one my husband was given. So, their steak may have been better to be fair.

As I stated before, the staff provided friendly and fast service, five stars!

We give it two stars for the atmosphere only because the train itself was in good condition. Our view from out of the window (which we had to stretch our neck to be able to see from our table) was very poor. The city appears to be very run down. There are tents set up in different locations that we passed... a lot of overgrowth among the trees.. just very little of the...