Ruth's Parkside Cafe — Restaurant in Cincinnati

II now live across a parking lot and a park from Ruth's Parkside Cafe. I have eaten there many times before I moved into Northside and not since. So, to partially resolve that issue, even though I wasn't going to dine at Ruth's, I'd purchase dessert - to go. Before walking over, and since Ruth's doesn't publish its dessert selection on the Internet, I called over to get the list for that night. I listened skeptically as they ran through the list of pies and ice creams. Then the receptionist said, "Gooey butter" and I stopped breathing. After she paused, I asked "St. Louis style gooey butter?" She replied, "Yes." and I said, "I’ll be right over."

I grew up in St. Louis and the gooey butter was a Sunday-morning after-church regular treat along with other pastries from Schneidhertz's. We’d drive there, park, and I was allowed from age 13 to 18 to go, order, pay, and double check the order before we went to my Jewish aunt's house to eat the delicacies. Later when I visited St. Louis (Kirkwood) as an adult, my remaining aunt would make sure that a gooey butter was waiting for me.

Wrap up: I ordered Cherry Pie, Devil's Food Cake, and two pieces of Gooey Butter. We saved the gooey butter for breakfast. It had a well-rounded, but smooth texture, was sweet and creamy, and I would have identified it as a gooey butter if fed it with my eye closed. It wasn’t a St. Louis gooey butter, but that was because the water and butter used to make it weren’t from St. Louis, but from Cincinnati and because a commercial butter, rather than a premium butter, had been used.

I have only one complaint about Ruth’s Parkside Café. As I experienced with the gooey butter, while premium ingredients are used, the finishing elements are often commercial and not premium. As a cheese cake made with commercial cream cheese and butter will taste different than one made with premium cream cheese and butter – the latter better -, when a fish dish is finished with commercial-grade products instead of premium, it doesn’t taste as good as it could. But, it tastes better than if almost anyone else had...

There was some confusion with our reservation time. My mother in law made the reservation. Keep in my mind, this was a Wednesday night. She’s a pretty prompt and honest person. She’s also open to it being her mistake. The man at the door, who I think might be the manager, was instantly rude. He told us, “NO, your reservation was at 7.” My Mother-in-law explained that she called back and changed the time and spoke to someone. Once again, he continued to be rude. “You didn’t call here! I’ve been here since 1! You didn’t call here!” She then explained that she called two days earlier to change the time. He then grabbed his notebook and said, “I called you back!” He couldn’t be wrong. She then said, yeah, I may I have missed it. Suddenly, within seconds, he had a table ready for us. When we turned the corner, it appeared to be a modestly busy night, but not packed. His behavior was rude and confusing.

We ordered drinks from the young man waiting on us. He brought me the wrong drink. Not a big deal at all. I was going to let him know when he came back. When he came back, before I could let him know about the drink, he asked, “Did you take a drink out of that.” I said no. He grabbed it and gave it to someone in the booth behind us instead of pouring a new drink. That was a first for me lol.

Food was ok, drinks were ok, service was bad. Our quartet will not being going...

The food is usually full of flavor and interesting combinations of vegetables and choices of meat or protein. We like going here because it's close to home and the restaurant itself is eclectic. ..... Sadly, the service is almost always awkward, to be nice. I have probably had lunch and dinner here at Ruth's a total of 10 times. Not once has anyone welcomed me back or recognized me or anyone in my family as a return customer. I always feel like I am a stranger when I walk in. The staff never invite you back or even seem to want to interact with their guests. I do not need a hug when I come in or anything like that, But come on, All I am asking for is for the staff to be a little more personable and welcoming. I know this is an independent restaurant and not a chain . We really like to support you but I feel uncomfortable recommending or bringing people here because of this. Also I don't think the staff needs to sit at the bar and eat where the guests can see them, and have to ask for refills by either getting up and asking or waving from the table. Maybe Ruth's has a steady stream of guests and don't feel like they need to create a new guest. Anyhow, there are always new restaurants opening up to compete with the established places .Also there are always other people willing to serve with a smile on their face. thanks...