Van Zandt Restaurant and Tavern- North College Hill

The outside of Van Zandt

First off, I would like to begin this post by apologizing for the terrible quality of these pictures. The restaurant and food is definitely more appealing than my photography makes them out to be! Van Zandt is a restaurant that offers a decent variety of things in a casual dining setting, although you will still easily fit in wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans. The restaurant is in an easy-to-find location right off of Galbraith Road in North College Hill, and whether or not you live close to there, I assure you it is definitely worth the trip!

The VZ Burger as it is called on their menu, was actually ranked fifth on Cincinnati Magazine's list of the top 40 burgers in the city. However, I tried the place that was ranked number one over a week ago, and if you read my post on that one, I wasn't that thrilled. However, I had a feeling that this place would be significantly better, and it certainly did not let me down. The burger is served on a potato chive bun which tastes phenomenal, and it's also useful, as the juices from the burger will not soak through the bun. The bun is still soft though, and it's easy to eat!

The VZ Burger. Simply mouthwatering!

Another thing that makes this place great is the quality of their food and their service. The food is prepared by actual chefs from what I was told, which basically means your food is in trained, capable hands. Also the service is magnificent, as our server was very nice, she brought our food to us in plenty of time, and she talked with us for a bit about the restaurant. The thing that was even better was that the conversation did not seem forced or annoying, as we talked about other restaurants with great burgers around town!

This restaurant is pretty inexpensive too, as we got a pretty good-sized burger and fries for under $10!

Let's break this one down in our categories, on a scale of one to five:

Atmosphere: 5. They have a laid-back, easygoing kind of atmosphere. You feel like you're still going someplace nice, while at the same time, you can still dress down and feel in place there.
Service: 5. Absolutely phenomenal. Like I mentioned earlier, our server was fantastic, and she was very affable.

Food: 5. The food tastes phenomenal, and the price is very affordable, considering the quality of food you're getting.
Overall: 5. Straight fives across the board! This place is great, and you won't regret your visit, I assure you.

With the great service, food, and easygoing atmosphere, I'll definitely will have to make a return trip to Van Zandt sometime in the near future. Thanks for stopping by, and you'll hear from me again soon!

Raniero's Pizzeria- Highland Heights, Kentucky

Entrance to Raneiro's in Highland Heights

Just beyond the reach of Northern Kentucky University is a small pizza place called "Raniero's," located in a shopping plaza. The place seems non-descript on the outside, but once you go inside, you feel as if you're being welcomed into a home of an old friend. They also pack a punch with their food too, as they serve some phenomenal pizza for a cheap price!

Interior of Raniero's

Even though you can get whole pizzas in three different sizes (12", 16" and 24"), they also offer combos where you can get two slices of pizza and a drink for under seven bucks. The combos come in either cheese, pepperoni or sausage. These aren't just your run of the mill pizza slices however. These slices are pretty big, and they definitely are filling!

The slices you receive with your combo. Good stuff!

Also, from what the owner tells me (he maintains a very visible presence in the restaurant), the place is doing so well that he will be moving into a larger location next door once Blockbuster Video finally closes, and he predicts that his new location will be open just in time for the 2011-2012 school year to begin at NKU, complete with a bar and more!



Here's the verdict on Raniero's as it stands right now (on a scale from 1-5, with 5 being the best):

Atmosphere: 3. It's a small dining room, but there's a bit of a unique charm in there. They have great family pictures inside of the place, and they also feature tablecloths to simulate being in an authentic Italian restaurant.

The family pictures. I'm sure if you ask the owner about them, he would be more than happy to talk!

Service: 5. Like I mentioned earlier, the owner has a very visible presence in the restaurant, and he makes sure that you are enjoying yourself and that you are enjoying the food.

Food: 4. While it isn't the best pizza of all-time, it is very good and it is pretty affordable and filling.

Overall: 5. No qualms about this place whatsoever, and I cannot wait until the new location opens this summer!

If you have any friends around NKU, chances are they already know about this place and have probably eaten there. Next time you're around there, make sure to stop by Raniero's for some grub, you won't regret the trip!

Take care everybody!

What are your "hidden gems" around Cincinnati?

Hello again, everybody! Today, I'm going to take the time out to ask you, the readers, about your favorite places to eat around town. Remember, they cannot be chains, even if it is based here in Cincinnati (i.e. LaRosa's, as great as they are, does not qualify)!

I want to know what each of your favorite "mom-and-pop" places are around town, and what makes them special to you. What is your favorite item on their respective menus? What kind of atmosphere does each place have, and do you like it? Do the servers treat you well? Let me know, because the one that sounds the best might be a place I will feature on here in the coming weeks!

See you soon!

Wildflower Cafe, Mason

Some of you out there reading this may remember the list that Cincinnati Magazine issued this past summer of their top 40 burgers in Cincinnati. Their list featured many different types of "burger joints" from the typical "hole in the wall" place to the more upscale types of establishments that have great burgers by mere coincidence. Topping their list was a restaurant in Mason by the name of "Wildflower Cafe," which judging by their website, appeared to lean more toward being upscale rather than a "hole in the wall." They stress the fact that their food is bought from local farms, where animals were raised in a more humane manner, thus making the quality of their food better. It is with that in mind that I decided to make my first-ever adventure up to the Wildflower in Mason.

During my drive there, I thought about the kind of atmosphere that would be in a restaurant like this, along with how good the food would taste. After all, my expectations were pretty high considering that they were ranked as having the best burger in town, along with the fact that they were toting their food as being better than most places because of where they get it from. I like my burger joints to be "charming," and as a sports fan, "charming" to me is having a few televisions inside of the place showing a game, along with various sports memorabilia festooning the interior of the place. One exception I can make is for Terry's Turf Club, which had an awesome old-school, "Route 66-roadside attraction" feel to it. However, I digress.

The Wildflower Cafe

Just before I arrived at the restaurant, I made up my mind that there wasn't going to be any middle ground on this place for me. I'm either going to like it or hate it. Wildflower actually occupies a quaint 100+ year old house off of Main Street in Mason, and entering the restaurant, you can see that this is not like the "rank-and-file" burger places that are on the list. The walls were a generic yellow, and the only thing adorning their walls was a chalkboard detailing their menu, which changes daily.

I still have an open mind about the place, though, and I sat down to order my meal. The burger that was touted as being the best in Cincinnati was listed on their menu as "The World's Best Burger," and it made sure to mention that the beef was grass-fed. The burger also came with double-smoked bacon, onions, your choice of cheddar or Swiss cheese, and organic greens (at least from what I could remember). You could also receive chips or their soup of the day as your side dish.

My apologies for the primitive picture quality of my meal.

Once I finally received the burger, my mouth was salivating. After all, I hadn't eaten all day! I set in to taking down the burger, and once I was half-way through it, a wave of disappointment hit me. This thing isn't as good as it's cracked up to be! The burger wasn't bad, don't get me wrong, but good grief, their burger was probably the most overrated burger I have ever eaten! There really wasn't anything special about it, and what's worse, the thing was originally $13! (See below under "service" for more details).

I finished the burger, but I walked away feeling like a fool. I felt like Cincinnati Magazine just hustled me or something. Who is ranking these things for them, anyway? They actually had the nerve to rank Terry's Turf Club third on their list, and their burger was the best one I've eaten out of the places I've been to so far. What on earth makes this place so special? Is it their "grass-fed beef?" Really, I couldn't care less what farm their meat comes from, as long as it tastes good when I'm eating it!

Here's what I give Wildflower Cafe, on a scale from 1-5, with five being the best.

Atmosphere: 2. It's always different strokes for different folks I suppose, but their atmosphere isn't my cup of tea.

Service: 5. If there is one good mark I will give them, it is on their service. The people who run this place are very kind, and they will take real good care of you in there. The burger I ate was listed as being $13, but they told me that the meat shrunk while cooking it, and they brought it down to nine and some change. Honestly, if they never told me, I wouldn't have known either way. They didn't have to do that, and I appreciate their honesty.

Food: 3. Really, their food isn't bad, but Cincinnati Magazine overrated them greatly. Maybe their specialty lies in other areas?

Overall: 4. I'll be nice to them in my overall rating, since they were nice enough to mark down my check just a bit. However, I don't think I'll be venturing up there anytime soon, at least not for their burger, anyway.

Really, if you're looking for a great burger, this probably isn't the place you want to go. However, they do look like they have some other stuff on their menu that sounded very interesting. If you want to head up there, knock yourself out, but just make sure to get an entree instead of a wildly overrated sandwich!

Take care everyone, and you'll be hearing from me again soon!

Welcome everybody!

Hello everyone, and a pleasant good day to you all! "Hometown Greatness" will be a blog devoted to searching and discovering some of the hidden gems regarding the best places to eat around the Greater Cincinnati area. You won't find any high-end places on here though; this blog is specifically devoted to discovering good places to eat that are relatively cheap. Many people like to call these places "mom and pop" establishments, which are restaurants that are not chains, and where you can get friendly, down-to-earth service.

While I have not been to each and every place I will profile on here, my goal will be to shed some light and to give publicity to the best places around town to eat that you will most certainly enjoy. Now that I am finished with the required formalities that come with any new blog, it is my hope that you will enjoy the new discoveries that will be brought to you via "Hometown Greatness." Enjoy the blog and enjoy the food everybody!