Chez Nora

Can the Chef Boil Water? Epically Poor Quality Meal

by remccar at Citysearch

There is no doubt that the place is trendy. When we were there on a Saturday evening we were surrounded by painfully stylish alt rock wannabes from Hyde Park trying to impress bored dates.

We stopped into Chez Nora to celebrate my young adult daughter's first apartment in the Mainstrasse area. We found our way to the third floor dining area and were pointed in the general direction of an available table. Even though it was early in the evening and the room was mostly empty, it took a while for the server to find her way to the table.

My son and I ordered the chicken and sausage jambalaya, presumably a house specialty in an establishment that provides jazz oriented entertainment. My daughter ordered the Italian Chicken Breast. After an interminable wait (elevator broke down?), the food was delivered.

I think that it is a stretch to claim that the dish was jambalaya. Perhaps in keeping with the Cincinnati aversion to anything spicy, the jambalaya did not resemble any jambalaya that I had had before... bland and no vegetables other than a mysterious layer of herbs on the dish. In fact, were it not for the bed of white rice, it could have passed for the beef brisket dinner. My daughter managed to get about 1/3 of the way through her chicken breast and then pushed it back and started eating bread. My son who will eat anything declared that he would have preferred to have stayed home and had our home cooked jambalaya recipe for dinner.

I'm sure that Chez Nora will continue to be mobbed on the weekends but it won't be for the quality of the food or the service.

yuck

by bothenjs at Citysearch

Service was super slow- had to go look for the waiter after waiting 10 minutes for our wine(and they were NOT busy). My husband ordered a hot toddy and got a coffee cup with hot water and a shot of rum- apparently bartender never attended school. Food was awful- brunch ham was heated up luncheon meat, the potatoes were frozen tater tots, the biscuits were out of a can, the sausage gravy was dismal. Avoid this place- there are places that deserve our business and I deserve food that isn't worse than I can buy ion a fast food diner or as a frozen meal from the grocery store. I'd give this less than 1 star if possible

Favorite

by Murano4 at Citysearch

We come all the way from near Dayton to eat here, usually for brunch or lunch. We've never had a bad meal. Love the atmosphere, food and service with a smile. I really cannot believe the reviews I've seen on here. Are we talking about the same place???

• Pros: Atmosphere, food
• Cons: Distance for us

New Years Eve 2008 Not a good experience

by CincyFoodieChick at Citysearch

Hmmmm I was there as well on New Year's Eve and my experience was awful!! We had a very early reservation (6:00 pm) and THREE hours later our dinner mercifully ended.

To the waitress that did try her hardest....I am sorry that you were called in to work but it is not my problem so I didn't need to hear that.

8 people in our party. I had Ahi Tuna requested rare as well as someone else at the table. Both of our plates were cold and tuna was dry and overcooked. Our waitress also suggested the butterfish and someone at the table ordered it. It was dry and again the plate was cold. The waitress noticed that not much was eaten and even she admitted the butterfish seemed not as tasty as normal. It took 45 minutes to an hour before we ordered, salads arrived late, soups were cold. We had to request water for heaven's sake! We did not stick around for dessert, though someone at our table got a very watery ice tea and a warm coffee. The difference in our experience and the other poster is we were on the second floor. Could that have made a difference?? Sorry to say but I would recommend only for the bar upstairs and live music. Eat somewhere else beforehand

• Pros: Great live music
• Cons: Horrible service Food not prepared as requested

Maybe I am wrong, but...

by nkyfoodie at Citysearch

I am slightly tipsy having just spent the entire night at Chez Nora. First dinner downstairs. Unfortunately we made a reservation during the busiest portion of the evening, which is always a mistake on New Year's Eve. But, even with a full restaurant, our food arrived in reasonable time, the way we ordered it and not a bit was wasted. Our server was friendly, seemed to know his stuff, and didn't get in the way of our evening.

We had the Crab Cakes for an appetizer -- no disappointment there at all... theirs don't have many equals anywhere in this city that I have found. Since it was a special kind of night, we tried a couple of their dinner specials, butterfish and and a different take on pepper steak (t-bone). The butterfish was amazing, moist, flavorful and allowed to be the star of the plate instead of the sauce. The steak was also good, if not cooked quite to specifications. At least it was undercooked as opposed to most restaurants' method of overcooking. Though we should not have, we even went for dessert. There is no mistaking they are homemade!

The music was fantastic. The place was packed. Everyone was enjoying themselves. I guess that others have had legitimate complaints but from our experience those seem to be exceptions. If a restaurant can serve good food and function reasonably well during a hugely busy night, it has to have something going for it.

No, it is not 5-star. It doesn't seem to pretend to be. But they seem to know what they want to be and it works. We will go back.

• Pros: Solid food, good service, friendly, comfortable
• Cons: Dining room a little too crowded for intimate dining