City View Tavern

Burger #2: City View Tavern - Big Ted Deluxe $6.75

The view is second to none when compared to any other cheap, shady burger joints!

Look I can see my house!

 

Well I bet you probably thought I'd forgotten to write about my burger experience for this week, but you were wrong.  I have been told by so many people that they are living vicariously through my burger quest so I must appease the masses.  This review is more important than getting my homework done, so let's get on with it.

For the 6th burger I drove across the river from my northern Kentucky apartment up to Mt. Adams on a quiet Tuesday night to burger #2: City View Tavern - Big Ted Deluxe $6.75.  The drive was literally 5 minutes from my house and there is free live music on Tuesday nights over at the Tap and Go rugby bar, so this was a no brainer when I was asked to drive up the hill that night. City View is located at 403 Oregon Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 which is surprisingly a few blocks off of the main businesses in Mt. Adams.  When I drove up the hill and turn onto the street  where it is located I thought I turned down the wrong street because there was literally nothing on your  left side but a hill and on your right there are houses.  This bar is in the middle of a residential street with nothing else on the entire block.  Once again, it is not where you'd expect one of the top burgers in the city.  I arrived earlier than my friend who lives in Mt Adams, so I walked in by myself.  There is no huge sign to let you know about this bar, and a bar it is.  This is NOT a restaurant so don't go here expecting that.  When I walked in I was greeted by a pool table on my right with what looked like 2 workers talking.  The walls just looked like this was a corner bar anywhere else in the city.  In front of me was the bar with 2 older looking gentlemen who  were definitely into their late 60's having a beer.  The walls have lots of old pictures and sports stuff on them and there are blue christmas lights that are just out of place.  There is nothing special about City View, but the one thing that brings you there.  Walking towards the bar the left side of you opens up into a seating area with a young couple eating their burgers and staring out a window spanning the entire wall that looks out onto downtown and northern Kentucky!  I really was put off by the shear size of the window, but it was gorgeous to say the least. One more thing I just found out is that they have one of the worst websites I've ever seen.  cityviewtavern.com‎  I highly suggest checking it out.

When I went up to the bar I didn't notice a large selection of beer, but I did see Kentucky bourbon barrel, I guess it's catching on around the  city.  City View tavern isn't known for it's beer though, it's know for 3 things I read, the Big Ted deluxe, the bloody Mary's and the jukebox.  I didn't read about these until after I had visited there.  I hadn't heard any particular music when I was there so I can't tell you about the jukebox.  I loves me a bloody Mary, but I didn't have a bloody Mary, that really appeals to me more so on a Saturday or Sunday morning, not a calm Tuesday night.  The menu that was written on a chalk board behind the bar had about 3 things on it, but when I went to their website they have 5.  I guess they dumbed it down for a Tuesday night.  The big Ted deluxe was voted "best cheeseburger in paradise" by readers of Cincinnati Magazine.  It starts with a 6oz fresh, hand made burger and is topped with american cheese, brown mustard, onion, mayo, lettuce, catsup, tomato when in season, and pickle.  They also have the Teddy burger, bbq beef, Myrt's Wurst, and Silas' Really Good Chili, a Texas chili for those with good taste.  The burger took about 15 minutes to get to our table.  I ordered it medium and it was cooked perfectly on a soft bun.  This burger is 2 oz smaller than most half pound burgers on the list.  There was no distinctive seasoning in the meat and nothing from my burger was particularly great.  The burger, which was greasy and tasty,  took on the flavor of the strongest ingredient, the brown mustard.  I question as to how this burger became #2 on the list, but I guess most of the readers of Cincinnati magazine must live in Mt. Adams (oh and Mt. Lookout to get Zip's up on the list too).  I mean these burgers were voted by the readers.  The burger comes with chips, Grippo's bbq chips is what I ordered.  These are one of my favorite chips so I was very happy about the change up from fries.  For 6.75$ this is well worth every penny just for the view, but as a burger it's an average C rating, nothing else.  I will definitely recommend to people to go up and try it when the weather gets nicer.

And don't forget to get out to Tap and Go afterwards every other Tuesday night for free live music from some unknown artists.  I heard a great show after and ended up buying his cd I liked his performance so much.