Bow Tie Café

Outdoor dining here is the best on the hill. Adding a bfast sandwich and latte caps this Sat morning experience for me.

I just wasn’t impressed. They seemed like they’d be great, but their coffee was just mediocre and the patterns were not even that good. It has a nice setting and nice outside seating. The food wasn’t even memorable for any of us. Not worth it. Starbucks is better.

I love bow ties, and I love cafes. So, putting those two together? Oh, I am SO down… until I walked in and realized that this was just a café, very few bow ties in sight. But you know what, on with the review.
Bow Tie Café is an adorable little café nestled at the end of a very, very steep hill in the Mt. Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati. I had never been to Mt. Adams before my trek here (only moved to the area 6 months ago, gimme a break) and let me just say that this neighborhood is so freakin’ adorable. The architecture, the winding streets, the hills that kill my car’s gas mileage, and of course the eclectic array of restaurants and bars.
Anyway, Bow Tie’s got amazing coffee from Intelligentsia Coffee, which is my all-​time favorite coffee roaster. They even have their own blend at the café, and I have to say, it was awesome. I went on a stupidly cold Saturday morning to get some work done, and ordered a belgian waffle from their decent brunch menu. Then, the waitress said it. Bottomless cups of coffee for $ 2.50. I mean, it doesn’t get better than that because I was a zombie walking in there.
There are plenty of smaller tables to fit couples or a small group of friends wanting to catch up. There’s also a long bar with stools where you can sit by the window and people watch. I chose the people watching seats because apparently there was a cupid’s undie run that day, so seeing people walk past in barely any clothing in the dead of winter was… interesting.
Anyway, I highly recommend stopping by here if you get the chance! The coffee is great, the staff is generally nice, and parking isn’t too bad… if you like fighting for one and hoping your car doesn’t fall down one of the many steep hills in this neighborhood while you get increasingly jittery on coffee…

I was really impressed with this café in Mt Adams. We were traveling in a caravan and wanted to show some out-​of-​towers around. Like many cities, the greatest tour of Cincinnati involves food. So, we’d already had lunch and Graeters. Now, considering it was daytime and here were drivers, we didn’t want to just start drinking. Coffee was on the agenda.
The space was pretty large and had a café type food menu, along with wine and coffee. I can’t remember if there was beer or not. There was a group of 20-​something friends hanging out and playing a board game. The place might as well be called Central Perk.

I’ve lived in Mt. Adams for awhile and have been to Bow Tie many times.
It’s a great location, however, they seem to lack at keeping good baristas there. They’re always hiring/​replacing new ones every few months, which affects their consistency of good quality coffee. They have good coffee, they serve intelligentsia, but they don’t know how to brew it correctly.
Their service was ok. There were times when the manager would be chatting with a customer non-​stop, while I had to wait for her to finish.
The atmosphere is decent. It’s an open atmosphere, much larger space than most coffee shops in the Cincinnati area, and they have some good seatings there too.

When I heard the name I thought it would be a really expensive, upscale restaurant but what I got was a very homey, down to earth café with very friendly folks. The place has little local knick knacks and pictures to complete a very cool environment. Now onto the food…
Spicy Buffalo Chicken Wrap
What Is It: It’s a wrap with chopped chicken pieces that have Buffalo sauce on it and there’s also some bleu cheese on it. It also comes with veggies on it but I had them leave that off. It comes with kettle chips and a dill pickle on the side.
Presentation: This was presented in a basket with paper in it. The sides come in another identical basket. A nice, classic presentation.
7.5 out of 10
Taste: This was delicious. The chicken wasn’t overpowering but had a good kick to it. The bleu cheese was a nice supporting flavour to the chicken. I really liked this a lot.
9.5 out of 10
Final Analysis: This was a tremendous wrap, probably one of the best I’ve ever had. If you find yourself in Mount Adams give this place and this wrap a try.
9.5 out of 10

Bow Tie Café is in walking distance from my apartment, and I’m really glad it is! I love their outdoor patio in warm weather, and a huge bonus is that it is dog friendly! I love stopping for brunch on the weekends when I’m out on my morning walk with my puppy. It also is one of my favorite places to head to when I just can’t study at my apartment anymore and I really need a change in atmosphere. They have really good lattes; I just treated myself to the one of the Christmas flavors (peppermint patty!) while I was study for a med school final.
The food is good, not outstanding, except for the southwestern chicken salad, which my significant other loved. I also like their chicken and waffle at brunch. If you order the tacos, be prepared; they’re huge! I’ve definitely ordered them a couple of times when I hadn’t had time to eat all day and I headed over to Bow Tie for an evening study sesh.
I love that Mt Adams has a nice neighborhood coffee shop like this that I can walk to when I don’t want to drive to school to study, or just want to get out of the house for a casual breakfast or lunch.

This coffee shop is awesome! The drinks are perfect and freshly pressed, the atmosphere is relaxed and clean, and the service is great!

Cute casual café in the mt Adams neighborhood.
Order at the register and they bring the food to your table. My friends all got different versions of the breakfast sandwich and I got the omelette. The omelette was pretty hearty and seasoned pretty well. The cappuccino was also super good.
I would come back for the coffee and the cute neighborhood.

Perfect place for a coffee/​wine time with friends.
The service at night is slow, just one person working. However good quality on food and coffee. We had two really good sandwichs: chicken salad and turkey club sandwich… Were really good. For drink Spice chai tea and mocha also well prepared.

Great place to grab a cup of coffee or food. This was my first experience & I enjoyed the food & the atmosphere. My friend & I were going to Eden Park but wanted to grab a bite to eat before. I came on Unilocal looking for something close & decided to try it out. I usually avoid Mt. Adams b/​c of parking but I went on a Sun at 12pm so it was pretty chill & the 1 parking garage had spots available.
The walk to the café is pretty & the outside patio is kinda awesome b/​c it’s a rising patio with levels. You have to walk down stairs to get into the café & it’s almost like being in another place. I love coffee & I loved all the options available that aren’t your standard cup of joe. I ended up with a raspberry white chelate mocha & it was a delicious pick me up. I also ordered the chipotle chicken burrito with chips & salsa. I was very satisfied with the meal & would definitely come back for brunch. I’m from the suburbs, so that’s saying something!
Looking forward to coming back & trying something else off the menu.

The pour over is fantastic and the tacos are off the hook.
I’ve officially deemed this as my first «go to» place since moving to Cincy.

UPDATE: This place is not worth it for the food. Their coffee is still on point, but do not stop by for brunch.
I visited with my boyfriend this past weekend after my previous experience, but was let down. The waffles I ordered looked appealing, but were extremely cakey and bland. It tasted like a piece of bread versus a flavorful Belgian waffle. The strawberries on top were some chopped; most likely canned variety and they just did not add anything to the meal.
My boyfriend got a plate comprised of eggs, bacon, toast, and cheese. The cheese was literally a slice of cheese. I figured that was provided to make a breakfast sandwich, but it was just kind of an odd extra. The other food, again, was bland. The eggs were small and poorly prepared (requested over easy but practically cooked through), the toast was two extremely thick pieces of bread, and the bacon was small and overcooked. Watching the preparation, I believe there was only one woman (on this particular morning) who was preparing the meals. As such, it was a slow process and we ended up waiting for a majority of our visit. Both meals got the breakfast job done, but we will not be back to visit again for food.

What a cute little café! Coffee, wine, breakfast and lunch, you name it they’ve got. This place is super cute and I am totally a fan. After reading a bunch of reviews on Bow Tie Café I knew I had to try it and I’m glad I finally did. I went for lunch one day and fell in love with the cuteness of this place. I wanted breakfast but thought that would be a little to heavy so I ordered a Caesar salad; which was delicious. For the price, the salad was huge and tasted great. My friend ordered a breakfast burrito and loved it. Good prices, nice ambiance and friendly workers. I would definitely recommend Bow Tie Café to a friend.

The one and only Mt. Adams coffee shop! I go here every once in a while since it’s so convenient from my work. I usually get an espresso drink and a sweet. Today I ordered a cortado which was served in a tiny to go cup and had good, rich flavor. I also got a pizelle packaged from a Loveland Italian bakery. It was delicious! Today the service seemed a lot better than it has been in the past. I had been a couple times in the past few years when only one staff was working. Today there were several staff working around 2pm and service was nice and quick.
The interior is very clean with a good amount of seating and window views. There is also a nice patio area where you can see a bit of the city. I would like to return and try breakfast or lunch sometime! I give it three stars because it doesn’t blow me away but is decent. It would be nice if they roasted their own coffee for more of a local feel. I also don’t think they have consistent service but overall ok. I’m glad Mt. Adams has a coffee shop since it’s such a small community.

I just got a hibiscus tea ($ 2) and grilled cheese sandwich ($ 4). Both were good. The sandwich had 2 kinds of hot and melted cheese. They seem to have a decent sized menu for a café. It’s also a bar with their beer, liquor and wine selection and a bar to sit. The design is very clean. It’s warm and inviting. They have tables and couches.
The worker was friendly and helpful. I thought it was a pretty cool café in a quaint part of town.

Overall atmosphere is calm and tranquil. The coffee is above average and the service is up to par. The interior design is comfortable and is backed by a beautiful outdoor patio capturing the true beauty and essence of Mt. Adams.

The BowTie café is my go to lunch and afternoon coffee spot. They have a nice affordable lunch menu and the coffee (intelligentsia) is very good. It is a comfortable setting with lots of natural light flooding in. It is usually filled with people working away on their laptops and the radio is always playing some great 80s music.
In good weather you can sit outside by the fountain. It was a bit cooler when Dhani Jones would come in on a regular basis, but it’s still a cool. I’m cool, right?

Walking into the Bow Tie Café, my first thought was that it was really cute. You order at the counter, so I quickly called dibs on the Bourbon French Toast. After we placed the rest of our order, we found a table, and settled in for a surprisingly long wait for our food. Which might explain why my french toast was downright cold when it was finally brought out… but doesn’t offer much reason for why it was relatively flavorless. My husband ordered a Belgian Waffle, which he enjoyed and said it was a good mix of fluffy and crispy, but his side of scrambled eggs was way overcooked. We had ordered drinks when we initially walked in, but they still hadn’t arrived, so we asked for our mimosas after all of the food had been brought out.
Cute initial impression, but we ultimately left disappointed.

They have some of the finest whole bean coffee you can purchase in the city, but unfortunately, the service and drink preparation is sub par. Consistency is one of the most important things and every drink I have ordered (even when they are the same) tastes different than the last one, some good, some really bad.

Service and food was definitely not anything to rave about. We came here on a Sunday morning for brunch and having never been there before was not quite sure what the protocol was. Do we seat ourselves? Do we wait to be seated? None of the servers or wait staff acknowledged us. There were other people standing around by the door as if waiting so we followed suit and soon realized its first come first serve.
I wasn’t overly impressed with the food that took a long time. Eggs and bacon? How long could that possibly take? Surely not the 30+ minutes we waited.
While I would maybe come here for a coffee and pastry during a non peak time, I don’t think I would come back for brunch on the weekend.

After walking past Bow Tie countless times, I finally made it a point to stop in and check it out. ADORABLE! The atmosphere is very warm and inviting. There are several cozy chairs that would be perfect to lounge in while sipping on some delicious coffee and working on your laptop. I purchased a Caramel Macchiato and was pleasantly surprised to find how smooth it was. Many coffee shops opt to make flavored drinks a little too sweet, but the balance of espresso and sweetener was perfect.
The downside to this establishment was the customer service. Every coffee shop I’ve ever been in has the most pleasant and upbeat employees. The barista that I dealt with didn’t seem to be very enthused to be there. There was an odd tension between her and the other customers. I’m really hoping this is not the norm.
When it comes down to it, employees can come and go, but good coffee is here to stay!