Looking for a great area to live? The City of Southgate is located just five minutes south from…read moreDowntown Cincinnati. It boasts that small town feel with the conveniences of living close to the city. Most of the houses in Southgate were built during the 1950s, and it is easy to find some still equipped with vintage appliances and pastel colored tile bathrooms. The houses are close together, but in a way that boasts the "Wonder Years" sort of charm. Kids ride bicycles down the street. Neighbors talk to each other and are eager to lend a hand. Little girls still wear mismatched socks and camp tee shirts, rather than looking like Miley Cyrus. You can even find city council rolling up their sleeves and partaking in community projects. Having attended many of their city council meetings, the city itself is one of the best governed in Northern Kentucky. Councilmembers genuinely care about the upkeep of the city and love being involved with the community. Southgate has Memorial Day parades, dinners with the Fire Department, and a well-organized community yard sale that benefits charity, plus many other activities throughout the year. Home to the Southgate Community Center, the city utilizes this gorgeous building for cookouts, including National Night Out, which honors the city's first responders. The event allows citizens to look inside emergency vehicles and see tools used by the professionals. Southgate is also known as a National Arbor City, for its continuous work in planting new trees in public areas. Whether a resident or a visitor, Southgate is a great place to be!

Oh my gosh! WHAT a privilege! The food was fantastic! The steak Diane was my absolute favorite. It…read moregets set on fire right at the tableside. The crab corn risotto came a close second. The french tomato soup was so unique. I think I'll try that at home. This experience was over the top. It's so beautiful there. I would've liked to see a race during dinner. What a view! The chef was extremely kind and down to earth. I thoroughly enjoyed to food demonstrations. I can't wait to try and make that pasta with my daughter. Hopefully I can instill some of those wonderful memories in my child's life, as was chef and Cindy's experiences. I love how the chef incorporates everyone memories into Favorites. I couldn't believe the amount of food we were able to try. What a pleasure. Soup, salad, pork, steak, chicken, fish, pasta, homemade bread, homemade butter, aunt's cheesecake... Everything was incredible! I'd like to thank everyone who made this event possible. It was an incredible experience.

Each course of dinner held so much visual appeal that you almost felt like you were tasting it…read morebefore you had taken a bite. Because I am a huge beet and feta fan, the appetizer was so adorable looking that I almost didn't want to eat it, but eat it I did! Along with that, we were brought out fresh breads made on the premises and (this part I could hardly believe, but) they actually churn their own butter there! What? Who does that? They do apparently. Something that added lots of depth to our dinner was the way that Chef Josh announced each course and most often regaled with a story as to what inspired that particular dish. His take on the "Frenched" Tomato Soup was unique and creative. My hubby, who is a huge James Bond fan, would have really liked the BLT Martini Salads.. with a Shaken but not Stirred Dirty Martini-like dressing prepared table-side. Cindy was such a good sport by partaking in making some of the ricotta cheese dumplings. I know that she and Josh both are from Italian families who like to cook, but it sure came as a surprise to me that they even make dumplings with ricotta cheese as a main ingredient. That was only one of many things served for the main course served family style: Crab and Sweet Corn Risotto (my favorite), Potato Crusted Chicken, Pork Milanese (yummy), Cavatelli, Gnocchi Bolognese, Chilean Seabass, Roasted Broccoli, and Steak Diane also prepared table-side. I never tire of seeing flames lapping high above the cooking pans. It's such a dramatic sight! In between courses, I was able to ask Chef Josh if his grandmother was his inspiration in becoming a chef and he said that both of his grandmothers were. They must be proud of him! And just when you didn't think you could eat another bite, out came the trio of desserts! Affogoto, Tiramisu in a cute cup made of chocolate and a most deliciously light and moist cheesecake from Chef's Aunt Jean's Recipe. Before going home, we were each presented with 2 chocolate dessert cookies to go. They weren't like any cookies I had tasted before and were a delight. Cindy started us off with a fun ice-breaker of telling everybody something interesting about ourselves. What a fascinating ensemble of Yelpers there! To me, getting to meet other Yelper's is just as delightful as the meal itself. Thank you to Cindy and to Favorites at Belterra Park.

What an absolutely fun activity! I've never been to JCC before and never done zumba, either. Got…read moreto meet Cindy's new intern who was helpful and friendly. She offered us all a Hoist drink, delicious Kind Almond & coconut bars, zippy red water container & info on Green Bean Delivery Service. Thank you to Yelp for those goodies. The Kind bar was perfect for after the workout and the water bottle helped rehydrated me during the class. There was no lack of space to do the workout and there were lots of people who showed up! Because they were on stage, it was easy to see Rita and Beth leading us. Man, they whipped my butt with their energetic moves; it was fun and an intense workout!! It was a beautiful, well-maintained facility. A big thank you to all who put this on.

A great cardio start for Sunday morning at the Mayerson JCC! My first time ever doing Zumba and I…read moreabsolutely loved it. At first I was alittle off, but as you start to get used to the moves, you get right into it. The instructors Beth and Rita were very energetic and threw an intense workout. This Zumba class was a mixture of Latina and a twist of hip hop moves. My heart rate was definately pumping. We had a huge class and everyone was getting into the music. It felt like it was alittle over an hour with the last 5 minutes of stretching. The room itself was spacious and you didn't have to worry about bumping into someone. The time went by so fast because I was having a lot of fun. I burned a total of 562 calories. Definately drenched with sweat! Very intesnse and had a great experience. I may even consider going back in the future because I really loved the workout and the instructors. Loved the Kind bars, Yelp water bottle, and hoise drink. Greatly appreciated. Thank you instructors, JCC, yelp and of course Cindy for throwing a great class. You guys rock!

Can I just give a shout-out to Groupon for turning me onto this awesomness?! lol…read more It's true. It was a side deal one day for Groupon for $7 tickets (normally $15), and my bf being the history buff he is I decided to go for it. And am I glad I did. You can't miss the costumes hanging around the corner in the Gateway District of OTR.Once we were all checked in we started our windy walk over to Memorial Hall, making a pit stop in Washington Park. From there we walked and talked our way down Central Pkwy (over the subway tunnel ;) ) and made a stop at Emory Theatre, which we got locked out of, and then off to Old St. Mary's church. The folks that run this tour really know their stuff, and occasionally one of them would point out a building down an alley and tell us the history of it as we walked to our next destination. These guys really went into a lot of history on stuff that we drive by all the time! And it was nice to be able to actually walk around in OTR. I love what they're doing with it btw! These guys were so awesome in fact that we had talked about wanting to do the Underground tour as well (even if it is really early for a Sat) and the Haunted Cincinnati Tour. Well, since we couldn't get in to see the Emory, they were nice enough and cool enough to offer us free tickets to the Haunted tour, and if we wanted to join in on another Civil War tour later on, we were more than welcome to!! That was a major A++ in my book, and I'm gladly going to enjoy the Haunted tour, and even look at booking an Underground tour (although probably not til next year when it's warmer... i hate the cold) But seriously if you get the chance to check out a tour by these guys, it's well worth it!

My wife surprised me with this tour for a Saturday afternoon date, and we had a great time. The…read more2-hour walking tour took us all over Over-the-Rhine, including trips inside some rarely-seen local landmarks like Memorial Hall, the Emery Theater, and St. Mary's Catholic Church. Two of the 4 tour guides were brand-new (May 7 was their first tour), so it sounds like they've added some additional historical information since some of the earlier reviewers. I'm a history buff and have been reading up on the Civil War lately, but I learned quite a bit about Cincinnati's role that I didn't know, especially about German and African American soldiers from Cincinnati. If you're interested in history, Cincinnati local flavor, or architecture (several stops on the tour dealt with important local buildings), this is a great way to spend an afternoon. BTW, older kids, especially those with an interest in history, would enjoy the tour, but it wouldn't be good for younger kids or kids who need lots of distractions to stay interested.

27 feet tall and installed in 1988 to celebrate the city's bicentennial, Metrobot stands mostly…read moreproud in front of the Contemporary Arts Center. Refurbished in 2014, he now has a dynamic digital sign and an electronic message board. Metrobot is the work of Nam June Paik, a Korean-American artist who works out of the Solway Gallery. The artwork is on the streets of downtown Cincinnati and you can't miss it when you're visiting the museum. And while I usually love getting FTR's, I'm really pleased to see that the Cincinnati Yelp community spotted this artwork and added it to the Yelpiverse! Compliments all around! [Review 20497 overall - 224 in Ohio - 1478 of 2023.]

Cannot believe the Cincinnati's Metrobot had not been reviewed yet!…read more It's a staple of Cincinnati's downtown business district. Just a big shiny robot, smiling and sharing fun info on multiple screens! Go see it, he is cool!

Last summer my dad was in the market for a boat, so we all met up at the Levee during the first…read moreannual Boat Festival for a night of fine dining (we ate at Mitchell's Fish Market) and boat shopping. Every marina in the Greater Cincinnati area came out to the boat show, most brought along boats from the previous year at sale prices to induce impulse buys (though how you could rationalize buying a boat on impulse, I'll never know.). The vendors line their wares and stalls up at the base of the Levee, using the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline as a pretty backdrop. We browsed the boats for a few hours while listening to live entertainment (a pretty decent cover band that played everything from "Walking on Sunshine" to Johnny Cash) and downing ice-cold slushies. My dad did not end up buying a boat that day but he did get valuable information about the vendors in the area and he was able to determine exactly the style of watercraft he was in the market for. Every vendor welcomed his questions despite knowing he wasn't intending to purchase immediately. Even if you aren't willing or able to purchase a boat, this is a fun event to stroll through during a night at the Levee. Some vendors bring miniature yachts with insanely luxurious interiors and features; pretend you're loaded and get yourself a tour! The festival will take place on these dates and times this year at the Levee's dock: Fri, Aug 15 5 - 11 p.m. Sat, Aug 16 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Sun, Aug 17 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Calling all dog lovers!…read more The ninth annual Dog Fest will take place at Voice of America Park on June 14th and 15th of this year! Dog Fest is a celebration of dogs and the people who love them. I went last year with my now deceased golden retriever, Abbey. We had a great time meeting other dogs and owners and participating in the Doggie Parade! Dogs can run free in "Wiggly Field." (Note to owners: it may seem obvious, but don't bring your dog if he/she doesn't socialize well with others...) There are contests for biggest and smallest dog, and a best trick contest. I'm taking my new four pound puppy this year...hoping we'll win the smallest category! You don't have to have a pooch to participate in Dog Fest but I wouldn't recommend going if you aren't a canine fan...owners are encouraged to bring their four-legged friends. Cost is $8 to park but free to get in. Beware if you're a dog-lover but not a current owner. My aunt and cousin went last year and ended up adopting a terrier mix puppy from PAWS, a local no-kill shelter.

This was my favorite yelp quirks out events yet! :)…read more The instructors were all friendly and personable, and I liked how we were encouraged to move around to meet different yelpers. People were definitely hesitant to try the silks at first, but by the end of the class it was a lot easier to get outside our comfort zones. Very safe and supportive environment, with everyone applauding whenever someone mastered a trick! Aerial silks is something I never dreamed I would get a chance to learn. So cool that circus mojo is so closeby in ludlow, KY. I will definitely be back for another class, and will be bringing friends!!

WOW! WOW! WOW!!!!! I have wanted to try Aerial Silks ever since I watched Pink sing "Glitter in the…read moreAir" as she was gracefully dangling from these things I later learned were called silks. I have pictured in my mind a million times how graceful I could be as I twisted and turned and flipped about. When the event was posted for this amazing Quirk my trigger finger clicked that RSVP button so fast it was like a knee jerk reaction. I left super early because I wasn't sure how parking would be, and I'm glad I did. I found out my drive is close to an hour, but it was one million and one percent worth it. Driving into Ludlow with my GPS yelling out at me, I was keeping a watchful eye to my right, aaaand I blew past it. Oops... Oh well, I turned at the next street and it actually was a great thing that I did. I parked right in front of the place. When I arrived I was greeted by the teacher, and she asked if I was there for the Carpenter's Convention to tease me a bit. I assured her I was, and was led to the building that says Ludlow Theater next door to the Circus Mojo building. Check in was fast and easy and my excited self ran around snapping pictures to send to my honey so he'd believe I actually did it. I saw many new faces and chatted with as many people as time would allow to find out that I was in good company and not the only crazy one who wanted to try hanging upside down on these things! The first trick was the hardest, and I was taken back to my days of elementary school gym class of climbing the rope....except I didn't get anywhere and realized how out of shape I truly am. After the first trick though they had all of us learning how to do flips and how to sit up on the silks. Graceful I am not, and even I felt great by the time we were finished! We were also treated with Hoist flavored water and Kind Bars in 3 different flavors. YUM! The teachers were all very nice and funny. They assured us all that we were doing great for our first attempts, and there wasn't any bloodshed by the time we were finished!! Woooot!!!! I am so excited that I was able to go to this event, and if you've ever had any inclination to try this or any other circus related activities this is your place. It's a workout and a half and I promise you will surprise yourself. LOVED IT!