Will M.
Yelp
I'd been holding off on my review, mostly because I haven't been to the second or third floor. But screw that, it isn't for lack of trying and that should be incorporated into the review.
To start: yes, everyone is right - this place is beautiful. They gutted the building and made something special.
But then they stuck a pool table in the back. Huh? Why? It takes up a ton of room and, on a super busy Saturday night, is just asking for trouble. Idiotic and baffling. Plus it just feels out of place. One pool table? Really? Why? It's head-scratching.
This place will be packed when you go. It's brand new, and it's very popular. At 10 pm every other bar Downtown will be empty, but there will be a line outside of Igby's. Expected, given the newness and architecture, but be prepared to wait at a second velvet rope inside if you'd like to get upstairs. And, as people have mentioned, the whole velvet rope concept feels strange. Sure, there's one farther down the block at Luxe, the velvet roped Nickelback bar, but do you want to aspire to be more like Luxe? Of course you don't. I've yet to feel like waiting in line to get upstairs and, as such, have yet to see the additional levels. Popularity is a great thing for the owners, but just be prepared for it.
Let's move on to the cocktails. They're ok, but I do not feel that they have been taken seriously. They serve a basic Manhattan, but call it a Cin Sin City. it's a basic, unadulterated Manhattan under a new name for no particular reason. I've heard several other people mocking this - put on your big boy britches and go by the sophisticated name, not some special name. Someone complained on Facebook, and the response was "We're in Cincinnati, not New York, have some pride!" Fantastic, but then they claim the entire cocktail menu was created by, wait for it... a cocktail consultant based in Manhattan. Brilliant. I'll take a Manhattan, thanks. Make it with Bulleit.
The beer menu is a bit of a miss, too. There are some ok beers on draft and in bottle. Not an incredible selection but certainly respectable. Bonus points for having some cans, too. But they oddly put microbrews under "imports." They're not imported, they're just not Budweiser. Odd choice. Again, I feel as if they're creating this not for people that enjoy drinking but more for the Bud-or-vodka-redbull-let's-get-smashed-quickly crowd.
Bottom line - this place is beautiful but lacking identity. Craft cocktails fall far below Japp's and other OTR eateries, the alcohol choices lack the sophistication the building demands, having to wait in two different velvet roped lines feels out of place in a small city, pool table absolutely does not belong, but the potential is there to figure itself out and become fantastic.
3 stars, likely to be 4 by the summer. I'd guarantee the pool table doesn't make it that far.
You know what, I'm knocking an entire star off this review right now for the Cin Sin City.