Cityside Pub and Grille

Having passed by many times, we set out for Cityside on a recent Saturday for lunch. It was surprisingly empty around 1 o'clock, but the server approached us quickly.

That's about all that went right. They were out of our first choice of beer on tap, one of our first menu choices and crackers?! It actually started to be (almost) funny when you are told that many times a place is out of something! The paper napkins that surrounded the silver ware were not clean. The food service was very slow.

I ordered the soul burger, but I'm pretty sure I got another burger flavor. My husband settled for a grilled cheese sandwich and cup of chili. Nothing impressive at all...hope they were just having a bad day.

Restaurant: 4 stars
Bar: 2 stars

Formerly Captain's Cove, Cityside is just minutes from Newport on the Levee. This renovated bar and grille gets the food part of the operation right (sharing many menu items with 915 in Ft. Thomas), but isn't a place I would want to spend the evening drinking with friends.

Their big burgers are juicy and tender, set atop a fresh French roll and served with lettuce, tomatoes, and onion. A huge fan of unique burger offerings, I went with the banana burger. No...not the fruit, silly. This sandwich was topped with a pile of banana peppers, covered in Monterey cheese, and smeared with a bit of mayo. Mmmm.

It came out with a quickness, too. My burger was literally brought to me before I had even got all of the junk I was carrying with me situated.

After chowing down on my pub grub, I met up with some friends for a cocktail. This is where my opinion of Cityside began to slip, very precipitously. Around 6:30 pm on Saturday, there were only maybe twenty people in the joint, yet we had to wave down a bartender (of two) for every drink we wanted. At first, I thought, "Okay, maybe they're just getting set for the night." Then I figured, "Okay, they're totally ignoring us."

When I asked a friend if it was always like this, he huffed "Last time I was here, I waited for twenty minutes for a drink. Then I just decided to walk down the street to JerZees."

Moral of the story: hit up Cityside before the evening shift change and you'll have a an enjoyable time.