Gourmet Chili Review

Quest stop 13 took us back to Monmouth Street to another Newport institution, Gourmet Chili. Before going to the chili parlors I usually do some research about where we are going. No place has had such polarizing reviews as Gourmet Chili. People seem to either love it or hate it, so we had no idea what do expect.

While it is on the same street as Dixie Chili, Gourmet has a completely different atmosphere. If you were to picture a greasy spoon hole in the wall diner in Kentucky it would probably look similar to Gourmet Chili. Some have complained they felt Gourmet is dirty and unsanitary, but we didn’t feel that way. The restaurant felt old to us, I don’t think they have changed any of the décor since they opened, but we wouldn’t classify it as dirty. There is a variety of wall decorations varying from photos of ancient Greece, Cincinnati and flowers. However, one negative about our experience is we were the only patrons there not smoking. Dixie Chili has their dining area split off for smoking and non-smoking, but since Gourmet is basically just one open space there isn’t a non-smoking section. This isn’t a deal breaker for us, but it is a turn off.

The menu isn’t much different from the other diner style parlors we have visited. They have breakfast, double deckers, burgers and of course the classic Cincinnati chili options. One Gourmet Chili menu item that not many other parlors feautre is the gyro. Everything is reasonable priced and there was even a special on cheese coneys.


Alison's Review

Gourmet Chili is not one of the most talked about chili parlors in Cincinnati, so I had no idea what to expect. As it turns out, however, this little diner offers a solid cheese coney that is among the better ones we've had on the quest.

The chili was loaded with the flavor of beef and onions. It was also a little sweet. Though not particularly unique or bold in flavor, it was definitely a very good chili recipe. The cheese was a standard cheddar, but perhaps a little better than the average. Two of the three buns were soft and fresh. The third must have been kept too close to the grill because it was a little hard.

The hot dog, mustard, and onions were not much to comment on, but none detracted from the overall product.

This was a standard Cincinnati cheese coney. Though there were no surprises and nothing that particularly stood out about the Gourmet Chili coney, it was still a very good product that I will give a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Clint's Review

Gourmet’s chili is on the sweeter side of the spectrum. I do enjoy the stereotypically sweet Cincinnati style chili. I didn’t think Gourmet’s chili was as good as the other sweeter chilies we have tasted (Blue Ash and Pleasant Ridge) but I enjoyed it.

Where Gourmet excelled at in my opinion is the cheese. The cheese had a good flavor, a nice fresh texture and you got a lot of it. After the lackluster cheese at Sam’s Chili, it was very nice to get some high quality cheese. The rest of the coney was average, the buns and hot dogs were fine, nothing to write home about.

While most either love or hate Gourmet, I just liked it. Because of the smoking situation I don’t think I would intentionally return but at the same time if someone were to say, hey let’s go to Gourmet Chili tonight, I would be ok with it. I give Gourmet Chili a 3.5 out of 5.