Ft. Wright Family Restaurant Review

Fort Wright Family Restaurant wasn't difficult to find, but it also doesn't jump out at you either. It's tucked away in a strip mall area off the main drag in Ft. Wright. Like the name indicates it isn't really chili parlor, just a restaurant that happens to have Cincinnati style chili on its menu.

Ft. Wright Family Restaurant seems like a place that is popular with the locals, we went there on a random weeknight and there was only one open table upon our arrival. The best way to describe the interior is its very cave like. Lots of grey and black. On the side walls there are two paintings with Greek themes. When we saw the paintings it began to make a little more sense on why Cincinnati style chili is on their menu. There were some other wall decorations as well which helped make it seem a little less dreary, but I still would have liked to see some brighter colors used. Last stop we went to Skyline which had the largest staff working, Ft. Wright was the opposite with only one waitress and one cook. Since it was so crowded the waitress could have used some help, but she was friendly and checked up on us. The menu is what you would expect from a "Family Restaurant". Along with the chili options you had double-decker sandwiches, burgers, steaks, breakfast and other grill items. Everything was priced reasonably and they had dinner specials which I am sure helps bring in the older crowd that was there during our visit.


Clint's Review

I love cheese, it might be my favorite food and I could eat it on just about anything. One of the reasons that made me love cheese coneys was the cheese. So it comes as a great surprise to me to have to say this, Ft. Wright goes a bit too overboard with the cheese. The cheese was heavier than the typical shredded cheese used on coneys, but it tasted fine, there was just a bit too much of it. Felt like there was a pound of cheese on each coney.

Overall everything tasted okay, it was portion control where Ft. Wright fell short. Along with the heaping amount of cheese, there was a poor balance of chili. On two of my coneys there wasn't enough chili and on the 3rd coney there was too much chili. The chili itself tasted fine, it was a smokey and savory chili with a bit of a spicy undertone, not much sweetness in their chili. The chili also had a quality texture, thicker than your typical Cincy chili.

Even though this isn't the most glowing review of the quest, I am going to give Fort Wright Family Restaurant a 3 out of 5. Everything I tasted was fine, they just need to work on the chili and cheese ratio. If they can get that down then they could be a 3.5, but that ratio is very crucial to a quality coney.

Alison's Review

I almost wonder if Fort Wright Family Restaurant has chili on their menu simply because it's the popular thing to do at mom and pop restaurants in Cincinnati. Though the coneys here didn't have anything particularly awful about them, the execution of the product was a bit lacking.

The cheese, though fresh enough, was far too heavy and overpowered the overall texture. I really missed the light and fluffy cheddar here. The chili was very meaty with perhaps a hint of heat, but the spice combination was less than impressive. There was no special and unidentifiable ingredient, and I probably could have imitated the recipe myself. The onions and mustard tended to overwhelm the flavor. I don't have any complaints about the hot dog or bun, but neither was enough to redeem the overall coney.

The overall product came across as a valiant homemade effort to imitate a Cincinnati classic. I'm giving Fort Wright Family Restaurant 3 out of 5 stars.