Comments on: Review: Balboa’s Cheesesteaks

By: News: Seny closed (!), Mokka moves | wine me, dine me

News: Seny closed (!), Mokka moves | wine me, dine me — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:00:00 +0000

[...] that Polly talked about in her review). Negative reviews will always get the most reaction (Balboa’s, anyone?) but her experience was very different than mine. It just goes to show you that every [...]

By: Julie Niesen

Julie Niesen — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Donald– I’ve never been able to check out Javier’s because I don’t work downtown. Darnit. I have a Dewey’s review coming soon. I love Andy’s!

By: Donald

Donald — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:11:00 +0000

I tried Balboa’s three times and wasn’t thrilled with any of the visits. Frankly, I’d rather eat Penn Station’s cheesesteak than Balboa’s. (That’s not a pangyric to Penn Station, but is more a criticism of Balboa’s.) I also tried their meatball hoagie shortly after the place opened–the meatballs were cold in the center. Not a good experience. I’d initially gone with the intention of blogging the new restaurant over at Cincinnati Blog, but didn’t want to pan the place there, so I skipped it.

I thought the pizza was OK, but not terrific. For East-Coast style pizza, head down the street (Seventh Street) to Gondola’s, one of downtown’s best-kept secret gems.

Julie–your other recommendations are good, but I think there’s a couple others worth mentioning. For Mexican, folks who haven’t done so should check out Javier’s downtown (just at lunch). And for Mediterannean, there’s Andy’s. Pizza: lots love Dewey’s. Best in town is Adriatico’s, though.

By: Julie Niesen

Julie Niesen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:25:00 +0000

The next time we are out late, I promise we will try Balboa’s pizza. I saw that they had a white pizza, which looked fantastic.

Carl, for some reason, when I’m in NY, I never end up eating a slice of pizza. I’m too enamored by the bagels and falafel to spend my street food calories elsewhere. I’ll be there in a couple of weeks and will finally get a true slice of NY-style pizza.

By: carl brewster

carl brewster — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:06:00 +0000

Geeze people!!!

Julie is right. I have been reading the restaurant blogs for a little while and was surprised to hear about the controversy over this Balboas place. So I decided to go there.

Was it the absolute best pizza I have had anywhere in the country? No!

But definately the best in Cinci.

TJ. You seem to have a ton of free time posting stuff. Not that I think it is bad because I have tried some places you recommended. What is amazing is that you have never been to NYC (according to one of your posts but yet you are such an authority on how this place has overpriced pizza and not very good at that. Being from Bean Town (Boston, for those oblivious to anything outside of Ohio), I have to say some of your local tastes are way out there (ie..PennStation, Skyline, Donatos, Snappy Tomato Pizza).

I thought Balboas was a descent place to eat, not sure where the bad critique came from. I gave about 3-4 stars out of 5.

Valeree, did you actually have something to say about the topic of restaurants or were you just trying to spread your wisdom.

By: valereee

valereee — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:14:00 +0000

Whenever I’m tempted to respond to an anonymous post, I remind myself there’s probably a reason the person is being anonymous. Usually it’s because they either don’t really believe what they’re saying and are just saying it to get a response, or it’s because they’re making it up as they go along and are afraid someone will call them on the BS quotient. So I have a brand-new policy of trying to restrain myself, no matter how idiotic the post is. If a poster doesn’t want to take responsibility for their words, I’m going to try my best not to respond.

By: Julie Niesen

Julie Niesen — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Yes, hot dogs at GABP stink. Decent dogs can be found at the Dayton Dragons games. Cincinnati is famous for sausages (being porkopolis and all), but we can't seem to manage hot dogs.

Thai food? Bangkok Bistro is good, Sukhothai in Montgomery is great.

Mexican? La Mexicana in Newport.

Middle Eastern? There used to be a place, Jerusalem Cafe, that was great. There's a Persian place in Mason, I believe The Caspian, I've been there once with a Persian friend and the food was fantastic. She says it tastes like home.

Pizza, I can't comment. I like pizza but I don't crave it or go ga-ga over it.

I am still entirely amused that two people (OK, counting TJ, 3) not liking one cheesesteak has caused such a kerfluffle!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:03:00 +0000

Funny enough…the Pizza is probably the best in Cincinnati…at least as close as you are going to get from the east coast…the cheesesteaks are exactly the one at Jim’s Steaks in Philly which is one of the original cheesesteaks, started in 1939 or something…Balboa’s is the real deal…also I commute between Indy and Cincy, and there is a Balboa’s one outside of dntwn Indy…the reviews I’ve seen from Indy are completely positive…Not being from the midwest it does seem that there aren’t very good options for food in the Nnati, at least compared to Indy, seemingly a more progressive city…I mean have any of you had a hotdog at GABP…or for that matter anywhere around here that’s decent…that goes for, Middle Eastern food, Thai food, Pizza, Mexican food…any suggestions on where to go for these types of cuisines…?

By: TJ Jackson

TJ Jackson — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:52:00 +0000

It’s simply not very good, and rather pricey for what you get, to boot. True of both the pizza and the steaks.

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:08:00 +0000

I had their pizza late night a few weeks ago and it was good. Someone from Balboa’s brought two huge pizzas over to Rockin’ Robin’s and started handing out slices for free. So maybe I’m not exactly impartial since it was free and a pleasant surprise, but I really liked it.