Review: The Cricket Lounge at the Cincinnatian’s Recession Special

by julie on May 4, 2009

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Every Thursday and Friday night, the Cricket Lounge runs a special– $8.99 for a burger with the usual toppings (lettuce, tomato, onions; cheese is $1, and just about any kind you wish)… and a beer. Not cheap beer, either, but Hoegaarden, Bass or OTR.

So, Terry and I, trying to find a place to eat on Friday night, naturally had to try it. We settled down at the bar (which was hopping, due to a wedding reception letting out and some business travelers) and got down to ordering.

First, the beer:

Yum.

Next, the burger:

Looks fairly unremarkable, right? That’s a picture of Terry’s, who got American cheese. I chose gruyere. It’s a hotel burger, right?

I mean, look, they even give you the little condiments like room service does (which are so cute):

Wrong.

Folks, this is the best deal in Cincinnati, if not one of the best burgers. Terry (restaurant, not boyfriend) has met his match.

The burger is perfectly cooked– juicy, a little bloody (we both ordered ours medium rare), well-seasoned, flavorful– just amazing. They don’t have the wide variety of sauces that Terry does (though I am assured they do indeed have my favorite cheese, chevre), and the atmosphere is totally different, but this is one darn good burger, and by far the best deal in town.

It also comes with crispy, delicious pub chips and some pretty decent angel hair coleslaw. Both are good, but the real feature is the burger.

Another advantage: really good dessert. You can see how far we got into the flight of cupcakes before we remembered to take a picture:

Total bill? Under $30. The special doesn’t have an end date, but it’s only available on Thursdays and Fridays from 4-12. The next chance you get, you have to try it– it’s fabulous!

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Tagged as: beer, burger, cincinnatian, cricket, cupcakes

{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }

1 5chw4r7z May 4, 2009 at 6:56 pm

How many Big N’ Tastys would you give it? ;-D
I need to get over there and try it.

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2 julie May 4, 2009 at 7:35 pm: It’s about three dozen Big ‘n’ Tasties.

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3 Tina Lane May 4, 2009 at 9:35 pm

How does it compare to Zipp’s? I have been to neither but just weighing my options for a burger night – which I don’t do often. Yes -I am a newbie.

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4 julie May 4, 2009 at 9:43 pm: I honestly don’t think Zip’s is that good– so I’d go to the Cricket way before I’d go to Zip’s.

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5 Randy Simes May 4, 2009 at 10:38 pm

Oy…that beer looks pretty good right about now.

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6 Rose May 5, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Great review, Julie. I’m very interested to read anything about specials you find in the area that are worthwhile now that our family is on a *very* restricted budget.

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7 julie May 5, 2009 at 5:29 pm: Yes! I figure that most of my readers don’t have a ton of expendable income– I know I don’t– so you can be sure I’ll try out the tasty deals.

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8 Lesley May 5, 2009 at 5:30 pm