Chili Time Restrnts Ltd, Cincinnati, Ohio Restaurant Details

Food:

This is my favorite restaurant. I love the creamy and soft cheese on hotdogs and cheese fries. The fries taste delicious. And the hotdogs taste great. Best restaurant in America.

Food:

Well it was a great place to eat but the new owners have ruined the place. Prices went thru the roof and the quality of the food went down the drain. A BLT has at the most 3 slice's of the thinnest Bacon you will ever see. And at 7 bucks its a rip off. The roast beef on a double decker is so tough it can't be bit through. If you want a super BLT go to blue ash chili its got at least 3 quarter's of a pound of Bacon and its cheaper than this joint.

Food:

Been going there for years everything was great I go tonight I was there for 45 mins for 2 cheese coneys and a three way.... simple. Shit and y'all fucked that up.... Really!

Food:

This review may seem like a WAY too detailed analysis of something that many of us eat while tipsy after closing down a bar, but I'm an experienced chef and I like to compare chili parlors in Cincinnati.

Skyline is still a winner for me overall, but I have to say that Chili Time simply has the best cheese coney available among those I've tried, including Skyline, Gold Star, Price Hill Chili, Camp Washington Chili, Blue Ash Chili, Delhi Chili and Dixie Chili. The wiener used in the sandwich actually has great flavor and is quite tender. In my opinion, most other wieners used in coneys are barely noticeable under their chili component - except that they are sometimes a bit too chewy or even a little rubbery.

I know that some years ago Skyline stated publicly that they reduced the fat in their products to respond to greater consumer interest in eating healthy. While I am all for eating healthy most of the time, something like a four-way or a coney are the sort of treats I like to eat only on occasion, and which I'd prefer to eat as they were originally conceived.

I'm not sure that Skyline or any other outfit has changed their wieners to a lower-fat type, but I can tell you as an experienced chef that using less fat in any ground meat product (hot dogs, burgers, meatloaf etc.) will make them noticeably less tender and - in some cases - less flavorful, as fat seems to play an important role in transferring flavor from proteins to our palate.

Another thing I've noticed when comparing different chili parlors is that some make a chili that works best as only one or two of the three common ways of serving it - a bowl of plain, a plate of chili over spaghetti, or as a sauce over little hot dogs.

For instance, I prefer Camp Washington's spicy chili served plain with crackers and Chili Time's ladled over cheese coneys. Skyline's works best for me as either plain or on spaghetti. Not sure why, but even something as seemingly minor as the amount of cooking water left in a drop-pan of cooked spaghetti, whether or not the water was salted, the thickness of the strands, or the amount of browning that occurs as wieners sit on a grill can have a remarkable effect upon the finished items. Buns from different commercial bakeries and cheese that can vary considerably in aroma or texture are certainly more obvious factors that may distinguish one company from another.

To those of you who fiercely prefer one brand or restaurant over the others, please accept my apology for not taking a clear stance, because to me whichever chili is the "best"depends mostly upon how I'm going to enjoy it. Chili Time makes a fabulous cheese coney -- it's just too bad there's only one place in the city you can buy it.

PS - the service there is routinely excellent as well.

Food:

I absolutely love their chicken tender dinner, it comes with the best tenders in the world with great fries and even better Cole slaw and the order comes out super fast and hot, never had a problem, the only problem is, is that I should probably try something else eventually but this meal is the best!!