Madonna’s Bar & Grill

Cincinnati, Ohio

Field Note

Cincinnati’s Central Business District isn’t exactly flush with attractive dive bars offering an escape from some of the more straightforward offerings that dot the city’s downtown area. O’Malley’s In The Alley is probably the best of the city’s southern downtown options and Madonna’s Bar & Grill is likely the best on the northern edge of Cincinnati’s core district.

The very definition of a hole in the wall, a skinny patio and red awning offer the only indication that some of the city’s best wings can be found along an otherwise unremarkable stretch of downtown Cincinnati. The Madonna’s Bar & Grill signature red awning sits under a white sign that features the international bat signal of dive bars, the name of the bar paired with a tilted martini glass.

Opened in 1994, Madonna’s Bar & Grill is about as classic a dive bar as can be found in Cincinnati, complete with an open, one-room floor plan surrounded by mirrors. A small bar can be found just inside the front door with room for a dozen or so stools, the rest of the structure filled in by short square tables and chairs. The room setup here makes sense when taking into account the surprisingly good and deep food menu found at Madonna’s Bar & Grill. All things chicken are worth a try, though the wings have often been singled out as some of the best in downtown Cincinnati.

The usual flurry of dive bar décor is a bit more subdued inside Madonna’s Bar & Grill, a handful of beer signs dotted along the walls with the occasional bit of neon. A pinball, ATM machine and old-school cigarette machine round out the sum total of the bar’s non-food & drink amenities. The half disco ball attached the ceiling makes it easy to picture this mirrored space with elevated stage as a multi-purpose, club-style room that could host live shows, but the vibe here is more neighborhood dive bar than anything else.

The patio out front is more a sidewalk extension than it is a true patio, the slim square footage just wide enough for a chair or two behind a black metal railing. For those walking to Cincinnati’s sports venues south of downtown, Madonna’s Bar & Grill offers a good northern anchor to lay an inexpensive food and domestic beer foundation before embarking upon the northern crawl that will no doubt turn up progressively higher prices.

A recurring lunch special underscores Madonna’s Bar & Grill as a duck-in location for locals and regulars during and after the workday looking for a momentary reprieve of some kind. Calling Madonna’s Bar & Grill a basic dive bar may seem like a bit of a slight, but it is intended as a compliment in a downtown area that sorely needs the classic burger & beer combo in an atmosphere that still feels authentic.