Chez Nora

Chez Nora is now closed for ever… thanks for 20 great years and all the jazz
It is listed at 1.2m and one with deep pockets?

I usually am understanding of bad food or bad service (maybe they had a bad day) but my experience with Chez Nora was fairly terrible. I think the 3.5 current star rating was padded by past reviews possibly under older management. Our visit was from a while back but I wasn’t able to write anything up until now. I was reminded when one of my friends unusually had the exact same experience as I did.
The space and location are great but that was only the positive thing for the day.
We went in as a group of 8 (friends and family) and immediately got a table on the lower level. After being seated we weren’t greeted for about 25 – 30 minutes. The busser saw this and tried to help out but unfortunately he was just the busser. He asked for our drinks but didn’t know about their drink/​bar selections. But kudos for him for recognizing the situation and trying to help out.
The waitress finally came and asked for our drink order. She then proceeded to talk about their specials. I was on my phone at the time reading a text at the time. She proceeded to yell at me to pay attention because she wasn’t going to repeat anything. I responded that we have been looking at the specials and menu for 30 minutes already and we all had a pretty good grasp of the menu and what we wanted. I never been yelled at by a server before so that was a unique experience.
We proceeded to order and our food came out at much of our dismay.
The pasta we received was extremely watery and lacked taste. My brother suggested that a bagged Stouffer’s pasta meal rivaled the pasta we received. Most disagreed debating that the bagged Stouffer’s pasta was much better than the pasta we received.
The fish, Ahi Tuna I believe. I wouldn’t suggest getting any fish at Chez Nora. It didn’t seem fresh and was very unusual taste to it. Maybe it was cooked a different style but the table didn’t enjoy the Tuna at all leaving most of it on the table (we ate family style).
Honestly I don’t remember the rest of the food. Which I guess means that it didn’t taste absolutely foul.
The only highlight would be the crab cakes. It was ok! I’m going to have to pick these up at Restaurant Depot next time I go.
Overall, it I guess was actually kinda fun at the end of the day. We have never had such bad food and experience at a restaurant so it gave us plenty of stories to reminiscence on. Also when deciding where to go out to dinner yelling out «hey what about Chez Nora» always gets a good laugh.

Personally, I’m not too impressed with this place. The restaurant area on the first floor looks a little tacky, and could easily have been designed/​decorated by the same person who did IHOP or something. Upstairs has a nicer atmosphere. They have outside seating, but the view from the patio leaves a lot to be desired. Overall kind of underwhelming.
The best part, and the reason I went, was for the live music. The night I went they had an AMAZING band which included a saxophone player (my favorite), drummer, pianist, and singer. The woman singing had such a unique, beautiful voice, and the band as a whole was absolutely great for setting a romantic mood.
The band definitely moved this place up from a 2 to a 3 for me.

One word: ROACH!
I’ll review my entire experience but the roach is why I will NEVER return.
A group of four of us went out for dinner on Saturday night. We arrived around 7:30pm. The restaurant was about half to three-​quarters full. I was the last to arrive out of our group. After I sat down, it was a couple of minutes before the waitress came over. I asked to see a dessert menu. She said there wasn’t a dessert menu and then rattled off the desserts (fast food joints take more care going over the options than she did) and walked away. My friend wanted to ask about the menu items that were gluten free. I guess this waitress only allowed one question per table visit. When the waitress returned, my friend asked about the gluten free options. The waitress said she would bring the gluten free menu to us and then walked away. All of our expectations were that the waitress would ask if there was anything else needed before leaving. She did not do that (my water was empty at this point). Another woman returned (I’m assuming one of the owners) she went through the menu (yes gluten free, not gluten free, not gluten free) line item by line item and then left. We all stared at each other in disbelief that the ‘menu’ the waitress referred to was a person. The waitress returned and we finally put in our orders. I ordered a pumpkin crème’ brulee.
The two entrees were brought out. The waiter set the pasta on the table in front of my friend who ordered it. For the chicken dish, he reached across me and handed it to her. We were sitting at a table with a bench seat against the wall and two chairs on the other side. There was no reason to reach across me to hand the plate to her. The desserts were not brought out at this time (even though we had ordered them to come out with dinner). The friends with entrees sat and waited a couple of minutes and after the desserts were not brought out, we told them to start eating. After they started eating, the waitress did come out to inform me that the pumpkin crème’ brulee was sold out (this should have been communicated to me right after I ordered). I ordered a different dessert. This is when we discovered she had written down the wrong dessert for the other person. So I just ordered his original choice and we decided to split them.
Our desserts came out. After I was half through my dessert, we noticed a 2″ roach walking along the wall right behind the bench seat. I told my friend to get up and move (it was above her head). The waitress was at the next table so I said, «Excuse me ma’am, there is a roach on the wall». She went to get the owner. A man came back and told us that these large roaches occasionally come in with the food (guess who was done eating with that statement!). He didn’t seem very concerned. I had my eyes glued on the roach, the other person on the bench seat stood up and moved away from the roach. The owner came back with gluten free menu woman. She was armed with menus. She stood on the bench and hit the roach with the menu. As soon as she stood on the bench, I got out of my seat and moved away. Thank goodness! The roach landed on the table and ran under my plate. I turned away trying everything not to start screaming or run out of the restaurant (I did neither)! I’m not sure what happened during the rest of the killing or how they removed the dead roach (I really hope it was killed and did not get away). They walked away with me and my friends just standing there. We weren’t going to sit back at that table. They did come back and re-​seat us. No new food (not that I would have eaten it), no new water, no new silverware. I sat with my coat and purse on my lap.
The owner came over to us with $ 15 Gift Certificates. We were commenting about what to do with them since the thought of coming back to a restaurant that receives 2″ roaches with food deliveries was unlikely at best when the waitress came over and asked if the bill was together or separate. YES — they charged us for the food. I received a bill for my dessert plate that was half eaten that the roach ran under seeking shelter. We were shocked! We paid and I left NO tip (I don’t know about my friends). They thanked us for coming in as we walked out.
The only thing that went well in this entire visit was I had a close parking spot.
I eat out for over 50% of all my meals due to my work travel and social groups. I eat in all types of restaurants, all over the United States, at many different price points. This is hands down the WORST restaurant experience I have ever had!

I always get confused when people either rate 1’s and 2’s and then others rate 4’s and 5’s for the same establishment. Unfortunately for me, this was a 1 star. I had heard good things about this restaurant but my first time there proved to be a disappointment. The inside is sorely outdated, which didn’t necessarily bother me since we decided we would eat on the patio deck that so many people raved about. Although it was nice to be outside, the view was lacking and the table of women smoking behind us was annoying. Service was slow and lackluster. I can get past all of these things as long as the food is good… however it wasn’t. There was a long hair rolled up in my napkin/​silverware (and I detest hairs especially near my food), the crab dip was dreadful, and the salads we ordered were just okay.
I honestly don’t think I can ever go back and cannot recommend this place to others. There are too many other options in this area to chose from.

I don’t go here for the food, but for the rooftop and live jazz. So when I do eat here I don’t expect a lot. The food tonight was inedible. And I had the pasta. You really have to work to make pasta that bad. My one and only had the swordfish and didn’t make a peep until an hour later when he did mention the weird tastes.
I will always come here because there are some delightful aspects, but it will not be for the food
Makes me feel so guilty to give a bad review to a local joint. I hope for improvement

The last time I went to Chez Nora was for a networking event. They had selected items from their menu in our reserved second floor space. Service was good and so was the food. I’ve been to Chez Nora several times over the years, but this was the first time in a long time that I’d been there. I was happy to see (and taste) that the food was still good. I had a veggie burger, which was served with fries. The burger was pretty good… the fries were just mediocre. I’ve had good luck with their salads before, but wasn’t in the mood for one on my last visit.
Chez Nora has a nice location on Covington’s Mainstrasse, and if the weather is nice, you can enjoy the rooftop or the sidewalk dining area. The atmosphere tends to be lively, as it is usually pretty crowded. The prices are reasonable and compare well to similar types of establishments. All-​in-​all, Chez Nora is a solid choice south of the river.

This place is hideous. My wife and I stopped by on a Saturday evening for a drink and appetizer. We had dinner reservations across the street at Bouquet and wanted to have a little something before dinner.
We walked into the place and the first thing we noticed was how outdated this place was. However, we overlooked this and took a seat at the bar. There was one bartender working the whole bar and also making drinks for the servers that was helping the other patrons in the restaurant. We ordered a glass of wine and a glass of champagne. It took the bartender about 10 minutes to get these. Once he dropped them off, I immediately ordered the crab dip with pita bread.
While we were waiting, we were looking at the bar and the place is filthy. It literally needs a scrubbing. My wife used the restrooms and they were gross as well. About 20 minutes goes by and still no appetizer. We look into the kitchen and see the guy (notice can’t call him a chef) that is running expo take a piece of chewing gum out of his mouth and throw it in the trash. He then continues with putting meals together and never washes his hands. We were disgusted at this point and asked the bartender for our check and to take the dip off because we had waited for so long.
He runs to the kitchen and brings it out. The dip was below average. We tasted it and then paid the bill.
Avoid this place at all costs. It is disgusting.

Closed

I give this 4 stars because on a Thursday night my fiancée and I were able to eat dinner on the rooftop overlooking the city at sunset. I don’t know if this would be possible on the weekend. On our return trip we will probably stick to drinks and appetizers because the entrees were a bit too expensive for our budget, but it was was worth the splurge on a birthday dinner.
I don’t recommend the goat cheese appetizer, it was 75% marinara sauce, 25% goat cheese. Pretty disappointing. But the entrees were solid.
It had a good ambiance and atmosphere. We will go back again when we want to have a special night out.

My friend celebrated his 30^th birthday on the rooftop patio on a warm spring evening. It was a perfect night to experience Chez Nora for the first time, with soothing live jazz music, a light breeze, and a scenic view of Cincinnati. One of my favorite parts was watching the trains come by on the overpass every 10 minutes. It’s the little things.
Our server did a wonderful job keeping tabs on our table of six. We shared a dip sampler, which offered four different tastes of hummus, salsa, caprese, and spinach artichoke dip. I ordered the Goat Cheese & Marinara sauce dish, served with pita bread. The cheese was toasted to perfection and blended with the marinara. It was a new and fabulous taste! My friends had the crab cakes, a quesadilla, and a few gourmet salads. Everyone devoured their food.
I definitely look forward to returning here for some relaxing evenings on the patio and to indulge in their giant salads.
Price per person: $ 15.00

Recently, I threw a birthday dinner for my best friend at Chez Nora for around 16 people on a Friday evening. Our party arrived at various times and the host and waiter were very accommodating. Service was beyond excellent, especially for a party of this size

I vacillate between slight irritation and mild adoration when I think of Chez Nora. On one hand, it has a fantastic rooftop patio with a great view of Cincinnati. It also has jazz musicians. All very good.
However, the food seems fairly pricey for what you get. For example, an order of the goetta eggrolls (pretty tasty) is around $ 8 for two eggrolls. Happy hour drink prices aren’t bad, but the last time I went, I asked for the cocktail menu and got major attitude from the very grouchy server that there was no cocktail menu. Except, there was… the martini menu. Call me crazy but aren’t martini’s in the cocktail category? Or even if not technically so, can be understood to be a cocktail? Anyway, I’ve tried a few of the martinis, and while they are stiff, they aren’t incredibly delicious.
I’ll probably end up here again, if only for the views, but probably not terribly often.

My wife and I have been there quite a few times for drinks up in the roof top. They are on the pricey side for their drinks. But the view and the live bands makes up for it. And we had never eaten dinner until ended up there because the wait to get into York Street Café was 2 hours wait.
So, service was not bad, food was ok at best. Again it was on the pricey side for what all you got. Sorry I can’t remember what we got, the wife and I ate there like 2 months ago and I never got around to reviewing till now.
But in the long and short of it. Not a place I plan on going back to dinner for. There was nothing to special about the food. We will still get drinks there when the friends are wanting to go. Not a 1^st choice kind of place for us.

In the Summertime, I really enjoy the rooftop patio and bar. It’s fun, and feels hidden away while still giving you a great vantage point for Main Strasse.