Dilly Deli Wines and Gourmet

October 10, 2008
(Visited 02/2008): Dilly Deli is located in Mariemont, which is a suburb of Cincinnati. It is a quaint town with street and small parking lots sprinkled around. The Deli is tucked away and is difficult to spot from the road. The interior is cramped but not necessarily in a bad way. After entering the deli is on the right, followed by a small aisle of grocery-type items. To the left of that is restaurant seating. After that you hit the bar area, with a small wine alcove to the left of it. In the rear of the store is the bottled beer for sale. The majority is on shelves, with a couple coolers. The beer selection is limited due to space but well thought-out. The bar has draughts from Mt. Carmel, Barrel House, Bell’s (cask Expedition!), Chimay, and GLBC to name a few. The bottles are from craft brewers in the USA (Rogue, Stone, DFH, Stone, etc) and all over the world. Belgium, France, Germany, Japan and others are represented. Service here is very good. The bartenders who served us (food and drinks, as we did not want to wait 45 min for a table) were very attentive and knew the beer. I think one of the bartenders was an owner the Saturday evening we visited. Dilly Deli’s food is really good. My pulled pork sandwich had some of the best BBQ sauce I have ever had. One of my friends complained about his burger being overdone but he is a wuss (and got the burger free anyway) so I am not applying to my score. Overall I have not had a better beer day in quite some time between visiting Party Source and Dilly Deli within a couple hours. This is another must-visit spot in the Cincy area.

August 23, 2008
Fantastic selection of both wines and beers. We spent about $100 there over 3 days on all sorts of imports I’ve salivated over for a few years. I highly recommend this place to anyone in the Cincinnati area.

August 17, 2008
Who could ask for anything more than Dilly? Great draft beers, great bottles at nearly retail prices, good food and a Starbucks next door for the ride home. Consistantly, a great draft list.

June 24, 2008
The restaurant’s beer list is good, but you’re lucky if the printed menu is up to date. They are largely out of both the bottled and draft choices, although they are usually good to recommend an alternative. Their retail availability for beer and wine is fantastic, and they will sell any for in-house consumption at retail prices, which is a great option. However, do yourself a favor and eat dinner elsewhere - the food ranges from bad to mediocre. Appetizers are a safe bet, but beyond that you’re playing russian roulette, and the prices don’t reflect the quality. Overall it’s worth a stop for the retail arm, but it probably doesn’t earn the 94 rating.

January 9, 2008
This is the only place on the Cincinnati tour that I was able to hit when I was in town for business, but I chose properly. The service was excellent, and the guy I talked with knew way more about beer than I did. There were some great beers on tap, and the bottle selection was excellent (I went for Alesmith stuff, and walked out of there with about a case and a half of other goodies). I need to make my way back there in the near future!

September 17, 2007
Stopped in here to pick up some AleSmith’s and found those as well as both versions of Pannepot,Bear Republic,Stone’s,Phantome,Lambic’s,Trappist beers and many other stellar beers. Not huge selection but many quality beers can be found here. I found the bartender to be quite knowledgeable even for a over the top beer guy like myself I could communicate on the highest beer talk level. I knew I was in the right place when I spied an empty bottle of Dark Lord above the bar as well as a bottle of Kuhnein’s Eisenbock . recommend!

April 10, 2007
The selection of beers is not comprehensive by any means, but in the small space they have, they have really great beers. Not what you would expect from a "deli," including lots of imports. Bottle list and tap list were both broad enough, and they will open anything they sell on certain days (assuming I read the menu correctly). Food is better than pub grub, and the staff is knowledgable and accomodating. Definitely a place to stop if you are in the area. Not sure I’d drive the two-plus hours to go again...

April 7, 2007
Dilly Deli is home of the best taps in the city at times. You can always count on them to get the latest release from Stone and get some really rare items on draft. The best thing going for the Dilly Deli are the "Tastings". Brewers come in, bring something special, as well as some others from their lineup and throw down at the Dilly. These have included Founders(KY Breakfast), Rogue, Bells, Arcadia, Barrelhouse(local). They always get the best and the rarest of kegs in Cincinnati. I was just there the other night drinking Bells Expedition Stout on cask from a firkin. The bottle selection falls into the category of Quality not quantity. Due to limited space and good taste, the bottle selection is great. You can even have them chill a bottle and drink it there with your dinner. The food is really good. Very well made and in good portions. A little off the beaten path and possibly a little difficult to find if you’re not from the area, but well worth the effort to find. I frequent the Dilly Deli on a regular basis. Hopefully when you stop in you’ll have the privilege of speaking with Peanut, the best barkeep in the city. The Dilly Deli is a truly a gem of the city.

March 25, 2007 [ Updated April 20, 2007 ]
What a treasure of a shopping/meeting gathering. Home of the first Cincinnati gathering -- it was the perfect spot. nestled in a high class Cincy residential neighborhood, it provides a nice stop for any purpose. Here selecetion was a plethera of high end, but not too high ends. The menu items were reasonable priced from natural deli to deep fried bar food--complete with big screen TV for march madness. The taste was awesome and the staff VERY accomidating. Thanks Dilly Deli !

January 7, 2007
The hype didn’t meet the expectations. It was kind of a backroom dirty area where they sold Beer and wine. There are grocery stores in my area that have a selection as big as this.