Several friends gathered to celebratel my birthday. The service was outstanding. The only reason I am giving the rating a 4 is the dessert I ordered. It was described as coconut cake. It didn't resemble nor taste anything like coconut cake. I was very disappointed...with this dessert as I was hoping for a piece of cake. It was somewhat like a lemon bar, but not as good. The restaurant is beautiful and historic. It would be a good place to celebrate with family and friends. We have had brunch there on several occasions and this was our first time for dinner.More

We had the best time for a date night dinner at Orchids. The service was outstanding and kept getting better as the night progressed. This is definitely not a quick dinner. Our dinner lasted about 2 1/2 hours but it was the perfect relaxing but...fancy date night. The tables are nicely separated and cozy. The staff was very attentive and did an amazing job exceeding all of my expectations. The food came in several courses with some surprise courses along the way which I loved! The courses were all portioned well so that you still had room for the next course and there was enough time between courses to be ready to eat again. I felt like I was at The White House eating a fancy dinner. 😉 This dinner was unique and memorable. I love how they incorporate vegetables and honey from their rooftop gardens and hives. On our table when we arrived was a Happy Birthday card with a silver letter opener...so fancy! This dinner was certainly one I will never forget!More

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Hilton and our dining experiences at Palm Court. Situated in this well done historic hotel, the Sunday brunch was just divine. The overall atmosphere, the wait staff, the elaborate selections - it was just a treat. While it...is cost prohibitive for us to frequent this establishment on a regular basis, it will certainly be on our short list for romantic splurges.More

Everything about Palm Court exceeds the food, service, and ambiance of any other restaurant in Cincinnati. I expected to pay megabucks to enjoy the haute cuisine and the atmosphere and service, and was pleasantly surprised at how low the final bill was. We went at...happy hour when many incredible items were only $5. This is THE place to take your significant other for a lovely, romantic evening. the cuisine of "high-level" establishments, gourmet restaurants and luxury hotels. Haute cuisine is characterized by the meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food at a high price. Everything was true except the high price!More

I had a reservation for one for a Sunday night while I visited Cincy from San Francisco. For a tasting menu specified in the reservation at $180 a head. I asked for a space by the jazz - there was no jazz when I walked...in. I then remembered the 49ers were playing and asked if I could have the tasting menu at the bar so I could watch the game. Apparently you’re NOT ALLOWED to have the Orchids menu at the bar even though it’s a difference of 3 meters. I asked if they’d double check with a manager... The bar manager said the chef forbids it. I was willing to have a $200+ meal and they wouldn’t serve it to me because I didn’t want to sit in the fine dining white tablecloth part of the restaurant - and instead watch football. How f*ing dumb and honestly ignorant. Passing on money and missing out on good reviews because your wait staff aren’t “trained” appropriately in different parts of the room. I said... It’s a tasting menu. They don’t have to explain things. They don’t have to prepare things. All they need to do is walk the food over. Nope. Not at all flexible. That’s fine, Orchids. You won’t impress people from cities with true fine dining if you keep your standards in the archaic fashion they exist in today.More

While staying at the historic art deco hotel, the Hilton Cincinnati Netherlands Plaza one must visit the Orchids at Palm Court. Is it a bustling ballroom-like area with live music, delicious food and well-mixed drinks. We sat at a wall table so we could take...in the scenes. It is quite crowded during the early evening hours.More

My boyfriend and I came here for our "dating anniversary" and they exceeded our expectations. We are not used to fine dining experiences, but our server was very helpful in going through the menu and enhancing our experience. We sat in the dining area, which...was perfect because it was far away enough from the jazz music that you could still hear it but not be overwhelmingly loud. The food was spectacular, the wine selection was wonderful, and there was Christmas decor.More

I have been to “tea” all over the world and I was excited when I got reservations at Orchids at the Palm Court when I would be visiting friends in Cincinnati. My excitement soon turned to disappointment as the food/tea certainly did not match the...beauty of the Art Deco decor at this famed aging Hilton Hotel. We were greeted and seated without a warm welcome or even a smile. Our server seemed adequate but she never asked if we wanted refills on our tea and after one cursory pass we did not see her until the bill appeared. We were served cold, very tiny (quarter-sized) stale sandwiches with no visible filling or lovely garnishes. The tea was stale and muddy and served lukewarm. We quickly ordered wine from the bar and ate the stale sandwiches. My friend asked when the “seconds” would come and there was no one around and they never did, so we asked a man if we could have more and were told “no.” We could not think of a time when having tea that we weren’t given more sandwiches. A very officious man said there were no seconds. Usually, there is someone walking around with a silver tray heaped with pretty sandwiches for those who want more! There was none. The tray of tiny desserts came, again with no garnish or fruit or pretty presentation. The room was cold, sober and the music straight out of a funeral home. Two men quietly played electric guitars with absolutely NO enthusiasm. It was such a sad excuse for a tea that we couldn’t help giggling. We remembered a little Miss Annabelle’s Tea Room in Loveland that was warm and friendly and even if it wasn’t a 5 star restaurant served lovely food and hot, fresh tea!! We always had fun picking a hat from the hat trees by the door and enjoying a lovely afternoon with wonderful fresh tea and lots of goodies!! And then we also remembered a lovely June afternoon at a friend’s house in the Cotswolds where we sat on old warped garden chairs in a tumbledown garden enjoying fresh tea and scones with clotted cream. It’s funny but you can easily make clotted cream or even buy it in local grocery stores. It sure would beat a smear of butter without jam that was served to us in the revered Palm Court! There was a young man in a suit moving through the room and he wasn’t smiling and I’m guessing that he knew this was a sad representation of what a real “tea” could be. My friends and I revisited the entire afternoon on the way home and realized, that with no experience in the food business, we could have made that tea worth every penny we paid!! One afternoon many years ago, I had tea at the Ritz in London and that memory will be etched in my mind forever!! My advice to whoever is in charge of this horrible event is to phase it out! It’s old, tired and ugly!More

Wonderful food with a charming festive atmosphere. Loved the Christmas Carols. Traditional breakfast fare with some unusual lunch items. Fabulous dessert Buffett.

Beautiful setting in the hotel lobby of the Hilton Cincinnati . There was live jazz music after 6 pm . There was also a nice lobby bar attached that had light dinner and drinks . The hand crafted cocktails were fashioned after the 20s ....The service was professional and efficient . The food was tasty but expensive for dinner .More

My boyfriend and I had wanted to visit Orchids for quite some time, so we were really looking forward to dining there for his birthday. Unfortunately, the experience fell far short of their reputation and our expectations. The ambiance is lovely (a bit outdated but...that is to be expected), and the menu offers a nice selection between the a la carte options and the tasting menu. We decided to choose from the a la carte menu, and each ordered 3 courses (4 of our 6 combined course selections were recommended by our server), as well as a bottle of wine. I would strongly advise against ordering (1) the smoked salmon dish, which is served with a very hard, burnt tasting sesame cake that adds nothing to the dish, and (2) the Thai-inspired halibut, which was cooked to the point of being chalky and incredibly dry (and don't even get me started on the congealed rice it was served with). My boyfriend had the lamb as his main course and he said it was cooked well, but had no flavor. The shining star of the meal was the maitake pasta, which was absolutely delicious. We also found the level of service to be average at best. I had to drink out of my boyfriend's water glass several times as they were very slow to fill up my glass, despite walking past our table multiple times. We often had to pour our own wine, which is a huge pet peeve of mine (call me high maintenance), as our server stopped by our table pretty infrequently. Overall, I'd strongly encourage anyone looking for a fine dining experience in Cincinnati to skip Orchids and go straight to Boca.More

I was back for buffet breakfast after years. Excellent tasty food, courteous service, splendid location and decor. Overall a treat, really worth experiencing.