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Categories: Southern, Breakfast & Brunch, Burgers [Edit]
438 Pike St
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having never been to covington, i yelped a late night spot for afterbars - and the reviews were enough to get us to the anchor about 3a. it certainly did not disappoint. the food isnt great, but the staff put up with the drunken rowdies and it certainly hit the spot.
if you play the jukebox, you get the priviledge of a small stage show featuring barbie as the lead singer. the disco ball is awesome, the coolest i remember seeing.
loved the stream of transvestites coming in to eat - they looked better than most everyone else in the place, but it just added to the charm.
Admittedly, I'm really boring when I go out for breakfast. I get pretty much the exact same thing every time if it's available and nothing else is notable (hash browns/home fries, two eggs over medium - which almost no one knows how to do, bacon, a side of biscuits and gravy if I'm starved).
Anchor has all that stuff done well (but for the egg clause mentioned above), including yummy biscuits and gravy. My best girl Kathy A wound up with the goetta and cheese omelet, which is the exact reason we traveled over the river to Kentucky to go there.
It's a diner in the truest sense. Counter seating, lifer waitresss, regulars, watery coffee, ashtrays on the tables and dark insides. It also has charm though, even if the bathroom door doesn't lock...
They only take cash, and if you hit it on a good day and the thing is working, put a quarter in your tabletop jukebox, wait for the lights to dim and see if the little mechanical band starts to play your song up in the corner.
I just got a "Just a Note" from Scott E. (or Dweasel Z.), who apparently hails from Kentucky...
(apologies for the cut and paste)
"Its not cool to poke fun at anothers upbringing. Do you elitest snobs from Calif*ckyou really think your better than us in KY. Let me tell you, I lived in L.A. The most uneducated, (and yes I said uneducated, I went to college, I bet thats suprising to you, since I'm from KY.) egotistical, zeros on the planet reside in your dirty state. Do me a favor, stay there. We dont want you here."
I'd just like to apologize to Scott (as I already did in a "compliment") and hope that he understands that I was NOT trying to make fun of his upbringing. In fact, I loved my visit to Kentucky. People have different experiences, and they express them differently. I did not intend to insult him or anyone else with what I wrote about my trip to the Anchor Grill.
Having heard millions of insults about "Calif*ckyou" before, I understand the irritation he must feel towards people who make assumptions and generalizations about a place he obviously loves so dearly. However, I take each criticism with a grain of salt. Just because someone hates Los Angeles or San Francisco doesn't make the entire state of "Calif*ckyou" a wash. The same goes for Kentucky and every state in the U.S.
In fact, I was trying (apparently, not well) to express my own ignorance about Kentucky and my own pre-conceived notions about the state. Anchor Grill won me over, in its own, very unique, odd way.
I regret having pissed off anyone to the point where they felt the need to send a "compliment" to let me know how they felt. My sincere apologies, Scott. And good luck with "complimenting" the other reviewers that might say things you don't agree with, too.
Oh, and I'm upping my star rating, out of sheer guilt and shame.
FYI: This is why I hate "Just a Note" compliments.
My husband grew up in Ohio. I came back with him one Christmas...it was the first year we dated,… Read more »
We were searching for a good lunch spot in Covington and asked the concierge at the Embassy Suites for recommendations. She recommended a Red Lobster on the way to the airport. Not that I'm not a Red Lobster fan, but we were looking for something with a little more character, so my buddy whipped out his iphone and consulted with Yelp. Greenup an Anchor were the number 1 and 2 options, respectively. Although Greenup looked pretty good, the Anchor promised to be a little more regionally fitting, so we headed down to Pike St.
Before we even entered, we knew from the overall vibe that we had chosen wisely. Anchor Grill has a great old-school diner vibe and plenty of weird eye candy. And the food was up to snuff too. I had the GLT- Goetta, Letuce, and Tomato, which was delicious. We shared an order of biscuits and gravy which were awesome- I was even tempted to lap up the blobs of gravy that remained on the plate after the biscuits were gone. The country ham was also delicious- a nice big salty slab, on the bone.
I'm sure this place is even more of an experience at night. I would definitely make a point of eating here again next time I was in the area.
The Anchor Grill is a 24 hour bastion for late-night drunks craving diner food and lovers of miniature bands that have Barbie's boy Ken as a back up singer. Sure the food isn't that great, and sure it could take you over half an hour to get your food, but the Anchor isn't a restaurant, it's an experience.
I've taken many a friend to the Anchor and each one has found something to love about it. The waitresses are very tolerable because even if your group is particularly awful, you know there has been a worse, drunker group to come in and cause a ruckus. It's even more fun to experience sober because you get to take in everything that goes down there.
My favorite recent memory is that right now they are having patrons sign a petition to get the city to allow them to have a giant mural of a steamboat painted on the side of the restaurant, as if the Anchor wasn't awesome enough already.
"I See Drunk People." My server's T-shirt sums up about every experience I've ever had at Anchor.
Service is slow; patrons, well, drunk (even during the day). The restaurant is smoke-filled and the entire place could use a good cleaning. Sounds like a dump, right? So why five stars?
Not only does this place have impeccable character in a region slowly deteriorating into a corporate homogeny, but also they make a pretty killer goetta omelet. This meal only can stave over any hangover, even the all-day binge drinking kind (so I've been told...). Unfortunately, everyone and his (alcoholic) brother knows this "secret," so good luck getting a table around 2:30 am.
It's wierd, it's dirty and it's cheap - what could be better?????
The food is so bad it's good!
I love it - even when I'm not drunk!
Oh Anchor, how many nights have I sat at one of your crappy booths, waiting patiently for coffee so I can sober up enough to go home and ordered twice as much food as I could eat, food I might not touch if I hadn't spent an evening drinking heavily. Anchor has such a long sordid history in late-night Cincinnati that it's almost improbable for someone to come to age here without a shameful story of passing out on the bathroom floor or narrowly avoiding a fight. I ate there only once in the daytime.
Aside from the ridiculously affordable greasy food, the anchor also has sullen waitresses on third shift, obnoxious patrons, a mirrored ceiling fixture and a small stage built into the corner that houses a miniature big band that sways to life when the juke box is played. In the place of one of the musicians is a blond Barbie doll. It's hard to tell if the door to the women's restroom locks and I find myself trying not to touch the door handle as I exit (just a paranoid precaution of course). The draw is not only the consistency of the establishment but also the joy of sinking to this particular level of dive restaurant. For an extra special evening visit the Sub Galley on Short Vine for your beverages and make your decent complete.
Anchor Grill never closes, and they don't really doze, either, despite the neon sign out front.
I'll be honest- I've only been to Anchor Grill in the middle of the night. It's not that the food only tastes good when I've been drinking (although it does hit the spot). It's that it's my late-night tradition, and to go during the daylight hours could temper that.
Anchor Grill is an experience. While the food is delicious, you don't go for that. You go for the opportunity to see transvestites get into verbal altercations with hillbillies, or to see college kids managing to find something with wheels and using it to careen around the cramped dining room. I love nothing more than taking people who had never been there before- Barbie and her band are reason enough.
The servers have to be the most patient people in the world. I would kill someone within a week. Tip them out fat.
This has got to be the grimiest, nastiest place on earth and the food is revolting. It is absolutely bottom-of-the-barrel, yet somehow perfect for when you find yourself so incredibly drunk that you can't even remember what a germ is, let alone think about how many must be crawling around the Anchor Grill's kitchen.
The doll band mentioned by other reviewers is best when Barbie is "singing" to something by an exceptionally deep-voiced singer, such as Johnny Cash, and which is also wildly inappropriate for the disco ball that spins while the music plays.
Here are some actual experiences I've had here:
-Drugged-out Kentucky hookers coming off their shifts and nasally screaming that "Everybody's looking at me!" No one was until she started bellowing about it repeatedly.
-A biker dude in a leather Harley vest (no shirt) and scraggly ponytail leaves and through the window we see him hop on his bike. His bicycle, that is.
-The food is absolutely stomach-churning (you come here for the atmosphere, duh), so I usually just stick with coffee. One night I was drunk enough to order fries or something. I was just being a smartass and asked for the "grease on the side." They actually brought be a dish of grease to accompany my already thoroughly oily fries.
-My roommate asked the waitress if they had anything steamed. The waitress looks at her wearily and says in a Kentucky accent, "Honey, this is a greasy spoon. Everythin's fried." Which is true.
BEST OLD-TIMEY DINER ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH!!!
I'll tells yeh why:
1) 'We May Doze, But Never Close' is their neon motto in the front winda. (truth in advertising)
2) Gotta get a Goetta. Best Goetta in the tri-state area. Best drunk food evah! If the gods drank 75 cent cans of Weidemann's and moshed, this would be their ambrosia.
http://en.wikipedia.or...
3) Wonderful nautical-themed decor, in constant accumulatory flux since 1946. More "Hey, sailor..." than 80s Ralph Lauren ad. Hey, the Ohio River is less than a mile away. That mermaid coulda swam there...Nah, she'd have ended up in a Po' Boy.
4) Magnificent Improvisational Theater from the regulars and curious alike. One night the place is rockin' 'Okie from Muskogee' and some lady in a booth throws her coffee cup at the waitress, who doesn't even react, except to nonchalantly place the check on the table on her way to ours. Another night, a dramatic relationship 'talk' worthy of Telemundo wafts over another couple passed out in the adjacent booth. The waitress refills their coffee and wakes them by stirring it with a spoon. She's like the mom who knows her kids are bad, but still loves 'em, BLESS HER HEART.
5) The piece-de-resistance resides in the NW corner of the dining room. High above the fray (serious fray) is a beautiful curved glass stage with puppets that play to whatever music you selected in your table-side juke console. Whether it's Patsy Cline (most popular), Aerosmith (nearly as much) or George & Tammy (the real first couple), the band never misses a beat. Over the years, replacement parts must have been out of stock, cause there are sleek, Big Band style figures jamming with Hillbilly Jugband members and a couple Barbies rigged up with makeshift tamborines. A torch light sprouts from the center table, reflecting light off a mirror-cone, making the experience extra fancy, like the ketchup.
No trip, layover, or sentencing in Greater Cincinnati is complete without a visit to the Anchor Grill. Your grandkids will thank you for the story.
Anchor Grill is by far the best breakfast joint in town. It has a comprehensive menu that's sure to please and prices that are very reasonable.
The menu is half the story here, this place has great atmosphere, servers with attitude and a Barbie sescet to entertain. No late night out on the town is complete without a trip to the Grill, this is when it comes into its own. Cop's, robbers, goth queens, rock stars, cowboy's, drunks, they're all here.
If you suffer from mysophobia, this might not be the place for you but for a great reasonable breakfast with lots of entertainment Anchor Grill is where it's at.
This is one of THE things I miss most about my most recent home prior to living in Vegas. No, wait, that was Portland. Okay, this is one of THE things I miss most about living in Cinci. Mah best good freeind, Karin, and I have spent an embarrassingly large portion of our lives sitting in this greasy spoon, drinking coffee, eating cheese omelettes, and doodling on the place mats.
True to the name, the nautical theme is carried on throughout this place, in tacky knick knacks and murals. I don't know what the disco cone (it serves the same purpose as a disco ball, but it's a rotating cone in the middle of the ceiling in the main dining room, and a light placed on a table right in the middle of the room creates the desired effect) has to do with the nautical thing, or for that matter what the "band" has to do with anything at all. In the corner of the room, mounted high for all to see, is this glass box containing a "band" of puppets, one of which had broken long ago and was replaced with a Barbie, that move about behind tiny replicas of instruments when the juke box is on. It's a grand show, actually, complete with a curtain that opens and closes at the beginning and end of every song.
Hahaha, we used to giggle at the "Vegetables" options on the menu -- Hash browns, fries, or onion rings. The staff is just a hoot as well. I made the mistake of asking our waitress one evening what items the vegetable omelet contained. She said, "Aw, y'naw, t'maidders, chaze, mangoes ...." Mangoes? I just smiled and nodded and told her that that sounded wonderful. And, no, there wernt no mangoes 'n mah omelet.
And then there's the goetta. I'll just have to take andy r.'s excellent idea and post the link to Wikipedia's explanation: http://en.wikipedia.or... Good idea, andy. Saved me some time.
Oh, I miss Covington.
If you were in Cincinnati late at night, you would be remiss not to stop at the Anchor for some grub. Located right across the river from downtown Cincy, the Anchor provides an experience not found this side of a David Lynch movie. They may not have the best food in the world and service is with a scowl, but the satisfaction of being able to say that you ate there and survived will last forever.
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