After a long day traveling back to Cincinnati, my wife and kids picked me up from the airport. We were all overly hungry and ready to find something quick to eat. My son wanted a cheese burger, and since I didn’t want to pickup food from a drive-through, my wife starting looking for places along our route north on interstates 71 and 75. We ended up at Willie’s Sports Cafe in Covington, just across the Ohio River from downtown.

Outside

I’ve been to this location of Willie’s before, though it has been quite some time. Willie’s operates a handful of restaurants in the Cincinnati area. I used to frequent their old location in Kenwood on Montgomery Road through my high school years, but this was my first stop at any Willie’s in many years.

Willie’s Covington sits up high on a hill just off the interstate and offers pretty great views of northern Kentucky as well as downtown Cincinnati. The front wall of the dining area is made completely of glass to take full advantage of the view. There are flat screen TV’s on nearly every other wall of the space.

Inside

We arrived just before 8 P.M on a Wednesday and found a completely empty dining room. The separate bar area looked to have a dozen or so customers. Having a dedicated server for our table really expedited our meal, which was appreciated since we were already out late.

I ordered the hand trimmed chicken tenders basket, with waffle fries, and coleslaw ($10). I had the tenders dipped in their hot wing sauce, and served with a side of bleu cheese. The basket was filled with a handful of perfectly cooked tenders and the addition of wing sauce was a great choice. The coleslaw was pretty good and their waffle fries are always a great choice.

My wife had the mushroom and swiss turkey burger ($9). I did not have a bite of the sandwich, but she seemed to enjoy it. Our son ordered a cheese burger from the kids menu and we were happy to see a promotion for a free kids meal with each adult entrée. He doesn’t like his cheese burgers to be very thick, and this one fit that description perfectly. He ate nearly half of it so he must have liked it.

Family Shot

Willie’s Sports Cafe offers good sports bar food in a location with sweeping views of the area. It’s a shame that the building seems to be lacking some minor repairs and doesn’t seem to be as popular as it could be.