Green Derby Kentucky Bistro - Newport

Background: I am a business traveler, mid 30's, up in the air most of the year. I eat out Monday Thursday all over the country. This is a great little restaurant with a cozy atmosphere with extremely fair prices. Service was excellent, and parking was free! When I arrived at the restaurant, the owner seated me and shook my hand thanking me for visiting his restaurant. 1 Star: Restaurant Out of Date This property is in dire need of remodeling. The awnings need to be replaced, the building needs to be power washed, and all the carpet in the dining room (gross! needs to come out. The decor on the walls also needs to be redone. Recommendation: Do not get the bread pudding for desert. As tempting as it is (it's homemade after all , the combination of bourbon and sugar just doesn't work. Overall, I will definitely be back. The food is good, portions were reasonable, and the servers were nice!

Wow. These people just don 't get it. The owner said that he bought this place 4 years ago. My wife used to go there often over a decade ago. She said that it was always crowded and always had really good food. She really wanted to go back before the Bengals game. We got there an hour before the game and the place was almost empty. There was one other table with 3 people in the bar. I got the 8 oz. Halibut Sandwich and I chose to have it blackened . Well, apparently they think that Blackened means baked with some blackening seasoning sprinkled on afterward . I should have asked, but I assumed it would be fried in a cast iron skillet. My wife got the fried chicken. It had good flavor and was seasoned well. Her plate had a puddle of oil on it though. The Potato Puffs were very good. The service was really bad. Our server brought our drinks and took our order and we didn 't see her again until the food was served maybe 20 to 25 minutes later. The owner was at the bar talking to his wife and never asked if he could get us refills or anything else.

Where do I begin? I live in the Chicago area and came to Cincinnati on a business trip. We stayed in Newport and I'm glad we did. Newport is the cutest little town! We booked the upstairs at Green Derby and about 20-30 people showed up. The waitresses were patient and very kind. My husband and I are film makers and multi media producers. Please check us out! [hidden link] I took a few pictures with my camera and my husband filmed. Our experience was amazing at Green Derby. The staff was so friendly and cooperative with all of us. I personally just wanted to think everyone for waiting on us that night. The staff was awesome, and it was the best service I've ever had! I loved Newport and I'm so glad we stayed there for the event. We will definitely be back! :

Overall I 've loved coming here and highly recommend it. Green Derby is a small, locally well known restaurant for good comfort food that is independently owned and just celebrated their 70 year anniversary. The good: Service was prompt and friendly. There weren 't many people during weekday dinner hour, but order and food were received promptly. Server was extremely friendly and helpful in choice of entrees and drinks. Food was great and I have no major complaints for what we ordered. NY strip was seasoned and cooked excellent, and a little on the peppery side which I like. Side salad is a good size; though the menu doesn 't say, it comes with Iceberg, cucumbers, red onions, tomatoes, and fancy croutons (they vary). Really enjoyed the balsamic vinaigrette dressing served separately. Mac cheese was of the white variety and was excellent. Red potatoes were amazing and presumably home made. Green beans were good, but nothing to write home about though they had bacon, tasted like many green beans you get out (ie. likely canned). Grouper was also excellent and had great texture, but was just slightly overseasoned with salt. Their fried chicken is amazing with great batter and for me was freshly made I 'd definitely recommend it. Draft beer menu is quite good. They had about 10 beers on draft, including many locals. Many wines were available and on display downstairs as well. Prices were reasonable. Though maybe slightly overpriced, the entrees come with 2 sides which generally tend to be oversized. I ordered 2 entrees and I felt like the size of sides and quality of entrees certainly made it worth it. Alcohol was reasonably priced. The bad: Time to nitpick. The walls and decorations, while many historic (which I appreciate), were somewhat drab. However, the semi drabness really only applies to the ground level the 'upstairs ' is much better decorated and was completely different from the seating on the first floor with brighter lighting, and better carpet, overall decor, and seating. Maybe I 'm jaded from all the restaurants that are going modern it looks like they haven 't updated the decor much since they 've opened. The carpet was somewhat worn on the ground floor, but was newer and more vibrant in the 'upstairs ' seating area. As for the food, the biggest issue I had was being served numerous 2 packs of crackers and butter before ordering. Though the butter was good quality, it seemed sort of tacky and it made me want a roll or something like other restaurants do instead of cheap crackers or just nothing at all. To be fair, on my most recent visit we were served rolls with our entrees so I 'm not sure if rolls are always served maybe the other times I went were the exception. Tossed salad that I ordered was served in a bowl that was way too small, resulting in salad debris on the table.

Had a chance tonight to revisit the Green Derby after not visiting for years, and what a nice visit it was. I had a chance to enjoy some new beers that I have not had, one from Rhinegeist and the other from Deschutes and both were outstanding. However, the food was so delicious as you could taste the made from scratch freshness. Me and the wife split the potato skins and I enjoyed two fried center cut pork chops along with a double serving of green beans. You have to eat your vegetables. And then we split the brownie for two which was very good as well. Oh, by the way, the wife had the chicken livers which she loved. All and all a great experience and all for a great value. We will definitely be back for sure. The new management is doing an excellent job and I would recommend this little hidden gem to anyone.