The Art of Entertaining

Julie and her team at the Art of Entertaining in O’Bryonville run a great operation. I coordinated a work off-​site team building event with Julie, an Iron Chef style Friday afternoon event for team of 13.
Our group started with fresh greens salad and black bean pumpkin soup as starters prior to our competition in the wine room. The soup was amazing, I went back for seconds & a fellow coworker had I believe 3 servings it was that good!
Then we went into a side room which was setup for the flatbread and sweet potato gnocchi competition. Julie’s team explained the setup, ingredients process for each & we got started.
Our team created 4 flatbreads and lots of sweet potato gnocchi — who would have thought gnocchi is so easy to make. Then Julie’s team took our creations back to the kitchen for baking & cooking.
We then went back to the wine room and our creations were set out for us to enjoy. We explained each of the flatbread creations — I made a Mexican style flatbread with black bean base, Mexican cheese, colored peppers, pork, black olives, threw in some gorgonzola cheese, mozzarella cheese and topped off with some tomatoes and scallions.
The sweet potato gnocchi was served with chicken and freshly shredded parmesan cheese, our creations were delicious and we ate every bite.
Then we wrapped up with a fall chocolate chip creation.
If you’re ever looking for an off-​site location for a work, family, friends event, look no further than The Art of Entertaining. Julie and her team will work with you every step of the way for an amazing event

The turkey posole was the best soup we both ever had! The people around us were rude and were playing a video loudly on their phone. We mentioned it to the owner who did not seem to care. We have been here many times and also brought many others with us, but based on this experience will not return. Sad, as food is always great and innovative. Wine and beer selection is also very good. Owners support was not good.

This review is solely based on the wine they sell (and not the food or a wine/​dine event). Stopped in here for a quick stop before meeting an old friend. I wanted a bottle of wine in my budget and the woman behind the counter suggested couple different options. She highly recommended a Malbec, within 10 minutes of walking into the place I walked out with a bottle of wine in my price range. Great service. (We didn’t end up drinking this bottle so I can’t rate on the wine itself but I am sure my friend will enjoy it.)

Great experience and will definitely be back. My girlfriend and I and two of our friends attended the vine and dine event this past weekend here, the staff and the event was excellent. For $ 30 you got hooked up with 5 drinks as well as great food. I will definitely be back.

Definitely worth the money.
My friends and I attended our first vine and dine with The Art of Entertainment and it was awesome. Food and wine were very good and we were completely stuffed by the end of the night. Best part is, it was only $ 30 for a 6 course meal and 5 drinks! Needless to say, we will definitely be returning!

This was a great place for a large group get together. The food was top notch and the staff was very attentive. Mart of Entertaining had a large selection of wine and beer as well. Highly recommended for team dinners for work.

Julie puts on an enjoyable wine tasting with great food, music and wine. Fun time. Wine selection is also very good, but Julie is the best!

Been to a few of the Friday night wine tastings. Great value for 5 glasses or wine, appetizers, salas, soup, entrée, and dessert. Beers can be substituted for wine. The food is well prepared and they’ve never run out the times I’ve been there. I always leave very full, and a little tipsy. One of the best hidden secrets in Cincinnati.

The Art of Entertainment is a somewhat hidden gem, despite it’s prime real-​estate on Madison Road. Its unassuming exterior does not do justice to the treasures you will find inside.
First of all, the place is huge, there are actually several doors, but only one is the correct front door to the place… yes, I tried to go in an emergency exit. So what?! ;)
We came here for a Cincinnati Habitat YP event on a Thursday night. Not only do they have a large selection of wine, they have a really great selection of bottled beers in the refrigerator case, including some that I have never heard of and was delighted to try. It gave a really great spin to our wine tasting event by making it a beer tasting also! They gave us full size wine pours and whole bottles of beer, whereas most places just give you a tiny little bit.
What was really impressive, though, was the FOOD. We had several different AMAZING appetizer choices, which just kept on coming out. Shrimp Bruschetta (I really don”t even love shrimp, but it was SO DARN GOOD.), some kind of fried asian dumpling with plum sauce– it was heavenly, some kind of amazing mushroom quesadilla.
Oh, I will definitely be going back here. They have a Blues, Brews & BBQs night once per month that I am DYING to try out. This place rocks, and I can’t believe in all my years living here that I had never tried it out. THANK YOU, CHYP– for showing us how great this place is!!!

We attended the Vine & Dine event on Friday night and had a wonderful time. I spent $ 25 for 5 glasses of wine (or beer) with appetizers, salad, entrée and dessert. The food was good and even though it may not feel like a lot of food because of the small plates, you are free to go back to the buffet as often as you would like. The real value here though is in the generous pours, the live entertainment and the wonderful venue they have in which to hang out with friends and just enjoy yourselves. The staff was very friendly and was constantly available to clear tables and answer any questions you might have. I wish we had a place like this in Kansas City!

We attending a wine tasting on Friday night and we will definitely be back. I know other reviewers complained about the price, but the pours at the tasting were extremely generous and the food was delicious. Compared to a wine tasting at the Wine Merchant in Hyde Park, this was definitely a better value. There was live entertainment which added a nice touch to the atmosphere. What a great find! This will become a regular spot for us on Friday night. Definitely give it a try!

I wish I was able to go to The Art of Entertaining more often for their Friday night wine tastings. But, with a $ 30 price tag on the tasting, it doesn’t allow me to. Paying that is one thing if it was the event of the evening, but this is just the start.
I wish they would hold a less expensive wine tasting on another night of the week with maybe not the extensive food preparations.

This is such a cute flexible space with great events. Apparently you can rent the space and have your own events, but I’ve only been to sponsored events. It’s a very go-​at-​your-​own pace type of wine tasting with food that is clearly prepared in someone’s home kitchen. But, whatever, wine tastings are good. The owners are super nice and very helpful and the wines they pick to taste are unique. There is some outdoor seating for when the weather is nicer.

For their tasting events, both the wine and the food are just OK. I’ve not been impressed.
Also went once for a company event where we prepared our own food, and it was actually much tastier.

I went here for what I thought was going to be a wine tasting because someone had told me that every Friday night they hold a wine tasting. That’s not entirely accurate as this space can be rented for private events. On those nights, there is no wine tasting.
So lo and behold, I came for the wine tasting during one of these private events. (Word up to UCAN Cincinnati for being totally cool about letting me crash their party and drink free drinks. And please have your pets spayed or neutered.)
The best I can do is break this business down into four different aspects: The Wine, The Food, The Staff and The Space.
The Wine. Hey everyone, stop drinking Pinot Noir. I know there was a movie from way back when that made Merlot totally uncool and then Pinot Noir was all the rage. I am still dumbfounded that one little Paul Giamatti soliloquy could cause all this mayhem. The Academy needs to hook this dude up with a Lifetime Achievement Award. But guess what… you’ve been duped. If you’re drinking a Pinot or a Burgundy that’s under $ 30, it’s going to taste like wine-​flavored water. Pinot Noir is not that awesome, please stop drinking it and pick up a Zin. I dare you.
The Food. It’s the best part of this place. It’s better than the wine, which could potentially be a drawback for this business depending on what they’re trying to achieve. Anyway, they have a staff of chefs with background at the Midwest Culinary Institute and they know how to cater party food. The Food is probably what makes the $ 22 wine tasting fee worth it.
The Staff. A great group of people. There was one accommodating bartender there ensuring that my drink was always full and that I got a tour of the building. And this was all for a party crasher. I can only imagine how gracious they act towards paying customers.
The Space. Love the space! There’s a Charley Harper room. There’s a demonstration kitchen, there’s a wine shop, there’s a bar. All in a charming 19^th century building.
Disclaimer: I’m not a total crasher, as I did leave a donation for UCAN amounting to the price of a ticket. But I will return as a paying customer someday soon.

Recently went to an event here called sommelier smackdown – a dinner (very Yum) where 3 wine experts chose their idea of the perfect wine for each of 4 courses and you got to taste and judge them all. It was loads of fun and very interesting since I don’t know much about pairing wine with food. We had some real experts at our table and I think they loved it too.
I will go back for another event here – it is really nice!

My sister deemed this her new favorite shop. I’m not sure if I would go quite that far but I did really enjoy my visit to The Art of Entertaining.
The store features art (in the forms of vases, wall art, decorative plates, you name it) designed by local artists. My sister immediately was captured by a blown glass rectangular plate on display in the front room of the store, the colors of the flowers inside it were so vibrant and happy.
I personally was immediately captured by the delicious smells wafting from the back of the store, so I went exploring. The Art of Entertaining offers courses in cooking and entertaining and has a full, open, kitchen in the furthest back room of the store. They were preparing for a class when we came in and whatever was on the menu smelled really good, I think I’ll have to get my girlfriends together and go back for a course!
In yet another room (there are four in the store, plus an entrance to the wine store next door), I found some cool conversation starting cards for dinner parties and the like as well as a number of hand-​decorated dining sets personalize for local universities. I saw UC, Purdue, Michigan State, OSU, OU, and U of Michigan… and absolutely NO Xavier! Sad, sad, day. C’mon, Art of Entertaining, XU is in your backyard… show us some love!
In the back gift room we came across a display of photography that uniquely depicts letters (in the form of church steeples, fence posts, etc.) in small frames. There were some already put together words like «Believe,» «Enjoy,» «Smile,» or you could create your own custom word art with them. I love the idea and the photos were beautiful in black and white. They were a little pricey, something like $ 10 a letter, but still very cool.
I would HIGHLY recommend going to The Art of Entertaining if you are hosting a special dinner party or if you are in need of a cool gift for a close friend (or even just a gift for a host/​hostess!). You’ll find quite a few options to choose from, I promise.

While this is definitely a place to pick up impressive table arrangements and interesting dish and glassware, I can’t say that actually ever buy anything here. See, I’m just not the cocktail party, formal dinner-​with-​friends kind of gal. I prefer big messy cookouts with mismatched plates, napkins, and silverware. They seem to have more character.
I got the impression that many of the products here would be used only once, put into storage, and eventually sold at a yard sale or something. Also, the prices of the décor were a bit inflated, but I found several items like serving platters and chip bowls to be reasonable.

This cute little store in O’Bryonville carries everything you need to throw that posh party you’ve been dreaming of.
The carry kitchen wares, cooking wares, plateware, bar wares, table top decorations, and lots of other fun and whimsical items. A lot of the items in the store are grouped together in fun examples of party themes and color scheme. Hey that rhymes! They also have a lot of really cool serving platters. Some are two tiered!
The Art of Entertaining also offers cooking classes! They have demonstration classes and offer neat hands on cooking classes. Class sizes are limited so get in early! Each menu is paired perfectly with a wine! They also offer a kids in the kitchen class where each child is paired with an adult for lots of culinary fun!