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Best Restaurant

We love to eat out, and not just because somebody else does the dishes. We love the variety of tastes, the surprises stumbled upon and the warm familiarity of a steak cooked to perfection or a margarita mixed with care. We love our restaurants, and here are the restaurants we love more than most.
1. J. Alexander's
2. Jeet India — TIE FOR 2ND
2. Pine Club — TIE FOR 2ND
3. El Meson

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Best Family Restaurant

While it's true that we love to eat out, we don't always love to eat out with children, be they ours or yours. Sometimes, though, we do, and it's on those occasions that we turn to the places with crayons and smiles and a tolerance for spills. When these folks say bring the family, they mean it.
1. Bob Evans
2. Friendly's
3. Harrison's in Tipp City

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Best Steakhouse

There's an embarrassment of riches in the steakhouse department, but the good ones rise and stay on top. The Pine Club is where we take our out-of-town guests; Longhorn and Outback are there when nothing but meat — and lots of it — will do. This was a close call: Carver's missed being tied for third by just one vote.
1. Pine Club
2. Longhorn
3. Outback

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Best Asian Restaurant

It used to be plain old Chinese; now, our more experienced eaters are clear about the differences in Asian cuisine. We do love them all.
1. Thai 9
2. China Cottage
3. P.F. Chang's

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Best Indian Restaurant

Spinach and tofu and curry — oh my! There's a lot going on in an Indian restaurant, and vegeterians around here couldn't live without any of it. There was a time not so long ago that one Indian restaurant was tough to come by. Not so now!
1. Jeet India
2. Amar
3. Ajanta

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Best Italian Restaurant

You've got to hand it to the DiSalvo family, who've kept their business alive and thriving through plain and simple hard work, great food and a terrific attitude. There's always a DiSalvo in the kitchen somewhere. Then again, it's great to get a great Italian meal downtown at Franco's and down south at Bravo. More pasta? Yes, please!
1. Mamma DiSalvo's
2. Bravo
3. Franco's

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Best Mexican Restaurant

What would life be without a few good Mexican restaurants? Hardly worth living, but that's not an issue, as food from south of the border always finds a home here, south of Cleveland.
1. Las Piramides
2. Elsa's
3. El Rancho Grande

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Best Barbecue

OK, it helps that City Barbecue pairs itself with Graeter's, but that's not the only reason we like the place. Smokey Bones knows what they're doing with corn bread, and Old Hickory is our barbecue-style Pine Club, and always worth the wait.
1. City Barbeque
2. Smokey Bones
3. Old Hickory

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Best Breakfast

It's the most important meal of the day, so choose wisely when you make somebody else cook. We've missed our Golden Nugget Pancake House at 2932 S. Dixie Highway in Kettering during its rebuilding, but with Bob Evans and First Watch on the case, we haven't gone hungry.
1. Bob Evans
2. Golden Nugget
3. First Watch

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Best Pizza

Marion's belongs to us, and we relish the opportunity to show a little love. Is there any better place for a post Little League meal, and who's going to do the math on the difference between eating pizza squares and pizza slices? As food goes, pizza is good. As pizza goes, these are the best.
1. Marion's
2. Flying Pizza
3. Donato's

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Best Burger

Big and beefy, on a bun. Ask us how we like it cooked, and don't get snotty when we ask for extra onions. At first blush, burgers look easy. After you've tasted a few, it's clear that this is a specialty food, much like quiche and fruit smoothies — you don't know good until you've tasted bad. With these places, bad is not an issue.
1. Max & Erma's
2. Fuddruckers
3. Harrison's

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Best Buffet

If buffets delivered, we'd never leave the house. In a while, we wouldn't be able to get up off the couch, because who can stop at one pass? That's what these buffets are there for, tapping into our basest instincts. We all need to let go and chow down once in a while. Save room for the ice cream bar ...
1. Golden Corral
2. Old Country Buffet
3. Ryan's

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Best Ice Cream Parlor

OK, it's not just because Graeter's pairs itself with City Barbecue — honest. We loved Graeter's when we had to drive to Cincinnati to get it — with the opening of the Oakwood location (sans City Barbecue), we thought we'd died and gone to ice-cream heaven. With the addition of Cold Stone Creamery, we're in fat city — even with their singing — and as long as Young's Dairy keeps the inevitable long lines moving, we're there.
1. Graeter's
2. Cold Stone Creamery
3. Young's Dairy

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Best Coffee House

So we're not original. So it's a given that when coffee's the question, Starbucks is the answer. We refuse to limit ourselves, however, and are happy to include places other than the coffeehouse bent on world domination. Whatever your preference, don't let it keep you up at night.
1. Starbucks
2. Kava House
3. Boston Stoker

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