Camp Washington

Cincinnati's Most Decorated Cheap Eat: Should You Book Camp Washington?

The second is the Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats ranking; #602 in North America in 2025, following a #605 slot in 2024 and a Recommended listing in 2023. For a chili counter on Colerain Avenue, that is a track record that demands attention. If you are in Cincinnati and have not yet eaten Cincinnati-style chili, Camp Washington is the most credentialed place to start.

Portrait

Camp Washington operates on a format that most fine-dining rooms cannot touch: open 24 hours, six days a week (closed Sundays), with no reservations required and no dress expectations beyond showing up. The energy inside reads like a diner that has been at this long enough to stop trying to impress anyone. That is the point. Cincinnati chili is a regional specialty; a thinner, spice-forward meat sauce served over spaghetti or hot dogs, layered with toppings in a numbered system: two-way, three-way, four-way, five-way, each addition building the dish up from cheese to onions to beans. It is a format that rewards regulars who know their order and welcomes first-timers willing to ask.

The atmosphere is functional and honest. Counter seating, direct service, the ambient sound of a working short-order kitchen. If you are expecting the white-tablecloth quiet of The French Laundry in Napa or the composed precision of Atomix in New York City, you are in the wrong room entirely. Camp Washington is the opposite end of the dining spectrum, it is excellent at being exactly that. The OAD recognition places it in the same annual evaluation framework as serious restaurants across North America, which is what makes that Cheap Eats ranking meaningful: critics who also assess places like Le Bernardin in New York City and Smyth in Chicago have chosen to put Camp Washington on the list, repeatedly.

The 24-hour window (again, closed Sundays) makes Camp Washington practically unique for late-night eating in Cincinnati. Friday and Saturday nights after midnight, it holds its ground as one of the few serious food options in the city at that hour. For an early-week lunch visit, Monday through Wednesday tends to offer a calmer room, quicker service, easier conversation, a more relaxed pace for first-timers working through what to order. If your goal is a meal rather than an experience of the crowd, mid-morning on a weekday is the optimal window.

Booking is not a concern here. Walk in, find a seat, order. No reservation system, no booking platform, no advance planning required. That makes Camp Washington one of the easiest high-credibility dining decisions you can make in Cincinnati. For visitors exploring the city's food culture beyond its event-driven restaurant scene, this is a natural stop alongside Nolia Kitchen and Bakersfield OTR in Over-the-Rhine.

Price range data is not available in our current records, but Cincinnati chili counters operate at a price point that makes them among the lowest-cost credentialed dining options in any American city. Expect to spend well under $15 per person, almost certainly under $10 for a standard order. That positions Camp Washington as a no-risk addition to any Cincinnati itinerary, whether you are a first-time visitor or a local who has never made the trip out to Colerain.

For a broader look at where to eat, stay, drink across the city, see our full Cincinnati restaurants guide, our full Cincinnati hotels guide, our full Cincinnati bars guide, our full Cincinnati wineries guide, and our full Cincinnati experiences guide.

Trust Signals

• Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America, Ranked #602 (2025)
• Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America, Ranked #605 (2024)
• Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats in North America, Recommended (2023)

Practical Details

Camp Washington is open 24 hours Monday through Saturday and closed Sundays. No reservations are needed. Walk-in only. The address is 3005 Colerain Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45225. For timing, mid-morning weekdays offer the calmest experience; late-night Friday and Saturday are busier but part of the venue's identity. Dress code: none. Bring cash as a backup, though specific payment policies are not confirmed in our records.

Also in Cincinnati

If you are building a broader Cincinnati itinerary, Boca and Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse cover the upscale end of the city's dining range. Jeff Ruby's The Precinct is worth knowing for a classic steakhouse setting. For globally recognised benchmarks of what serious restaurant ambition looks like elsewhere, Lazy Bear in San Francisco, Emeril's in New Orleans, Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg, and Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico represent the other end of the ambition spectrum, useful context for understanding where Camp Washington sits in the broader picture of what food can be.