Restaurant in Cincinnati, United States
Cincinnati chili, 24/7, no reservations needed.
Camp Washington is Cincinnati's most credentialed chili counter, holding an Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats ranking three years running and a 4.3-star Google rating across nearly 5,000 reviews. Open 24 hours Monday through Saturday, walk-in only, and priced well under $15 — it is the easiest high-credibility dining decision in the city.
A 4.3-star rating across nearly 5,000 Google reviews is the first number that matters here. 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.
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, and 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 , and 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, and 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, and 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.
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.
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.
For Cincinnati chili specifically, Skyline Chili and Gold Star Chili are the two chain alternatives you will find across the city, but neither carries OAD recognition. For a broader restaurant meal, Nolia Kitchen offers Southern and Creole cooking at a different price point, while Bakersfield OTR covers tacos and whiskey in a livelier Over-the-Rhine setting. If budget is not a constraint, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse is Cincinnati's most prominent special-occasion option.
Not in the conventional sense. There is no atmosphere engineering here , no candles, no tasting menus, no sommelier. But if the occasion is a Cincinnati food pilgrimage, or if you want to mark a birthday with something genuinely distinctive rather than predictably upscale, the OAD credentials give it a story. For a traditional celebration dinner, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse or Boca will serve you better. Camp Washington is the right call when the occasion is about eating something worth talking about.
Yes, and it is one of the better solo dining options in Cincinnati at any hour. Counter seating makes single diners comfortable, the walk-in format removes any awkward reservation-for-one dynamics, and the 24-hour schedule means it fits around almost any itinerary. At an expected price under $15, it is also a low-stakes decision. For solo diners who want a livelier room with more to drink, Bakersfield OTR is the better late-evening option.
Whatever you are already wearing. There is no dress code, no expectation of smart casual, and no one is checking. A chili counter that is open at 3am does not operate on those terms. The only practical note: chili can splash, so wearing something you care about is a minor consideration, but hardly a reason to change.
Cincinnati chili is not Texas chili. It is a spiced meat sauce with cinnamon and other warm spices, served over spaghetti (the base) with shredded cheddar as standard. The numbering system , two-way through five-way , refers to the layers: spaghetti plus chili is a two-way; add cheese for three-way; add onions for four-way; add beans for five-way. First-timers should start with a three-way. The venue is open 24 hours Monday through Saturday, requires no reservation, and is at 3005 Colerain Ave. The OAD ranking means critics have vetted this independently , you are not just taking local word for it.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Washington | 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 in Recommended (2023) | — | |
| The Refectory | — | ||
| Wildweed | — | ||
| Nolia Kitchen | — | ||
| Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse – Cincinnati | — | ||
| Pepp & Dolores | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
Camp Washington sits in a category of its own for Cincinnati chili, but if you want range across the city, Nolia Kitchen covers modern Southern cooking, Pepp & Dolores works for a livelier dinner format, and Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse handles the upscale red-meat end. None of them replicate the 24-hour, walk-in chili format that earned Camp Washington back-to-back Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats rankings in 2024 and 2025.
Only if the occasion is specifically about Cincinnati food culture. Camp Washington's OAD Cheap Eats recognition makes it a credible stop on a serious food trip, but the 24-hour diner format, walk-in-only policy, and no-frills setting mean it is not a fit for birthdays, anniversaries, or client dinners. For those, Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse or Boca are the more practical choices in the city.
Yes, and arguably the format works better solo than in groups. Walk-in only with no reservations means there is no wait penalty for a single seat, and counter or diner seating typically suits one person well. Open 24 hours Monday through Saturday, so timing is entirely on your schedule.
No dress code applies here. Camp Washington is a 24-hour chili diner at 3005 Colerain Ave, not a reservation-required dining room. Come as you are, at any hour Monday through Saturday.
Walk-ins only, no reservations, open 24 hours six days a week, closed Sundays. Camp Washington has held Opinionated About Dining Cheap Eats recognition three consecutive years (2023, 2024, 2025), which is the clearest external signal that the food earns the visit. Cincinnati chili is a regional style served over spaghetti or on hot dogs, so if you have not had it before, expect something quite different from Texas or New Mexico chili.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
