CINCINNATI (WXIX) – During his trip to Cincinnati over the weekend, Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy visited and reviewed several pizzerias, and then some.
Portnoy is known for his One Bite pizza reviews, where he will eat one bite of a slice and then give his honest immediate opinion, rating it out of 10.
He ended up reviewing at least three pizza spots in Hamilton County: St. Francis Apizza in Oakley, Guardia Pizza in Mt. Lookout and Trophy Pizza in Evendale.
Although Portnoy hasn’t published the scores of these spots, nor revealed all of the restaurants he went, he did post his review of two other places that do not serve pizza.
On Skyline Chili: ‘I thought I was gonna hate it’
For someone who has never had Skyline Chili, Dave Portnoy sure knew a whole lot about its history.
Standing outside of the Oakley location, the Barstool founder gave a short spiel on the founding of what is now the Queen City’s prized possession.
“It’s world-famous, everybody goes to Skyline Chili. Cincinnati people love it; other people say acquired taste,” he said with the to-go bag in-hand.
Portnoy ordered a small three-way, unsure of what to do with the shredded cheese and oyster crackers.
“Am I putting this stuff in it?” He asked. “I assume you do.”
Placing the three-way on the ground, piling it with cheese and crackers, Portnoy tried Cincinnati’s specialty under rainy skies in the restaurant’s parking lot.
“I thought I was gonna hate it — I don’t hate it,” he said.
“Yeah, I think this is pretty good. I’m gonna have a stomach ache after, but I could eat this.”
After a few more bites, Portnoy officially gave Skyline Chili a 7.6 out of 10 — his first ever chili review. Based on his One Bite pizza review score card, that translates to good.
“I’ve heard so many bad things about Skyline Chili from outside of Cincy, I think this is pretty good,” he said.
Of course, you can’t have Skyline without a sweet treat to follow it.
Portnoy tried Graeter’s Skyline Chili-flavored ice cream.
“Great ice cream, not my favorite flavor,” he said, rating it a 6.1.
As for the Skyline Chili employees working Friday night, Portnoy gave them a 9.8 for their hospitality.
“When you’re going to a chain, you don’t expect the workers to be that happy at their job. That like, ‘We love you Mr. Dave,’ ‘We’re so happy you’re here…,’” he explained.
Iconic Cincinnati brands Skyline Chili and Graeter’s Ice Cream officially revealed their highly anticipated, limited-edition dessert collaboration, the Graeter’s Skyline Spice Ice Cream.(Graeter’s Ice Cream/Skyline Chili)On UC’s bookstore: ‘There was a lot going on’
Before dining at Skyline, Dave Portnoy went on a shopping spree at the University of Cincinnati’s Bearcats bookstore.
Portnoy said he was on the hunt for “practical stuff,” like sweatpants and sweatshirts, but he also received custom Bearcats merch.
Overall, the bookstore received a 7.1 with the hospitality score at an 8.3.
Portnoy said the store was “kind of small” and the employees working at the time were a bit “too much.”
“If we’re being honest, we had two security [expletive], we had 10 people who work at the store in my face the entire time… I couldn’t really focus on what was going on — there was a lot going on,” he said.
Portnoy says the hospitality score would have been a 10, but dropped 1.7 points.
“Excited to be here… I think I just need for all you future bookstores — I guess we’re running out — you gotta let me breathe just a tiny bit,” he continued.
The UC bookstore is located inside TUC. (uc.edu)
Portnoy was in town during one of Cincinnati’s busiest sports weekends.
According to his videos online, he attended a highly attended high school football game between St. Xavier and Elder at Paycor Stadium Friday night.
On Saturday morning, Portnoy attended FOX Sport’s Big Noon Kickoff at Bearcat Commons for the evening game against UC and BYU where he was dressed in blue.
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