We noticed that you're using an unsupported browser. The Tripadvisor website may not display properly.We support the following browsers:
Windows: Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome. Mac: Safari.

“Not good, not bad.”
Review of View 162

View 162
Ranked #103 of 823 Restaurants in Dayton
Restaurant details
Reviewed 1 December 2014

The prices seemed a bit high for the food we received. We had the wild mushroom soup, charcuterie tray, wings, veal ravioli and a wedge salad. It was all ok but not really anything memorable. We were there late night so maybe that had something to do with it. Staff was quite pleasant. Bar selections were fine.

Date of visit: November 2014
Thank joburkholder1
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviews (65)
Traveller rating
Traveller type
Time of year
Language

59 - 63 of 65 reviews

Reviewed 3 November 2014

Sitting on top the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton is View 162 restaurant. We arrived about 5 pm Monday for dinner and had the place to ourselves. Half price appetizers (4 to 6 pm) and half price bottles of wine were a plus. The crab cakes appetizer were delicious. For entrees, we had a steak and Chicken Oscar. Both were presented elegantly and were excellent. Figure minimum of $50/person as everything is a la carte and entrees are generally $25 to $35.

Date of visit: November 2014
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
Thank Mary S
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 14 October 2014

Our group of three was at the Crowne Plaza as vendors for an event. During a break, we decided to check out the restaurant/lounge. View 162 is at the top of the hotel, with wonderful views overlooking the city on 3 sides of the restaurant. There were no diners when we came in at about 2:30 on a Sunday. Staff were very friendly and eager to help us. We opted to just have pops and a couple of orders of french fries. The fries were delicious - so fresh and tasted like they were fried in very clean oil. They were perfectly finished with a touch of seasoned salt. Our bill was a reasonable $11 for 3 pops and 2 orders of fries. We did look at menus, and appetizer/menu prices were a bit high - about $8 for a salad, $11-$12 for sandwiches. I noted that the restaurant and restrooms were very clean. I would return and try their main menu.

Date of visit: October 2014
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
Thank bearcatnat
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 20 May 2014

The VIEW 162 restaurant sits atop Dayton’s Crowne Plaza Hotel. Unfortunately, it lacks luster.

The appeal of roof-top restaurants in large cities derives mostly from the panoramic views that the dining rooms afford. Some restaurants physically rotate to provide diners a changing aerial perspective. The remarkable skylines and cityscapes of these major cities enhance the dining experience considerably.

What diners see from the vantage point of the View 162 restaurant is somewhat drab by comparison. Perhaps, the night-time illumination from houses, buildings and the highway offers some visually saving grace. However, in the daytime, the view leaves much to be desired. Therefore, the name of the Crowne Plaza’s rooftop restaurant is unfortunately a misleading prelude to an anticipated dining experience.

One would think that a restaurant like the View 162 faced with a less than stunning vista would seek creative ways to compensate for this deficit. Apparently not so with the View 162. The interior decor and the menu for the buffet fail to offset the lack of view and as a result detract from the dining setting.

The trend in many urban restaurants is towards cosmopolitan chic with contrived nomenclature designed to suggest gastronomic allure. Somewhere along the line, restaurants in the past decade have bought into a marketing mindset that a minimalist color palette or a mix of monochrome, browns and blacks is tres sophisticated. Not the case with the View 162.

The restaurant is devoid of vibrancy and color. Black table cloths and black napkins drape and surmount the tables. The chairs while reasonably comfortable shout liquidation sale. The table top accoutrements consisting of salt and pepper shakers, sugar and sugar substitute containers, and small nondescript vases each with a single flower jutting out are haphazardly combined. The resulting arrangement suggests kitchen cupboard remnants rather than thoughtfully combined accent pieces. In short, there is no apparent effort to realize an attractive coordination of color, furniture and table top accessories. Consequently, the end product detracts from the overall dining experience.

The overhead ceiling is a faded beige, the recessed lighting is too dim to be of any real assistance even in the daytime, and the occasional swatch of hidden purple lighting across the breadth of the ceiling is confusing perhaps intended for night-time dining. The result is really confounding because there is so much potential in this roof-top restaurant.

My visit was on a Saturday morning with the express purpose of sampling and enjoying the breakfast buffet. The visit was disappointing. The View 162 falls dramatically short on its presentation of food options and the menu itself. To the restaurant’s credit, several large professional chafing dishes effectively cradled bacon and sausage, scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, and waffles. There was an omelette station but it was not sampled by myself in this outing because it just didn’t seem that extraordinary.

A function table located against the opposite wall to the chafing dishes hardly groaned under its offerings with its rather mundane selection of dried cereals, oatmeal and some meager toppings. There was one small bowl of mixed fruit sections such as pineapple and melon. Almost an afterthought and not artfully presented. A couple of unattractive platters of store-bought Danish pastries completed the array. This table lacked any appeal for hungry diners. The word stingy came to mind. Hotel buffets across the country manage to provide a much greater variety of buffet toppings and side options in a visually appealing display. Even many of the chain motels with their off-lobby breakfast buffets do far more with less.

As to the buffet’s food items, the scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage were deemed satisfactory. There was an ample quantity of these buffet staples and it was obvious that the brimming chafing dishes were either being attended to faithfully or simply being unsampled throughout the morning. The waffles, however, conspired against the main menu having the texture of cardboard. A pat of butter and syrup did little to revive or rescue any dormant flavor. Coffee, water and processed orange juice were the beverages served. To charge approximately $14 (including tax) for this breakfast buffet was something of an affront to customers.

In fairness to the hotel and to the View 162, the wait staff was pleasant and seemed very attentive to the diners. For the small amount of table traffic at mid- morning, tables could have been made up more quickly than they were. One large circular table sat for at least 15 minutes without table cloth or napery. The failure of timely table makeup by dining room staff rendered the dining room messy. On balance, being able to validate the parking garage ticket for eating at the restaurant was a generous gesture by the hotel and certainly to try eating there again at some future point.

In short, the View 162 needs a drastic makeover. Décor, view, and furniture seem at cross purposes; and that is too bad because there is such potential here for the morning buffet crowd. With some corporate commitment and funding, the View 162 could offer a decidedly more cheerful a.m. dining experience rather than the event presently provided.

The entrance into the Crowne Plaza hotel whether at street level or by way of the convention center walkway was neglected. The convention center concrete rampway to the hotel was dirty and littered during the morning of my visit. Yes, there was an event going on, but that’s little excuse for not attempting to keep the area clean and inviting. The hotel carpets were themselves in need of vacuuming and a little threadbare in places. The lobby furniture was vintage and also decidedly unattractive.

Corporate ownership of the Crowne Plaza needs to decide whether this facility could be much, much better. Perhaps to the point of investing a bundle of money in the property and the restaurant in particular because the two have the potential to really shine. What a footprint a properly advised, inspired and managed facility could do for downtown Dayton. Right now the View 162 restaurant is lackluster and hardly constitutes a Crowne jewel by any stretch of the imagination. It could certainly use some polish.

Date of visit: May 2014
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
4  Thank Hoosiergadabout
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reviewed 20 April 2013

The Stars restaurant at the top of the Crowne Plaza Hotel has large picture windows on 3 sides for a nice view of the city. The Stars offered buffets for Brkfst, Lunch and Dinner. We enjoyed the breakfast buffet the 2 mornings we were there. The buffet offered pasteries, muffins, eggs, sausage/bacon, biscuits and gravy and mixed fruit for about $10.00. The food was plentiful, hot and good and made an excellent meal to start the day. The service / servers were courteous, friendly and checked on us frequently.

Date of visit: April 2013
    • Value
    • Atmosphere
    • Service
    • Food
Thank Bill70-54
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Travellers who viewed View 162 also viewed

 

Been to View 162? Share your experiences!

Write a Review Add Photos & Videos

Owners: What's your side of the story?

Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.

Claim Your Listing
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
© 2024 Tripadvisor LLC All rights reserved.

This is the version of our website addressed to speakers of English in United Kingdom. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu.