The Gano Tavern Keeps Slowly Stepping Towards Its Future.

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photography By: The Gnarly Gnome

It’s tough to take a neighborhood bar, one that’s been around since 1936, and make the right changes at the right times to keep it moving forward. It’s even harder to do it without completely losing the charm that has made it stick around after all that time.

That’s exactly what has happened with the Gano Tavern, though.

The Experience

The Gano Tavern (pronounced Guh-Know) is best described as a roadhouse. It’s situated on Cincinnati-Dayton Road in a part of town that I can only imagine at one time saw a LOT more traffic than it does today (not that it doesn’t still see at ton of traffic) – I can imagine that when this placed first opened it’s doors, it was a stop for a lot of folks looking to grab a bite to eat on their way to wherever they were headed.

Today, when you pull into the parking lot and walk in the front door, you’re greeted with a bar that has been updated piece by piece, slowly over the years to be a little more comfortable, a little nicer, a little cleaner – it’s still a stop if you’re looking for a bite to eat when you’re headed somewhere, but has become a local watering hole for a ton of folks that live nearby, too.

When you walk in the front door you are met with the bar, first and foremost. I can only imagine what the place looked like back in 1936 when it opened, but the front space is now filled with a large, u-shaped bar with plenty of seating for those who, like me, like to sit on a bar stool while they have their drink and their burger.

Further back in the bar the room opens up into a large space filled with tables and with room for a band to set up indoors. Out back is a big deck overlooking the woods if you’re wanting to enjoy a nice evening. It’s a ton of space, and definitely fills up on evenings and weekends.

The Menu

The Gano Tavern serves up what I’d call “standard bar fare” – think burgers, wings, fries, sandwiches. It’s all good, and it’s all super-affordable, too. There’s plenty of cold beer to go around, mostly the big macro brands that you expect… but you’ll still find a can or two of something that will please craft drinkers, too!

Why I Have Fallen In Love With The Gano.

I spend a lot of time in places that take things very seriously. From cocktail bars, to distilleries and breweries. There are a ton of bars that have a really well planned out theme. I love these places, don’t get me wrong. Sometimes, though, you just need to “unplug”, grab a good cheeseburger and drink a beer.

Gano provides that in spades.

When you couple it up with a place that has tons of live music on weekends – an amazing deck space if you want to get some fresh air – and plenty of space for you to find a barstool whenever you walk in the door. It’s exactly what I need, a lot of the time.

Changes Happen

Even in the few years that I’ve been going to The Gano Tavern off and on, you can see the slow incremental changes that have happened. Every time something does change, it’s done with a slow, well-thought out reverence to the soul of the place. Far too often a bar with get a BIG renovation, sometimes even for the “better” – but in the process lose a piece of itself that it can never get back. That’s understandably tough for people who call it “their” place.

I feel confident in saying that The Gano Tavern knows itself well enough at this point, that it won’t happen, and that’s a good feeling to have when you love a spot.

Some places make it really easy to put your finger on the magic that makes it work – others make it really tough. You walk in, and you immediately feel great about being there, but you can’t really pinpoint why. That’s how I feel about The Gano Tavern.

If you want to check out The Gano Tavern for yourself, you can find it at 10024 Cincinnati Dayton Pike, West Chester