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Dayton

the Gem City — birthplace of aviation on the Great Miami

74 places · 7 areas · every one sourced, pinned and status-checked · last checked . Ordered by tier, then by number of named sources. How we choose

Known forDayton-style pizzachocolates

Must seeAir Force Museum

Start with Wheat Penny Oven and Bar

Dayton skyline over the Great Miami River
Photo: The Mighty Tim Inconnu from Dayton, United States of America · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

Dayton

the Gem City — birthplace of aviation on the Great Miami

Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station 26 places · area 1 of 7

  1. 1 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Dayton-style pizza

    Wheat Penny Oven and Bar

    Chef Elizabeth Wiley's Oregon District spot (since 2013) for creative deck-oven pizzas (the Bright Eyes with zucchini and lemon), pastas and eggplant fries, with plenty of gluten-free and vegetarian options.

    515 Wayne Ave, Dayton, OH 45410

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  2. Dayton Art Institute
    Photo: Warren LeMay · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

    2 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Dayton Art Institute

    1930 Italian-Renaissance-villa art museum overlooking downtown, with 20,000+ works across 5,000 years; anchors the Grafton Hill bluff. Open Wed-Sun.

    456 Belmonte Park N, Dayton, OH 45405

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  3. Historic buildings at Fifth & Jackson, Oregon District
    Photo: Nyttend · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

    3 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Oregon District

    Dayton's oldest neighborhood and nightlife heart: a quarter-mile of brick-lined East Fifth Street lined with bars, restaurants and shops, named an APA Great Street. Best-preserved 1820-1915 architecture in the city.

    E Fifth St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  4. 4 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    2nd Street Market

    Five Rivers MetroParks' year-round public market in a restored railroad freight house downtown; 50+ local growers, makers and prepared-food vendors. Free admission and parking, open Fri-Sun.

    600 E 2nd St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  5. 5 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Victoria Theatre

    One of the oldest continually operating theaters on the continent, opened 1866 as the Turner Opera House; a restored 1,154-seat National Register venue for Broadway tours, concerts and film.

    138 N Main St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  6. 6 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Esther Price Candies

    Dayton's beloved chocolatier since 1926; every piece is still made by hand at the Wayne Avenue factory built around Esther's own house. The caramel creams and assorted boxes are the classics.

    1709 Wayne Ave, Dayton, OH 45410

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  7. The Pine Club
    Photo: Valereee · CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons

    7 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    The Pine Club

    Cash-friendly Dayton supper club since 1947, no reservations, pine-paneled and unchanged; the NY Times called it one of the world's 10 greatest traditional dining rooms. Steaks come with the legendary stewed tomatoes.

    1926 Brown St, Dayton, OH 45409

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  8. 8 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Breweries & bars

    The Century Bar

    Dayton's bourbon house since 1942: 800+ whiskeys, single-barrel pours and craft cocktails at an Edwardian hand-carved wood bar. Consistently rated among the nation's best whiskey bars.

    18 S Jefferson St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  9. 9 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Breweries & bars

    The Trolley Stop

    Dayton's oldest continuously operating tavern, in an 1839 Oregon District building; a patio, live music and pub plates. The history is the draw as much as the beer.

    530 E Fifth St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  10. 10 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Mexican & Latin

    Salar Restaurant and Lounge

    Upscale-casual Oregon District kitchen of world-fusion cuisine with strong Peruvian roots — ceviche, lomo saltado — plus two patios and full bars looking onto Fifth Street.

    400 E Fifth St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  11. 11 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Soul, BBQ & Southern

    Lily's Bistro

    Chef-owner Emily Mendenhall's Oregon District bistro (since 2013) with daily-changing seasonal menus blending American Southern and tropical flavors, plus a tiki-inspired cocktail program.

    329 E Fifth St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  12. 12 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Coco's Bistro

    Longtime South-of-downtown bistro with a lush, eclectic dining room serving Mediterranean-leaning New American plates; a Dayton date-night standby.

    250 Warren St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  13. 13 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Breweries & bars

    Warped Wing Brewing Company

    Dayton's flagship craft brewery (since 2014) in a downtown former foundry; Best of Dayton brewery winner. Ermal's Cream Ale honors the local inventor of the pull-tab can.

    26 Wyandot St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  14. 14 Must see within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Breweries & bars

    Tender Mercy

    Award-winning underground speakeasy hidden in the lower level of the Avant-Garde Building; its back room houses Dozo, a chef-driven omakase-style sushi 'permanent pop-up' (head chef Yudi Alviando). A viral social pick — Kait Lott's 'Don't Sleep on Dayton' hidden-bar video.

    607 E 3rd St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  15. Dayton - Dayton Arcade 4th Street (OHPTC) - 51019570536
    Photo: Ohio Redevelopment Projects - ODSA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

    15 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Dayton Arcade

    1904 Flemish-façade glass-domed arcade, a downtown landmark reborn after a $162M restoration wrapped in 2025 (Hilton Garden Inn, food hall, shops); the rotunda dome is the showpiece.

    35 W Fourth St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  16. Front entrance of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery
    Photo: Texas141 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

    16 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Boonshoft Museum of Discovery

    Hands-on science-and-nature museum with a planetarium, small zoo and children's exhibits north of downtown; the region's top family science destination.

    2600 Deweese Pkwy, Dayton, OH 45414

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  17. 17 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    RiverScape MetroPark

    Downtown riverfront park at the Great Miami confluence: Five Rivers Fountain of Lights, splash pad, winter ice rink, kayak and bike rentals, and the hub of the region's paved trail network. Free.

    111 E Monument Ave, Dayton, OH 45402

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  18. gateway chapel office
    Photo: Wdzinc · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

    18 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum

    1841 garden cemetery and 200-acre arboretum on rolling hills; resting place of the Wright brothers, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Erma Bombeck and Charles Kettering, with a Tiffany-windowed Romanesque chapel. Free.

    118 Woodland Ave, Dayton, OH 45409

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  19. Packard museum snoke
    Photo: Chad Snoke · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons (resized)

    19 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    America's Packard Museum

    World's largest collection of Packard automobiles and memorabilia, displayed inside a beautifully restored original 1917 Packard dealership showroom downtown.

    420 S Ludlow St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  20. 20 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Day Air Ballpark (Dayton Dragons)

    Downtown home of the Dayton Dragons, holders of pro sports' longest consecutive sellout streak (1,600+ games); a beloved summer-evening institution on Monument Avenue.

    220 N Patterson Blvd, Dayton, OH 45402

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  21. 21 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center

    Dayton's flagship performing-arts center (opened 2003), home to the Dayton Philharmonic, Opera and Ballet under a fiber-optic 'Wintergarden' star ceiling.

    1 W 2nd St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  22. 22 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Island MetroPark

    Riverfront MetroPark at the confluence of the Stillwater and Great Miami rivers, with a rowing boathouse, playground and a red bridge linking the Great Miami and Stillwater river trails.

    101 E Helena St, Dayton, OH 45404

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  23. 23 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station

    Deeds Point MetroPark

    Small riverside MetroPark at the confluence of the Mad and Great Miami rivers offering the best unobstructed view of the downtown Dayton skyline and RiverScape fountains.

    510 Webster St, Dayton, OH 45402

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  24. 24 Worth the detour within Downtown, Oregon District & Webster Station · Breweries & bars

    Lucky's Taproom & Eatery

    Oregon District taproom (since 2011) with a rotating craft-beer list, pub fare and one of the city's most extensive vegan menus. Reliable pre- or post-show spot on Fifth.

    520 E Fifth St, Dayton, OH 45402

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Wright-Dunbar & West Dayton 6 places · area 2 of 7

Kettering, Oakwood & Centerville 9 places · area 3 of 7

Vandalia, Huber Heights & Troy 6 places · area 4 of 7

Beavercreek, Fairborn & Wright-Patterson 10 places · area 5 of 7

Yellow Springs & Greene County 9 places · area 6 of 7

Springfield, Enon & Clark County 8 places · area 7 of 7

How we choose

Named sources recommend every place; review sites never do. Each is pinned to its door and status-checked. Closed places stay, marked closed.

Must see
The places to plan a visit around, graded within each area.
Worth the detour
Strong picks, worth going out of your way for.
Deep cut
For the curious: smaller, odder, more local.

Within each area: by tier, then by named sources, never by popularity. We don’t add ratings, prices or opening hours of our own.

Follow changes — an RSS feed of every closure and status check in this guide.

About this guide

74 places in 7 areas, each recommended by at least two independent sources (35 in all) or one institution such as Michelin.

Every place was checked open and pinned between 24 Aug and 24 Aug 2026. Closed places stay, marked closed.

Photos for 27 places; the rest show a designed cover.

How we choose → Insights →

55 sights and 19 places to eat across Dayton and the Miami Valley, each traceable to the source that named it. The Gem City’s food story runs local — Marion’s Dayton-style pizza, Esther Price candy, Bill’s Donuts, the Pine Club and the Oregon District — but the real draw is aviation: the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (the world’s largest, free) and the Wright brothers’ workshops.

How this guide was made

How the cuisine filters were policed

Every food card names a specific dish — a cuisine label alone doesn’t qualify. Dayton’s signature strength is aviation and hometown classics: the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force (the world’s largest, free), the Wright brothers’ Carillon Flyer III, Marion’s Dayton-style pizza, Esther Price candy and Bill’s Donuts, sourced to the Dayton Daily News, Dayton Magazine, WHIO and the National Park Service. A cuisine tag names the kitchen’s own tradition, never one dish it happens to serve.

Web-searched and fact-checked

Every place is traceable to a credible source — Michelin, Eater SF, The Infatuation, SF Chronicle, Mercury News, Atlas Obscura and official sites. Every address and pin is checked against the official site or a map and every place status-checked open.