TV Restaurants

Is Big Jays Place Still Open? Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives Update

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 38 Cincinnati, Ohio

Current status

Open

As of October 2026, Big Jays Place is listed open on Yelp, reviewed by our team on September 14, 2026; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact.

What the source shows: Yelp's listing for Big Jay's Place (930 Hempstead Dr, Cincinnati) shows posted hours (Tue-Fri 12-6pm, Sun 12-5pm) and is not flagged closed, updated September 2026. The business's own current website confirms the same hours and describes an active private-chef/catering/pop-up model rather than walk-in dining. How we decide a status →

What happened after Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives featured Big Jays Place in the "From Chicken to Caribbean" episode, aired 2023-09-01, with Guy Fieri highlighting the restaurant's oxtail as a standout dish, according to WCPO's coverage of the episode. Big Jays Place is a Caribbean and soul food restaurant in the Finneytown area of Springfield Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, run by owner Jason Howard. Cincinnati Magazine reported that Howard originally opened Big Jays as a New York-style deli in Over-the-Rhine before relocating to Finneytown during the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting the menu toward Caribbean and soul food dishes such as jerk chicken, rasta pasta, and oxtail. The business's own website returned an HTTP 200 response when checked on 2026-09-08, but the page loaded no visible menu, hours, or dated content at that time, and no source found in a search turned up a 2026-dated confirmation of the restaurant's current status.

The episode Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 38

Episode 1
Aired
Title: From Chicken to Caribbean · What was featured: Caribbean and soul food, including oxtail and jerk chicken
How Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives restaurants have fared: 27% closed →

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Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the restaurant — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.

Sources we checked 3 references

  1. bigjaysplace.com http://www.bigjaysplace.com/
  2. wcpo.com https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news/finneytown-caribbean-soul-food-spot-is-latest-to-host-guy-fieri-for-triple-d-feature
  3. cincinnatimagazine.com https://www.cincinnatimagazine.com/article/big-jays-place-hits-the-big-time/
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Record ddd-1416 · checked by Cal Marchetti.