Everything you need to know about Dayton if attending the First Four games

We have the ultimate city guide to Dayton, the home of the First Four NCAA tournament games.

March Madness is coming to Dayton for the First Four, the opening round games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. The University of Dayton arena has kicked off the spring tournament since 2001 and will continue to do so until at least through 2028. If you’re a fan visiting the Dayton area, here are some suggestions of places to eat and visit.

My wife, Melissa Mueller (who taught me what good food was when I used to think McDonald’s was quality eating), helped greatly with this list. A foodie’s foodie, Melissa could spend hours talking about every big name and little known food place in the area. For this list, we focused primarily on the areas around UD’s arena.

Best Place to Eat Before the Game

From coffee to uniquely fancy, the Dayton area has a wide variety of interesting food options. If you need to stay up late, Ghostlight Coffee has a couple of locations to serve you with the caffeine pick me up you need. The Silos is a community food hall and beer garden with a little bit of everything to serve your party’s needs while Smales Pretzels, located in an unassuming little blue house, can give you the carb load you need.

If you are looking for the more traditional restaurant options, you are in luck in Dayton:

• Benjamin’s The Burger Master - Looking for a great burger, sandwich or hearty homestyle meal? Benjamin brags about being The Burger Master because they back it up.
• Milano’s - A Dayton area staple, Milano’s Pizza, Subs & Taps provides a little bit of bar food and a lot of Italian cuisine in a place that you can pregame or just watch the game.
• Jimmie’s Ladder 11 - A unique atmosphere in a former fire house (hence “Ladder 11”), Jimmie’s serves up almost every kind of bar food, appetizer and dessert you could want and has a Party Loft you can rent out as well.
• Wheat Penny Oven & Bar - Another Italian-oriented place, Wheat Penny is slightly more upscale with really interesting dishes like Pepperoni Gumbo and the Miss Ohio pizza (which has a “corn crema base.” More traditional pizzas, chicken, burgers and steaks also grace the menu.
• Old Scratch Pizza - Wood fired pizza that you can see being cooked, interesting appetizers and beer and wine taps in all types, Old Scratch gives your family and friends all kinds of options except for dessert. For dessert you can donate money to the current charitable cause and get a vanilla ice cream cone for your generosity (better for the soul than most dessert options).

Best Place to Celebrate a Victory

While there is almost no limit to the amount of food places to partake in around the University of Dayton, the traditional bar scene is a little more “small town” than most college towns that will host NCAA tournament games.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t places to kick back and celebrate near the arena. Timothy’s, established in 1965, is the perfect place to go wild with your group after seeing your team advancing. Full disclosure, Tim’s was the first bar party I ever went to as a college student attending Wright State University. The day after I turned 18, the Halloween party there will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Fieldhouse is also nearby serving “fishbowls, Seltzer Mojito Bowls, Fizzbowls and more.” Two Social provides a place to play video games, play cornhole and do some axe throwing while the Carillon Brewing Company flashes back to the 1850s era of food and drink. (More on Carillon Park, where the brewery is located, later.)

Finally, if the weather is perfect or you are just that excited to celebrate out on the town walking on a brick road, The Oregon District provides you with a diverse menu of stops to go wild as your team prepares for the next round.

Best Place to Bounce Back After a Loss

As the owner of a bakery for a decade, Melissa made sure to taste the competition (which really was more community than anything) while this author just ate whatever his wife put in front of his face. Now, we get to visit all of the great bakeries, dessert and ice cream places our community has to offer:

• Mehaffies Pies - While it closes at 5 PM, get there to get as many pies as your crew can handle. Still reasonably priced at $11 or $12, they have fruit pies, seasonal pies, berry pies, crunch pies, cream pies, frozen pies, no sugar added pies, New York style cheesecake as well as some specialty desserts. Don’t want a whole pie? Half, mini and by the slice (as available) are also on the menu.
• Graeter’s Ice Cream - A southwest Ohio company, Graeter’s has the highest quality of ice cream and some amazing flavors. Right now, you can try the Skyline Chilli Ice Cream. A perfect marketing situation, it is actually a cinnamon swirled ice cream with cracker pieces. Delicious.
• Val’s Bakery - One of those “competitors,” Val’s menu is often changing but gives you a taste of France right here in Dayton, Ohio. Try the Chocolate Babka Monkey Bread, the Blackberry Goat Cheese Danish or the amazing “cinnamon roll on steroids.”
• Ben & Jerry’s - While almost everyone knows they can get B&J’s at their grocery store, there is a walk in ice cream shop near the UD campus that you can order specialized ice cream cakes (in advance) as I do for Melissa every year, get scoops and sundaes and maybe even find a unique flavor in a pint that you can’t find in a grocery store.
• Dorothy Lane Market - A full grocery store, DLM’s bakery case is loaded with every kind of sweet or savory baked good you can imagine. Famous for their Killer Brownies (do not look at the calorie count on these) (Seriously!), including a variety of flavors, you might find yourself adding pounds while your team adds victories.

Best Place to Visit Outside the Arena

Few realize just how great of a place to live and visit Dayton is. The park system is amazing and regularly we hear how shocked people are by all the options in the area. The National Museum of the US Air Force has free admission and is a place families can spend most of a day exploring with exhibits from all time periods and even some space shuttles. With Wright-Patt Air Force Base next door, the Air Force Museum is a fitting attraction.

Carillon Historical Park, noted with the brewery above, is open year round and shares the history of the area with dozens of museums and artifacts on a 65-acre campus. The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery provides a more hands-on learning experience focused on natural history and includes the SunWatch Village, a prehistoric site that has been preserved after excavations began in the 1960s.

A stunning building as you enter the City of Dayton on I-75, the Dayton Art Institute’s “collection contains more than 27,000 objects, spanning over 5,000 years of art history.” The 2nd Street Market, a part of our Metroparks, is open year-round but only Fridays through Sundays until 3 PM. At the Market you will find vendors of all sorts including food, coffee, baked goods and, given the spring time, perhaps some starter plants as well.

The greater Dayton area is also home to four malls although none are near downtown Dayton or the UD Arena. Two of them are the more traditional indoor malls:

• Mall at Fairfield Commons - Close to Wright State/Wright-Patt, just off I-675, one of the few JcPenney stores still open in the area anchors the mall along with Macy’s.
• Dayton Mall - South of town, just off I-75 is the most traditional of all the area malls with a variety of stores, kiosks and motorized trains and animal scooters kids can ride on. The Dayton Mall also has extra large chess sets and Connect 4 games, free to play.

There are also two outdoor areas with shopping and food:

• The Greene - Two exits south of the Fairfield Commons mall, The Greene has a wide variety of stores and food options as well as a central area in the middle to relax in (that has the huge Christmas Tree in the winter and water features in the summer).
• Austin Landing - One exit south of the Dayton Mall, Austin Landing has fewer stores and food options than The Greene but a few discount options (like a Dick’s Sporting Goods Going, Going, Gone) if you need to stay within budget.