My advice- my opinions. Mostly Downtown.
Eat at some of the great amazing independent restaurants. Skip the chains- you can eat there when you are at home. Friday’s is Friday’s anywhere in the country.
Personal favorites: The Blue Moon [1]– great steaks, a $15 hamburger, nice place to take a date- amazing sea food- you don’t have to dress to match the decor- has parking- but you have to know how to get to it.
Pine Club [2]– great steaks. BRING CASH or CHECK- no credit cards. Easy parking. Garlic dressing on salad rocks. The best $7 burger you will ever eat. Lines can be long- they won’t seat a party till everyone is there.
Dublin Pub [3]– St. Paddy’s day madness- great sandwiches, Irish food. Used to be a Shell station- but you’d never know it. Easy parking.
Pizza- I have 2 favorites- Flying Pizza [4] has great thick, Sicilian slices- with garlic. The downtown location is only open till 7pm- but worth it. Parking is a pain- unless you can walk 150 feet from a meter.
Pizza Factory [5]– they will deliver to the Marriott, Crowne Plaza and the Doubletree downtown- amazing funky pizzas for the bold- personal favorites- the Reuben, the Pesto Pizzaz, Chicken Cordon Bleu- and then they have the tamer- Classic Italian- a white pizza that rocks (get it without the Italian Sausage for a great veggie option). They have a dine in- with beer- that is open till 11 on Fri and Sat- easy parking at 1301 Wayne- watch out- the carry out is 2 blocks from the dine in. Easy to get confused.
Thai 9 [6] in the Oregon District is the coolest place for Sushi and Thai. Parking is easy- if you find the lot off E. 5th street.
Drinking- I like the 3 downtown non-smoking places- Gillys, Pacchia Jazz Room [7] and the Therapy Cafe [8]. (everyplace is now non-smoking)
Dancing: Either Pearl or the Foundry. I’ve heard good things about Masque [9] but haven’t been there. The smoke takes the fun out of them for me. Dayton is still backwards- and can’t pass a smoke free ordinance.
Museums: The Dayton Art Institute [10] is one of my favorite museums- anywhere in the world. I’ve been to some of the best- and other than the Guggenheim in NYC- I don’t think I’ve ever felt more connected with art than at the DAI. The museum is free- but the Princess Dianna exhibit that is there now costs extra.
There is also the Air Force Museum [11]. You’ll never make it through in a day- but it’s super cool- and free! They have an iMax there- and it’s only like $5 a seat- mostly aviation films.
Want to go somewhere quiet? Go to Woodland Cemetery [12]– see the Wright Brothers plot (boring) or marvel at some of the most pretentious tombstones you’ll ever see- some rich people from Dayton thought they were REALLY important.
Carillon Park [13] is also a nice place to unwind- and you can see a full size version of the Wright B flyer. It’s close to UD Arena.
Saturday night- and no ticket- go see the Dayton Bombers [14] play at the Nutter Center. They’ll get their butts kicked- but you might see some good fights. Tickets are cheap- and the hockey action is the fast thanks to the new rules.
This isn’t a comprehensive list- but if you are here watching Basketball- you still gotta eat. Enjoy! Welcome to Dayton, Basketball fans.
UPDATE
20 Nov 2013 someone told me about a dead link in this post- so I came to update it. Ohio is now smoke free. Some of the places have closed. I’d add Olive, an Urban Dive [15] Serendipity Bistro [16], Fusian [17], Blind Bobs [18], to the list of where to eat. The Dayton Bombers are history- the Dayton Demonz play a Hara Arena.