Columbus, OH

Anywhere good to eat within a stone’s throw of downtown? Good wine list preferable but not necessary.

Not a “true stones throw” but Barcelona is good!

What are you looking for? A lot going on in the Short North (between Downtown and Ohio State’s campus). Columbus isn’t much of a white tablecloth town (it’s there, but not plentiful), but plenty of casual bars-with-food vibe types of spots.

Also, Ohio retail wine prices are generally awful, so don’t get your hopes up for a great wine experience anywhere.

Also check out this thread Restaurants- Columbus OH - Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes - WineBerserkers

Ate at The Pearl on Friday night and the short ribs were nice and oysters excellent. Wine list is expensive and so-so, ended up with a bottle of Honig Cab 2012. The Guild House just opened up across the street from the The Pearl and has had excellent reviews. Rigsby’s is also excellent. All in the bustling Short North area and close to town. Have yet to make it to Basi’s but know some foodies that love the place.

Ryan,
You should have no problem finding a restaurant close to downtown to suit whatever you’re in the mood for. As said, the Short North is home to many very good restaurants. There are also some good choices to the south of downtown in the Brewery District and German Village (Lindey’s, Barcelona, G. Michaels). To get some ideas, check out those neighborhoods on urban spoon, columbuscrave, localeats, and the restaurant guide on shortnorth.org. Many of them post their wine list on their website. If you narrow it down and need a nudge to help you choose, let us know. Be warned of the huge mark-ups on most wine lists in Ohio though.

Agree with everything above. In the short north Guild House is better than the Pearl. Rigsbys has been around forever and is always consistent. German Village would recommend Lindeys, Barcelona and G Michaels in that order but all are good. Further up High st is Alanas which has the best wine program in central Ohio. Basi Italia is a small really good place. The outdoor patio in the spring is nice.

Bob

I love Barcelona, but it seems like 25% of the time you get a dud there. wouldn’t recommend it for out of towners (although their patio is amazing, and if the diners aren’t discerning, an Ohio spring day with a pitcher of sangria, who cares if the paella is soupy? :wink: )

I would put the dud rate at 50% which to me is flat-out unacceptable. Nice patio but little else to recommend it. Even the martini’s suck. Ironically, I just got back from NYC where I ran into the former owner of Deepwood at Gramercy Tavern’s bar. Deepwood was one the rare white tablecloth kind of places that Columbus generally does not support. It’s gone now. We don’t have great food here, not in downtown. You won’t get a memorable meal. You will find terribly boring wine on the lists at ridiculous mark-up. Am I being gloomy-gus enough for you? Sorry. You can have fun and eat solid food. Rigsbys, Lindeys, Basi. If you don’t mind some funk, hop in a car or cab and go to either Alana’s or Till (I love Till, on King Ave, but it is very Brooklyn/eclectic, and food is slow to come out-chef/owner does most of the cooking). Till has off-beat wines, some on tap, and great burgers and vegi dishes. Haven’t been to Guild House but I have no hope it will break the CamMitchell mold. Almost went but the menu was terribly boring. Might want to give Forno a try but I have not been there either.
Hey Mike DiSalvo-The Pearl is poor trash- a cheap rip-off of three NYC places including The Dutch and the oysters are pretty mediocre there too (ATMO, which means it’s flawed as hell).

<Hey Mike DiSalvo-The Pearl is poor trash- a cheap rip-off of three NYC places including The Dutch and the oysters are pretty mediocre there too (ATMO, which means it’s flawed as hell).>

Heck Mitch, my son’s bought us dinner so anything I ate that night tasted great! Melinda, loved the oysters but I would rather eat the friend ones at Gallo’s Kitchen any night of the week. By the way, Deepwood was very pedestrian. neener

I trust you meant that you prefer fried oysters and not your friend’s oysters. Either way, buddy.
Yeah, it became that way. I think it started off with very good food. That’s pretty much the standard path.
And just in case I am coming across as the snob that I am, I think CamMitchell does a great job of putting out good food for low prices. The pricing at Marcellas and at The Pearl packs them in. Young couples and parents with younger kids can afford to eat out and feel as though they are at a “fancy” restaurant. Lynn won a gift certificate to his places recently. For some reason, I chose Marcella’s. It was the night of some dance competition. Marcella’s was packed with Jonbenet Ramsey’s wearing tiaras. I still wonder if it wasn’t a bad dream. The convention center is too close to tSN.
Too much makeup.jpg

Anyone want to update any recommendations for Columbus (Ohio) here? I’ll be there this weekend. Anything changed from close to three years ago?

-Dave Hauser

AFAIK: The Refectory has had the premier wine list in the city for decades. Most upscale places have either very limited lists or ‘steakhouse-like’ lists. https://refectory.com/

Sorry, just saw this. Kihachi is the best restaurant in town. It caters to Japanese Honda executives though and can be intimidating (hand written menu in Japanese). The chef (Mike Kumara) trained at Tokyo Culinary Institute and Anthony Bourdain said it’s as good as any Japanese in the US. The bad is it’s in a suburban area off the outer-belt and doesn’t really have a wine list. The Service Room in the Short North is great. The chef’s parents are from Bangladesh and it comes through in his cooking. Also part of my favorite distillery in town OYO. Veritas just opened downtown and is top notch. For wine, the best list is The Refectory–but also not near downtown. Other places I like are Basi, The Market in Italian Village (great wine list at no markup), The Table, Lindey’s is decidedly old school but well executed, The Top Steakhouse is out of Mad Men old school and does great dry aged steaks (also check out the scotch list at Wings of Bexley next door), Wolf’s Ridge Brewery, and Rockmill Tavern and Brewery (great Belgian style ales). Give me a shout if you want some company.

Also, I would have remiss if I didn’t give Columbus Food Adventures a shout out. Andy and Bethia know the scene better than anyone: https://columbusfoodadventures.com/

It seems like Skyline is the obvious answer to this thread

Thanks, folks.

Got a reservation for Veritas, downtown. It’s only a block and half from the Palace Theater, where our show is. That works out perfectly.

On another note, had a great morning at the North Market. Nice set of purveyors and restaurants. Fun to wander around.

Dave Hauser