Columbus, OH

[LizD518]

Hi All,

I'm being sent to Columbus for two weeks for work. I work for one of the contract foodservice companies so breakfast & lunch will be taken care of at work - hopefully it s a good cafe - but I will be on my own for dinners and on the weekend. I'll be working downtown and staying on the north side of town - in Worthington. I don't mind driving around a little though since I expect I'll have plenty of time on my hands.

I have already checked out several other threads and I have the North Market on my list, as well as a few other restaurants. I am will probably try to only do one, maybe two, "high-end" type places since that really isn't my day-to-day style. I am looking for good ethnic restaurants - mostly casual, but that do home made food. I love Mexican, Thai, Indian, Sushi, Middle Eastern and maybe Eastern European too. Also - I love Brew Pubs. I have a few places that I have seen on the internet that I'd like opinions on too...

Banana Leaf and Dosa Corner: Love the idea of Southern Indian / Vegetarian since you usually only see North Indian with the same standard menu.

Barley's Brewpub & Smokehouse

Lemongrass Asian Bistro

Pad Thai 05

Elevator Brewing Co

Further suggestions welcome!

[tammylc]

Hi All,

I'm being sent to Columbus for two weeks for work.  I work for one of the contract foodservice companies so breakfast & lunch will be taken care of at work - hopefully it s a good cafe - but I will be on my own for dinners and on the weekend.  I'll be working downtown and staying on the north side of town - in Worthington.  I don't mind driving around a little though since I expect I'll have plenty of time on my hands.

I have already checked out  several other threads and I have the North Market on my list, as well as a few other restaurants.  I am will probably try to only do one, maybe two, "high-end" type places since that really isn't my day-to-day style.  I am looking for good ethnic restaurants - mostly casual, but that do home made food.  I love Mexican, Thai, Indian, Sushi, Middle Eastern and maybe Eastern European too.  Also - I love Brew Pubs.  I have a few places that I have seen on the internet that I'd like opinions on too...

Banana Leaf and Dosa Corner: Love the idea of Southern Indian / Vegetarian since you usually only see North Indian with the same standard menu.

Barley's Brewpub & Smokehouse

Lemongrass Asian Bistro

Pad Thai 05

Elevator Brewing Co

Further suggestions welcome!

←

Barley's is decent. I can't speak to the beer, as I'm not a beer drinker.

The first time I went to Lemongrass on my annual trip to Columbus, it was good. But since then it seems to have gone downhill.

My favorite place to eat in Columbus (besides North Market) is Betty's - it's a skinny little bar in Short North that has great food. I especially like their meatloaf.

Whatever you do, don't miss Geni's Ice Cream in North Market.

[tino27]

I lived in Columbus for 5 years, so hopefully I can turn you onto some of my favorites.

In Worthington ...

Old Bag 'o Nails Pub -- get the Fish Fry dinner. To this day, when I visit friends and relatives in Columbus, this is what I always order when I go there. I have yet to find a piece of beer battered fried fish that tops it. The fried mushrooms with the horseradish mayo dip is also a delicious bet. Don't tell you cardiologist you are going here, however. Not a brew pub, per se, but a nice place to have a good piece of fish.

Graeter's Ice Cream -- So very good. All their ice creams are delicious, and the sorbet's are very nice as well.

Outside Worthington ... (my favorites)

Thai Orchid on Sawmill Road -- OUTSTANDING Thai cuisine. They have a Tom Yum Goong that I have yet to find its equal. All the entrees are delicious, but I particularly like the fried fish in the chili sauce (the name escapes me at the moment). Also get the Thai iced tea ... quite good. Also, best Phad Thai I've ever had, to this date.

Lee Garden on Federated Blvd (off Sawmill Road, actually) -- Excellent dim sum. And ask for the Flower Tea (chrysanthemum flowers). No cart service, but the food is always excellent.

Mary Kelley's on Muirfield Drive -- This place has lots of good food, but this is where I go when I want an exceptional patty melt. Wash it down with a Guinness from the tap and you've got an exception meal.

Sopporo Wind on Cleveland Avenue -- Excellent sushi and Japanese menu. I've had many a fine meal here and I highly recommend it. I normally get an appetizer of nigri and then a main course of something highly Japanese.

Taj Palace on Fishinger Blvd -- It's a bit of a trek for where you are staying, but the food is consistently good here (the saag paneer is awesome). They do have daily lunch buffets (very good value for the dollar), but the food is good no matter when you go.

Cafe Istanbul at Easton Mall -- The food and Turkish Coffee here is quite good. They have a fabulous thing on their menu where you can order a small or large tasting from their appetizers which can feed 2 - 4 of you (in case you want to go out with co-workers). They used to have a monkfish dish listed on their menu that came with a mesclun salad ... however, translations being what they are, it was listed as a masculine salad. Many laughs were had on that one!

Indochine Cafe on South Hamilton -- Again, a bit of a trek for you, but wonderful Vietnamese. This restaurant actually changed owners (used to be Pho Saigon) the last time I was down in Columbus (October '07), but I can definitely say that the new owners have kept up the quality of the food. I normally go for the noodle dishes, but I also tried the Banh Mi last time I was there and they were excellent.

Hometown Oriental Gourmet Food on Bethel -- Ask for the Chinese menu. Lots of delicious things to try here. They'll even do Bubble Tea for you. The cold sesame noodles are delicious, but the Ma Pa Dofu is killer here. I'm salivating just thinking about it. And while you are at it, visit CAM (Columbus Asian Market) which just happens to be behind Hometown in the shopping plaza. Lots of amazing things you can't find other places.

Monte Carlo Italian Kitchen on Shrock Road -- The chicken Parmesan with gnocchi is STELLAR here (and quite affordable). Everything else on the menu (this was 4 years ago) is completely sub-par. The lasagna was decent, but that's about it. Even with the rest of the menu being not up to snuff, the chicken parm w/ gnocchi ALONE was worth the trip.

All the places I've recommended are on the "affordable" list. If you want some upscale suggestions, let me know.

[LizD518]

I'm back home finally. Columbus is pleasant and all, but it is good to be home.

I think I sampled a wide variety of what Columbus had to offer, considering the time and my location. Here's my thoughts...

Old Bag O' Nails Pub, Worthington: Nice atmosphere, definately see that this is a good local hang out. Fish fry dinner was very good, although I am not really a fan of steak fries and these didn't do anything to change that. But the fish was excellent, hot, crispy, flaky...yum.

Banana Leaf Indian Restaurant: Tiny little place in a strip mall on Bethel Road, vegetarian. Offers a very good value on the buffet and the owners were very solicitous. The food had good flavor, although the vegetables in the curries were more cooked that I would prefer. The menu is more Southern Indian than the typical Indian Restaurant and they do a lot of the chaat that I haven't really seen in most Northern Indian restaurants.

Pig Iron BBQ: Owned by the same people as Old Bag O' Nails. The baby back ribs were superb! They come with a Kansas City style sauce - on it's own it was a little sweet for me, but they don't use so much that it overpowers the meat, so it worked. The meat was tender, not mushy, and you could taste all the flavors: smoke, sauce and "porkiness". Unfortunately, the sides I had, southern-style green beans and mac & cheese, were no where near the quality of the meat.

SushiKo: Off East Campus View Blvd, next to the Marcus Crosswoods UltraScreen Cinema. Small (50 seats?) local Japanese restaurant near my hotel. The owner was behind the sushi bar and both he and the two other sushi chefs were non-stop the entire time I was in there. Several regulars were there and seemed to know the owner well. Prices were Very reasonable: $34 + tip for two beers, ebi shumai dumplings, two pieces nigiri and two maki rolls.

North Market: Excellent Bratwurst at the hot dog place and Jeni's ice cream was awesome.

Betty's Fine Food and Drink, High Street, Short North: Breakfast Quesadilla for brunch on Sunday. Cute little place, friendly service and looks like it would be a fun place to hang out for cocktails as well. Quesadilla was very good, with eggs, chicken, avocado and salsa & sour cream.

Bahn Thai, Henderson Road: Ok Thai food - needed more basil in the basil chicken.

Jimmy Johns Sandwich Shop: Not a chain I was familiar with. Bread wasn't bad but the they need to visit a real Philly hoagie shop.

Elevator Brewhaus, Downtown: Good IPA, Very good burger. Probably vey busy for happy hour, but it was fairly quiet when I got there around 7pm and the bar only got quieter.

Seven Stars at the Worthington Inn: Very good. Wild Mushroom Risotto starter - delishious although the portion was almost entree sized. Lamb Chops with Cassoulet beans and glazed baby carrots - lamb was perfectly cooked, beans had too much thyme, carrots were very nice. Carrot Cake with Brown Butter Cream and Grilled Pineapple Sorbet. The Cake was a little dry, but the cream cheese frostig was the best I ever had - I thought that was the brown butter cream. In reflection the BB Cream was a little weird - it tasted like pumpkin! The Grilled Pineapple sorbet was amazing - I need to try and make some.

Wow - this is a long post! I hope some visitors and Columbus locals find it all useful!

[Uli]

I hope you don't mind if I hijack your thread a bit, LizD:

My partner and I are going to Columbus next Saturday for a concert at the Southern Theatre, which, I gather by google maps, is downtown Columbus. We're staying at the Country Inn and Suites about 10 miles west of the theatre off I-70.

We'd like to have a nice dinner before the concert, but would rather not drive all over heck and back and risk getting lost. I've been toiling away on Google, but it's just a little challenging between finding a restaurant that sounds good, then mapping it, yadda yadda -- so I'm hoping someone here can help us:)

Sushi, Thai, or Indian preferred somewhere near hotel or theatre or reasonably in between?

Molly Woo's seemed promising on opentable, but unless there's a separate sushi menu not shown on the website -- their claims of 'sushi fresh from Japan!' are a little, erm, robust (there's only 6 rolls on the menu, no sashimi, etc). Plus, I think it's out of the way.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Edited March 14, 2008 by Uli (log)