The Columbus Playbook

Chef Avishar Barua — Columbus-born to Bangladeshi immigrant parents, a Top Chef alum — cooks what he calls 'forward, borderless cuisine,' and Agni landed on Bon Appétit's Best New Restaurants in America in 2024. It's the clearest signal that Columbus is now a dining destination, not a flyover.

Reservations: Tock — single seatings, game weekends go fast; book well ahead

Chef BJ Lieberman moved to Columbus from D.C. in 2020 after a run at the Michelin-starred Rose's Luxury, and Metsi's is the wood-fired Italian room that's pulled national eyes to the Short North. Ask for the cozy basement — it reads like a downtown New York supper spot.

Reservations: Resy; dinner only, closed Mon-Tue

Open since 1981 and still the room Columbus books for anniversaries and closing dinners — complimentary valet, one of the city's best patios, and a kitchen that's stayed sharp for four decades on a brick-street corner. The definition of an occasion restaurant.

Reservations: OpenTable; 2+ weeks ahead for game weekends — the patio is first-come

Open since 1955 and virtually unchanged — a dim, wood-paneled supper club with leather booths, a copper bar, and a piano player nightly. Beef is dry-aged up to six weeks before the cuts hit the charbroiler. A genuine mid-century Columbus icon and one of the best classic steak rooms in the state, a short ride east of downtown.

Reservations: Tock; book ahead for game weekends

Fifth-generation family-run, tracing to J. Fred Schmidt's 1886 meatpacking house; the restaurant opened in 1967 inside a converted livery stable. Grandpa Schmidt formulated the Bahama Mama in the packing-plant days — still the #1 seller — and the accordion-and-oompah room feels transported from Bavaria. The cream puff is bigger than your fist.

Reservations: No reservations — walk-in; call ahead for large groups

A cramped, decades-deep neighborhood burger joint that Man v. Food put on the map, with a regular wait and servers who've been there 25-plus years. The burgers are huge and built to order. If you only eat one over-the-top burger in Columbus, it's here.

Reservations: Walk-in only — expect a wait; worth it

Columbus's last surviving public market is a one-stop tour of the city's immigrant food story — the Somali Hassan family's Hoyo's, the Lama family's Momo Ghar, and the original Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams stall among them. Best grazed, not sat down.

Reservations: Walk-in — counter service across multiple stalls

Columbus's first full-service Filipino restaurant, owned by Krizzia Yanga — and it sits inside one of Wendy's earliest outposts (the chain was founded in Columbus in 1969). The tropical, plant-filled room and the hands-on feast make it one of the most distinctive meals in the city.

Reservations: Reservations by phone — essential for Boodle Nights

A tiny, graffiti-tagged corner spot that turned a Danish-style filled pancake into a Columbus signature, with serious local sourcing and a line that moves. The city's go-to game-morning breakfast that isn't a campus diner.

Reservations: Walk-in only; limited indoor seating, good patio

Founded in 2014 by Lauren Culley and Jeff Excell, everything baked in-house daily — it's the homegrown coffee-and-pastry icon locals send visitors to. The Italian Village original has the best room; the German Village location sits a block from Schiller Park.

Reservations: Walk-in only — counter service

Kevin and Jenna Crowley's single-minded bagel shop proves the form travels well beyond New York — house-made lox, a wood-fired finish, a short menu done obsessively. A quick, excellent Short North breakfast.

Reservations: Walk-in only; order at the counter

Columbus's most celebrated smoke — a Food Network favorite that started as a single trailer and built a cult on brisket and ribs. The Clintonville original is ~5 miles up High Street from campus: this is the deliberate 'drive out of your way' lunch.

Reservations: Walk-in — order at the window; closed Mondays

Open 24 hours since 1969 and an OSU rite of passage — donuts by day, gyros at 2 a.m., classic rock on the radio. On the walk between campus and the Shoe, it's the universal Buckeye fuel stop.

Reservations: Walk-in — open 24 hours, counter service

Annie Williams and Luke Pierce's cocktail bar was a 2025 James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bar — imaginative, welcoming, and genuinely fun without the speakeasy pretension. The best cocktail in the city is whatever they put in front of you.

Small, warm, and playful — a menu organized by flavor profile, not by drink names.

Reservations: Walk-in; closed Mondays

David Yee and partners call Cobra 'an Asian American neighborhood bar specializing in cocktails and food,' and the nightly crowd makes clear it's become a Brewery District living room. Warm service, wallet-friendly, three blocks from Law Bird.

Come-as-you-are, packed and convivial, in a former Panera.

Reservations: Walk-in

BJ Lieberman (of Metsi's) and Bronwyn Haines built a jazz cellar inspired by the Midwest's deep jazz roots, with live music Monday through Saturday. Doubles as a genuine After Dark pick — see that section.

Swanky, dim, basement supper-club energy.

Reservations: Seating is ticketed per show through their site; limited walk-in bar seats

For 66-plus years this has been ground zero for Buckeye game day near campus — nostalgic, packed, and exactly what a pregame is supposed to feel like. The food is honest bar food; the experience is the point.

Old-school, scarlet-soaked, with a front patio where you can hear the Shoe roar.

Reservations: Walk-in — arrive early, space is limited

Filled the void left by the old O Patio and nailed the most important thing — proximity. Posting up here before kickoff (or for all four quarters) is about as close as a bar gets to the stadium, directly north of the Shoe.

Lively, family-friendly, and location-locked — you can feel the turf from your barstool.

Reservations: Walk-in; closed Sundays

A Short North beer garden built for game day — a big draft list, an open patio, and the young-professional energy fans who've aged out of the campus scene are looking for. An open-air alternative to the Lane Avenue crush.

Open-air front, sports on the screens, the too-old-for-campus-bars crowd.

Reservations: Walk-in; gets packed

Founded by Walt Keys and Adam Benner, Land-Grant pairs easy-drinking beer with a genuine community hub — outdoor seating, a music stage, and an intimate Extension taproom for wine, cocktails, and weird small-batch beer. The most fun big brewery in town.

Cavernous taproom, a big patio, a live-music stage, and giant screens.

Reservations: Walk-in

One of the breweries that built Columbus's beer reputation — everything brewed on site, a brew-house window over the bar, board games, and a fire-lit patio that earns its keep on a cold November Friday. Walkable from the Short North.

Cozy wood-and-leather inside, a fire-pit patio, and a skylit second-floor sun room.

Reservations: Walk-in

A genuine 'you can only do this here' stop — a meadery making honey wine from Ohio apples and honey, with guided flights and a tour. The kind of specific, local thing the cookie-cutter sports-bar crowd never finds.

Warm, lamp-lit tasting room with board games, family-run by a two-person team.

Reservations: Walk-in; limited hours, Thu-Sun

Slinging pizza and beer since 1939, Plank's is the old-school dive Columbus protects — and a great place to watch a Buckeyes game with people who've been doing it their whole lives. Pure heritage.

A Cheers-grade neighborhood tavern — family photos, hometown history, and regulars who've come daily for decades.

Reservations: Walk-in