RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
The Columbus Dispatch wrote
The top 20 Dining Guide ’07
Friday, September 28, 2007
By Jon Christensen
The Columbus restaurant scene is the most competitive ever, with more types of cuisines and price ranges than ever before.
Top-notch establishments abound, so restaurants on this list aren’t the only local sources of quality food.
Like any other restaurant ratings, this list is subjective. The primary criterion: quality of the food. Value, the surroundings and the level of service also are taken into consideration — as are other factors, such as the willingness to take reservations, noise level, menu variety and attention to details (quality of the bread, olive oil and butter, for example).
I’ve compiled just the list of restaurants below for those in need of instant gratification (in alpha order, split into “Top 10″ and “Next Tier” as in the article):
Top 10:
Dragonfly Neo-V Cuisine
Handke’s Cuisine
Kihachi Japanese Restaurant
L’Antibes
M
The Refectory
Rigsby’s Kitchen
Rosendales
Trattoria La Tavola
The Worthington Inn
And the Next Tier:
Barcelona
Barnum & Tibbets Prime Kitchen & Wine Bar
Bar of Modern Art
Doc Henderson’s Restaurant
Hunan Lion
Latitude 41
Scali Ristorante
Spagio
Thom’s On Grandview
Z Cucina Di Spirito
Related Stories
- CU Top Ten – Best Restaurants in Columbus
I’m going to guess they’re including the Columbus Metro Area, which would be Franklin County and the counties adjacent to it.
Hm.. I’ve only eaten at Spagio and Barcelona.
Both had good food, however, I’ve been to Spagio four times and have never gotten even mediocre service.
But, where’s the love for Alana’s??
There is an issue, for want of a better word, between Alana’s and Christenson. I believe it has been resolved by both parties ignoring one another.
I don’t think a single incident of perceived food poisoning is enough to disqualify any restaurant. It happens and it often very hard to pinpoint an origin as the exposure could be as much as 48 hrs previous.
A.
I don’t believe that the issue had anything to do with food poisoning. Didn’t Christenson write a two part explanation (entitled, “The Guest is Always…Wrong”) for his decision that revolved around an episode of essentially abusing one of her patrons? My understanding was that it’s not an unheard of phenomenon at the restaurant, and in this particular case, she really went off the deep end towards a patron who had done nothing wrong.
I’ve never personally witnessed customer abuse there, but I have been in the restaurant where–all the way out in the dining room–we heard her screaming and ranting at her employees in such a deranged manner that I certainly can take Christenson’s word for what happened to the unfortunate patron.
I also believe that a prominent Columbus food blog also removed the restaurant from their top ten for similar reasons although, in this case, the writer didn’t go into details.
spagio’s personally was not very good…tried apps, main course and dessert with some friends and I don’t think any of us were impressed, plus their waitstaff is rude.
definitely want to try L’Antibes and Z Cucina
But, where’s the love for Alana’s??
There is an issue, for want of a better word, between Alana’s and Christenson. I believe it has been resolved by both parties ignoring one another.
I don’t think a single incident of perceived food poisoning is enough to disqualify any restaurant. It happens and it often very hard to pinpoint an origin as the exposure could be as much as 48 hrs previous.
A.
I don’t believe that the issue had anything to do with food poisoning. Didn’t Christenson write a two part explanation (entitled, “The Guest is Always…Wrong”) for his decision that revolved around an episode of essentially abusing one of her patrons? My understanding was that it’s not an unheard of phenomenon at the restaurant, and in this particular case, she really went off the deep end towards a patron who had done nothing wrong.
I’ve never personally witnessed customer abuse there, but I have been in the restaurant where–all the way out in the dining room–we heard her screaming and ranting at her employees in such a deranged manner that I certainly can take Christenson’s word for what happened to the unfortunate patron.
I also believe that a prominent Columbus food blog also removed the restaurant from their top ten for similar reasons although, in this case, the writer didn’t go into details.
I wasn’t clear in my post that I was responding to two seperate ideas. The ‘single incident of food poisoning’ comment was in response to a couple of earlier comments about disqualifying restaurants after suspecting it. (Which is also dumb because depending on the type of food poisoning, it may have been from earlier in the day and falsely blamed on the latest meal.)
As to Alana’s and Christenson: I wouldn’t take Christenson’s word for anything. It is readily apparent from his writing, his personal demeanor and his manner in restaurants he expects … attention, especially at the upper end. If he doesn’t get it, does it reflect in his reviews? I have my opinion on that.
With the Alana’s incident, there are two sides to every story. And there are certainly patrons who deserve treatment in kind, especially when they act offensively toward staff. It was extremely petty, small-town mentality and unprofessional for Christenson to write a whole article on a silly dispute about which he made a lot of assumptions. It saddens me that the memory of that hack job lingers on and that people are gullible about it.
Alana’s is and has been one of the top places in town. It is telling about both the kind of person Christenson is and his acumen that it never shows up on the top 20 lists.
A.
It seems more than a bit disrespectful to call my reaction ‘dumb’ when I know very well what I ate that day and two people who had the same dinner, but no other meals in common, were quite ill within a few hours of eating.
It seems more than a bit disrespectful to call my reaction ‘dumb’ when I know very well what I ate that day and two people who had the same dinner, but no other meals in common, were quite ill within a few hours of eating.
Sorry – it was not directed at anyone in particular. Maybe better written as ‘without good evidence, it is dumb …’
While your scenario has a likely common restaurant cause, it is not epidemiologically conclusive. Also a reaction in a few hours has a strong chance to be caused at the sourcing, not the preparing and so it not the restaurant’s fault. Especially if seafood was involved, it is important to report it to the restaurant so that the supplier can examine their product. I had this happen with oysters I purchased and there is a tracking system.
I re-iterate – without really good cause (or repetition), it is not a good idea or fair to blame a restaurant for a reaction and claim food poisoning. It is also dumb in a purely legal fashion.
A.
As to Alana’s and Christenson: I wouldn’t take Christenson’s word for anything. It is readily apparent from his writing, his personal demeanor and his manner in restaurants he expects … attention, especially at the upper end. If he doesn’t get it, does it reflect in his reviews? I have my opinion on that.
With the Alana’s incident, there are two sides to every story. And there are certainly patrons who deserve treatment in kind, especially when they act offensively toward staff. It was extremely petty, small-town mentality and unprofessional for Christenson to write a whole article on a silly dispute about which he made a lot of assumptions. It saddens me that the memory of that hack job lingers on and that people are gullible about it.
Alana’s is and has been one of the top places in town. It is telling about both the kind of person Christenson is and his acumen that it never shows up on the top 20 lists.
A.
Look, I have serious questions about Christenson’s ability and qualifications to be the food critic for the city’s daily newspaper. His article about “the incident” at Alana’s, however, went into very great depth and detail. It’s also something that would have been an open door for a libel suit had it not very carefully been written and fact checked, so I have no doubt that the newspapers editors were involved before allowing the story to go to print–twice. The fact of the matter is that if it were a “hack job,” Alana would have become very wealthy from the ensuing libel suit against The Dispatch’s deep pockets.
I also believe that one of the fundamental points of the story was that Alana’s victim wasn’t even the person she was seeking to torment. She confused him with another patron that she had kicked out that evening and without bothering to even be sure that she was screwing with the “right” customer proceeded to torment this guy when he tried to come pick up the credit card that he left at the restaurant. Christenson’s point–rightfully so in my opinion–was that any restaurant, regardless of quality, is not a top 20 restaurant if the patrons have to be in fear of harassment from the owner for no better reason than said owner confused with another patron she was trying to harass.
I think Alana puts out a very good–if somewhat inconsistent–product. There, however, are too many stories floating around about her temperment and how employees and even customers are treated there for there not to a some fire behind all that smoke.