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Restaurant Widow wrote
Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails
Posted by Lisa the Waitress on Monday, February 04, 2008
First up, it is absolutely imperative that you order the eggplant fries at the Tip Top. I know, I know, the sweet potato fries are delicious, too, but the thing about the eggplant fries is that they are so surprisingly amazing.
The decor of the Tip Top is dedicated to Ohio memorabilia – our table featured an ancient picture of the Circus House (which is at the SW corner of Buttles & Dennison in Victorian Village); it was taken so long ago that Dennison was a broad street – no sidewalks necessary – filled with horse & carriages. It was pretty cool to see something so familiar and yet so strange at the same time.
The Tip Top is a gem in the otherwise rather listless downtown area at night. Don’t let the dark facade steer you away – the interior is warm and charming, the food is generous, reasonably priced and hearty, and the service is casually low-key. A great first date spot.
Related Stories:
- CU Video: Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails
Soy beef just sounds wrong. Vegetarian fare can be incredible. It’s sad when soy is transformed into barely recognizeable meat wannabes.
The eggplant fries sound wonderful.
If I ever get a babysitter, I’m …like …so.. there.
Got the pot roast sandwish last night. It was pretty good – liked the pretzel roll and mustard. Also ordered the eggplant fries…to me they basically tasted like soggy zucchini inside delicious crispy batter – never really picked up on any taste of eggplant. They were still good though.
The true winners there for me are the $10 pot roast and the Ohio Nachos w/sausage.
Also couldn’t go wrong with the GL Conways Irish Ale, the Dead Guy or the Maudite.
^^ Yeah, having Dead Guy on tap keeps me in great spirits.
Yes, Ohio Nachos + sausage FTW
I need to find someone I can split them with as an appetizer so I don’t have to try and pass them off as my meal though…
Desi has been to Tip Top 3 or 4 times now. I’d say it’s a kid-friendly enough place during the day and early evening. Perhaps not at 10pm-2am on a Friday or Saturday night, but otherwise, I’d say little ones are ok there!
:D
Desi has been to Tip Top 3 or 4 times now. I’d say it’s a kid-friendly enough place during the day and early evening. Perhaps not at 10pm-2am on a Friday or Saturday night, but otherwise, I’d say little ones are ok there!
Thanks, that’s great, but we still desperately need a sitter.
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Lisa’s blog is great. She’s really friendly too…gave me free tix to a great beer tasting event at Rosendale’s one evening. And don’t discount the eggplant fries until you’ve tried them, they are fabulous and not at all what you’d think.
i’m anti-eggplant but maybe i’ll be adventerous… anyhoo, it’s fried! even octopus is good fried :)
I hate to admit this, and I was even very hesitant about posting, but my experiences at Tip Top have not been nearly as good as what I am reading in this thread.
For me, the positives are that I really like the atmosphere, the staff and the feel of the place. I live close by and I consider the Tip Top a great place to stop by after work for a drink.
But the big negative has been the food. Yes, the eggplant and sweet potato fries are awesome, and I also enjoy the pot roast. But outside of that, almost everything else I have tried has been mediocre at best.
I was excited when they finally revamped the menu to include salmon….until I tried it. My salmon was overcooked and flavorless on both occasions.
On my last visit, about a week ago, my brother ordered a Reuben. I could not believe what they served him. It was, at most, a half-inch thick and what little meat there was looked nothing like corned beef. He was very disappointed. I ordered a half Caesar salad, which tasted like it had been prepared the day before. This has been typical of my last several experiences at Tip Top.
As I said, I really want to like th Tip Top, and in many respects I do. But the quality of the food feels as though it is on a steep downward slide.
FINE. Just rain on our parade will ya? :lol:
Comments like this are what make the discussion interesting. Good to know.
I will agree the menu is pretty hit or miss. And I’ve definately had some sub par sandwiches.
Last night their soup du jour was “beef burgundy.”
I tasted it and it was like the beefy gravy thats on the pot roast, only it was supposed to be soup!? Eww! (Would have been fine on top of potatoes and carots though!)
I’d like to see Tuna Casserole on the menu, just like at Betty’s.
I have to agree with cab124, I like TipTop, I really do. But many times, I’ve found that the food itself leaves much to be desired.
I’ve had many different things from the menu, and while there are definitely some standouts, fries (of both the sweet potato and eggplant variety), ohio nachos and the chicken salad all come to mind, more often than not, I’ve found the things I’ve had to be average at best.
Not BAD mind you, just nothing that really includes the wow factor I was expecting. Case in point, the ruben sandwich. It’s good, for an average ruben. But I have a hard time not comparing it to the ruben you get a couple of blocks away at Danny’s. Given the choice between the two, I’ll pick Danny’s every time.
As a bar, I think it’s great. I love the beer selection and the fact that it’s downtown and open late. I support it in part because I think that it’s an important leader in that area.
Overall though, the food selection is my least favorite of the Lessner joints. I do wonder sometimes if part of the reason I’m not as big of a fan is due to the emphasis on comfort food options. It seems that a focus straight up on comfort food without any sort of twist, leads to slightly bland and boring food.
Also, it leads to less variety in flavors, or only mild variations. See the pot roast, roast beef and italian beef. Not the same by anymeans, but still, a lot of beef that’s awfully similar.
I appreciated the fact that they revamped the entree menu however, I think that it shows they’re flexible on the menu and willing to adapt. I look for good things in the future as they become more established, and hope that they’ll be a fixture in the revitalized Gay st, that’s for sure.
Aren’t you supposed to be writing code right now??? :D
Desi has been to Tip Top 3 or 4 times now. I’d say it’s a kid-friendly enough place during the day and early evening. Perhaps not at 10pm-2am on a Friday or Saturday night, but otherwise, I’d say little ones are ok there!
What Walker said. My son loves the free pinball machine. Almost any weeknight, it is quite kid-friendly.
A.
I’m in love with Tip Top, mostly because they are the only place in downtown C-bus with A). tons of vegetarian options, and that is B). Open (gasp!) 7 days per week and C). (double gasp!!) open before noon. I always eat lunch here or at El Arepazo when I get done with work…but Arepazo has been opening at noon or later lately, and they are closed on Sunday. The prices at Tip Top are reasonable, which also helps me out.
Almost everybody on this message board seems to love the fries. The skin-on mashed potatoes and three bean salad were also great sides, and they were offering fried green beans as an appetizer the last time I was in that also looked pretty damn good.
Obviously my employer frowns on drinking on the clock, but I’ll have to swing in and try the beer and booze. I applaud the choice of Ohio beers, but from the taps I read, I wanted a little more variety. Personally, I’d bench the Great Lakes Elliott Ness and replace it with a less-vanilla Great Lakes tap or something hyperlocal from one of Columbus’ brew pubs. But hey, I’m not drinking at noon anyways, so they probably won’t listen to me anyway. I also blogged about Tip Top, so there’ll be more pictures here:
Tip Top
A lot of the sandwiches are so-so and pretty pricey being in the $8 range. My picks are the pot roast, monte cristo (lots of butter) and the mushroom sandwich was good too. For the entrees I like the country fried steak and meatloaf, but if you’re looking for a healthy, tasty alternatives all you have is the pot roast alternative. Haven’t tried the mac & cheese w/ Ohio sausage, but I can’t justify spending $11 on that.
The mac and cheese with sausage is pretty close to being worth $11 IMO.
I had the Mac&Cheese minus the sausage at the meetup. It was good, not as good as Surley Girls but still good. VERY cheesy. I will spare you my stories on how it affected my internal organs for another time.
You can save that one for your guest appearance on the poop stories radio hour. :D
Although I’m guessing you didn’t end up in the back yard with a hose again, so it can’t possibly be as good.