Last year, my family surprised me with tickets to go see Beauty & The Beast at the Palace Theatre and this year Josh got me tickets to see The Little Mermaid at the Ohio Theatre and that’s coming up this week so it made me think we needed to decide where to eat beforehand. I may or may not have cried during the show because I was so excited but that’s irrelevant. This post is about what to do/where to eat before a show and not about my weirdness, but before we get there, I do have a story. We went with no plans and we were running a little late leaving work and we ran into traffic, but once we finally got parking we walked around trying to decide where to eat. We decided to walk around and look at some of the shops on Gay St. and decided on the Plantain Cafe. Unfortunately, when we got there they were busy and we couldn’t find anyone to get our order in and we were short on time, so we decided to leave and try our luck somewhere quicker, so we walked to Subway…yeah, sad, right? So we walked into Subway and the guy told us he was closed. It wasn’t even 7 yet and all the food was cleared out. We asked to buy a couple bags of chips and a drink and he told us no and asked us to leave…we were clearly on a roll. So we leave and THEN as we were leaving I stepped on a full XL cup of a Hawaiian punch slurpee and it goes all over my pants and in my shoe. I can’t make this stuff up…So Josh goes back into Plantain Cafe to get me napkins and water to wash it off and they give him 4 napkins. Literally, 4…so then I went in and asked for a larger pile of napkins and showed them my leg/foot. All that aside, we made it to the show, we had good seats and I forgot about my sticky ruined shoe. All this brings me to why we are planning in advance for the show this week.
In Columbus, shows are usually at 2 locations; The Palace Theatre and Ohio Theatre. Here are some close locations near the theatres.
The Palace Theatre
- The Carvery (sandwich shop)
- Ringside Cafe (historical ambiance, delicious burgers)
- Plantain Cafe (Cuban cafe)
- Tip Top Kitchen & Cocktails (vegan and vegetarian as well as gluten-
free choices) - Cafe Napolitana (sandwiches, NY-style pizzas & pasta)
- Wolf’s Ridge Brewery (farther away, but still a treat of picturesque dishes w/ a large beer menu)
Ohio Theatre
- DeNova on the Park (Amazing view of the Columbus Commons, swanky decor & Latin/French/Asian inspration)
- Market 65 (Farm-to-table salads & wraps)
- Condado (Build your own tacos & $1 off at Happy Hour)
- El Camino Inn (street-style Mexican bites & lots of tequila)
- Little Palace (60’s feel with pub style food)
- Dirty Franks (Best hotdogs around)
- Hadley’s (New kid on the 4th street block; American food and the best boozy milkshakes)
- Sidebar (Mediterranean & South American-influenced small plates)
- The Walrus (Burgers, bar bites, live music and ping pong tables, oh my!)
Some of these places are walking distance (all of them could be in good weather) but for the most part, parking isn’t too bad after 5 downtown. For both theaters, you can park in the Statehouse parking lot and walk everywhere. If you are going to the Ohio Theater and you want to eat off 4th, then you may want to park at a meter then drive to the state after. As always, uber or lyft if you plan on drinking. Spending a little money on having someone drive you ends up saving you way more money in the long run if you would end up with a DUI.
There are some other fancier options downtown, as well. These are just walking distance locations if you are feeling adventurous.