Grubgraders

Taking a laid back look at the restaurant scene in Columbus, Ohio and other cities. Follow our blog at www.grubgraders.com

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Report Card: Barrel & Boar

Barrel & Boar, 5251 N. Hamilton Road, Columbus, Ohio  43230   http://www.barrelboar.com/   Overall GrubGrade B The Breakdown: Atmosphere: Grade B: Barrel & Boar is a BBQ joint located on North Hamilton Road in Columbus, Ohio. The physical restaurant itself was fairly small and clean, and the overall impression you get when walking in is that this restaurant must be pretty new (I don’t actually…

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Product Review: Delmonte Chefs Pantry Meal Toppers

Recently, the good folks at Delmonte contacted the Grubgraders crew and asked us to try a new product they’re testing out in the Columbus, Ohio area and write a review of it.  Product reviews are not our forte…we like to stick to the type of meals where the only work we have to do is driving to a restaurant.  But, it is becoming increasingly hard to eat healthy while eating out, and even those of…

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Report Card: Cooper's Hawk

Report Card: Cooper’s Hawk

https://www.coopershawkwinery.com/ Overall GrubGrade A The Breakdown: Atmosphere: Grade A+: A word of advice for any of you on the wagon…you’re not going to want to schedule your next AA meeting at Cooper’s Hawk at Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio. The simple, contemporary décor might be perfect, and the generous table spacing might provide you with enough privacy to carry on a conversation,…

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Report Card: 50's Prime Time Cafe

Report Card: 50’s Prime Time Cafe

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/hollywood-studios/50s-prime-time-cafe/ Overall GrubGrade B- The Breakdown: Atmosphere: Grade C: The 50’s Prime Time Cafe is located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. This themed restaurant should have been an awesome experience, but it was actually horrific. We happened to pick the hottest day of our vacation to visit Disney’s Hollywood…

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The 5th Annual Columbus Food Truck Festival

  Who says you need 4 walls, a table, and chairs to enjoy a good meal?  Not the people who run food trucks or the on-the-go people who frequent them.  While grabbing a bite from a mobile greasy spoon is not usually high up on our list of things to do, we’ve wanted to visit  the Columbus Food Truck Festival for a couple of years.  Unfortunately, we usually missed the festival because we had other…

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Report Card: Rainforest Cafe

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/animal-kingdom/rainforest-cafe-animal-kingdom/ Overall GrubGrade B+ The Breakdown: Atmosphere: Grade A+: Atmosphere is one of the reasons most people would decide to eat at Rainforest Cafe. The visual experience alone is worth at least one visit, and if, like us, you’ve spent your entire day hiking across the far expanse of Disney’s Animal Kingdom, the…

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Honorable Mention: Angelico Pizzeria

  http://www.angelicopizzeria.com/ We had spent the night in Richmond, Virginia prior to setting out for our nation’s capital. It wasn’t a huge drive with respect to distance, but traffic was a bear, and once we actually got into Washington DC, the traffic was absolutely brutal. So, once we checked into our hotel in Georgetown, it was time to snag a bite to eat, and there was no way we were…

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Report Card: Houlihans

http://www.houlihans.com/my-houlihans/upper-arlington   Overall GrubGrade B The Breakdown: Atmosphere: Grade B+: Houlihan’s in Upper Arlington is not what we’d call an upscale restaurant, but it actually comes pretty close. We would actually classify Houlihan’s as a med-level steakhouse. From the outside, Houlihan’s looks pretty neat, with a blocky, contemporary style. The décor inside is fairly…

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Honorable Mention: Zoup

Zoup on Polaris Parkway http://www.zoup.com/ Zoup is restaurant that dishes out soup (really, no joke), salads, and sandwiches. To be honest, I thought Katina was jerking my chain when she suggested we stop there and grab lunch. I had a preconceived idea of what we’d be walking into, and it was oddly similar to the “Soup Nazi” episode of Seinfeld. I wondered if I made too much eye contact or…

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Honorable Mention: Tacos Hass

Honorable Mention: Tacos Haas

This Chipotle wannabe is located right on Sawmill Road in Columbus. Getting there is a bit of a hassle with road construction in the area (at least when we visited), but that can hardly be blamed on the restaurant itself. Inside the restaurant, you can tell this is not part of a huge chain. While the place appeared to be fairly clean, it also appeared to be fairly run down as well. While we’re…

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Grubgraders, Grubgraders....Wherefore art thou, Grubgraders?

Grubgraders, Grubgraders….Wherefore art thou, Grubgraders?

Loyal followers of this blog might be wondering what has happened to the Grubgraders.  Did the dynamic duo retire?  Did either (or both) of them meet with some tragic dining accident that escaped the national news?  Actually, neither of those scenarios has happened.

A couple of months ago I was checking myself out in the mirror after my morning shower and it occurred to me…I was getting fat.  Not…

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Report Card: Gordon Biersch Brewery

Gordon Biersch Brewery in the Arena District

http://www.gordonbiersch.com/

Overall GrubGrade B

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere: Grade B-: In a moment of sheer lunacy, we decided to attend the Columbus Auto Show at the Columbus Convention Center in downtown, Columbus. Attending the car show wasn’t lunacy in itself, but attending it on the same day when Nationwide Arena was hosting some of the NCAA first…

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Progress Report: Matt the Miller's Tavern

http://mtmtavern.com/

We kind of have a special place in our hearts for Matt the Miller’s Tavern. Matt’s was one of the first places we reviewed, and they scored pretty high. That was a lunch service. So we decided to head back, only this time we picked a new location (on Gemini Place) and decided to have a go at dinner service.

For some reason, the Friday we decided to swing by Matt the…

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Report Card: Morlein Lager House

The Morlein Lager House

http://www.moerleinlagerhouse.com

  Overall GrubGrade B+

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere: Grade A-: From an appearance standpoint, we haven’t been to many places as easy on the eyes as Morlein Lager House. The interior and exterior are both contemporary in décor with lots of dark wood accents and tasteful wall litter. Some of the walls are entirely made of glass, which provided…

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Report Card: Rock Bottom Brewery

Rock Bottom Brewery at Fountain Square in Cincinnati

http://www.rockbottom.com/

Overall GrubGrade B+

The Breakdown:

Atmosphere: Grade B+: Rock Bottom Brewery is located right off of Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati. We stopped by on a Friday at around 8pm, which should be right at the start of weekend rush (it is a brewery/bar, right?). So it was no surprise that we got saddled with a 20…

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Grubgraders and Autism

Morgan and Logan Ives (he’s the one in the hat)

  Katina and I welcomed Logan into our lives 04/08/2008.  He has been both our biggest challenge and one of our biggest joys, along with his older sister Morgan.  Logan was diagnosed on the autism spectrum a little before his 3rd birthday.  It was devastating.  But it also gave us a name for what was wrong with him, and that allowed us to focus on…

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Honorable Mention: Blaze Pizza

http://blazepizza.com/

We had never heard of Blaze Pizza prior to them contacting us and informing us of the grand opening of their Columbus, Ohio location.  We were actually really looking forward to giving them a try on their opening night.  However, it was not meant to be.  The location of the Blaze Pizza in Columbus is right near the Ohio State University campus.  We love tOSU, and…

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