Fricker's is a local chain that's known for their chicken wings. Although there are other decent items on the menu, I stick with the wings. Their wings come together whole, with the drummie and flippie, as I refer to them. Their sauces are average, but the wings are good.

Golden Nugget is a pancake lover's dream. Although I'm not a big pancake fan, I occasionally veer off into the pancakes. I prefer blueberry cakes, but I usually go for breakfast, which is still pretty good.

Tumbleweed's is just your average run-of-the-mill national chain that can't decide whether it wants to be a Mexican restaurant or barbecue joint. Although the menu leans heavily towards the Mexican side, they have ribs and other grilled items. The rice with the Mexican dishes is moist, not overcooked, not sticky, dotted with diced bell peppers. The refried beans are unspectacular, probably canned. The beef is not steak, just ground beef with minimal spices. Tumbleweed is a safe, predictable restaurant if you don't like things too hot or out of the ordinary.

If you're looking to satisfy your appetite for Barbecue, Pit-To-Plate is the place to go. Every menu item, from beef brisket to pulled pork to kielbasa is smoked on site. They sell their meat by the pound, and they'll smoke your own turkey for you for only $1 per pound! <br> The pulled pork plate features a half pound of wonderfully smoked pulled pork, and your choice of two sides. I'm not going to go through the whole list, but you have to try their greens. They are excellent, cooked with bits of pork. <br> They're looking for a new location because they've lost their lease on their current location, but give them your name, address, and phone number, and they'll let you know where they end up. Good thing, because you won't believe how good their stuff is.

Red Pepper is a very good Oriental restaurant featuring cuisines from China, Korea, and Thailand. You can always find something on the menu that you'll like while you soak in the atmosphere of the bi-level restaurant. The waitstaff is friendly, but a bit slow at times. Parking is difficult around here, but it's worth finding a place to park and walking however far you have to for some really good food.

Karlo's is several steps above a place like the Olive Garden. The food is good and fresh, the portions are satisfying, the service is good, and the bread is awesome. I don't know if they bake it on site, but it's crunchy on the outside, pillowy soft on the inside, just like Italian bread should be. It was much better than I expected.

Jillian's slogan is Eat, Drink, Play. You can do all three well there. <br> Jillian's is the penny and/or video arcade you grew up with, only on steroids. They have rooms full of video games, pool, ping pong, and shuffleboard tables, and even a bowling alley. But they also have a pretty good restaurant. <br> There are 2 options for eating, the Video Cafe, and the Hibachi Grill. The Hibachi Grill is like Benihana, where you sit at a table built around a grill while the chef prepares the food for you right in front of your eyes. <br> The Video Cafe features all your regular favorites, and a few different items. My favorite item is the Cuban Sandwich. This is a sandwich made with roast turkey, salami, ham, Swiss cheese, dill pickles, mustard and mayonaisse. The key to this sandwich is that it's grilled using Cuban bread, which is like a sub bun, only flatter. It's a great sandwich. Check it out sometime.

Taqueria Mercado is the sister restaurant to the original Taqueria Mercado across the Ohio River in Fairfield, Ohio. If you want authentic Mexican food, this is the place for you to go. You may even be the only gringo in the place. <br> The menu includes the usual assortment of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and lunch specials. But try the torta, which is the Mexican version of the sandwich. Fillings include breaded steak, fried pork, seasoned pork, and ham and grilled cheese. They are served on their own special bread, slathered with avocado, beans, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and jalapeno peppers. <br> For the truly adventurous diners, they have menudo and birria de chivo on the weekends only. Menudo is tripe soup. If you already don't know what tripe is, don't ask. Birria is goat, which I've enjoyed in a burrito, but I don't know about goat soup. <br> All in all, Taqueria Mercado is good authentic Mexican food at a great price.

Shanghai Mama's is a precious gem of a restaurant tucked into a little space in Downtown Cincinnati. All the food is good, moderately priced, and the service is excellent. It's owned by the Chin family, which also owns Pacific Moon out in Montgomery, widely regarded as the best Oriental restaurant in the Greater Cincinnati area. <br> I don't recall seeing any menu item, except for the specials, that were over $10. So if you're on a budget, go here. The wide variety of appetizers is attractive, because many of them cost only $3 or $4, so you can either get several to share with your party, or make a meal out of several for yourself. <br> On weekends, they're open until 3 AM Saturday and Sunday morning, so if you find yourself in need of food at a late hour downtown, definitely check out Shanghai Mama's.

Ferrari's Little Italy and Bakery is an all around great place. The last time I was in this building, it was a Mexican restaurant. <br> When you walk in the front door, you enter the bakery and deli portion of the restaurant. They have a variety of Italian meats and cheeses for sale, including hard to find mortadella. They have sandwiches and other items for carryout, and they bake all their breads on site. In fact, one of the best parts of the meal was the different types of bread they bring out with the meal, so if you're on the Atkins diet, I feel sorry for you. <br> Ferrari's predictably has all your Italian favorites, but what impressed me was the variety of non-Italian dishes, mostly steak and seafood. I'm sure they are good, but I want Italian when I go to an Italian restaurant. <br> I had an excellent Eggplant Parmigiana. Unlike most Italian restaurants that cut eggplant sideways, serving several round pieces, Ferrari's cuts the eggplant lengthwise, serving two large planks of eggplant lightly breaded, covered with their good marinara sauce, and grated parmesan reggiano cheese. The meal also included a small side of rigatoni. <br> All in all, a great Italian restaurant experience is waiting for you at Ferrari's.

Josh's is an English Pub located in the Drawbridge Inn. It's a nice place, but the lunch menu is a little bit lacking. Food is adequate, but I couldn't believe that an English Pub wouldn't have fish and chips on the menu. Service wasn't bad. I don't know if I'd go back unless I was staying in the hotel.

The Colonial Cottage is a surprisingly great restaurant. From the looks of it from the outside, it looks like someone decided to turn their house into a restaurant. Once you enter, it looks like the inside of a house turned into a restaurant. <br> But don't let the looks sway you. One of the cozy dining rooms contains a fireplace (albeit with a fake fire). <br> They serve breakfast all day, which is nice, because some restaurants that serve breakfast ordinarily won't do so during lunch hours. I got the thickest slice of goetta I've ever seen in a restaurant here. <br> The waitressess seem like they've been there 100 years, because they are old, but very nice and efficient, unlike other places I've been (hello, Hathaway's). <br> The Colonial Cottage Inn is a must visit, because they make you feel like family, and if you go repeatedly, you will be family there.

The food is good and the service is better at the Speakeasy Bar & Grill. It's a great place to go, especially during Lent, for their Fish Sandwich and Fish Lunch Special. <br> The Fish Sandwich is arguably amongst the best in town, winning various contests and awards. The Fish Special is a great meal and deal. For $6.95, you get two health planks of deep fried cod, macaroni and cheese, stewed tomatoes, and cole slaw. If you like tomatoes but have never had stewed tomatoes, you have to try these. I guarantee you'll love them. <br> It's a great place with a great atmosphere. I'm fortunate that it's so close to my office.

The Oriental Wok is not your average Oriental restaurant. You notice when you first walk into the place. It's beautifully decorated, and features fountains and pools that wind their way throughout the restaurant. <br> Lunches aren't your standard fare with soup and egg roll for $4. The lunch specials are a little more expensive, but well worth it. You still get a lot of food well prepared and arriving at the table steaming hot.

Tommy's is a good restaurant, but it's primarily a carry-out joint. I had something delivered to my office the first time I tried it, and it was good. <br> The second time I decided to check it out myself, since I pass it going to and from work every day. <br> It's a good thing it wasn't crowded, because the inside only has space for maybe 20 people tops. There is a small bar surrounded by a few 4-top tables and a few 2-tops. I kept on looking for another room, but found only the kitchen, restroom, and big mirror that gave the appearance of another room where someone who looked a lot like me was standing. <br> I tried the club sandwich and salad combo. It was good. You have your choice of salads, and I went with the house. It was good sized, with chopped romaine lettuce, red onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. Your choice of dressing is served on the side, and the salad was served in a huge bowl, which made it easy to cut stuff without getting it all over the bar. It also came with some bread. <br> The club was a half sandwich of your usual club. Good, but not outstanding. Some tortilla chips accompanied the sandwich. <br> I highly recommend Tommy's, but make sure you call in for your carry out, because there's precious little room to sit to dine in.

Garzelli's Pizza and Grinders is a good place for lunch or dinner. If you don't know what a grinder is besides a hard working hockey player, it's east coast vernacular for sub sandwiches, except grinders are baked. <br> The grinder features your choice of a variety of combos, then is baked in a pizza oven to give the bread a signature crispness. The bread Garzelli's used was good, not quite a regular sub bun. It was more like focaccia or flatbread, two halves which were flat, unlike a regular sub bun's roundness. It seemed like it may have been grilled, but it wasn't. <br> A half grinder, which is 8 inches, was plenty filling. I got the Italian Combo, which featured ham, salami, provolone cheese, and the usual assortment of vegetables. Italian dressing is optional, but I opted for it, which made the sandwich a little messy to eat. Messy, but yummy. <br> Garzelli's is now on the list of my lunchtime favorites. Go see for yourself.

Most Chinese restaurants are pretty much the same, as long as they're decent. Eastern Panda is a decent Chinese and Thai restaurant. <br> Like most Oriental places, they have the usual lunch special for $3.95, which offers an entree, choice of fried or steamed rice, and choice of soup (egg drop, wonton, or hot & sour) or egg roll. It's a lot of food for a little money. <br> I like things spicy, so I decided to try the Kung Pao Shrimp, which is listed on the menu as one of the spicy items. Well, it was good, but not really spicy. I supppose I could ask them to spice it up more, but I thought I'd go with the flow. <br> But you really get your money's worth with the shrimp. I counted 15 decent sized shrimp. I'm going to try some of the other shrimp dishes next time. <br> The owners are very friendly, so much so that they say "thank you" every time they come over to the table, whether it's bringing your menu, refilling your drink, or taking your plate after you're done. <br> So definitely give the Eastern Panda a try. It's a bit hard to find, off the Buttermilk Pike exit off of Interstate 75, but you'll be glad you found it.

Schlotzsky’s Deli is best known for their sandwiches with the unique bread. Their bun is allegedly inspired by the muffuletta sandwich. A muffaletta is a sandwich served on a round loaf of bread with ham, salami, cheese, and an olive oil relish cut into quarters. <br> My favorite Schlotsky's sandwich is The Original, which has ham, Genoa salami, cotto salami, mozzarella, cheddar, and Parmesan cheese, mustard, marinated black olives, onion, lettuce and tomato on a toasted sourdough bun.

Ianazone's Pizza comes to Columbus by way of Youngstown, which should be good news for Columbus pizza lovers. Since most pizza places in Columbus are awful, Ianazone's is a welcome addition to the Columbus pizza scene. <br> You can order either a 14 inch round pizza, or a slightly larger rectangular pizza. Either way, you can't go wrong. <br> The pizza dough is thicker than most Columbus pizza joints, but cooked well enough to balance the crunchiness and chewiness. The sauce is nicely spiced, and they use real mozzarella cheese, not provolone, which has no place on a pizza. <br> They also cut the round pizzas into the familiar pizza slices, not the cross-hatch cut that most Columbus joints offer, like a farmer plowing the back 40. <br> The best thing is that I ordered a large with 3 toppings, and still ended up paying less than $10 without a coupon. Most places, you can't get out without spending at least $15. <br> Grab some of your favorite beer and order up an Ianazone's pizza, and you have an instant party.

The Gahanna Grill is a throwback to another era, the friendly, corner, neighborhood bar and grill, where the food is unpretentious and the drinks are stiff and cheap. <br> The star of the menu is the Beanie Burger, which is one third or one quarter pound of freshly ground beef, formed into a patty, prepared the way you like it, then topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon, cheese, and coleslaw. If that's not to your liking, you can adorn your burger any way you like. <br> But get to the Gahanna Grill, have a Beanie Burger and a few beers, Atkins diet be damned!