the crest gastropub

good food and great philosophy this place is all about local and they even grow some of their food on site. that said i always get sub par service there. the waitstaff are either over worked or they need a better manager because they are always scattered and forget orders or are late bringing food. it is also very loud so keep that in mind.

pretty good. the crest is a nice place. the beer selection is top-notch. the food is good, although i'm not sure it warrants all of the accolades it receives. it's standard upscale pub fare - no better but no worse. service was good. ah, that "wait." well, not much to complain about there when you choose to go a place that does not take reservations on the weekends. it's too bad there isn't more room at the bar to sit or stand, as standing outside the restrooms is a tad annoying. but, again, what can you do.
having lived in clintonville for almost a decade but gone now for several years, i'm glad to see a place of this caliber in the ville.

do not go. the service was horrible!!!!!!!!!! i have never walked out of a place, untill now. i hate this place, and all the workers. we waited for ever till they even asked us to be seated. the hostess was too busy talking to her coworkers, even though we talked to her and let her know we wanted a table. the music was ear bleeding. the only thing that makes me happy is that it will eventually be closed.

although i just said how much i loved it, the food that is. i highly recommend using their valet service cuz i saw people getting tickets for parking down the street. and sit outside if you can. the inside is very loud.


-----08 mar, 2014-----

loved it. terrific food that has a unique twist. we had the lamb pops, thecrest burger and the pastrami. :) defiantly recommending.

i always love coming here. the service is always friendly, and the food always tastes amazing. i recommend the pulled beef burger. i see a lot of complaints on here about the service, but realize this a popular joint. obviously when it's busy, you're server will not have time to get to know your life story and help you sample the food until you find what dish fits your personality. i say this place is a must try if you're visiting columbus or bored on a tuesday night.

lo and behold, the first moment came with the first course: smoked blue cheese & panchetta crisps. enrobed in a deliciously fried exterior, finely diced panchetta meshed incredibly well with the creaminess and added texture from crumbled blue cheese.

great food, awesome beer selection. i particularly appreciate the emphasis and attention place on local beers and spirits.

friday at the crest. we have wanted to try out the crest for a while - heard it was always crowded so we finally went early on a friday evening. managed to get the last parking spot but also noticed that they seem to have valet parking now.
i saw a lot of negative reviews on this site - couple of ideas - the crest has a very large and varied menu and is trying to source locally - i would think that would be a balancing act, hence why they may have been out of items in the past. it is very popular and crowded - i think they are trying with valet parking to overcome that problem.
anyhow, we were pleasantly surprised. we had the hummus and baba ganoush - perfectly acceptable - and for a surprise they featured fried smelt. these were great! only suggestion is that they bump up the aioli with more garlic and acid - nicely presented with what seemed to be pea tips.
the crest burger was okay - cooked rare with mushrooms and cheese - but needed some salt or something as it tasted rather flat. fries were crispy and not greasy.
our server was attentive and helpful...the place is noisy but that is probably to be expected and part of the "liveliness" they are trying for.
i looked at their website and see that, in season, they try to grow their greens and herbs, have events to support local charities and generally are working on being a neighbourhood presence. in clintonville, we don't have many places to go for dinner or drinks and are always looking to support places like this.
i think another six months will help them even out some of the rougher spots but all in all, i was pleased and would go back - more than i can say for most of the columbus downtown area restaurants i have frequented.

awesome brunch!. i visited the crest (twice) for brunch when it was still warm enough to eat outside. i really enjoyed their brunch menu as it has a good combination of lunch and breakfast foods. i ordered the pastrami on rye with truffle fries on one visit and it was fabulous. your sandwich is served on a cutting board which is a fun way to eat a meal. my companion and i ordered the pesto-feta watermelon and goat cheese balls and both were alright, personally i think their strength lies in their entrees. great mimosas as well. i really enjoyed their patio and the inside was cute as well. staff was a bit slow, though they were quite friendly it was clear they were streched thin. no failing on their part but the crest itself should have more people on a brunch shift for better service.

gave it a fair shot. i used to live right across from this place when it was the old crest. i've been there 3 times and each time it hasn't been worth the price/hassle of going. poor service seems to be the standard. my boyfriend and i went there for brunch and both our sides (some kind of potato hash mixture) were cold and disgusting. the egg in my breakfast sandwich wasn't fully cooked. when i took a bite, some clear aborted chicken fetus plopped out of it and on to my cutting board. don't get me started on how stupid it is to serve the majority of your food on a 3 inch thick wooden cutting board. luckily, i was able to get a replacement very quickly but the second sandwich was half the size of the first, which was weird. anyways, major disappointment all around. the facility itself is beautiful and it's a great concept. all the food sounds appetizing but everything seems to be poorly executed and overpriced. at least the old crest had free foosball.

love the place. food, atmosphere and drinks what more could you want from a restaurant???... oh yeah how about growing food on site and free thanksgiving dinners.

my wife and i were really excited to try this place, for the curb appeal looked awesome. however, our service was terrible, for the hostess seated us, then asked if we could move to another seat to accommodate the party behind us. we were not too bothered by this, but through out our experience, it took a long time to get new drinks. to top it off our food was dry, and pretty bland. my wife and i are not much to complain, for we know every place is going to be different, but the crest was a big downer for us.

great meal at the crest!. first visit to the crest last week.

the decor was very nice. seemed a trendy, minimalist type setting, but good. nice, big bar. the tables were a bit close together, but just fine. there is an outside seating and drinking area for the better weather days.

started with the cheese balls, which were good, but quite expensive.

for the main course, i went with the burger, while the wife had the bbq burger.. both got fries.

the food was quite good! the fries were excellent - hot and well prepared. the burger was juicy and tasty. the wife really liked the bbq, which is bbq on a beef patty.

priced about at the upper end of what i would have been willing to pay, so that was fine.

all in all a pretty good experience.

one of my new favorites. finally made it to the crest with a group of friends. it was a weeknight and the place was still packed. the only downside was that we had 6:30 reservations, but were made to wait until 7:00 to be seated. it was a bit annoying, but we used that time to sit at the bar and check out their incredible beer selection. it has to be one of the best in the city. the bartenders were all friendly and knowledgeable, and were willing to give samples of whatever you were interested in.

once seated, our server quickly came over. he was very friendly and helpful too. he suggested that we order another drink as happy hour was ending in the next few minutes, which we appreciated. drafts are half off during happy hour. our server gave suggestions based on our preferences, and he hit every one of them out of the park. the standouts at the table were the mac & cheese (add prosciutto) and the pulled pork burger. the mac & cheese was one of the best things i have ever tasted. and both the beef and the pork on the burger melted in my mouth. both of these dishes were around $10 and worth every penny.

other dishes that were recommended to us were the lamb burger, the bison burger and the prawns. i will have a hard time ordering anything other than mac & cheese or the pulled pork burger, but i hope to go back to the crest again and again until i try everything. this place was wonderful.

ah, finally here we are: having brunch at the crest. i’ve been sitting on this post for a while because the crest is one of the more talked-about new restaurants in recent months. this is my first time here for any meal, although mrs. bfast w/nick has visited for drinks and snacks, and many trusted friends have been here multiple times at different times of the day. so why did i wait so long to write this up? a few reasons: 1. there’s been a lot of discussion about the crest, more so than any other restaurant that’s opened recently. some of the debate revolves around the old versus the new crest, which in my mind are completely different things. the old crest was a neighborhood dive