the crest gastropub

take a psss for awhile. we wanted to like the place. looks great from the street and the inside is fun.
thats where it stops. service was bad. food even worse. coffee and breafast potatoes arrived cold. we told our server and she never returned. except to drop the check. grill cheese was buttery and not grilled. more like heat lamped. we will try again but only after a sometimegoes by and my tastebuds forget.

disappointed. this was my second attempt at the crest, and i don't believe there'll be a third, at least not for a meal. the menu has been completely revamped and is a bit pricier than i remember, but on the other hand, it was happy hour so we were able to save a little on half-priced draft beers. on my first trip, i thought it was odd that i had to request a beer menu. this trip, there was a nicely detailed menu on the table. in addition to the new menu, the lighting/layout seems a bit different now, in a (mostly) good way. the only downside about the layout is the noise. holy cow, is it loud in there. being close enough to my neighbor to practically bump elbows didn't help.

the food - man, the crest really drops the ball here. wife had a pasta with veggies. menu promised broccoli, leeks, and i don't recall what else. instead, there was the equivalent of about a single spear of asparagus chopped up into a few pieces. not at all what she was looking forward to, and seriously overpriced at $16. i opted for the special - braised short rib w/ risotto, carrots, and peas. the waitress asked how i wanted my meat cooked which surprised me a little as i didn't realize you could braise meat to order. since she asked, i requested it medium rare. it came out as i would've expected - very well done. it was also very delicious, though, so put one in the win column. the risotto, on the other hand... wife says, "it just looks like rice." that's right, it does... because it's severely undercooked. guys, risotto takestimeand energy to prepare, and should never, ever be crunchy.

we'd had enough fun for the evening so we opted to take dessert to go. white chocolate carrot cake for me, ricotta cheesecake for wife. $7 each. both had decent flavor, but also the tiniest portions of dessert i've ever seen. our waistlines were ok with less, but for $7....? nexttimei want carrot cake, i'll just swing by wildflower cafe a couple miles north and pay $4 for the slab of carrot cake that i can't finish in one sitting.

i really want to love the crest. but... no.


-----28 oct, 2013-----

unsure.... ...what exactly the crest is or wants to be. based on the very mixed crowd, i'd say that it wants to be something for everybody, and that's great. i've just never been to a place with such a high concentration and equal mix of yuppies and hipsters. interesting.

we'd been waiting for the hub-bub to die down some so that we could get (a) parking and (b) food without an hour wait. no doubt this place is popular right now.

service - good. attentive, friendly. i was surprised that, given the reputation for beer selection, there wasn't a draft list on the table. had to request one. other than that, dude knew his stuff.

one observation about the service - some of them don't seem to like each other, and it shows. i witnessed some uncomfortably overt passive aggressiveness complete with eyerolls and snark. c'mon guys, at least put on a happy face while you're on the floor, hm?

food - wasn't bad. i do have to say that the best part of the meal, for me, was the warm bretzel pretzels. the rest...ok, but nothing super amazing. wife had fish tacos, they were cold. i had pastrami which was tasty, but being not especially tolerant to salt, i knew better than to order it. did it anyway. if you like pastrami, this was a good one, well balanced with cheese and rye. one note - the bread seemed a bit stale. *shrug*

overall, it was ok. i don't know if it's something i'll seek out for more than an occasional beer, but i can definitely see why people like it.

menu has changed and unfortunately so has the service. initially enjoyed this restaurant. went yesterday for lunch and was terribly disappointed. the menu has changed to focus on "shareables" - overpriced, small portions. our server did not offer us anything to drink (soda/alcohol) and took our order. both my silverware and my husband's silverware were very dirty (with food pieces on them)! someone rolled the silverware without even looking at it. the shareable we ordered was not flavorful (mac and cheese in dough) and had unmelted pieces of what looked like lunch deli cheese slices. the entrees came out wrong (i.e. asked for no tomato and no sauce on burger and got both). waitress took a very longtimeto check on us and we waited a longtimeto get our bill despite the low headcount at lunch. will not be returning.

very disappointed. we dined at the crest recently and we were so disappointed in the food and service. this was our thirdtimethere. the first time, we had to get our beer at the bar because our server who said she would be back, never came back. we asked nearby patrons if we could see their menus. she kept saying she would be back and after 55 minutes, we told her we had to go. we gave it another try as it was relatively new our first time. we went back a secondtimeand had an enjoyable meal. the third time, we had the mushroom pate and it was bland. they give only two pieces of bread for all that pate. we asked for more and it took almost 30 minutes for that to arrive (no embellishment). we didn't want all our food on the table at once so we waited to order but we ended up with our pate (still waiting for the bread), our salad and entree all at once. we waited 20 minutes when we ordered wine. we just got excuses when we asked where it was. there is no excuse for excuses. the beet salad was o.k. but the mahi mahi kabob was way over cooked and the bell peppers were burnt completely black. we understand the restaurant is busy (and this wasn't even a weekend) but there were enough employees and yet we had to be there two hours. too bad.

i have been a frequent customer since the crest has opened, but had a terrible experience today with extremely rude staff and management. sorry to say will not be coming back to the crest anytimesoon. waiter christian threatened me physically and was extremely unprofessional.

great place. we had tried to eat here once before, but the wait was so long we had to leave. the secondtimewe tried it, everything went extremely well. although we waited about 25 minutes standing in the way of everyone -- there is no good place to wait -- once we were seated, the experience was a delight. great food. good service. very friendly clientele. overall, a great night out. i see another reviewer mentioned reservations. we were told no reservations are accepted.

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 havetimeto 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.

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 eachtimeit 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.

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 longtimeto 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.

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 thattimeto 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 hardtimeordering 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 firsttimehere 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

very impressed!. the lasttimei was at the crest it was a dive neighborhood/college bar. what a change! the atmosphere is very urban and pleasant, beer selection is almost overwhelming, and appetizers are unique and delicious. i had the pastrami sandwich, which was delicious.

vegan friendly?. i have been two times now, once for drinks and once for dinner. first visit was to the bar, which was great . there are lots of beer selections and the staff at the bar was knowledgeable. the secondtimei went was just a few days later, thistimeto eat. our sever was slow and uninterested. i also don't see how they can be advertised as a vegan friendly place. vegan friendly, to me, means that there are multiple items on the menu that can be made vegan easily, which i didn't not find there to be. taking the meat and cheese and dressing off a salad doesn't make you a vegan friendly restaurant. i ordered the port. mush burger and it was cold and not on bread. perhaps our server was not knowledgeable on the vegan friendly items, but i was unimpressed with the food.

i will go back to drink at the bar and on the patio, but there are better vegan friendly places to eat.