Carabar, Columbus, Ohio, American Restaurant Details

Food:

Carabar is a great place for food, drinks, live music, and great company!

The menu is amazing. I've had burgers, vegetarian chili, fajitas, and salads and all were terrific. They make everything in-house from good ingredients; none of it is factory food.

The drinks are fairly priced and they have a great selection. There's a whole wall of beers so you'll find something you like. They also have a full bar with everything from well to top shelf. There are four top-shelf gins and at least as many different kinds of vodka. Rachel got me to try Tito's vodka, which was really sweet & kind of tasted like corn. That was a huge contrast to Grey Goose or Ketel One, which they also have. I can't remember if they have Beefeater or Tanqueray (my usuals) but they have at least one. They also have Ohio brands, so you can drink local. I saw an equally-impressive selection of whiskey & bourbon, but that's not my bag so I can't personally vouch.

A lot of my friends have played at Carabar. The sound man right now is really good, so the instruments are well-balanced. I've heard (and sometimes played) everything from jazz to hiphop, and there are a lot of indie rock shows too. They have a wide variety of music, so you can go there often and not get tired of only one thing.

The best thing is the people! I've known the owners for years, and the bartenders are great. Cara in particular is a shining beam of happiness. Carabar is a place you can have a great time and invest locally rather than some generic place like Applebee's or whatever. I'll take the local flavor any time.

Food:

Great bar. Awesome drinks. If you want a real taste of Columbus history, slip Ron a fiver and ask him to show you the basement. If he's not feeling too surly he should be up for it.

Food:

One of the ultimate Columbus dive bars. Carabar has a menu of good bar food, plenty of beers on draft, and if you are looking to go cheap, I highly recommend their mini-pitchers of something like PBR. Carabar has a pool table and always has live entertainment, which best of all never has a cover. The bar is pretty big but still tends to get crowded on weekends. Parking can be dicey in the area as the street tends to fill up. There is an empty lot across the street but the legality of parking there has always been up for grabs I think, and in the winter it can get downright treacherous.

Food:

Great place to see a show, covers many genres. Free cover. Biggest gripe is that they hardly ever post their schedule, or place ads stating whose playing. That would be good if they did. Parking kinda' sucks, but is especially horrid in the winter.

Food:

It's definitely a dive bar. The food and drinks are pretty good and I enjoy the live music but Carabar could really use a website see you can see who's playing when.