The Crafty Pint now open in Linworth

I had never heard of Linworth until I started dating someone who lives there. It’s the neighborhood near the OSU airpirt, between DubLIN and WORTHington – geddit. OK, now that we know WHERE Linworth is, I can tell you WHY you want to go there: The Crafty Pint opened its doors yesterday, and this off-the-beaten-path bar is serving up some delicious fine food and craft beer.

The new gastropub opened in the spot most recently occupied by Gallo’s Pit BBQ on Dublin-Granville Road. It’s a fairly small space, only accommodating about 90 guests, but its wrap-around patio can seat another 50, and the red brick walls and beautiful repurposed barn wood tables make this a comfortable, cozy spot to settle in for food and drink.

The bar features 40 taps – over half of which are occupied by Ohio breweries – covering a wide variety of beer styles, and the menu conveniently includes a detailed description and ABV for each beer (it’s amazing how few places do this.) There’s also a selection of 10 cocktails, mostly on the classic side with a few fruity additions.

On the food menu is a half dozen shareable snacks, a few flatbreads, steak and salmon entrees and a small selection of sandwiches. You can get your sandwich with a side of fries – but why the hell would you when you can instead get creamy goat cheese grits, or chipotle cinnamon fried pickles, or beer mac and cheese with bacon. (On a future visit I will likely just order one of each of the sides.)

I tried the Chicken Churasco Sandwhich: a massively juicy blackened chicken breast topped with cherry wood smoked bacon, grilled onions and smoked gouda served on brioche with a side of the fried pickles. It’s not really fair to judge a brand new businesses’ food on their very first day open, except… it was freakin’ delicious. And the blueberry-glazed salmon with goat cheese grits and asparagus that my boyfriend ordered was just as impressive.

The nostalgic and quirky details sprinkled throughout The Crafty Pint will put a smile on your face: the backside of each beer menu is a retro board game. Each table has a stack of old school Trivial Pursuit cards to keep you entertained. The burger was bound together with a crazy straw instead of a toothpick. And instead of check presenters, you’ll get your bill in a children’s book – which you are encouraged to sign (look for my really poorly drawn Drink Up Columbus logo in one of them.)

The Crafty Pint is open Monday-Friday from 4-11pm, Saturday 11am-1am and Sunday 11am-11pm. A frying pan mounted to the wall promises that brunch is coming, so we’ll be back for a drunk brunch feature soon.

The Crafty Pint is located at 2234 W. Dublin-Granville Road.