Some longtime Columbus eateries shut down in 2023, despite a restaurant industry rebound
Seven central Ohio restaurants with a combined 251 years in business closed their doors in 2023, and at least four of them seem to be gone for good.
Although far more restaurants opened than closed last year — 190 vs. 69, according to our monthly recaps — those lost include some iconic, longtime destinations for dining.
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Rice Bowl
Ho Toy and Rice Bowl, among the city’s oldest operating Chinese restaurants, both closed early in the year, in February and May, respectively.
After 64 years on the South Side, first in the Great Southern Shopping Center and then farther up High Street near Route 104, the Rice Bowl turned off its green-and-red neon sign and sold its furnishings. Its property was sold to NRP Group of Cleveland, which plans to break ground soon for a 240-unit affordable housing complex undertaken with nonprofit Community Development for All People.
Rice Bowl fans still reminisce online via a 600-member Facebook group called, “We Love Rice Bowl!!” They’ve urged owner Connie Pui King Tang to publish a cookbook, start a food truck or host cooking classes to teach former customers how to make her egg rolls, wonton soup and war su gai.
“Thanks for the supportive comments,” she responded a few months ago. “Let us consider the suggestions.”
Ho Toy
Ho Toy, which also dates back to 1959, closed with less fanfare. Its owners posted a sign on the door in late January that read, “Restaurant is closed. Thank you for (your) support.”
Ownership of the building at 11 W. State St., changed in August, according to property records with the Franklin County auditor. A website for the new owners, Bonnier Building LLC, include links for a restaurant and dance club.
Hunan Lion: ‘We’ll definitely be back’
Hunan Lion, another Chinese restaurant that has been in business for 36 years, shut down in October after an early morning fire damaged its kitchen. General Manager Steven Chang recently told The Dispatch, though, that he and his parents hope to reopen by April.
“We’ll definitely be back,” said Chang, whose parents, Allyson and Jason Chang, own the Northwest Side restaurant.
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94th Aero Squadron Restaurant
The 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant didn’t take its name and location lightly. Named for the World War I unit commanded by hometown hero Eddie Rickenbacker and located just outside John Glenn International Airport, the restaurant rotated its displays of memorabilia every six months to give diners something new — make that old — and interesting to see.
The 43-year-old restaurant closed in June and sold off its collection. Its building, designed to look like a French farmhouse from Rickenbacker’s era, was razed in December.
Omega Artisan Bakery
Its focaccia, cinnamon rolls and rustic French loaves added to the mélange of smells at the original North Market. And with one last run on Thanksgiving butter rolls, Omega Artisan Bakery closed in November. Founder Amy Lozier said she was doing so “with a great deal of gratitude (and some misgivings).”
“I want to thank the patrons of North Market who embraced us from that first Saturday morning over twenty years ago and kept coming even through the pandemic when we ran your purchases out to your car,” she wrote on social media.
Tasi Cafe
Three months after a lukewarm Columbus Monthly review concluded, “It’s the barren tables during prime, weekday ‘breakfast meeting’ hours that make me wonder if Tasi Cafe is still on the menu for us locals,’ the 17-year-old Short North restaurant shut its doors.
Will it return, though?
“We are coming back strong!!!” Tasi posted on Instagram after its last day in August. Nothing new has been announced, though.
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Smith & Wollensky: Coming back?
Boston-based Smith & Wollensky closed its Easton Town Center restaurant in January with a promise that it was committed to the Columbus market.
Columbus is still listed on the chain’s website with the message: “More details regarding our newest Columbus location are coming soon.” It is reported to be Downtown.
Other closings of note
A year after it was honored by the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance as the top place to dine in central Ohio, Kona Craft Kitchen shut down abruptly. The closing came after owners Stacy and Frank Leary were sued by separate parties who claimed they were owed more than $4.2 million.
Easton Town Center’s first Black-owned restaurant, Black Box Fix, closed in October. The restaurant reopened after a January 2023 kitchen fire, but owners cited post-pandemic realities for the eventual shutdown. Black Box Fix remains open in its northeastern Ohio hometown, Lyndhurst.
Four Columbus locations of the Michigan soup-and-sandwich chain Zoup! closed operations in 2023. The former Arena District restaurant is now a second location for Si Senor, which specializes in Peruvian sandwiches. A Tuttle Crossing restaurant will become a Five Guys. Zoup! restaurants Downtown and in the Lennox Town Center remain vacant.
Casual dining chain O’Charley’s shut down four central Ohio locations: near Westerville, near Gahanna, in Grove City and on the Far West Side. Its last two restaurants in the area are in Reynoldsburg and Canal Winchester.
In August, Barrel & Boar abruptly closed its high-profile restaurant inside the old State Theater in Uptown Westerville. Less than two months later, though, Cantina Blue Santa opened in the space. Barrel & Boar, meanwhile, announced that it would become a tenant at East Market on the Near East Side. It will be the fourth location for the restaurant.
The Crest shut down in September after a decade-long run in Clintonville. Yellow Springs Brewery opened at the Indianola Avenue location two months later.
Taprooms that closed in 2023 include Platform Brewing, Zaftig Brew Pub’s Italian Village location, Sideswipe Brewing Co., Holy Trinity Brewing Co., and Buzzsaw Brewing.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus restaurants that closed in 2023
