Type: Italian Address: 615 N. High Street, Columbus, Ohio Map Phone: (614) 223-2100 Hours: 4pm-10pm [Sun.-Thurs], 4pm-12am [Fri-Sat] Price: ~25-40 USD Tasty gauge: 8.5/10 Service rating: 8.4/10 Environment rating: 8.2/10 Website: shortnorth.marcellasristorante.com |  |
Interior
Marcella's is a little place that reminds you of Milan. Classic wooden fans on the ceiling, red retro looking sofas, a very modern bar, with an open-sided street facing half patio, just the right mix for a relaxing casual ristorante and wine bar. You can almost always find a spot in the restaurant that you'll like.
The very Italian menu
The minute you saw the menu you can almost immediately tell that you are at the right place. Selections of cured meats, olives, cheeses, and small plates, it just can't be wrong.
Bread and dip
Not sure if the bread is made here but it definitely feels very fresh. The thin layer of fluffy flour on the surface of the bread also made it very authentic.
Beer and Sangria
One thing about our team is, we almost always start our night with drinks. Seeing the rarely available white sangria ($24), we ordered a litre of that to start with. Good thing about it is that it didn't come with any soda, but just wine, juice and fruits. It did taste a little sweeter than what everyone was expecting, so we decided to go with red sangria ($24) the second time around. The red one tasted just like cough syrup. We checked and all that's there was apples and oranges, not sure what's giving off that cough syrup taste. And I'm not saying it's bad. It was actually pretty good, except that, yes, it tasted just like cough syrup. Hehe.
Cured meats and carpaccio
I almost never miss trying out a plate of carpaccio wherever I go. I probably have picked that habit up from K. Carpaccio here is served with a bed of shaved celery and two little warm ricotta pancakes ($7). They are all good, especially the pancakes. The beef is sliced right, not salty at all with a very rich meat taste. It probably didn't carry the best looks of carpaccio but fantastic otherwise.
For cured meats ($4 each) we tried bresaola, air dried highly seasoned beef, and capicola, air dried seasoned pork shoulder ham. They are decent, comes with a little dish of sauteed onions.
Features, specialties, and pizza
My Italian friends have told me that ordering a meatball dish is the best way to find out whether an Italian ristorante is any good and I have to agree with that. Spaghetti & meatball (with tomato marinara, and fresh grated parmesan $11.95) here comes with a single huge meatballs sitting right on top of a handful of spaghetti. The meatball isn't dry at all, instead, it's very soft and tender yet not fluffy. I would say it's better than those you can find in La Scala which is also in town. I ordered linguine & clams (linguine, littleneck clams, evoo, parmesan, and pancetta $14.95) for myself. I would say the clams are a little smaller than expected but the pasta was very good. Not too soft, not stuffy, cooked just right. Kerry tried the Pepperoni pizza (pepperoni, red Onion, provolone $13). He didn't say much but seems pretty happy with it, so my guess is, it's alright.
Dessert / B-day gelato
Then there came the b-day surprise! See what 6 dollars can get you here? Profiteroles (pistachio, chocolate & honey vanilla gelato, warm chocolate ganache) came with a little candle on top : ) It was absolutely fabulous! Chocolate was warm and it mixes incredibly well with the ice-cold gelato. My co-workers also picked up the bill and asked me to claim the per diem for a b-day gift LoL Thanks Kerry, Sanujit, and Dorothy.
B-Day drinks
We ended our night hitting the Elevator before heading back to the hotel. The Elevator is a very retro looking pub with stained glass all around, looking just like a renaissance church. It was actually converted into a pub from an old theater. I'll save that for another blog entry. Meanwhile, feel free to check out their website at http://www.elevatorbrewing.com/.
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