Pastaria

Don't miss their bread and garlic butter!. I've visited almost every Italian restaurant in Columbus, searching for hearty Italian food as opposed to frou frou bistro type Italian food. I think with Pastaria (as well as their sister store in Powell, Due Amici), I might have found a good fit. Their meat sauce is hearty and wonderfully flavored, and their tomato alfredo was an interesting new taste for me. I especially like their homemade garlic butter and their crispy fluffy bread. Definitely worth a return visit, over and over again!…

The fastest noodle in town--for a fiver you can have a zippy, zesty plate of your choice of pasta and sauce.. The Scene
A delicious lunch stand in the North Market. The staff here isn't too chatty, which is just fine. They get the job done.

The Food
The eggplant Parmesean is delicious--how can anyone pulverize a vegetable to make it taste so smoky, exotic and voluptuous? Try anything here, really. A certain foodwriter you know has been trusting this place for years--their carbonara, their shrimp and scallop, their mushroom sauce.
The bread is tough and tasteless. The good news is, the entrees are so plentiful that you don't need it, and the birdies around the North Marketare so tame, they'll sit on your table and eat lunch with you if you share it.…