Best Italian Restaurants in Short North - Arena District

Quite possibly one of the best dinners of 2024 in Columbus! After several years of most restaurants being subpar (Pandemic: supplies/staff/etc.) many are beautifully recovering! Martini's is one of my wife's favorites, so after our Holiday Spectacular Symphony performance we had a "date night" that was Spectacular. Every staff was incredibly friendly and accommodating, from the Valet, to the receptionist, to all 3 of the servers (Linda, Kevin, and fella with the white beard with jingle bells!) that helped us! The Garlic/Truffle bread was heavenly, and we definitely ate too much! The Frito Misto was the loser of the night; shrimp and calamari tough, not crispy, and just average at best; usually Cameron's calamari are the best ever! We have small appetites so we split everything to be able to try everything! The Caesar was excellent, nice and "lemony"; the scallops were the Star of the dinner and were as good or better than I have ever had, and again, Cameron does scallops better than anywhere and they are consistently excellent across his restaurants. We took dessert home: the Tiramisu was excellent, but really "rich" (back to the gym!), and the new lemon layer cake was great (back on the diet!). We do miss some of the "old" dishes: braised short ribs (always the best!), the salmon crusted with garlic on an artichoke bed (best ever; wife's favorite); the lemon meringue tart was also the "best"! So Bravo on achieving a spectacular meal; we loved everything so much we booked our New Year's Eve then and there on the spot!

This is not the restaurant fault but Cameron Mitchell’s needs to partner with CPD/ City of Columbus to ensure short north is safe. My car was broken into after eating there. More pressure from local restaurants might help increase patrols

Everything was spectacular! Maggie our server was outstanding!! Always had that beautiful smile on her face and warm welcome that made us all feel we’re home…took her time explaining the menu option to the vegetarian and gluten-free people for drinks and dinner! The food was mouthwatering! I’ll Definitely be back very soon!

Kudos to Forno for creating a fun seasonal pop-up speakeasy in the basement for the holidays. Decorations, including vintage video, set the mood for apres-ski R&R. Special themed drinks were great, especially the espresso martinis, and the six of us devoured the fondue. Would've been nice if they'd offered a couple more menu items like personal-size pizzas/flatbread from the kitchen upstairs, and maybe a little bigger assortment of dipping items for the cheese fondue than just orange cubed bell pepper, bread, and apple slices (maybe more fruit?), but the whole experience was enjoyable on our pop-up pub crawl.

We went to The Rossi on a Monday for happy hour, so a little slower than peak time. However, the service was quick, atmosphere very cozy, and food was delicious. I was impressed by their happy hour offering and would recommend.