Carabar

A great dive with darn good pub grub. No, wait. It really is more of bar food. $ 2 taco Tuesdays. Vegetarian/​Vegan chili cheese burritos $ 3.50 on Fridays. Owners that live in the OTENA (Old town East Neighborhood). Good specials, $ 5 gets you a PBR and a Tully. A fantastic!!! Luna Burger because they get a really good char on it. Music events can be fun, sometimes they are hit or miss. Grab a fro-​yo at 89 below and wash it down with suds, then have your dinner backwards. Opens at 4 pm, kitchen open till midnight.

Walked in and sat down without any acknowledge, then sat an additional 10 minutes without any service. Ended up walking out.

I’ve been going here for years so I’m bias but everyone is friendly. Great customer service. General good atmosphere and good food for a decent price.

Cleaner than usual dive bar. Great music. Good beer selection on tap. Kitchen open late. Hot dogs loom good… yummm.

What a great place to get some decent brews, enjoy interesting music for free, eat food that is really good and reasonably priced, and free popcorn! In addition, the happy hour has some good deals, and there are daily food specials. If there is any complaint it is that the building lacks character/​charm, and is kind of a bummer, but I guess that is what gives a dive bar its character.

The falafel tacos are good and the prices aren’t bad at all. But I don’t care how good a place is when the service is bad.
You don’t start off nice, get irritated and carry an attitude when a customer asks for a sample of beer first, and then try and make up later when the bill comes. Oh, so… you do want a good tip? I would have stayed and gave the bar more money for many more rounds of beer, but there are SO MANY bars in Columbus that have no squabbles with me making sure I pay for a beer I like. I’m sure 3 beers later very well pays for the .5 ounce taster.

I went in with low expectations; fully expecting a hipster bar with only PBR available.
Well, it was definitely hipster-​y but the beer selection was pretty great. The staff was nice enough and I didn’t feel COMPLETELY out of place, just kinda. The prices were pretty awesome– 3 Miller Lites and 2 Craft Beers (including CBC Bodhi) only ran us 10 bucks so this place automatically gets extra points in my (cheap ass) book:)

There are few places I would give such a poor review to. Five of my friends and I decided to stop in after work, one had. Passport in lieu of a state ID and was denied service.
That’s fine except for that the bartender then continued to rant about how «illegal» it is to not have a state ID (what about out of country friends?).
While we understand that a bar can deny service to whomever they decide her execution was off. She could have left it at «sorry» but her annoyed expression and in-​detail explanation about us «never watching Cops» means I’ll never be back

Carabar is exactly as one should expect, and a little more. Free shows from local and national acts, so it definitely gets loud. Cheap drinks, cool staff/​owners, and really decent food, with specials that kill it on the regular. It’s an institution for the locals of OTE and others that enjoy this type of atmosphere.
No, you’re not going to be coddled here, and they don’t take any shit from drunken disorderly folks. A haven for fans of good dives.

Let the Rock tell you this: Carbar is the most electrifying bar in all of Columbus! The Rock has been to The Patio, The Rock has been to St James, The Rock has been to Dick’s Den, The Rock has been to Gaswerks, The Rock has been to 16-​bit, but none and I mean none of them have anything on Carabar. Oh, you’ve been to Carbar and you don’t agree with The Great One? IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT YOU THINK! You can take your candy ass Bud Lights, turn it sideways, and stick it up your jabroni asses.
IF YOU SMELLLALALALALALALALALALA what the Rock…
is cooking.

What an excellent place. Great service, music, and the food/​drink specials are fantastic! Free popcorn and a pool table along with a unique vibe makes this a favorite.

As a former Clevelander, I’ve been looking for a great neighborhood bar to call home. For those that know, the Spitfire Saloon is my former home base.
Enter Carabar.
It took me a while to give it a chance, due to some negative feedback from locals. I ventured in anyway on a taco night, and I swear the sky opened up and angels sang!
Atmosphere; dark and gritty but not gross
Staff; friendly
Crowd; super diverse, contrary to previous negative reviews
And.. if you like local music you should give it a shot. I am too old and crabby for that usually but others seem to love it
A few pro tips:
Don’t run a tab.. things get weird. Just pay cash as you go.
Order food.. you won’t be disappointed.
Get over yourself and just have fun

Come check out Taco Tuesday. There is live bands all the time, probably some you’ve never heard of but it’s a nice place to chill out of the way. Check it out one day.

I have to finally write this review.
If you like loud punk music and a drink special called the Hate Crime which is a shot that comes with a slap, this place probably has something to offer you. But as for me, I don’t ever want to go there again.
I have friends who love this bar. It’s funky, it’s gritty, the décor is pretty great, it’s good that it exists where it does or else that part of town would have nothing. (I’m not sure what will happen when they do bulldoze it for the new highway ramp, as is proposed, because I’ve heard Carabar will not be reopening after that.)
Here’s the thing: I’ve been to Carabar a total of 5 times. Four out of the five times it was way, way, way too loud. It was like a punk show with a bar on one side. Just not what I was hoping for. But that’s not the kicker.
Three out of the five times that I’ve been to Carabar, they have tried to overcharge me. Once they charged me for a drink I didn’t even order. I got that taken off. Another time they charged me a mixed drink price for a whiskey on the rocks. I didn’t have time to deal with that one because my ears were bleeding and my whole party was miserable being in the bar and we had to leave, so they got the extra out of me that time: no big deal, except in my head I was like, «Dang, do they do this as a policy?» This last time, I had two ciders ($ 4) and one espresso vodka on ice ($ 5). They charged me in the reverse ($ 5×2) and even though it was a tiny little change, and even though there are bars where I intentionally pay $ 5 for a cider, their third time upping my bill made me really angry, like maybe it is their policy to try to overcharge everyone. I can’t stand to feel swindled. I will probably not be going back.

So since parts of my review are way outdated after five years, I figured I’d write an update. First and foremost, Carabar has proven so important to OTE that it actually built a damn community around the bar, to such an extent that over the last five years, so many businesses have sprung up on the block with Carabar (upper cup coffee, old familiar barber shop, CS gallery, cap city tattoo, an antique shop and maybe another gallery or two) that the city had to delay the whole highway reroute that will suck up parts of Parsons, which is well underway by now.
Let’s not stop there. Where do the proprietors and staff of all the above, plus angry baker, yellow brick pizza and tavern old town (all owing part of their existence to Carabar) go when off the clock? Yes, Carabar.
So successful has Carabar been at (sort of) revitalizing OTE, that some genius developer thought it would be a grand idea to build a monstrosity of an apartment complex the likes of which you find in Grandview and Polaris with absolutely no input from OTE and NES residents. Not surprisingly, we don’t want it here. Yet despite efforts to fight it, it looks like it will go up. Our goal now is to at least get it redesigned to take the neighborhood’s aesthetics into account and maybe actually reduce its size since it’s footprint is way too big for the block.
The owners of said businesses above, including Carabar, were all involved in that fight. Why wouldn’t they want these new apts bringing more residents to the area? Because they know and ARE the neighborhood. They, unlike city council, know a good fit when they see it, and this isn’t it.
People need to get off this hipster bitching bullshit too. Literally all walks of life come to Carabar. Gay, straight… Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin… black, white, Carabar, you make it happen. (RIP MCA.) There is a much higher percentage of wannabe hipsters and their yuppie counterparts at any bar between nationwide and Hudson, and they’ll make up 95% of patrons in those bars. Not so at Carabar, and never was the case. Come see for yourself.
Thanks Carabar for being my bar for six years and counting. Still getting dinner here three nights a week. For under ten bucks. Total all week. Still never a cash show either. Win.

Not a bad place to go to when you want to grab a beer and some food. I stopped in there to grab a beer and the bartender was pretty nice. Had a beer and grilled cheese special going on so went with both. Cold beer and some great grilled cheese that is not made on a pinene press.
I went on another night on a Thursday or something and it was pretty busy, didn’t feel too welcomed on this night but I didn’t care I like rock and heavy metal just like the next guy. Had a different bartender this time around who was treating his buddies great but less enthused with me. Good bar just depends on the day you go.

Food specials every night are pretty good. The burritos on Wednesday and Luna Burgers on Saturday, big fan of the gyro and Mediterranean platter too. Drink prices are reasonable.
Place is exceptionally hipster, like it or leave it… I’ve never had a bad time. Music is hit or miss, sometimes decent sometimes terrible. Generally empty during happy hour, and gets busy after 10.

Any place that offers $ 1 tacos and refreshing air conditioning is a plus in my book (haha)!! I’ve actually been in Carabar twice before, but simply to hear a friend’s band, never eat. It’s a simple dive bar — a popular place for locals. The outside is nothing fantastic. A simple small sign indicating that its carabar. when you walk in, a bar occupies the left area of the big open room. A pool table and a few tables, along with a small stage, are to the left.
A few friends and I decided it was a great nite outside, so why not eat out. We picked Carabar for their Tuesday night food special (unfortunately, they don’t have a patio), which is $ 1 tacos. How where the tacos, you might ask? The beef had a light seasoning to it, and the corn and bean mix was an added bonus. For a dollar, I thought it was a good meal (I ate three!).

I’ve been here a few times — a long time ago, to more recently, always because of a band that was playing. I can’t recall the first time I went, or who it was with, but the most recent was the Downtrodn show-​holy hell, I love this place.
From the bartenders leading me to a great drink choice, to their great service, no matter the crowd or the noise, the awesome clientele and the great sound for such a tiny venue. Plain and simple, it rocked.
Oh, they may be «tragically hip» but I’ve never been hassled by the regulars at Carabar like some other «tragically hipper» divy-​er bars, for not fitting the «un-​official» dress code or appearance or sneer.
Carabar rocks.

$ 1 tacos on Tuesday!?! Awesome!
Embarrassed to say that I JUST now discovered the coolness of Carabar.
No, I wasn’t there for a crazy, live rock show. But I bet my visit was better anyway. I’m talkin about freakin dollar taco Tuesday!
There’s an underground girls dive bar tour that’s been hittin’ up all the diveiest places around town for over a year. Carabar was our most recent stop, but it just might be our next as well!
Besides the $ 1 tacos, I was also delighted with the happy hour. I had an Elevator IPA (2 actually) at only $ 2 a pop. Nice.
There’s a stage when bands play, a long bar with interesting art (you’ll just have to see for yourself,) a pool table, and tables for dining/​drinking as well. In fact, if you want to play cards, do that here too. We saw a big group of friends playing numerous games for the few hours we were there.
For a buck, the tacos really couldn’t be beat. Better than a Taco Bell taco — WAY better — so I happily scarfed down four. I’m not even ashamed. Get the red bean taco. Full of flavor and lots of delightful spiciness.
Let’s be clear. It’s a total dive bar — more like a rock, indie, hipster bar — but I totally dig it. And it’s very clear I’m not the only one. Everyone from neighborhood old folk to edgy hipsters to regular ol’ beer drinkers there for the cheap tacos and happy hour drinks FILLED the place on a Tuesday night. Frankly, it was refreshing. I’m totally looking forward to going back! (Shout out to Luke T whom I saw at the bar also enjoying good beer and cheap tacos!)