The Old Bag of Nails Pub

We had a horrible experience about a year ago, and just had a friend who had another horrible experience this week here. The tables were sticky, the service was lack-​luster and messed up our orders (brought the wrong beers and then disappeared), the food was horrendously salted and gross. Frankly, I’m surprised this place is still open.

Great place. Food was prompt, warm and very good. I had the chicken Nachos, which I was surprised that they used fresh Jalapeños which are my preference over pickled. I came in at the tail end of happy hour so I was able to get a Guinness and a Smithwick’s for reduced price as well as the Nachos. I sat at the bar and Heather did a fantastic job. I would highly recommend this place, I will most definitely be coming back when I am in the Columbus area.

Outstanding! The all you can eat fish and chips was exceptional. The bar staff are the best. I always make a bee line for this place when I visit Columbus.

Have been going to this restaurant for years and it has slowly declined to where I will not be going back. Took 15 mins to place a drink order and what I believe was the manager who took it. Another person brought it. Another 10 mins before they asked of we wanted an appetizer but we said we just wanted to order. Food took 30 mins and was just so so. Never once asked us for a drink refill. Had to beg someone to find our check. I done with them.

Love this menu, and great for every casual occasion! Irish inspired though not authentic, fish and reubens scattered throughout the menu but also great salads and wings. Parm garlic sauce here is AMAZING! The New England Reuben is a win in my heart bc I can never choose between one of my 2 favs. Great happy hour menu and full bar. Service has really only deserved 2 stars though here at this location in my experience, they seem consistently slow, must be understaffed. This location is notable for business lunch crowds or post work happy hour groups, therefore I would expect a little more assertive or quickly paced service than I’ve had. Know your customers, we’ve gotta get back to work! The great thing about Creekside plaza though are the home-​y peaceful waterfall views and family friendly atmosphere of the park and outdoor veranda etc. So here they have a great advantage of outdoor seating appeal! Upstairs space as well to minimize any wait times. Very affordable. Will go back, but probably just with coworkers on a slow day with no threat of missing afternoon meetings bc my sauerkraut balls are taking too long in the fryer!

This placed used to be good 5 years ago. We used to come here all the time. But now it’s like once or twice a year. And every time we do, service is pretty bad. This time, they didn’t have any kids menus available. They said they would print some off, but they never brought any out. They gave my kids crayons, but without a paper menu, they had nothing to color on. 3 out of 4 of our people in our family had mistakes with their meal. My husband was given a flat beer in a dirty glass. And we waited for our bill 15 minutes after we were finished eating. The server was nice, but not a good waiter. On the bright side, the food was good and the magician was great!

I have been to this location at least 10 times if not more. Always somewhere we have stopped when in the area. Reflecting on it, the quality of the food has been steadily declining. Yesterday’s visit will be my last. I typically have the fried fish and fries. I asked for both to be cooked crispy. Neither were. That is a typical issue with many servers and their communication to cooks. Just no attention to details.
There was only one small piece of fish on the plate this time. I’m sure it has been two pieces in the past, and much bigger. One small piece of fish for $ 12.99 isn’t worth it.
The beer selection was very weak. less than 10 beers, most of which were your typical watery «mass produced beer flavored beers.»
The person I was with had the beef au jus. It was also disproportionately small and skimpy on the meat. Not sure what’s going on at this location but they are dropping the ball.

Simply spectacular view…
The Old Bag of Nails in Gahanna is truly a treat. Sitting on the patio on a warm summer night is really hard to beat. I have not eaten at this location so I cannot speak for the food. However, their happy hour drink specials on bottles are fantastic. What more could you ask for in this quaint little town? Go enjoy a cold one to make for a perfect early evening!

The only redeeming thing, fast service. The server was prompt but very loud and brash. Why was she yelling at us. Older heavy woman, glasses. I am critical of food quality when battered fish and fries cost 14 $…first the fried pickles. They were mass production generic bucket Spears, batter was same as the fish. No seasoning, and served with ranch. A little seasoning in the batter and a special dipping sauce would have been at least trying.
Fish and chips. Again this dish should be 7.99 not double. I can tell that the fryer temp was too low. The fish was not crunchy, and literally dripping with grease. Made earlier or temp too low on the oil… Soggy fried fish and pasty fries not worth 14 $ each. I feel ripped off and was not good at all. A real fish and chip should have crunchy batter, and not dripping Soggy with grease. The only positive was the fish itself. I can tell it was real cod. But seriously. Signature item should be spot on every time, especially when the place is empty on a Sunday for lunch. Terrible

These guys were amazing.
We rolled up with a group of 6 adults and 10 kids. Service was awesome (thanks Annie!) and kids ate free since it was Sunday. The food was great, especially the Ruben. Their onion rings were hot and crispy– don’t miss ‘em.
Best of all, they have an awesome slight-​of-​hand style street magician, Carroll Baker, who delighted kids and adults alike. Best brunch ever.

Jenni, newly on the crew at this restaurant was such a joy and made dining feel like home. She understood our sense of humor and it made it quite a laughing experience for which all places should eat do. Our entrance was not at all ideal when we first walked in with the bar tender, didn’t even say hi just gave us foamy beer and said pay when we leave, but the bar tender girl never came back, Jenni though took great and sincere care of us as well as the management. Thanks for bringing your southern charm to the table Jenni. Will come back just for you.

My son went here first with friends of the family, and he raved about their mussels.
Of course, I had to go!
Parking in Gahanna is iffy. Sometimes you get lucky, other times, you hoof it.
We sat inside, because it was misting rain out on the back patio.
Cute place and the bathroom was the cleanest I have seen anywhere. I’m picky about bathrooms, and I even told the staff, ‘Whomever cleans your loos, tell them they do an awesome job!‘
The mussels were steamed with white wine, garlic and thick Texas toast was. incredible! Seriously. So good, I ate two and told my son to keep the tray, because I wanted one just for me. Yeah. That good, that the inner pig in me was ready to fight over the platter.
It was a Wednesday, and that means all you can eat shrimp.
Everynight you can get all you can eat fish and chips. and the cod is thick, huge and lightly battered. he people next table over had it and raved about it.
We’re not talking little baby shrimp, or the sickly cousins leftover from the culled masses. These are HUGE shrimp. Lightly battered, so it isn’t a bomb of breading.
There fries are on point, soft inside, firm and almost crisp on the outside.
Our server was a perky little lady that kept dropping by about every 10 minutes, checking for refills and more shrimp baskets.
Nice beer and drink selection.
Afterward, we left her a 20 dollar tip, because she earned it.
When your stomach is so full, what is there to do? Walk!
Located by a scenic little river walkway, there is no excuse to not get out there and walk under the canopy of trees and help the food digest. Dinner and entertainment that is camouflaged exercise. what else can you ask for?
Go. Seriously. You will not be disappointed.

They lost a few stars for the server pretending he knew about food allergies as he directed me towards menu items chock full of gluten. Sir, bless, but chicken noodle soup has pasta, therefore is glutenous! Black bean dip & pretzels got thumbs up from my traveling partners, and they were pleased with the Blue Moons they drank. Dear OBON, please educate your employees about food allergies!

On Saturday night, my wife and I ate at the Old Bag of Nails in Gahanna. Since we had previously eaten at the location in Pickerington and enjoyed the food and service, we thought this would be a safe bet. Wrong. Totally wrong.
My wife is recovering from surgery and this was her first time out for an extended time. We had been at Easton for some shopping but forgot that the Arnold Classic was in town. Instead of waiting 2 hrs for a table, we decided to go into Gahanna for dinner instead.
When we entered the restaurant it was basically empty. We asked to be seated away from the door to avoid the cold air. The host instead seated us 1 table away from the door. My wife never removed her coat the entire time we were there. We then sat there for over 10 minutes without being greeted by a server. Finally another server came over and told us our actual server was busy somewhere else. He never said his name and was rather brusque in his approach but took our drink order. Still awaiting our actual server, the original server returned after another 10 minutes and took our order. My wife ordered the pretzel sticks w/​no butter and no salt and I ordered the fish and chips.
As we waited for our food our actual server showed up and said he would be taking care of us now. He never said his name. When the food arrived, my fish was quite good but my wife’s order was soaked in grease (quite bizarre since she had ordered the pretzels with no butter). At this point, my wife was tired and frustrated with the service but stayed so I could finish my meal. While all this was going on she observed our server leaving the restaurant with a drink glass in his hand, not once, but twice. Where he was going who knows. Finally, we had to flag down another server to get our check.
Let me point out that I don’t usually write restaurant reviews since I was once a server back in the day and understand that problems in the front of the house can be caused by problems in the back of the house. However, this server and the overall service was horrible and what had been a nice outing for my wife ended on a very frustrating note. We will never return and will make sure to tell all our friends not to do so as well.

The BEST fish and chips hands down. I’m from the coast, and love it. I dream about it. Fish tacos? So delish. I’ve gone there on more then one occasion for their French onion soup as well.
Their carrot cake is to die for also-​and I’m not a carrot cake person.
Great happy hour I believe it runs from two to 7 o’clock.two dollars off well drinks $ 2 20ounce I believe and two dollars off appetizers I believe.
The reason I don’t give it five stars is the service on the patio is just terrible. I mean, every time I go and try to sit out there it’s just absolutely awful. I always sit at the bar for this reason. I’m not sure the bartenders name-​but man, she’s great. So friendly, and makes a good drink. Very close with the regulars as well. It’s like a different restaurant (service wise) when you sit at the bar.

Overall disappointed, it was a holiday weeknight so maybe it was off, but that’s no excuse.
We were seated relatively quickly for our group of 7 on the second floor patio. The trouble began when we realized our server was also given a group of four and a group of 6 to manage as well, all of us were seated at the same time.
Service was slow, noticeably so, and then ridiculously so. Apparently the «fryer was backed up», and that translated to greasy poorly cooked food. Since most of the menu is fried in one way or another. Gordon Ramsey would have a field day here with the menu.
To top it off, was served the wrong beer. Ordered an IPA and whatever I got was a witbier.
At least the server apologized. Maybe it was not his fault, but it was offputting and this would not be my first choice (actually, we only went here because local cantina was closed on Labor day).

The fish and chips is the big draw at all of The Old Bag of Nails. It’s their bread and butter as they say and they know it, drawing attention to it at every ad and every aspect of the menu that they can. If you don’t like fish and chips then there are plenty of other great choices on the menu but if you do then that, or a variation of that, is exactly what you should order.
This location stands as our favorite location because it’s located right next to a beautiful stream and wooded area. Sitting outside on a nice fall day is amazing but it can be a wait to get the outdoor seats. Because what we find amazing and nice and awesome, well just about everyone else in Gahanna finds amazing and nice and awesome. So be prepared for a bit of a wait if you want to eat on the deck. The service here has always been pretty decent, you may wait a bit longer than you’d like but it’s never horrendous. The staff is usually pretty nice but nothing extraordinary.
The star here is the fish and chips and overall fried seafood, none of which I’ve ever had one iota of a complaint about. In fact, the fishermans platter, of which has all kinds of fried seafood, is probably about the best seafood you’re going to get without spending an arm and a leg at a high priced fancy, schmancy seafood restaurant here in Columbus. I’d highly recommend this place but get here early or be prepared to wait a bit. It’s worth it though in my opinion and we routinely try to come here at least once a month to sit out on the patio and partake in some delicious fish and chips!

Definitely A-​OK. It was pretty empty on a Sunday night after the World Cup and the service was still a little lacking, but the food was pretty good, and kids eat free on Sunday which is a definite bonus. We got the chicken tenders for the kid and they gave us a huge amount of chicken so that’s cool. It also came with a fruit cup which was large-​ish and had a nice variety. I had fish and chips and they were pretty good too. I guess they have some sort of all-​you-​can-​eat fish because I was asked if I wanted more?
Overall a decent selection for the price in Creekside. They also have an outdoor patio area that overlooks the creek if you want to sit outside.

If you like bland food and slow service, this is the spot for you! It’s a shame that there isn’t a better restaurant right on Gahanna’s Creekside. I ordered a supposed Greek Salad and asked for blackened chicken. I can only surmise that the cook was deathly afraid of someone calling their chicken burnt because what I got was wet grilled chicken on top of chunks of nasty, thick iceberg lettuce with some kind of weird pickled onions. The menu said nothing about the onions being pickled. Yuck. There is a standard for a Greek salad. It’s pretty easy– and it’s pretty hard to mess up a salad – or so I thought.
While friendly, the service was exceedingly slow. My dining companion enjoyed his salmon and «fried corn» which was really some char-​grilled looking tiny corns on the cob with seasoning and parmesean cheese over them. Skip this spot and go across the street to Arepazo instead.

I went for dinner on a Thursday evening around 6:00; no troubles getting a table outside. The weather was great for this.
Lots of choices on the menus. Yes, plural. A special menu, a regular menu, and a drink menu. I had an estancia cab. Very nice, but the glass was dirty. Spots and crud on the outside. Cobwebs all over the railing and lights. I know it’s outside but have someone clean it.
Ordered a double cheeseburger with onion rings. No complaints at all. Came out well done as ordered. The pickles on the burger were great. I usually leave them off but not these. Onion rings were really good.
I’m giving it three stars just because of the dirty wine glass and cobwebs. Otherwise it deserves four.
Well worth a visit if you’re in the area.