Strongwater Food & Spirits

I’ve been to this place maybe three times and each time I’ve been it’s oddly empty. I’m not sure if the restaurant is so large and the tables are separated far apart or what it is but I always feel a bit awkward dining here. Tonight was the most awkward because we were the but people dining here on a Friday night we had a reservation at 5:30 and the entire restaurant was empty until some reservations for 6 arrived. The food is good. A mix of tapas and full sized dishes a variety of alcoholic offerings too. Service attentive. Because it was slow the service felt a little too attentive.

My husband and I got married at Strongwater last year. Our wedding coordinator was Sam in the beginning and then Sam handed us off to Sara shortly before our wedding day. Both Sam and Sara went above and beyond helping and answering all of our questions and coordinating our wedding day. The food was amazing, and they even accommodated my food allergens. The aesthetic of the venue was just what I pictured, it was beautiful. My only complaint with our entire experience with Strongwater is this. So we did a cash bar, however, we still had to meet a minimum amount by the end of the night. In other words, whatever my guests did not spend in alcohol, my husband and I had to pay the difference. Which was fine with us because we were told they would sell us alcohol to take home. Cool. Well, the end of the night comes around and the bartender comes up to me shows me the final tab with what we are required to pay, I agreed and signed to have my card charged. This guy loads up our vehicle with 40 bottles of the SAME wine. I had a few drinks in me, and it was my wedding night, I did not think I had to double check what alcohol they were selling us. Plus, everyone had been so good to us thus far. We tried the wine and it is awful. It all makes sense why they pushed all this wine on us because they cannot sell it. We have given out so many bottles of wine to friends and family and no one wants more because no one likes it. Here we are still stuck with about 25 bottles of this wine. I guess in my head when we were told they would sell us the difference in alcohol, I assumed we would be sold a bit of a variety. Also, my husband and I were still charged for 20 percent in gratuity at the end of the night (which is also fine) however, they still were accepting tips (via card and tip jars) from our guests. If you were collecting tips all night from our guests, don't double up and charge the bride and groom another 20 percent. In my opinion, it should be one or the other? Long story short, if it wasn't for this aspect of our wedding day, I would still recommend Strongwater for your special day, just know what you are getting into with the bar situation. And ask the right questions.

We booked Strongwater for our September 2023 wedding, and we think it is the most perfect wedding venue in Columbus. The industrial sheik vibe is the backdrop to a beautiful outdoor ceremony space, and two hip indoor spaces that get set for cocktail hour and the reception. Additionally, there are two bridal suites so the couple and their wedding party can all get ready on site together. We ended up doing the rehearsal on the day of the wedding at noon. When we finished up, we had food delivered to the bride's suite and the groom and groomsmen went across the street to Land Grant to watch college football and have lunch before they had to walk back over and get ready. It's nice that Strongwater is so close to Land Grant and also BrewDog in case guests want to meet up with other guests for a drink before the wedding. There are huge parking lots for guests right next to the building. And cars can be left overnight if guests end up needing to call a rideshare at the end of the night. The venue offers family-style dinner. We weren't sure about that at first, but it ended up being pretty perfect -- more options than a plated meal, while still receiving table service. The best part about the venue is that you get assigned a wedding coordinator who starts working with you from six-months out up until reception. We worked with Elenore Starkey and I can't say enough great things about her. She was so great at responding to emails and answering all of our questions. If she didn't know the answer, she would ask somebody else and get back to us. She worked with the vendors. She met with us for the menu tasing and the final walk-through. She ran a super efficient rehearsal and executed perfectly the day-of. I know many people talk about hiring a "month-of" planner, but Elenore was so good at her job, we didn't feel we needed any extra outside coordination. Just overall a perfect space to host the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception.

If I could give this place 6 stars I would! We came in looking for a good time spot with a few apps and drinks… we didn’t realize we walked into a top notch restaurant where we needed to try just about everything in the menu…. GAZ - (I hope I spelled that right) took care of us on this Saturday evening and could not have done a better job. The attention to detail and service was unmatched. He took his serving job very seriously and was also killing it as a mixologist on our drinks at the same time. Well done sir! Highly recommend GAZ! Again, we ordered about every entree and small plate we could find, between 4 different palates at the table we couldn’t find a single issue or bad flavor anywhere. Drinks were phenomenal and I recommend eating and drinking here to EVERYONE! PS, I am usually a huge photographer with my food and drinks but I literally was eating and drinking them all so fast and didn’t get a chance to snap them all… presentation was 5 star on everything. 🔥🔥🔥 Great work, can’t wait to return!!!

We recently had our wedding at Strongwater. Simply put, there are not enough positive things we can leave in a review. It was incredible how smooth and truly perfect the day was, and the entire process. Special shoutout to Melissa, our day of coordinator, even though she is so much more than that. She made sure everything ran seamlessly the day of and leading up to the wedding. She was prompt with responses to questions. We would also like to thank the staff, bartenders and those who prepared the meals that evening. We received so many compliments from guests on every aspect of the wedding being flawless, and we feel that should be recognized, so thank you all so much!

Attended a wedding here. There's a courtyard for an outdoor ceremony, a separate area for cocktails / appetizers and then a large area for the reception and a bar. It was nice to have different areas to wander and mingle so everyone isn't in just one place all together all night. Decor is nice, guess I would call it romantic industrial (?). Not sure who catered the apps and main course so can't really say how the food here would be. Staff was very nice. Great place for parties / weddings. Plenty of parking right next to the building.

Amazing venue and amazing staff. This past weekend we were a vendor at this location and the wedding planner mistakenly scheduled us to arrive at 9am and apparently the venue coordinators were scheduled to arrive at 11 am. The cleaning staff helped us tremendously to inform those in charge, and I also got ahold of Melissa at Strongwater. She was extremely apologetic and quick to get us in even though this was not her fault. I would recommend booking this venue for an event. All of the staff went over and above and treated us with the highest respect. The venue itself is extremely unique and it has been added to a favorite of mine. Thank you to all that helped us get in and get our job done. I know the bride and groom loved everything about you as well we discussed how awesome you were after the wedding. Thanks again!