Astra Rooftop — Restaurant in Columbus

We stopped by after a performance at the Riffe Theater. Astra Rooftop was absolutely fabulous! (I am a big foodie and we lived just outside of downtown with a view of the entire city)

It was 10pm. THE VIBE was quiet laid back with diversity of age, business, casual, gender and race. The decor is quiet NY chic. AND THE VIEWS! The best in Columbus which included a wrap around rooftop deck with high top tables, several large party sesting, cozy tables for two, relaxing comfortable couches and several private dining huts.

THE FOOD - We had the Bang Bang shrimp and fried ribs. Both outstanding! For dinner I had the gnocchi with grilled salmon, the pasta was boiled and then properly pan seared in butter and sage. The sauce was rich and creamy. My husband had surf and turf...the filet, with lobster, mashed potatoes and broccolini. Very very good. The meat was a perfect median rare with a nice sear. I do not like resturant mashed potatoes...so who's mom was in the kitchen? I will order my next visit.

Hubby had Modelo and I had a medium pour of Chardonnay. No roommate desert.

TRISTAN..TRISTAN... our server IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST! PLEASE GIVE HER A RAISE BEFORE ANOTHER ESTABLISHMENT SNATCHES HER! She provided outstanding service, while talking about all of the atributes of Astra, the work environment, the people, and stories shared about the North Market building and the progress located across the street.

We will be back. I hope to host a small party at Astra Rooftop for 20 guest in February. We took a look.at the private dining rooms. I think we have found my birthday party location.

Thank you hubby for a fun night out!

Congrats Chris! A great venue,...

TLDR: DO NOT GO HERE, FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE.

My friends and I arrived on time slots allocated to us, got our tickets we paid for, our wrist bands, got up to the Astra Rooftop and was in shock at how extremely overcrowded it was. We waited for over an hour, at several different locations trying to get service from the bars, from the food waiters or servers. NOTHING. Not once did we get service, 4 people couldn't get so much as a water after paying for a time slot to enter and expecting everything it promised on the advertisement. We can all agree this location wasn't worth the time or cramp overcrowded spaces with no were to sit or even enough room to stand without touching at least 3 other people it was that packed. We left having paid for the experience that we NEVER received, never receiving any food or drinks after trying for over an hour. We never saw the fire dancers the advertising promised, or any of the food available they promised. We ended up spending over $1k at other locations that night, the business failed to capture our capital even though we tried very hard to give it to them. These failures point to a lack of planning, proper management, experience, and a clear lack of common sense. I can not rate this experience low enough. We never even got our refund for the hundreds we paid for an experience or service we never received even though we tried disparately with no results. Packing 800 people into a space made for 50 isn't even safe. Worse experience ever. If you go to this location, you will be disappointed, you will have to go and find somewhere else to dine and get drinks at. I rate them -1/10. Avoid...

Make reservations, valet the car, it’s 2025.

Flaming tomahawk presentation was a nice touch, it provided a nice “wow” experience for my wife and I which stirred up excitement at other tables around us, then we noticed several tables ordered the tomahawk after us, couldn’t blame them.

Drinks? Again, impressive menu, creative mixology going on there, and definitely was satisfied with my pours. Even with the bar being backed up, the tenders were not sending out shite.

This all side, here’s my sweet spot. It’s easy to do good food, it’s easy to mix good drinks… but do you have the culture that brings your staff together as a team where their energy is infectious and you can feel it?

This sounds pretentious but for this type of a restaurant, I want to see the staff high fiving and shit, I want to see them interacting and engaging with each other, ESPECIALLY on a wildly crazy night that’s busy.

The staff seemed very detached from each other, I noticed a lack of culture and team bonds, and this is something I pay attention to… are you just running your cash grab operation and hiring anyone desperate enough to serve food? Or are you making a difference by building a place of culture that would have job seekers clawing at an opportunity to get their shot at being a part of that team?

From the sounds of the oversold grand opening, I’m observing that whoever owns this place is just rolling the dice on profits, and I thank them for a good plate and drink, but not sure if we will be back to regular this place.

No pics foodies, you’ll have to go try it...