Kelley's Pub & Patio — Restaurant in Columbus

My wife and I ventured to Kelley's for the restaurant side of the establishment, Ridiculous Eatz. We had ordered takeout from there once, their chicken and shrimp gumbo, and enjoyed so much we figured it was time to go in and sit down and take in the whole place. The atmosphere is laid back and welcoming. The staff were quick to acknowledge us and asked us what we wanted to drink before we had even fully settled in our booth. We got our menus, and the waitress/bartender ran the specials by us.

One of the specials, fried turkey leg, just sounded incredible. And that's what my wife ordered, with cabbage and collard greens and their fried corn on the cob with Cajun butter as her sides. Now I knew what I was ordering before we ever left the house. I'm a country boy, so when I saw Cajun fried catfish on their menu, I knew I had to have it. I paired it up with their collard greens and smoked turkey and also the aforementioned fried corn.

So, yeah, we went full in on some good old-fashioned country comfort food. And amazing does not do this food justice. The fried turkey leg was on another level. I've had turkey legs fire roasted, oven roasted, baked, and yes fried. But none of them come close to the flavor and crispness of what was put on our table. My wife and I could not believe just how good this was. Imagine a turkey leg seasoned to absolute perfection, cooked to the exact level of juicyness, and the skin on the leg having the exact texture of perfectly crisped bacon. That is what was on the platter. The corn nearly left us speechless. Frying corn is an art. It's too easy to over cook it and end up with shriveled and dry kernels. Not here. Juicy and topped off with Cajun season butter. A perfect side for this dinner. Now, I'm no fan of cabbage, so I was turned off by the cabbage and collard greens my wife had, but she loved them. Again, cooked and seasoned as well as anyone's grandmother has ever done. And I have to say the same for the collard greens with smoked turkey. I have never had greens that good. And finally, there's my catfish. If any of you have fried catfish, you know getting that cornmeal breading the right amount of crispy without drying out the fish is tough. Well, here, the breading was crispy nearly to crunchy while the catfish was juicy. Not moist, but actually juicy. I've been frying catfish for 30+ years, and I thought I knew what I was doing, with it being moist and crisp. But I've never had juicy catfish with that kind of breading. And the flavor was even better than the texture.

Needless to say, my wife and I have a new spot. Regular spot. I hope they're prepared to see us at least once a week. Anyone reading this, make your way over to Henderson Rd ASAP, because what I have written here really doesn't do these...

Will doordash for those spectacular wings from now on because service sucks. Glad the restaurant is a separate entity business-wise.

I've only been here twice and both times it was horrible trying to get anything in a timely manner. This last time we were there around 2 hours and we got ONE round of drinks and a plate of wings. We didn't get the wings until after we'd been there for about 45 min. We had to go up to ask for our check after waiting another 45 minutes, still no second round of drinks. She said she'd be right over. 10 minutes later, wondering why we were even still there, we see her doing shots and eating food at the end of the bar. So we walk up to the bar to try to pay. Stood there for another 10 minutes with zero attention given to us. By this time there were maybe 3 people at the bar that she also wasn't paying attention to. Will...

I specifically ordered a blackened salmon salad and asked to add eggs. I didn’t get my salmon and they put scrambled eggs on my salad!!!!!!!!!!!! When I called back the guy stated he never charged for salmon and was confused when I asked for eggs on my salad. So instead of him not being confused and just asking me to clarify the eggs. He just assumed I meant scrambled eggs. Who eats scrambled eggs on a salad. Please train your staff better. We are great paying customers…….I had to go to bed on an empty stomach.

Sincerely,

A starving...