Mabella's | Italian Steakhouse — Restaurant in Columbus

Mabella's used to to be my favorite fancy dinner joint in Columbus. I just went there for my birthday in February 2025, and it was wonderful. I used to happily proclaim that Mabella's was a restaurant where every bite was perfect, and that's what justified the high price point.

My most recent visit, at the end of July 2025, was quite a letdown, and made me utterly rethink my former praise. I promise I'm not being just a Karen. I think, for the price point, these are all valid critiques.

I've heard rumors that the management drove out the chef who used to run this place, and that would certainly explain the drastic dip in quality I experienced yesterday evening. My wife and I were celebrating her 30th birthday, so we planned to go all out, ordering drinks and appetizers and everything.

Let's start with the positives: our server was so pleasant, and so gracious, despite being obviously run ragged from understaffing. Also, someone who looked like the manager came by and asked how the dinner was, and while I appreciated the gesture, this was my wife's 30th birthday dinner, so I was trying to make the night special, and that did not include bitching at the manager, if you understand my meaning.

That's it for the positives. Let's start on the negatives.

First off, we ordered the peach-burrata caprese, with pecans. And let me tell ya, the whole dish needed salt, but there was no salt or pepper on my table. I partly understand that: lots of fine dining establishments don't offer salt or pepper, because everything should come out perfect. The difficult and irredeemable part about this dish was the peaches. When I say these peaches were rock hard, I mean it! I could hardly cut them with a fork, and chewing them was an exercise in disappointment. The pecans were well candied, though.

Drinks were subpar. I had the "Whale of a Time," and that was alright, but my wife's strawberry basil lemonade was all basil, with hardly any strawberry or lemon at all, and it came out oddly warm, despite all the ice floating in it. There were also many impotent strawberry chunks in the drink, which I'm normally fine with, but they provided no flavor and only got caught in the straw.

Then came the main course. I got the steak-frites, and my wife ordered the bourbon marinated ribeye with house salad and broccolini. Her house salad was swimming in dressing, and I think I found where my salt shaker ran off to, because both steaks were massively oversalted. I mean worse than Texas Roadhouse. This became a real problem for me, since the steak-frites came with gorgonzola on top--a massively salty cheese.

We normally get the cheesecake as a rule--the cheesecake used to be delicious--but we had enough sweets at home, and honestly I personally was not up for it. If the cheesecake had been subpar like the rest of the meal, it would have felt like watching Lucifer fall from the angelic host.

Of course, I'm being tongue in cheek, but really. I didn't want to be disappointed again.

On top of that, I was served water in a broken glass, and both the toilets in the downstairs ladies' room were broken that night, too.

I get it. Times are hard, and businesses want to cut corners. But when you're paying $45 for a steak, that steak ought to be perfect. And I will never be on board with running the waitstaff ragged, because you understaffed your restaurant for an evening. Not in fine dining, not at Buffalo Wild Wings, not at McDonalds.

I have enthusiastically recommended Mabella's in the past, for a fancy night out. Until they change their tune, I will no longer...

Firstly, I will start off by saying that the servers and hostesses are incredible at this restaurant. Their dedication to their roles in service, as well as their sense of community and collaboration I have observed on each of my visits is impeccable.

I have witnessed the servers expressing their genuine gratitude when the hostesses happily run over to assist in bussing off their tables without being asked. I have experienced the servers going above and beyond to make us diners feel special, remembered and informed, without us having to ask. When I visited on the week of halloween, they had bowls of candy at the entrance for customers, and I have experienced a hostess running to the back and fetching my mother a pack of m&m’s to have ready to hand her on our way out, after our mom quietly remarked to us on our way in, that she was sad there were no m&m’s in the candy bowls.

The wonderful staff members are the number one thing that has kept us coming back, and they are not what this 1-star review is about.

About a month or so ago, we visited as a family like we always do, and we were enjoying our dining experience as usual. However, towards the end of our meal, a hostess came to a table near us to clear it off, and a well dressed older man who I assume to be either a manager or the owner of the restaurant passed by and started rudely reprimanding her about how disappointed he was that the table was not already cleared off. When a server came over to assist her, the older man furiously scolded both of them on how they were lowering the level of his restaurant, and when he got an apology, he walked away in a disgruntled manner without even helping them clear the table that was apparently bothering him so much!

To be frank, we hadn’t even noticed the table near us hadn’t been cleared until that man made a huge deal out of it. And now we feel uncomfortable to go back and support his business, although we miss the dining experience and staff there, because of how we saw the staff that always took such great care of us get treated there. If that man is comfortable being so blatantly mean to his staff right in front of his customers, I can only imagine what goes on behind the scenes.

To the older gentleman we saw that night, if you are reading this, please treat your employees with respect, kindness and tact. Please lead by example rather than simply spreading negativity, and please know that your employees are more than capable of providing the best service in town. Please do not publicly humiliate your employees, especially while under the influence- we did see you with a glass of wine in...

After a poor experience with apps at another restaurant, we abandoned ship and went to Ma Bella’s. No reservations, so a thirty minute wait to sit at the bar.

The hostesses up front were chilly, to say the least. I walked in, stood at the podium, and was ignored by two hostesses who then literally craned around me to address the woman who came in after me and then also a whole ‘nother party after that. At first I was concerned that I’d died in a car crash on the way to the restaurant and became a ghost because that was like 8 people not even acknowledging my corporeal existence for a solid minute. The vibe dial was definitely tuned to weird.

I only mention this interaction because, given the quality of food, I don’t care if it was a werewolf greeting me at the door and there was a 50/50 chance that I’d have my throat clawed out, I’m still eating here.

Make a reservation. Bypass the frigidity of the front 5 feet. No biggie if you’re sat at the bar because the two bartenders, Justin and Julie, are absolute professionals. They were slam-packed busy but both took the time to address each customer at proper intervals and they are just fantastic.

If I had to deal with that many people at once I’d come apart at the seams. I am somewhat sadistic, so will ask asinine questions of a server, such as, “What is a lamb?” - just as a barometer for expected level of service - and Justin, Julie, and one other server were stellar in their responses. Great wait staff - probably the best in Columbus. At the very least, the best I’ve encountered.

As for the food - ethereal. We had the fried provolone appetizer and it was pretty darn good. My main course was the lamp chops with fries and the Brussels sprouts. Recommended all around. When I ate the first fry, I was confused by how good it was. I had to ask myself what I was eating and then remembered it was “just” a french fry. The Brussels sprouts are some kind of devil’s creation because there’s no way they should be as good as they are.

The lamb chops are fantastic. I’d never had them before and it was hard to not order steak there, but it was worth it.

The cheesecake was in its own league. Hands down the best cheesecake I’ve ever had and it’s my favorite dessert. I’ve eaten enough cheesecake to make even the most fortitudinous cardiologist weep. Again, best cheesecake I’ve ever had.

Really, each food item appeared to be top-tier.

Cappuccino is solid as well.

So yeah, five stars and it’d be more if I...