Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern — Restaurant in Columbus

After three consecutive dreadful experiences with C Mitchell restaurants (two at this Rusty Bucket, the third at Cap City in Dublin), we are DONE for GOOD. Let's focus on Rusty Bucket, which is near our house. About three weeks ago, we went on a week night around 8PM. We entered and the host stand was empty. After about 5 minutes, we sat ourselves at a high top in the bar area and scanned the menu. Soon thereafter, the host appeared at our table and without any greeting said "For future reference, you need to wait at the host stand to be seated." My response was "We did wait but noone was there, and there was no sign that said 'wait to be seated' so we grabbed this table." He huffed off back to the host stand and proceeded to glare at us for the rest of our visit. It was offputting, to say the least. (FYI I did shortly check to see if I had missed a 'wait to be seated' sign and there was nothing at all.) This may seem like no big deal, but to be chastised with no greeting at all when going to eat and spend a lot of money is actually upsetting. At the very least, it would be nice to get a smile and hello that welcomes you to an establishment. The only plus side was that our waiter was excellent and our fish and chips great.

Which brings us to earlier this week when we went back, again mid-week and later in the evening. We arrived to Rusty Bucket and there was a hostess who said hi. (Not overly friendly, but there was actually a greeting.) We asked "can we sit at the bar" and she said "no problem" and we went to the high top that we had sat at last time. We waited... and waited.. watching other people at high tops getting served (perhaps about 2-3 tables total?) but noone acknowledging us. Eventually, the hostess came over and without further ado said "For future reference, if you choose to sit in the bar you won't get served unless the tables around you are also seated and we can assign a server." What? Why hadn't she said this when we sat down? We said, "OK, maybe we can sit in the dining room" and she took us to the back dining room. We sat there and waited and waited... watching a plethera of floor staff doing anything but come over. One was sweeping, another was leaning against a wall watching things, another was walking around... but NOONE ever came over to us. Literally.... noone. After about ten minutes, we stood up, walked out, and went down the street to Harvest. (For the record, at Harvest we were greeted with a smile promptly, taken to a lovely table, and served terrific food by a great server).

Something very similar happened to us last month at Cap City in Dublin -- several hostesses who seemed annoyed that we came in and seemed to want to punish us for waiting in the waiting area for 15 minutes for our table. Super weird vibe. We stuck it out because we were hungry but it was a baddd vibe.

You might think it's us... but I don't think so. We are mild-mannered and really just want to go out, have a nice meal, and spend money. The fact that at all three visits the host situation was awful - and that at Rusty Bucket the same wording was used "For future reference..." suggest that there is bad management at both locations and the staff are emulating a top-down ickiness.

There are so so so many great restaurants in Cbus, it is our plan to focus on locally owned operations. (C Mitchell is local, so to speak, in terms of origins, but it's now a corporate monstrosity that seems to cater to the lowest-common denominator.) Some great places we've been include: Harvest, Subourban, Nicola, Whitney House, to...

3/26/24... Here for lunch I had the Beef Stroganoff nice large serving for the price. My husband had their Club sandwich and french fries. Taylor is our server, very friendly and he was prompt on the ball for refills etc.... Great food and really great service today, thanks Taylor ☺️😋!!! The only negative especially because of their prices. Is their to go container's they are a box with a flap to close it 😒

3/1/23 Happy hour with my hubby!! We're having wings and a double quesadilla. Allison is our server today GREAT JOB 😊

10/17/22... Back for lunch with our 2 oldest granddaughter's. They're outta school today, they attend Olentangy Berlin High School. We all enjoyed our food 😋 Great service! Quite a bit more money these days 🤑

6/13/22.... We came back today. Enjoyed our lunch with our 3 granddaughters! Good service and the food was on spot for all of us. Always a good time and good food ☺️ Thank you Rusty Bucket!!

Back for happy hour buffalo wings, 1st time trying their buffalo cauliflower and we're going to try their Sicilian pizza for the 1st time too! Kaitlyn is our server very prompt we were seated immediately. Ice tea, water and appetizers were very, very good 😋 Kaitlyn was super when it came to checking on us refills etc... Excellent service from beginning to the end ☺️ 🏆🌟

8/22/21... Here for 2 Birthday's 🎉🎂🧁 Kyle is our server we have 20 in our party that we made a reservations for at 3pm. Very nice room that we are sitting in! I do believe that Kyle did the best he could. He brought out the wrong salad order for our daughter and was rather rude/ short with her! Not nice or polite 😜 I'm going to say that 2x I had to speak with Tyler the manager on duty. Tyler was nice and understanding he was willing to help in any way he could. I felt I needed to simply bring it to his attention that Kyle was asked by several people in our party that we needed extra napkins, side plates, drink refills, cleared plates, condiments etc... I understand during this time in the restaurant industry it's difficult to have full staffing. That's not our fault or the way that our family celebration was expecting it to be! Rather disappointed with the results of today's visit 👎😟 👎

6/9/21 Dinner tonight started with the best fried pickles we absolutely love them!! Omgoodness happy hour prices M- F 3 to 6 pm on a variety of food and beverage items!! We met with the manger Stew very pleasant and friendly person 😊

Well here we are again for lunch 4/17/21 tried the Green chili beer cheeseburger very good as usual Joel did a great job!!!

Back today for lunch 3/28/21....We started with queso and chips. I tried the strip steak it was prepared as I requested, it was really delicious😋!! Our server was Clare very attentive, friendly, prompt and overall a pleasant person 😊 Nice experience today!!! Great for lunch and or dinner. We enjoy family meals something for everyone on the menu. Service is usually prompt and the servers are attentive. We've always enjoyed our selves drinks and the food is delicious!

Back today 10/21/19 with our 2 oldest granddaughters for lunch NO SCHOOL TODAY!! The oldest loves the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich, our other loves the Bucket Trio 😊 our server was awesome...

I sent this message to Rusty Bucket and I received no response. I have some friends who are big fans of Rusty Bucket in Hilliard. It was my son's Birthday and after looking at a lot of different places, he decided to go here. What an awful mistake. It was pretty busy (around 6:30 PM on Sunday 3/17) but we were seated right away (my Mom, myself, and my son) and Grace was our server. Grace came pretty quick and we got our drink orders in. She was pleasant. She came back with the drinks and we ordered - Mom, Chicken Parmesan, Son, Mac and Cheese, and myself, fish & chips. We also got Chicken Fingers for an appetizer. A different server brought our chicken fingers - they came out in a timely manner and were tasty. A third server brought out our dinners and everything pretty much went down-hill from there. I got a beer and it took a long time to get. My Mom's dinner was very good. My fish was under-done and the fries were room temperature. My son's Mac & Cheese was room temperature - it was one big congealed mess all stuck together in a blob of goo. Also, no offers for refills on any of our waters. The third server came back again and we told him our concerns. He said he would fire up new dishes for us right way. Grace had vanished. A long time later, a fourth server brought out my fish and chips and put it down in front of me and walked away - fish was excellent, fries were luke warm, server didn't talk to me. Still no sight of my son's new Mac & Cheese. In the mean time, Grace did return and I asked if it would be ok for us to take the first Mac & Cheese home rather than throw it away and she brought us a box. Still no replacement Mac & Cheese. I flagged Grace down and asked about the Mac & Cheese and she said she would check on it. She came back about five minutes later with the Mac & Cheese. No apology or explanation. She did finally ask if my fish was better. The second Mac & Cheese was better but still not super hot, and it was missing the crushed kettle chips. Grace came back a little later and I told her about the Mac & Cheese and she said she would see if she could get it comped. Again, a little while later, she came back with the check and set it down and walked away. Also, before that my Mom asked for a to go box, Grace brought it, set it on our table, and walked away without a peep. We put money in the check holder and Grace came back to collect and offered us a free desert and my son said yes. We waited another ten minutes, and decided we had finally had enough and left without the desert. I wanted to let you know about the experience we had so hopefully you can use this information to improve, and other customers won't go through what we did. Thanks...