The Forge Tavern — Restaurant in Columbus

If you recall the Orc's Forge at Tuttle Mall that closed a few years ago, it's owned by the same people. However, this is not a game store nor a community gaming center. It's a bar & grill with board games for its patrons to use, which also allows tabletop gaming when they aren't busy. (tl;dr at the bottom) There is a decent selection of board games for public use, and a small store at the front that sells RPG supplies (including D&D books, minis, and dice).

Of the multiple times I've played there before, my complaints (at the tavern) were always limited to getting my drink or food order wrong, or the kitchen closing early because they couldn't keep up with the orders. Annoying, but understandable in a moderately sized, busy establishment.

The good: standard pub fare with a few, specialty items. Full service bar with moderately priced drinks. A decent selection of board games and a small, TTRPG store at the front (opposite the dining area, on the other side of the bar).

The bad: short hours, small parking lot, bad "camping" policy (will ask you to leave in two or three hours when they are busy, which is not conducive to long games like D&D).

The ugly: Out of the 8 times I've been a patron there, the last one was so negative that I won't be back.

I showed up about 4:45 to secure a table for the evening. There were two, small tables of patrons, and the place was otherwise empty. I was asked if I had a reservation, and I replied, "No. That's why I came early."

I was told that the tables were mostly reserved, but she still had a table suitable for D&D near the window. After we were seated and had started setting up for our campaign, I was told that we would probably be asked to leave in two or three hours, when business picked up. I immediately replied, "We'll probably go someplace else, then, because we're playing D&D, and will probably need four hours." The manager shrugged, said that if she had people waiting to get in, the first to arrive will be the first asked to leave, and she walked away.

I went over and asked if I could just pay to rent the table for four hours, and was told, "That's not our business model." Having played at about 4 dozen game stores across the country, most places will allow you to pay to reserve a spot if you're paying (nevermind that food and drinks for a full table of D&D players averages about $350). As I was packing my stuff back up, I stated this, and mentioned this. At this time (while I was still packing up my things and trying to get in contact with our other two players, to tell them we'd go somewhere else) the second owner came over and began telling me that I was wrong about game stores (that game stores don't generally allow table rental), but also stated, "We're a restaurant, not a game store."

My reply was, "Then you shouldn't bill yourself as a community gaming center, you should make it clear that you are a restaurant, first, and that you will treat your customers as such." (they stated that they will ask people "camping out, playing games," to leave, starting with those who were first to arrive, regardless of whether they are still spending money).Both owners proceeded to tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about, and the second owner asked me to leave. I stated that I was in the process of packing my things, and would gladly do so. I have no intention of going back.

It's a decent restaurant/bar, but this is not a gaming center, it is a restaurant with tabletop gaming, and if they feel they'll make more money off of someone else, they will ask you to cut your game short and leave.

I called up another bar & grill instead and asked for a table for D&D. They gladly obliged, gave us the use of their back room, and we had a great time (and 4.5 hours of gameplay).

tl;dr Forge Tavern is great for small groups who want to drink and play a board game, but, per the words from the owner's mouth, it's a restaurant above all else, and their business model (also, their words) includes asking gamers to leave if they're busy (regardless of whether they are still...

I share this a few months after my visit to forge because I’ve heard stories of how people share negative reviews and they get banned, and the people I was with at the time want to go back so I didn’t want to ruin it. I went to this place to play a game with some coworkers. It ended up being a long game, about 3.5 hours. We reserved a table ahead of time. I personally had not eaten all day but unfortunately have a gluten allergy so I was unable to get any food. Consequently, I did not want to drink as I was driving and had an empty stomach. My companions got a soft drink and burger each. By the time we were done and ready to leave, the owner had come up to our table to talk to us about essentially not spending enough. The owner had stated that he expects patrons of the establishment to “come hungry and thirsty and have big appetites.” He also went on a rant about how “unfortunately” his servers survive on tips and so in order for them to make a decent wage, people need to buy stuff. I put “unfortunately” in quotes here because American food service owners have put the responsibility on their customers to supplement their employees wages. He COULD pay his servers more, he just doesn’t want to and wants to put the responsibility on his patrons. So him saying that this is “unfortunately the culture in America” is nothing but a farce and a virtue signal. Anyway, it was incredibly disrespectful for my friends to spend money, me wanting to spend money but I can’t due to not having any reasonable accommodations, and then be told at the end that we should have spent more. This establishment clearly operates more as a restaurant than a board game store, which is completely fine to be clear, but they should be more upfront about their branding and what they expect. I would never go to a restaurant and sit for 3.5 hours without buying anything, but I also am not going to restaurants under the guise that I am able to reserve a table to play games with my companions for as long as I need/want. If they want a time-limit, that’s fine. If they want a cover charge, also fine. But be honest and upfront about it and don’t be disrespectful to your patrons because you didn’t set that expectation to begin with. AND I was guilted despite wanting to contribute and support but not having an option/reasonable accommodation. It was completely and utterly embarrassing and the only reason I didn’t say something right then and there was because I was with coworkers who would not have liked me to make a scene. I strongly discourage making reservations to play long games here, whether those are board games...

So me and a couple of friends used to go to the Orcs Forge, the location they used to have in the Tuttle mall to play dnd. The space was huge, the chairs were nice and other than the occasional screaming kid in the food court it was a really good place to play games. When we learned about how it closed while we were taking a break from tabletop games we thought we could just go to their other location and just pick up where we left off more or less. Unfortunately that was not the case.

A friend of mine and I got there a little before the rest of the group and we split a 12 inch sausage pizza(decent price at 10 bucks tasted like fine) and a tea(2.50 if i recall but its a bar so whatever). The wait time was fast for a Saturday at about 4:30 but then again it wasn't very busy. When the rest of my friends arrived to play we all sat down at a table and got our stuff prepared while i was still eating the pizza and sipping at my drink and the bartender/waitress comes over and asks what we'd all like to drink. She then told us about how there was a thing where they wanted about 10 dollars being spent per table. Most of my friends weren't happy that she said that as i was eating my 10 dollar pizza but personally i was frustrated about how there was no sign in the bar or anything on the website about this rule and we were told this when we had our dnd stuff half unpacked.

So we after that we finished setting up we played some dungeons and dragons in the weirdly dark bar with a lot of lights in chairs that were not very comfortable(a subjective opinion but still). I bought two drinks and we played till 9. I probably would've bought more drinks if all their craft bee wasn't so expensive. I know the standard for mixed drinks/cocktails is 8 bucks around here(which is lame as hell and if you know a bar that does them cheaper let me know) but 6 bucks for a drink that's not even poured and that you can buy a 6-pack of for 4 dollars more at any Kroger is a bit excessive.

I understand that this place has way more earning potential than the orcs forge but we're really gonna miss that place and its staff. We probably won't be going back, which is a shame because the concept is so cool and the...