Nicola Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Upper Arlington

Another of those hidden gems in Columbus Ohio. I chauffeured clients of my service Luken Limousine to this restaurant and they invited me in for their birthday dinner. Excellent authentic Italian restaurant. Chef Nicola prepares all the dishes himself. His wife greeted us and seated us. The restaurant itself is beautiful with plantings all over the front, a patio and a really nicely laid out interior. The employees look like they actually enjoyed working there and our server was outstanding. They started off with an excellent bottle of Italian wine and I had a nice iced tea. We began with my suggestion of Polpo and another dish of calamari. The octopus and Squid were fresh and perfectly done not chewy or overcooked like every other place you get these things. I asked if they could do the calamari a more traditional way simply sauteed with olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper which they had no problem doing, instead of the light breading which I'm sure would have been great as well. Fresh bread and olive oil with Cracked Pepper. I ordered the Filetto di Maiale in Salsa di Fichi Pan seared rosemary and thyme rubbed pork tenderloin, Tuscan faro, cannellini beans & arugula warm salad, fig reduction. The others had the soup of the day which looked excellent, lasagna, risotto which was a huge pile mixed with pulled short ribs, daily special fresh fish and a fresh sea scallop dish that looked outstanding. The scallops were wrapped in prosciutto ham which is probably more expensive than the scallops! I had espresso and ordered cannolis after and could not resist the corny line telling the waitress leave the gun take the cannolis. She said almost everybody does that which is pretty silly. The others tried the gelato and an ice cream cake that is literally called brick in Italian. The espresso was perfect whereas most places don't really understand how to make it. The cannolis were actually three separate pieces which I shared also fantastic. The chef sent out a round of limoncellos which were perfect. An Italian aperitif creamy and authentic. All in all an excellent experience and as I said one of those rare gems which I strongly urge everyone to try. You could easily miss it as it's in one of those tiny strip malls just south of Henderson...

Our group came here for my girlfriend's birthday on 11/14/15. The food was some of the best Italian I have had in Columbus, but the owner managed to ruin our evening before we left.

One of our guests ordered a rabbit dish with pasta and a red sauce. Each of his first three bites contained bits of cartilage and bone, which he set aside on his bread plate. He politely alerted the server of the issue, who offered him another dish, but he declined. The waitress removed the dish from the table, but returned later to take the "evidence" from the bread plate back to the kitchen.

The rest of the group completed our meals, and the waitress brought the bills. She informed our guest that he would only be charged half the cost of his rabbit dish. However, we all felt that the dish should be comped, considering there was clearly an issue and he barely ate any. After mentioning this displeasure to the waitress, she left and returned with the dish removed from the bill.

At this time, we thanked her but also politely expressed our displeasure that that the manager had not visited the table to address the issue. She apologized, and we proceeded to sign our bills and prepare to leave. This is when the manger/owner showed up at the table.

One would expect her to be apologetic about our experience, but instead she was very confrontational and rude. This is where everything fell apart. She asked us what we expected from her and said that she was too busy to deal with the situation, because she works from 9am to 9pm. She also said that they only offered half off because the dish was expensive; an expensive dish that no one ate! Then she says that she "isn't going to kiss [up to] anyone."

I've run out of room here to describe anything further, but this escalated to her yelling at us and me cursing her out. As good as the food was, I could never support an owner with such contempt for her customers and lack of understanding as to what is customary in...

When my husband and I walked in, we were impressed by the lovely and quiet atmosphere. It was cold and windy outside and the restaurant was a soft, glowing, warm oasis. We were seated immediately (at 6:20 on a Wednesday) and our waiter took our drink order. Unfortunately, that's where our good experience stopped. I had to ask for the soup of the day and then the risotto of the day. The daily specials were not shared with us, and honestly, we would have ordered off that menu first. My husband ordered the lobster bisque (soup of the day) and was disappointed in its pudding-like consistency. For our entrees, he ordered the roast pork rolled with homemade sausage and vegetable flan. I ordered the lasagna. The homemade sausage had such an odd flavor that it tainted the pork and the gravy was so salty that his lips burned. The vegetable flan was a great idea, but the eggplant on the top layer was too tough to cut through or chew. My lasagna presented wonderfully and was a large portion with golden, gooey cheese and bechamel sauce. Unfortunately, the three meat blend they used was pureed down to a thick baby food consistency and made the whole portion awkward eating with its odd feel. We were not at all happy spending the aprox. $20 per entree and receiving this quality of food. We also ordered the bruschetta and received 3 pieces for $7. Overall, it was a completely lackluster experience that left us feeling cheated out of a good meal and $80+ including drinks and tip. If only our waiter had seemed involved with our table instead of catering to larger, older clientele (we are 43 & 42), we may have had a better experience. He only checked back immediately after we received our meals, and with the saltiness of my husbands, he could have had 3 or 4 more...