The Old Bag of Nails Pub - Pickerington — Restaurant in Violet Township

Our server was so friendly and helpful. He was really working his tail off with all the tables he had and the requests that our party of six made of him. Despite the large order, as well as tacking on a small takeout order at the end, this awesome dude got our order almost all the way right (small accidental sub of onion rings for fries). So I'm giving him five stars.

HOWEVER. The food itself was mostly mediocre, with a couple of items being truly awful. Summary: freezer-burned food cooked with no finesse and no quality control.

We had:

Fish and chips, Eddie style (spicy batter): fish was thin filets, couldn't even tell if they were cod or tilapia, but they were NOT good quality. They tasted old and very dry, overcooked. The cole slaw was super vinegary. The onion rings were great, but there were only 4 of them. Overall, a terrible value for $15.

Mussels and Shrimp: OLD, obviously frozen-for-ages mussels and small (41-50 size, and maybe 7-8 of them) shrimp swimming in a huge bowl of broth, wine, and butter. The mussels were so old, they were no longer even chewy - it was like biting into a piece of liver.

Clam chowder: more potatoes than clams, but overall flavor was decent.

Fish tacos: same issue with the fish: old and dry-tasting.

But the absolutely worst part was the fried breaded mushrooms. I don't know what we actually got, but it no longer resembled a mushroom. My nephew bit into a hot mushroom and couldn't even chew it. The consistency was not right, and he spit it out right away in panic.

When we shined our phone flashlights on it, we could see it looked like a cross between a soft brillo pad and a human hairball, breaded and fried. Little dry fluffy bits puffed out from the missing bite. It must have been a mushroom, the shape resembled a mushroom, but I didn't know mushrooms could even get like that! HORRIBLE.

We think it must have been a very very old batch of previously-frozen mushrooms from GFS or somewhere. Absolutely not fresh - someone would have noticed this monstrosity. We only realized after sending back the entire dish that I forgot to take a photo of the fried linty-hairball thing.

I can't finish this review, the thought of those mushrooms is making me feel nauseous all over again.

Bottom line: 5 stars for the great service, food quality is TERRIBLE for the most part - HALF-star for the food. Would not recommend...

I was casually reading reviews for The Old Bag of Nails Pickerington which is our go to restaurant for any occasion, and felt compelled to leave a review after reading some of the comments in other reviews and strongly disagreeing.

The food is very good. I’ve eaten pretty much everything on the dinner portion of the menu and only had one item that wasn’t, “very good”. When I pointed out that I had a problem with the item it was promptly replaced with apologies and genuine concern that I wasn’t happy. It was slightly undercooked, bone in, chicken wings. I have a problem with poultry and any sign of not being cooked to at minimum medium well done. My wife didn’t think there was a problem with it but for me I wouldn’t have enjoyed it. So this is more my problem or a personal preference than a problem with the food. As I’ve said the food here is very good. It comes fast and is served at a proper temperature.

The staff is always a pleasure. The bartenders greet us on sight and know our usual drinks and most of the time it’s being put in front of us as we’re sitting down. I realize that anyone can have a bad day and not be as outgoing and friendly as some people would like but to give the bartenders a bad review based on one experience with one person is simply not fair and I would completely disagree. The bartenders and servers have all been on pretty much every occasion friendly, attentive without hovering, and fast. Are they perfect? No. Are any of us? But they are as a group above average in all aspects of performing their duties. The bartenders are better than above average they’re great!

Parking is never a problem. The atmosphere is always friendly and inviting. Noise and distractions vary accordingly by clientele and volume. Never anything excessive.

In closing this is a great place for dinner and drinks. If you like fish you’re in the right place. Have the salmon it’s always amazing, I like mine blackened. Last but not least. You have got to have the carrot cake! It’s delicious, and always perfect. I highly recommend this pub/restaurant, really enjoy the food, staff, and setting. I am confident...

Original long-standing 5 star review:

Delicious! Good service, good food, cozy atmosphere. Wednesdays are unlimited shrimp, can't go wrong with that!

Updated 2 star review:

The food quality has plummeted in the past year, as has the service.

On our most recent visit, I ordered the rueben (which is one of my favorites!), and my husband ordered the unlimited shrimp. The shrimp kept coming out severely overcooked, and my rueben was absolutely awful.

The bread tasted off and wasn't properly toasted, the dressing also tasted off and had a funky aftertaste, and the lack of corned beef was absolutely criminal, and the entire thing was lukewarm. I'm including a photo that shows a rueben I got at the same location back in October 2024, and then on the bottom are the leftovers of the rueben I got on this recent visit. You can see the coloring is extremely pale (it doesn't even really look like the marbled rye bread), the cheese wasn't melted, and there was basically a sliver of corn beef on the entire half.

My husband also ordered their bread pudding (which is his favorite dessert), and it came out cold. Like they just cut it from the fridge and served it. It's supposed to be hot!

As far as service, our appetizer came out and we had to wait nearly 10 minutes to get our app plates, then we asked for more napkins and had to wait 10 minutes, then ask again before finally getting them.

This isn't the only time we've had a bad experience in the past year; one of our last visits, I had to return a seasonal fish dish because it was legitimately one of the worst things I've ever put in my mouth. The waiter, after I said "I'm sorry, but this is disgusting," said "Oh I know it's terrible, I don't blame you for returning it."

I don't know what's going on in your kitchen, OBON, but you need to fix it, because these past few visits have been the worst meals I've ever had at a restaurant. We've literally spent thousands at this restaurant, because it has been one of our favorites for years, but as of now, we will...