B Merrell's

Absolutely my FAVORITE wings.  Always crispy, fresh celery/carrots, awesome blue cheese dressing, and sauce that I buy and take home from every trip to Columbus!  Their original wing sauce is my favorite, but their "Caribbean Burn" (original hot sauce mixed w sweet Caribbean) is growing on me...I'll add a picture when I head there next week, because there's something about that dark glazed presentation that convinced me to "risk" ordering something other than Original...

My mom loves the salads, most of which are topped off w their rotisserie chicken, and their nachos are an awesome appetizer...that is, if u have enough folks there to finish it off without filling up!  Def recommend this to anyone in Columbus; and guys, don't worry about missing the game on Saturday or Sunday...you have a view from any corner of the restaurant.

The thing about the World Beer Tour and the Hall of Foam is that Old Chicago, a chain based out of Denver, has been doing things suspiciously close to this for nearly thirty years. On the one hand, it's a good idea, and I'm glad to see it's something that B Merrell's has embraced, but come on, the 'influence' is blatant. World Beer Tour? Hall of Foam? Sure, maybe those phrases are pretty obvious no matter who you are, and maybe B Merrell's makes you drink a little more to complete your tour, but still, the comparison is stark.

The food's a different story, and though the place was designed around rotisserie chicken, rotisserie chicken is kinda lame, so their wings have become the main draw. The hottest of the normal flavor was about average for a traditional Buffalo hot sauce, so the sweat wasn't exactly trickling, but the wings were nicely crispy, and light enough to plow through a dozen with room for sides.

Sides, like the three vegetable dealy which may or may not include collard greens, vegetable casserole, and spinach maria. I've never heard of spinach maria, though it appears to be a regional dish of about a 50/50 blend of spinach and cheese - not entirely sure if I can count it in the vegetable column with that much cheese, and it's probably not something I'd order again. Nothing wrong with the greens. The vegetable casserole was a nice custard-based suspension of squash and zucchini that I thought really gave it a nice down-home feel. Again, it wasn't what I was really looking for when I think 'vegetable', but I liked it.

And, darn it, Old Chicago rip-off or not, this is a popular concept that deserved to be copied, and if it's as well pulled-off and as well beholden as B Merrell, I guess it's not so bad.

Nice place for wings and beer.  Service has always been decent, decor about what you would expect of a wings and beer spot.

The Good: The wings are a bit larger than the other places in town, Caribbean Burn is a nice combo of sweet and spicy (not really hot for a chili head).  The beer list is impressive and fun to try new ones, I like Starapromen and Dragon Stout.

The Average: Burgers, fries, rotisserie chicken.  All OK. just nothing to crave.

The Not So Great:  We had grouper fingers that were more like breaded catfish jerky, not the moist meaty fish sticks we envisioned.

Overall a place I go back to for the good stuff just not a lot of other options to wow you.