Gwen W.
Yelp
Been wanting to check out Understory since they opened, especially check out their big back patio that opens to the Olentangy river. Anna H. and I met on a Friday afternoon - Memorial Day weekend, in fact - at 3:30, and I was surprised the entire Understory was not busy. Plenty of parking spots (a huge plus if you've gotta drive in).
The back patio is fantastic. Plenty of tables of varying shapes and sizes, great for solo/partners or big parties. From the back patio this is how you get to the ground/basement Commons restaurant. This restaurant is open for lunch, brunch & dinner Tuesdays-Sundays. The menu here is definitely skewed toward New American (price point $11-30 category). Heads up, their happy hour only extends to draft beer and wine discounts, no food. Big bummer.
We got several of the shareables so we could taste a variety of their offerings: Beat hummus, smoked salmon, goat cheese croquette, and the roasted Brussels sprouts.
After letting my thoughts and tastebuds simmer and think for a day, this first experience of Understory is a mixed bag. Love their different spaces, both inside and out. Great attempts at preserving the historical touches of this refurbished open-air tuberculosis hospital; the bar in the second floor Lounge is beautiful. But the food was not doing it for me, especially at the price points.
I felt there was a slew of bad choices made in pairing floor profiles together. For instance, the sharp goat cheese was way too big a chunk to serve with the tart curry aioli and not enough of the fig jam to balance the sharp, almost pucker, flavor profiles. Same kind of problem for the sprouts dish: way too much shredded apple and a sweet aioli, it all smothered the savory sprouts. I was also a bit bummed that all of these dishes tasted worse when reheated a day later.
Anna got their Hershberger Caprese salad with an extra side of grilled chicken, and THAT was by far the star of the show and is the only thing adding a star back to this review. The burrata, arugula, squash, seeds, that salad was incredible!! Icing on the cake? The grilled chicken is served cut up into very manageable small bite-size chunks. ***Mic drop*** seriously, check out the pictures, because at this point it is the only thing I would spend my $50 gift certificate on at this point in time.