John T.
Yelp
When You're Here, You're Family
After several days without power, I visited Westsiders for a quiet Sunday dinner to regroup for the week ahead. I sat at the bar, where I was immediately greeted and recommended a cocktail to match my mood at the moment (something to both calm me down and fuel my appetite after a stressful day ... a perfectly mixed Negroni).
I was informed of a pasta special by the general manager, Jacob, who just happened to be working and seated at the bar next to me, which I ordered, along with an exquisite chilled Portuguese white wine. The pasta dish was unassailable in its execution; scratch-made casarecce in a sauce that struck a beautiful balance of white wine, garlic, and fresh tomatoes (the chef advised me that the dish itself consisted of only 6 ingredients, but they were so expertly combined that his explanation belied its real depth).
Moving on, I had my eye on a dessert, but needed a digestif to prepare for my next bite. Enter the general manager, once again, who turned me onto the perfect last drink; a twist on "Eeyore's Requiem," a drink popularized by a well known speakeasy in Chicago, as I later learned, that settled my stomach and got me ready for my next course.
Dessert was a simple, rich chocolate cheesecake (the perfect size) with fresh whipped cream and candied lemon peel, served with a cup on restaurant coffee that, frankly, was better than it had any right to be (I later learned the restaurant created it's own proprietary blend with Stauf's in Columbus).
To say I was happy with my experience is to grossly undersell what Westsiders has to offer. Since COVID, I feel as though we're all aligned with the fact that the quality of the product itself is, at best, half the battle. The remainder is hospitality, knowledge, respect, and atmosphere, all of which Westsiders has available for its patrons in abundance.
I cannot recommend this establishment more, both for the quality of the product it offers and for all the other "intangibles" we're all looking for in a dining experience.