Discover an oasis of Italian classics served with Lindey’s beloved bread at Rick Doody’s sleek Easton restaurant.
Amy Bodiker Baskes
| Columbus Monthly
Sometimes, classic Italian food just hits the spot. Rich and cheesy pastas and rustic wood-fired pizzas are some of the most comforting foods out there.
At Bar Italia, which opened in summer 2025 overlooking the fountain on the Strand at Easton Town Center, you can fill up on all your favorites while taking in the bustling energy of the shopping district just outside the floor-to-ceiling windows that wrap the space.
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By contrast, the modern open-format interior of Bar Italia is crisp and spare. Pull up a seat at the giant, white marble bar to tuck into one of the many timeless offerings on the primi menu: One Big Meatball ($17), or arancini ($17)—cheesy rice balls filled with bits of braised short rib—are both good bets. Or tear into the grilled rustic bread ($7)—the same bread made daily at Lindey’s—available topped with whipped ricotta and thin slices of nutty prosciutto for $15.50.
While new to Columbus, Bar Italia at Easton is the fifth location for this brand, opened by Next Cool Restaurants Ventures. Founder and CEO Rick Doody, also a part owner of the venerated Lindey’s in German Village, has been eager to return to Easton since he sold Brio Bravo Restaurant Group in 2018, says assistant general manager Braden Pentz.
Some of Bar Italia’s can’t-miss dishes are ripped right from the menus of your favorite New York City restaurants. The spicy vodka rigate ($21) is “Carbone style,” featuring ridged tubes of pasta in a creamy tomato sauce spiked with Calabrian chiles. It pays homage to the vodka sauce made famous at Carbone’s restaurant and retailed by major grocers. “It’s spicy and creamy and everything you would want in a pasta,” Pentz says. He also recommends the crispy chicken limone ($26) because “it’s a fulfilling one-stop-shop dish with parmesan-crusted chicken cutlets, ruffled ribbons of house made pasta and an arugula salad, all tied together with an addictive lemon butter sauce.”
I particularly enjoyed the kick of heat in the stuffed pepper appetizer ($17), which offers two halves of a long, slender light-green pepperoncini filled with a spicy fennel sausage served over a caramelized tomato sauce. It was a great snack of some of my favorite Italian flavors, enjoyed while watching highlights of European soccer on the flatscreen at the bar and savoring 50 percent off a bottle of Barbera (normally $46), a special that Bar Italia offers on every bottle of wine on Thursdays.
About Bar Italia
4145 The Strand West, Easton
baritalia.com/locations/ohio/columbus
614-702-2022
Open daily for lunch and dinner
Price range: $18-$55
Recommended: spicy vodka rigate; crispy chicken limone
This story appeared in the February 2026 issue of Columbus Monthly as part of the Best New Restaurants of 2026 feature package. See the complete list of our top restaurants here. Subscribe to Columbus Monthly here.
Dining and Cooking