Sweet Carrot – Grandview Heights

by Jeeves · June 6, 2018

One of our favorite programs on the Food Network is “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with that colorful character Guy Fieri, his spiked hair, flip flops and bling. We’ve had the opportunity to try some of the places he has visited and we recently tried and went twice within two weeks to Sweet Carrot in the Grandview Heights neighborhood of Columbus. Syd had seen the episode showcasing Sweet Carrot, which bills itself as “Fresh Casual” and was adamant that we try it out on one of the numerous moving trips we’ve made following Mallory’s sophomore year at The Ohio State University. We thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this quaint little restaurant located on the corner of 5th and Grandview Avenues just a couple blocks north of the Bank Block, which is considered the downtown of Grandview. Sweet Carrot is located on one of the busiest corners in the city where it draws large crowds to try its simple, yet delicious offerings. The menu won’t give you ordering anxiety as so many places do for me, I hate a menu that is as thick as a novel (think Cheesecake Factory…URGH), I’d much rather have fewer choices to make the task easy with less stress. Orders are taken at the counter where a choice of griddled corn cake, sweet buttered roll sandwich, organic baby kale salad or their famous and very cheesy Mac ‘N’ Cheese is topped with your choice of Pulled Pork or Beef Brisket – both served with house BBQ sauce, Ohio Chicken Meatballs with sesame ginger sauce or Fried Artichokes with chipotle aioli. Two of us opted for the Pulled Pork on the corn cake which was served with slaw and corn salsa along with a scoop of Mac ‘N’ Cheese. Syd ordered the corn cake topped with Beef Brisket and I chose the Sandwich with Brisket, served with corn salsa and the best bread & Butter pickles I’ve had in a long time. I also had to have a side order of the Mac ‘N’ Cheese and we shared a side order of the chicken meatballs which were absolutely delicious. Each one of us loved every delicious bite, our only complaint was that while the portions aren’t small, they could be slightly larger. Fountain drinks are provided by Boylan Pure Cane Soda’s and are very refreshing and tasty without the extra added refined processed sugars. We each tried on of their desserts, probably the least impressive items on the menu – but good none the less, carrot cake, carrot cake pop and a glazed carrot-oatmeal cookie were the choices. That was on visit one, visit two was all about the Chicken meatballs I got the them served over the Mac ‘N’ Cheese and they are pure heaven, the sauce has just the right amount of spice and when mixed with that baked macaroni, so good. The décor isn’t fancy, just bunny eclectic, lights resemble large carrots and the walls are adorned in carrots and bunny cartoons. Sitting is at tall industrial steel bistro tables inside and steel picnic seating on the patio along busy 5th Avenue. Parking is at a premium, we parked in the plaza lot to the west ignoring the “Plaza parking for plaza patron only” signs – we sat outside so we could watch to see if our cars would be towed. The place has become so popular that it has branched out to the suburbs, there is a location on Polaris Parkway in the shadow of the new IKEA store on the north side and a location is slated to open in the Dublin area on Sawmill Road. If you want to have a unique experience with fresh made-from-scratch comfort food in a perfect people watching setting, I highly recommend a visit or even two, maybe three to Sweet Carrot in Columbus, Ohio.
Locations: 1417 W. 5th Ave. Columbus and 2050 Polaris Parkway Columbus and opening in 2018 at 7511 Sawmill Road in Dublin, Ohio