East Village Foodbar

630 North High Street

East Village Foodbar

Location: 630 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Opened: 2007?

Closed: February 2009?

Here's how GayCities listed this venue:

A lesbian bar & restaurant in the Short North
The food here is more comfort food (think tater tots and burgers). The bar hosts female-friendly music artists and the walls of the bar typically show dyke-friendly art. But like most Columbus bars, the crowd is mixed at times.

Perhaps not so paradoxically, patrons found it both "too lesbian" and "not lesbian enough." Representing the "But those lesbos kiss didn't my @$$" perspective is "awful" at insiderpages in June 2008:

Don't expect to get great service unless you are a lesbian. Every time I go in there I have to wait for 20 minutes before being acknowledged. I finally gave up after having to walk out nearly every time I went in there.

I suppose it couldn't have been too exclusive, however, as a TransOhio "meet and greet" was held at East Village in August 2008.

Then there were those who found the porridge just right. Like "GayWhiteCollarDad" at GayCities in December 2007:

I was concerned about it being too lesbian oriented and we might get the cold shoulder (sorry about caving to those stereotypes), but my partner and I live in the Short North and it is our favorite place to go for a casual dinner. As the title says, good food, good service (and reasonable prices).

But when "KevCMH" (also at GayCities)) announced the death of the East Village Foodbar in February 2009 (under RIP East Village), it was suggested that the place failed precisely because it did not attract enough of a lesbian clientele:

It was a great effort, but the bar just died once the new Union was opened. This was supposed to become a lesbian bar but it just didn't have the clientelle. Too bad, it's been a historical landmark for years and now it's going to become a straight sports bar from what I hear. Head north a few blocks guys, that's where the gayborhood is headed.

Photo: East Village Foodbar. Home to Bernard's Tavern since February 2010.