Big Burgers and Boxing History Meet at Ringside Cafe

Ringside Cafe holds the title of  Columbus’ oldest continually operating bar and restaurant. Opened as the Board of Trade Saloon in 1897 and located just blocks away from the Ohio Statehouse, the place has gone through a variety of iterations over the years. During Prohibition, it became the Jolly Gargoyle, an art shop and tearoom. 

“It was basically a speakeasy,” says Adrian Rosu, who has owned Ringside Cafe with his wife, Kim, since 2008. 

Following Prohibition, a wrestler and boxing promoter named Al Haft bought the place and turned it into the Ringside Cafe. 

“Next door they used to have prize fights,” Rosu adds. “I had an older lady tell me [that] her dad, when he was a construction worker downtown, he used to fight behind Ringside. They used to do bare knuckle fights and prize fighting.”

Today, Ringside Cafe is known for its hulking, certified-Angus-beef burgers like the Ali (three-quarter-pound burger, lettuce, tomato, sharp cheddar cheese, fried onion rings and coleslaw) and the Jack Dempsey (half-pound burger with mayonnaise, mustard and choice of cheese). The undisputed champ is the one-and-a-half-pound Buster Douglas (topped with blue-cheese roasted aioli and bacon, sharp cheddar cheese and coleslaw and served with a double order of house-cut fries), celebrating the Columbus boxer who defeated heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in 1990. 19 N. Pearl St., Columbus 43215, ringsidecolumbus.com

For more Ohio food and drink inspiration, sign up for our Ohio Magazine newsletters.

Ohio Magazine is available in a beautifully designed print issue that is published 7 times a year, along with Spring-Summer and Fall-Winter editions of LongWeekends magazine. Subscribe to Ohio Magazine and stay connected to beauty, adventure and fun across our state.