'Upscale' sports bar opens inside former central Ohio pizzeria

POWELL, Ohio (WCMH) -- A tavern boasted as an upscale sports bar has opened inside the former home of a central Ohio pizzeria.

1801 Tavern is now welcoming guests at 9721 Sawmill Road after opening earlier this month, the restaurant shared on social media. The bar is taking over the space where Shorty's Pizza and Growl operated until late last year, closing the location to prioritize the pizzeria's other eateries in Delaware, Lewis Center and Columbus.

A "go-to" sports bar, 1801 Tavern is decked out with more than 25 TVs for viewing all sports, from MLS and Premier League soccer to March Madness and the NFL. The tavern also serves up traditional bar eats made by Mangiamo Handmade Street Food, including a selection of shareables, sandwiches, sliders, salads, pizza, wings and more.

The eatery's cocktail menu features several classics, like a martini or a Manhattan, along with seasonal rotating options like the honey hibiscus old fashioned for spring. A number of on-draft and bottled beer and a wine list round out the menu.

1801 Tavern has opened in Powell as several other businesses and developments are launching in the area, including a breakfast and brunch spot featured on the Food Network for its biscuits and gravy. Named Maple Street Biscuit Co., the chain opened a third central Ohio location at 9711 Sawmill Parkway in February.

The tavern is also not too far from a lone Target that will soon have a series of retail neighbors, as developers are nearing construction on a new 43,000-square-foot shopping center next to the department store. Named “The Shoppes at Wedgewood,” the complex will be built on a vacant 6.1-acre site to the left of the Target store at 10560 Sawmill Parkway.

COhatch, a Columbus-based co-working business, is demolishing a Powell office building as the first step of a larger project to redesign the city’s downtown. The business was recruited to be one of the main developers tasked with transforming a section of Powell’s downtown district at North Liberty and East Olentangy streets.

Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center is expected to start building a $183 million outpatient campus in Powell this spring, a years-long effort once regarded as the “largest economic development project” in the city’s history. The new outpatient facility will be built on nearly 30 acres at the northeast corner of Home Road and Sawmill Parkway, across from Olentangy Liberty High School. 

1801 Tavern is open noon to midnight Sunday through Tuesday, closed Wednesday, noon to midnight Thursday, and noon to 2:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday.