Strange as it might seem, only a handful of restaurants on campus can boast of having a 24-hour menu – in a city that probably wouldn’t sleep if there were more options for night-owls and insomniacs, alike.
Smaller yet is the number of restaurants that deliver into the early morning hours.
But only one campus-area restaurant, Hound Dogs Pizza, at 2657 N. High St., does both – with a retro limousine for a delivery car, to boot.
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Hound Dogs has long been the late-night diner of choice for my friends and me. The pizza is arguably some of the best in Columbus and the atmosphere seems wholly original, despite often iffy customer service (more on this later). A constant flux of patrons, ranging from the tattooed to the tenured, fill the restaurant and the adjacent bar, Ravari Room, nightly.
True, I typically find myself more comfortable among the rough-around-the-edges crowd, where my tattoos don’t elicit questions and cocked heads every other step. But the wait staff (aside from being unabashedly more punk rock than most of the customers) is, for the most part, unassuming and friendly. Just turn your collar down and you’ll be fine.
But if it weren’t for the pizza, Hound Dogs would be just another mediocre joint on the outskirts of campus.
The two crust options, the 20-something toppings and the four different sauces, which vary in spiciness, come together to make a great pie at a reasonable price. The cooks are liberal with the cheese and toppings, and the pizzas are consistently well-cooked. As a self-proclaimed pizza guru, I know a good crust and a good sauce can carry an otherwise poor slice. But Hound Dogs seems to have both, and it shows in the numbers.
No campus restaurant, however, is perfect, and Hound Dogs is certainly no exception. Horror stories of terrible customer service abound. The wait staff is often overwhelmed, with bar patrons and college kids packing the place well past 3:00 a.m. on weekends. It’s not uncommon to wait an hour or longer for a pizza, depending on how crowded the dining room is, but to this oft-heard complaint, I say: chill out. If you’re there that late in the first place, chances are you’re not in the biggest of hurries. And besides, there’s a bar next door. Drink while you wait.
Around 10:30 p.m. on a recent Monday night, though, the restaurant was sparsely filled and the waitress was quick and smiling. The music was awkwardly loud, but when the juke box boasts a collection ranging from Merle Haggard to Missy Elliott, and T.I. to U2, things could certainly be worse. Next door, at Ravari Room, it was Guitar Hero Monday. Back in the restaurant, hipsters munched pizza with their own guitar controllers slung over their shoulders, like the Bob Dylans of our day.
If you don’t like gritty punk rock, beer or the people who do, then Hound Dogs might be a bit hard to swallow. But if you don’t mind the wait or your waitress’ see-through septum gauge, and everywhere else is closed at 3:30 a.m., Hound Dogs will be there still.
To be sure, don’t just take my word for it. The proof is in the pie.
John Cropper is the New Media Editor of The Lantern and can be reached at [email protected].
