This Agni Columbus review covers a tasting-menu restaurant built around creative food and dishes that rarely resemble what you expect when you first hear their names.
I love a good tasting menu, and Agni had excellent reviews, so I knew I wanted to try it. Although we were not celebrating anything specific, this would be an excellent choice for a birthday, anniversary, or another special occasion.
Dinner here is less about ordering a quick meal and more about sitting back and letting each course take you somewhere unexpected. Here is what our full Agni Columbus experience was like, including reservations, parking, cost, dietary accommodations, our favorite courses, and whether I think the tasting menu is worth the price.
Agni is also included in my The Ultimate Columbus Foodie Guide if you are planning more meals around the city.
Yes. Agni was one of the most creative and memorable fine dining experiences we have had in Columbus.
At $165 per person when we visited, it was not a casual dinner, but the complete experience made the price feel justified.
Some courses were good. Most were insanely good.
I reserved our table as soon as reservations opened, which was a few months in advance.
Our reservation was at 6:00 PM, and we were seated immediately when we arrived.
Agni offers one tasting-menu experience rather than several different menus, so you do not need to choose between multiple dining formats before booking. The reservation experience was prepaid, and the restaurant recommends providing dietary restrictions ahead of time.
I would make reservations as early as possible, especially for a weekend or special occasion. This is not a restaurant where I would expect to walk in and find an open table.
Agni would fit naturally into a Romantic Getaway in Columbus – 2-Day Itinerary, especially when you want dinner to be the main event rather than something squeezed between activities.
We found free street parking directly across from the restaurant near the park.
Parking was easy during our visit, but I would still allow a little extra time in case the closest spaces are taken. Our reservation was at 6:00 PM, which may have helped us find a convenient spot before the area became busier later in the evening.
Agni is located at 716 South High Street in Columbus.
The tasting menu was $165 per person when we visited, and we did not add a beverage pairing or order additional drinks.
Agni is expensive, but you are paying for much more than the amount of food sitting on each individual plate. Dinner includes multiple courses, interesting flavor combinations, detailed presentations, explanations from the team, and a complete experience lasting several hours.
You are paying for excellent food, but also for the storytelling, experimentation, and work involved in developing each dish. It felt more like attending a food experience than simply going somewhere to eat dinner.
Looking at one tiny course by itself may not make $165 seem reasonable. Looking at the entire evening makes the price easier to understand.
Our meal lasted a few hours, although the exact length will depend on how quickly you eat and how much time passes between courses.
This is not somewhere I would visit before another tightly scheduled activity. Dinner should be the main plan for the evening.
I would avoid booking theater tickets, a tour, or anything else that requires you to watch the clock. Part of the experience is allowing the courses to arrive at their intended pace rather than trying to rush through them.
Our tasting menu was called Midwest Nostalgia and included a long series of savory and sweet courses.
The courses listed on our menu were:
There were around eight savory courses followed by several sweet courses, although some portions of the meal included multiple small bites.
Each time a course arrived, a member of the team explained what we were eating and the story behind it. The meal felt like an adventure rather than a predictable progression of appetizer, entrée, and dessert.
You may recognize an idea or childhood food reference, but you usually cannot predict what the finished course will look or taste like.
For more restaurant ideas at different price points, see my Where to Eat in Columbus, Ohio guide.
Agni accommodated my preference not to eat seafood.
The team replaced the seafood course with a vegetarian alternative, so I was still able to participate in the entire tasting experience instead of simply having something removed.
That made a difference. With a long set menu, skipping an entire course can make you feel as though you are receiving a reduced version of the experience. Agni prepared a real replacement rather than leaving an empty space in the progression.
I would share any dietary restrictions when making the reservation instead of waiting until you arrive. A tasting menu requires more advance preparation than ordering from a traditional restaurant menu.
Agni states that it can regularly prepare pescatarian, vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free menus. Other allergies or restrictions should be submitted at least 48 hours before the reservation so the kitchen can confirm whether they can accommodate them.
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With this many courses, Brad and I naturally had different favorites.
We both loved the Puchka, Brad’s favorite was the Tourist Barbecue, and I was happiest once we reached the desserts.
Brad and I both loved the Puchka.
It worked almost like an amuse-bouche at the beginning of the meal. It was small, playful, packed with flavor, and immediately made it clear that this was not going to be a traditional dinner.
It was a fun way to begin the experience and one of the first indications that Agni could fit a lot into a very small bite.
The Happier Meal was one of the most memorable parts of the menu.
It was Agni’s playful, upscale spin on a McDonald’s Happy Meal, with the Globally Famous Fry, McSIU Bao, and Nugget served together as part of the course. That contrast is what made it so interesting. The idea came from familiar fast food and childhood memories, but the technique behind it was anything but simple.
The Globally Famous Fry alone takes three days to prepare. You are not just being handed a French fry. You are eating the result of a much longer process, and the team explains enough of that process to make you appreciate what went into such a small bite.
The Globally Famous Fry takes three days to prepare. I have made entire dinners in less time, although clearly not with the same level of commitment.
The Tourist Barbecue was Brad’s favorite course of the meal.
The menu moved through so many different flavors and styles that it was interesting to see which dishes stood out most to each of us.
Brad preferred the barbecue, while I was already waiting to see what would happen when we reached dessert.
The sweet courses were my favorite part of the tasting menu.
By that point, we had already tried a long list of savory dishes, but the desserts kept the experience interesting rather than feeling like a simple ending added after the more important courses.
The menu included desserts called Split, Wendy’s Secret, and Sweets.
The fact that one of the courses was called Wendy’s Secret clearly felt appropriate, although the restaurant did not design the menu specifically around me. Or did they? ha.
The desserts were playful, creative, and exactly the type of ending I want after a long tasting menu.
The individual courses were small, as you would expect from a tasting menu.
However, there were so many courses that I was completely full by the end of dinner.
This is why tasting-menu portions can be misleading. One tiny plate does not look like much, but repeat that process more than a dozen times and suddenly you realize you have eaten far more than expected.
I would not eat a large meal shortly before your reservation because you will want enough room to try every course, including the desserts at the end.
Agni does not operate like a traditional restaurant where one server handles the entire table throughout the meal.
Several members of the team brought courses to us during the evening. Each person added context about the ingredients, preparation, or idea behind the dish before we began eating.
That style of service made dinner feel more interactive. The explanations connected each course to the overall Midwest Nostalgia theme and made us pay attention to details we might otherwise have missed.
The service was polished, but the experience did not feel stiff.
The atmosphere was different from what I expected.
Agni felt funky, eclectic, slightly fancy, and fun all at once. It had the creativity of a serious tasting-menu restaurant without feeling overly formal.
The dining room matched the food. It felt experimental and thoughtfully designed, but we could still relax and enjoy the evening.
That balance worked well for the concept. A room that felt too formal would not have matched courses inspired by Happy Meals, French fries, and childhood nostalgia.
The dress code was much more relaxed than I expected for a tasting-menu restaurant.
Brad wore a button-up shirt with shorts, and I wore a dress. We both felt completely comfortable.
You could absolutely dress up for a birthday, anniversary, or date night, but formal clothing is not necessary. I think you could wear almost anything reasonable and still fit in.
I would describe it as polished but flexible rather than formal fine dining.
Agni is best for people who enjoy experimental dining and trying unfamiliar flavors.
I would recommend it for:
This may not be the best restaurant for someone who wants to order one familiar entrée, finish quickly, or know exactly what every dish will taste like before it arrives.
You also need to be comfortable giving up some control. You choose the experience, but the restaurant decides where it takes you.
For another special-occasion restaurant in the city, read my Unforgettable Dining at Lindey’s Columbus Ohio review.
Definitely. Agni was one of the most creative dining experiences we have had in Columbus, and the changing menu gives you a reason to return for a completely different collection of dishes.
I enjoyed not knowing exactly what each course would look or taste like before it arrived. Between the Happier Meal, the three-day fry, Brad’s favorite Tourist Barbecue, and the desserts I loved, the menu stayed interesting from beginning to end and never felt like we were eating slightly different versions of the same dish for several hours.
I would recommend Agni for foodies, special occasions, and anyone who considers several hours of eating tiny, increasingly surprising dishes a perfectly reasonable evening plan.
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13 creek crossings, a canyon that keeps closing in around you, and a hike I’d genuinely put back on my itinerary, West Fork Trail was the one.
We got to Call of the Canyon at 7:15am and the lot was barely a quarter full. By 12:30 it was 85% full, so if there’s one tip that matters most, it’s this: go early.
The maintained trail is 6.6 miles round trip, mostly flat, mostly shaded, but I kept my regular tennis shoes dry the whole way by hopping across the rocks at each crossing. It’s rated moderate, and honestly that’s about the distance, not the terrain.
Here’s what nobody tells you though ✨ the maintained trail isn’t the end. We changed into water shoes at the official endpoint and kept going another mile straight through the creek, canyon walls narrowing around us the whole time. That extra mile ended up being my favorite part of the entire hike.
5/5 for me. I’d bring the water shoes again in a heartbeat.
Link in bio for the full guide parking, timing, what to pack, and everything I wish I knew before I went 🥾
Two hours, zero regrets. The Pink Jeep Broken Arrow Tour is hands down one of the most fun things we did in Sedona.
Open-air Jeeps crawling over slickrock, backcountry views you can’t reach on your own, and the famous Road of No Return, steep, thrilling, and somehow completely safe the whole way down.
If you’re picking one paid activity in Sedona, make it this one.
You have to do @pinkjeeptours 🌵🚙 Link in bio for the full review.
Dinner beside Oak Creek at Cress, and yes, it’s a splurge, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.🤍
Candlelit tables under the trees, the creek running right beside us, a menu that mixes Arizona ingredients with French technique. We ordered a little of everything: the squash and beet salad, milk rolls with three different butters, sweet potato gnocchi that somehow felt light instead of heavy. Then two desserts because we couldn’t decide. The Vanilla Crème Caramel with Manchego cheese completely stole the show, salty and sweet in a way that sounds strange until you taste it.
Plan on $100–250 for two depending on what you order, and this isn’t the spot for a quick casual dinner, it’s slow, intentional, and worth every minute. Book ahead and ask for a creekside table if you can.
If you’re looking for one unforgettable meal in Sedona, this is it. Link in bio for the full review 🍽️
Sky Ranch Lodge, Sedona. Booked it for the location, stayed for the sunsets.
This is not a five-star resort with ten restaurants and a spa menu the length of a novel. It’s a family-owned boutique hotel on Airport Mesa that knows exactly what it’s good at: red rock views from basically everywhere and one of the best sunset spots in town, private, with maybe four other couples instead of a crowd.
We booked a Premier Rim Room and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Watched the sunset from our own patio one night and it’s still one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
✨ Six acres of botanical gardens to wander morning and evening
✨ Pool + hot tub that hit exactly right after a day of hiking
✨ On-site food truck for easy breakfasts and lazy room service nights
✨ Complimentary shuttle so you’re not fighting Sedona parking
✨ Robes, slippers, and a staff that felt genuinely happy to help
Two stays in and I’d book it again without a second thought. This is where to stay in Sedona if you want it to actually feel like Sedona.
Thank you to @skyranchlodge for having us, link in bio for the full review 🌵
Four hours on a train through a canyon you can’t reach by car — such a fun experience! We picked the indoor seats with unlimited access to the open-air viewing car, which honestly felt like the only right call. You’re not stuck in an assigned seat the whole time we bounced between the two, snacks in hand, chasing the best light.
The scenery is the whole point. Red rock cliffs, the Verde River, a 734-foot tunnel, historic trestle bridges views most people visiting Sedona never see, because you literally can’t drive to them.
The charcuterie box that comes with your ticket is shockingly filling ✨ so skip lunch at the Copper Spike Café beforehand, save your appetite for dinner back in Sedona.
Four hours with no stops did start to feel long by the end, but the trade-off for scenery like this? Worth it.
Would I ride it again? Yes. Would I buy lunch first again? No.
Link in bio for the full review cost breakdown, what to pack, and exactly how early to arrive 🚂
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