This two-story downtown Columbus bar and grill promises authentic Mexican food with a view
A prime piece of downtown Columbus retail space has been vacant for years. It used to house a jewelry store, but the location’s new owners envision a bustling restaurant and two-story bar overlooking Broadway.
Agave Bar and Grill is opening a location in downtown Columbus at 1110 Broadway this summer. The restaurant, which provides authentic Mexican dishes and specialty margaritas, has locations in Carmel and Fishers, Indiana. A military move to Fort Benning about two years ago presented an opportunity for owners Cynthia Vergara, her twin sister Evelyn Veloz and Evelyn’s husband, Manuel Veloz, to bring their vision to Columbus.
After delays brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant is expected to open July 17, Evelyn told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“We were walking in downtown Columbus, and we saw this pretty place here,” Manuel said. “Two stories, beautiful on the inside and beautiful on the out, and a lot of foot traffic around here, and we thought this would be the ideal location.”
Humble beginnings
The entrepreneurs started off with a cleaning company, but they always wanted to move into the restaurant business, Vergara said.
The cleaning company served as a gateway into the field. They ran it “night and day” for three years, saving money to open the first Agave in Carmel, Vergara said.
“It was so hard,” she said. “We literally had to teach ourselves everything. From the funding, running a kitchen, the operations, customer service. The whole shenanigans, we had to learn it all. It’s really gratifying, but it definitely wasn’t easy.”
The space Agave will call home is under construction, and the interior of the upcoming restaurant is still very much bare bones.
The family plans to keep the exposed brick interior walls, which run the entire length of the space. The ceiling has a sun tunnel, which will allow natural daylight into the restaurant during the daytime hours. And on the second floor, three massive windows will allow guests to look out over Broadway — right next to an Instagram-worthy wall: a green hedge backdrop with neon lights that read “te amo tequila.”
“You generally have to love what you’re going to be at for it to be successful,” Vergara said, “because we’re going to spend so much time here. This is our passion, this is what we love, so you have to love where you’re at.”
The dining
Each dish at Agave Grill is inspired by a different place in Mexico.
The Mar Molcajete, for example, includes a variety of seafood. The Tierra Molcajete, created in Tehuacan, Mexico, contains four types of Mexican meat: chorizo, steak, grilled chicken and carnitas.
“A lot of the stuff on the menu is stuff that we eat at home when we gather around as a family,” Vergara said. “ ... Even our drinks, they’re all crafted by us.”
And speaking of drinks, they’re not pre-mixed: Each drink is crafted by the bartender.
The Perfect Patron Margarita is a crowd favorite, Vergara said. Other flavors include pomegranate and spicy pineapple, and the restaurant just debuted a new watermelon mint margarita, which has “been a huge hit.”
“They’re so refreshing for the summer,” Vergara said. “It’s been nice to be able to play with the different alcohols and craft these drinks for our guests.”
