Columbus Grill

Nice location. The food is really good, the drinks aren’t bad but the service is kinda slow.

Dinner was great. The bread basket was fresh and warm. My 22 oz sangria was good but sure had a kick. I started talking all loud and stuff lol. The atmosphere was nice and classy. I will be back!

Very poor service! Unorganized and unprofessional restaurant. Came in to have a few drinks and appetizers told the host we would like to sit outside she said sure and a waiter would be right with us, we waited 15 minutes no one came my husband spoke to manager who in a very rude and angry way told us that if we wanted service we should have came inside. Poor attitude

Hidden Gem
In an area of town where fast food dominates the market, Columbus Grill is a breath of fresh air.
The food here us absolutely first class!
It’s nearly impossible to enjoy fine dining without having to venture into Old Town or further, but CG has managed pull it off.
Here are a few of my highlights, having been here 3 times.
1. Late night bar– flat bread Pizza.
The pizza was unlike any other. A mix of Cheeses overt flat bread, with fresh veggies and a type of sausage that was not your typical papa johns or Pizza Hut, but more like you would see at upscale Italian restaurants. And the sauce was simply amazing. I rarely eat pizza with a fork and knife, but that’s just what this experience called for.
2. Filet — cooked medium.
Most steaks in this area call for A1, even Longhorn at times, but I never had to request it here. Perfectly pink with a hint of red, the meat was cooked to perfection with all the juices and flavor remaining.
3. Sunday Brunch.
This is probably the best of CG. I have been to every Sunday brunch in Old town, including sports pub, City Square, City Tavern, and Ashton family restaurant, however, I’d have to rank CG at the top.
The Highlights were raw oysters and clams ;(exquisitely garnished to add flavor without the need to add hot sauce or cocktail sauce), seasoned blue crabs, roast beef (cooked reddish pink on one side), and some exotic dishes that I could only guess are probably authentic Portuguese dishes with rice.
They also have your typical American brunch items like omelets MTO, pancakes, waffles, biscuits and gravy, along with the other normal breakfast meats. My favorite was the bacon that was cooked extra crispy to perfection without the burnt black color.
Also a shout out to Catherine, my fabulous server, who made sure my first brunch here was unlike any other. The true sign of a great server is when you never had to request for a single thing because she already knew what to ask for before you needed it.

Ordered the special which was New York Strip, chicken and shrimp. Ordered the steak med rare and it came out well done, as was the chicken (very dry). As a rule, I will never send anything back to the chef. Just left it on the plate. — except for the tiger shrimp. Salads were good.
We also ordered Tuna which was somewhat better. Everything was very salty. Waitress pull a Houdini after she delivered the meal. Service slow.

It says they are open until 2 it was 11:00 when I pulled i there were closed very dissatisfied wanted to show my girlfriend out

I give it 3 stars because we only go here for Sunday brunch when we get lots of food for about half price. And i think it is silly to criticize every single thing when there are about 30 to choose from. If you cannot find 10 you like, you are just picky! ;-)

Always very slow when I’ve gone in. Possibly a warning sign. Food is alright. For the amount spent I don’t believe it matches the quality. Bar is fairly boring. Service is great though.

Amazing service steak on hot rocks with lively sauces. Gorgeous braised pears for dessert. My favorite place in Virginia and I’ve tried a lot.

I’ve been driving by this place wanting to try it out for a while. Finally have!
First impression was great. Nice ambiance, great place for a date! Food is great. Fairly priced. The service was perfect. They have a nice looking bar, too. Wine bar fully stocked, too.
My date and I ordered the bruschetta for our appetizer, it was so fresh, and the flavors and textures were on point! I had the Mediterranean Pita sandwich. It was a little messing (from the hummus spread) but the taste was amazing! I’d order it again for sure.
They seem to care about what they’re serving you. And our waitress was great, she was there with refills before we realized we wanted one!
Definitely a repeat.

This is the place I come to when I crave Portuguese food. Their fresh bread with butter is one of the best. The place is always clean and the waiters are always on top of their game. You can’t go wrong with their Bitoque (steak with fries, a fried egg and a delicious sauce). Love this place.

Really good! My husband said it was the best meal so far on our trip. He had the Bitoque and said it was delicious. Ihad the Mediterranean Pita sandwich. It had red pepper humus with avocado, and greens. I loved it!
The waitress was perfect. She was there as needed but did not hover. I appreciated her service.

Great place. Went here for lunch and everything was Amazing. The staff were amazing as well. The seafood veloute was awesome and loved the cheese, prosciutto and chourico platter was so good. Desert die for. We will be back. Ask for George on Fridays and Saturdays

This was our first visit, out looking for a nice Sunday Brunch. The atmosphere and food presentation were excellent, staff friendly.
My only issue was there were waffles, pancakes and biscuits, but no sausage gravy. Also we sat within 5 minutes of opening, and some food items were cooled off, like the pancakes.

There are plenty of chain Italian/​Mexican/​Asian restaurants in this area, all of which blur together. This place is a nice vacation from that. The menu is SO tasty; I’ve tried just about everything at this point, and it is always so delicious. Its primarily Portuguese inspired food, with some flair here and there from other cultures. The ambiance in the dining areas is very open and romantic and clean (the wall of wine is a cool place to sit in front of, and the cozy nooks). Like any place, there have been some wrong order hiccups, but nothing to complain about that was not fixed in a snap. I actually had my wedding rehearsal dinner there, and it was a hit. Overall, its a good place to experiment with something new thats not too crazy in terms of comfort zone; there is something on the menu for everyone. The rack of lamb and mariscada are two of my favorites, and they do cook a mean filet. I would only suggest a friendlier wait staff. It feels like the last two times we went, we had strident waiters with no table manners.

Stopped by here the day after valentines day with my husband to celebrate a belated valentines Day. The atmosphere was very simple yet intimate. Nothing over the top however not hole in the wall either. The menu is very nice with different choices available. I ordered the escargot, a lobster soup and the paella. My husband ordered Tortilla strips and chicken alfredo. The escargot was ok, nothing to rave about. The escargot sauce was lemony with a hint of basil. The lobster soup was delicious. The Tortilla strips were more like jalapeño poppers… confusing yes I know. Hubby wasn’t feeling the chicken alfredo. The sauce was very soupy and bland and it really had no flavor although the pasta was cooked well. He then ordered the grilled pork chop, which he liked. The Paella Was Very good. Clams, lobster claw, shrimp and mussels filled the dish with a good amount of saffron flavoring… nothing overpowered this dish. Dessert was good. I had the berry tart and my husband had a chocolate cake.
Service was attentive and kind. The sangria was delicious and my husband’s margarita was strong – the way he likes it. One drawback: there was a birthday party in the private room yet the music was very loud and it kind if disturbed us a bit. Maybe they should invest in more soundproofing so they can have events like that however not disturb other customers. So a star taken off for that. I definitely recommend this place if you are on a casual date or hanging with friends.

**1.5 stars**
I decided to give Columbus Grill a shot for the first time after they gave me an offer for free Sunday brunch for my birthday via Facebook. I love brunch and I love free things!
To start, this restaurant is very well put together and aesthetically pleasing. To go along with the Columbus theme, there are a few «coves» in the dining area with booths for larger parties. Each of these has a name like Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria. Get it? Cute! The floors and railings are a dark, sleek wood — beautiful.
The brunch buffet is from 11am to 2pm. We arrived around 12:30 without a reservation and were quickly seated by a friendly hostess. To be honest, the brunch area was not crowded at all — should’ve taken that as a sign.
Now on to the food…
First off, it seemed that CG doesn’t put out a lot of one dish at a time. The food runs out and it takes a while to refill. It wasn’t a great feeling to arrive hungry, find half of the buffet in need of refilling and having to wait on more. *Sigh*
It was quite an eclectic mix of brunch foods. There were: pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, an omelet station, biscuits, fruit, salad and small deserts. Mixed in were things like a cod dish, rice, garbanzo beans, macaroni and cheese (not your «normal» mac & cheese), oysters on the half-​shell, some sort of red, pasty looking dish and a small meat carving area. There is a lady who mans both the omelet and meat carving «stations». To be honest, I wouldn’t have even known omelets were an option had she not asked me if I wanted one — kudos to her!
I’m some-​what of a picky eater, so off the bat, there are a few things I refused to even try. The fish, runny scrambled eggs, red dish I couldn’t determine, oysters… not my thing and I couldn’t tell you if they were good or not. That’s on me. However, I did sample just about everything else.
The pancakes and waffles were HORRENDOUS! They tasted like the frozen variety from the grocery store, yet had been freezer burnt, cooked anyway, and left out too long. The bacon was very fatty and not cooked for long. I happen to like it cooked this way (way less fat would’ve been nice though), but my dining partner couldn’t even eat it at all because she likes hers at least some-​what crisp. The mini dessert tarts looked beautiful — however, they’re all cream cheese based. I hate 99.8% of all things made with cream cheese. It would’ve been nice to have more variety in that aspect.
My made-​to-​order omelet was decent. I liked the maple flavoring of the sausage and the breakfast potatoes were cooked to a light, crisp perfection (although could stand for a little seasoning). The salad offerings were fresh. Now, my favorite of it all… THE MAC & CHEESE! It was made with white cheeses and had some type of thin meat in it. Ham? Not sure, but it was Columbus Grill’s saving grace. Kinda.
As for service, the dude was decent. For the most part he was good about coming by and refilling our drinks. We did have to ask another server walking by if we could get some ketchup at one point. That server pretty much just looked at us like, «Why are you talking to me? I’m not your server.» Yeah. Not a sign of teamwork and customer service. Also when we asked for our check, I needed to tell him about my free meal offer. I tried and he pretty much just cut me off and kept walking, saying «yeah, yeah, you got a Groupon.» Um, NO dude. Stop and LISTEN for a freakin second! When he did return and was ready to listen to me, we got things settled quickly.
In the end, my food was free and we both got waters. The total for one buffet with tax was about $ 22. For a brunch that was amazing, this would be a super sweet deal. For a brunch that was sub-​par… a tad much, in my mind. After reading the reviews of this place (post-​visit) it also seems that the prices have increased since they opened in 2009 and there’s always a deal on Groupon, Specialicious, ect.
I wish I could say that the VERY NICE offer of a free birthday meal would reel me back in to Columbus Grill, but it won’t.

My wife and I have been to Columbus Grill a few times and we are happy to have it added it to our rotation of go to restaurants in Manassas. After passing it many times and wondering what kind of restaurant it is, we decided to give them a shot one night when we were looking for something different. The atmosphere is casual, but the restaurant is aesthetically pleasing. The only downside is that they tend to be a favorite place for large dinner parties, and the open design of the restaurant carries the noise of large parties throughout. (This was the case on our first visit — a large group of local teens were there for their Prom Night, and their voices carried throughout the dining area.)
I’ve been here a few times over the past 5 months and have tried several dishes. The Portuguese specialties are the way to go. The Columbus Steak — served on a hot rock with three house-​made sauces — is a treat for any carnivore. Equally pleasing is the Bitoque — a strip steak served with a fried egg on top. And if you are daring, try the Sardinhas Grelhadas — these are awesome. But the most awesome thing on the menu is their Seafood Veloute — this is one of the best soups I have ever had.
There’s been a couple of misses on our visits, however. The paella is ample and well-​seasoned, but the shrimp and rice were overcooked when I ordered it. On Saturdays they offer a few dinner specials — one is usually some type of fish stuffed with crab, and that’s a winner. They also have a special pasta — my mother-​in-​law tried one of the pasta specials and it tasted a bit off and strong in the seasoning. As other reviewers have noted, sometimes they can go a bit strong on the salt or seasoning. But overall, the hits far outweigh the misses. And their desserts are awesome — I still have happy dreams about the Drunken Pears!
Happy Hour at the Columbus Grill is perhaps Manassas’s best kept secret. Monday — Friday, 4−8PM they offer nearly all of their ample selection of tapas and appetizers on special for $ 6. Circumstances of fate led the wife and I to eat dinner here twice last week, and we dined on a wide variety of tapas and enjoyed all of them. The calamari and Portuguese sausage portions were huge and the Spicy Tuna Cocktail — chunks of tuna sashimi ans cucumber served with a spicy thai sauce — is awesome. Pro Tip: Get the shrimp and beer, and use the bread to sop up the sauce.
The only downside is that the Happy Hour tapas are only available in the bar and patio area. You can order them in the dining area, but at full price. The bar area is nice, but there is little seating except for the bar. And the beer selection is rather pedestrian — your typical imports (Guinness, Newcastle, Stella, Heineken) and American large «craft» brews (Blue Moon, Sam Adams) But there are a couple of nice exceptione. They have Sagres, a nice Portuguese pale lager, on tap, and represent local craft beer with Devil’s Backbone Vienna and Bold Rock Cider.
I’m a bit weary to try the brunch based on the reviews, but I have generally been very happy with my visits so far, so I’ll give it a shot one day. Going here for dinner has been great. but if you are looking for a nice happy hour to unwind with some great cocktails, cold beer, and awesome food specials, that’s where Columbus Grill really shines.

I think I have visited the Columbus Grill at the wrong time of the day. I went to dinner late, around 9:15pm. The dining room was empty, we were the only guests, however, silence was not a problem. Clearly, this is the new «hot drinking spot» in Manassas. The bar area was quite busy and dare I say a little chaotic with semi intoxicated patrons running around, even playing a little grab ass with the servers.
I felt like we were in a bar.
The food was a nice surprise. Since I was so annoyed with the surroundings I guess I wasn’t expecting much. I enjoyed the seafood fettechini. I am a salt fan and I generally add a little sprinkle to my meals. I skipped that step with this pasta, it was salty enough! I failed to read the Unilocal reviews before going… but it seems that overly salted food is a trend here.
Other reviews for this place are stellar, especially since Neal E. rated it so high, so I feel like it deserves a second chance. I think I am going to skip the brunch and maybe go in for an early dinner. Perhaps I can avoid the night club atmosphere next time around.

Me & mi hijo went here for an early dinner on a Wed before a movie.
We decided to sit at the bar and watch soccer on one of the many HD Plasma’s.
I liked that they had a nice selection of Tapas on special for $ 5 from 4p to 8p.
We had the sashimi tuna which was quite good.
James opted for the grilled Salmon and I went with the pan seared Snapper.
Both were quite good.
The roasted potatoes were very tasty.
Stevey talked us into dessert, cream brûlée & tiramisu with espresso.
A nice finish to an excellent meal.
The espresso rivaled anything I ever had in Spain or Italy.
They also have satellite radio tuned to a Portuguese radio station that plays 80’s music; an interesting touch.
As we were leaving we met the owner who turns out to be Portuguese.
I wanted to ask him why he didn’t name the place Magellen, but James talked me out of it.
I would recommend this place for the great Tapas specials, dinner menu selection and food quality.
Try the espresso!