Port Lounge & Smokehouse

TL:DR- I had never heard of or been to this place before and had no idea what to expect. If you, dear reader, are debating whether to dine and drink at this place, don't think about it anymore, just get yourself here! Their "food season" is mid/late April to September/October-ish, since they smoke meat on-site outdoors. Great drink prices, expansive outdoor seating, awesome location with a few Buckeye Lake docks out the back. My experience below:

-What an adventure! Had a gig here as a keyboardist tonight, as one of the bands I'm in (called "Main Street Mix" from the Reynoldsburg area) played a few songs during their "open mic evening" (every Wednesday). It's set up so any band, solo musician, instrumentalist, etc. can come on the stage and "sit-in" for a number of songs, after the core house band plays a few numbers (mostly country, but I'll get into that in a few lines).

After my entire band was finished, we switched out our equipment, and the "core" house band members started playing again once plugged in again. After a few of their songs, a guy who was sitting at a table with drumsticks came up and took over the drums, and a guy (Conway) who is literally headed to Nashville in a month took over the electric guitar. Then after another couple songs, the bassist switched, and a couple vocalists came and went, etc. It all went smoothly, and sounded great!

After everyone decided to take a break, the rest of my band left, and while I was disassembling my keyboard setup, another guy came in with his own keyboard, and set up. As I was packed up and getting ready to leave (around 10pm), the owner (Mark...if I remember correctly) came up and we chatted a bit about my band, and he convinced me to stick around longer to see the next "set" the band was going to play, as with this particular keyboardist, they play some more musically involved songs.

This is where the music changed from country, to more blues-rock (much more my thing lol). I planned on only staying for a few songs, as I was starving, and the establishment wouldn't start serving food until next week, when the main meat smokers are ready. I told Mark I was headed out, as I was hungry... but he told me to "stay put... I'll find you some food". So I took a seat at the bar, and 10 minutes later, I had a heaping plate of pulled pork, beef brisket, pork and beans, and macaroni and cheese, and a ice-cold Coors Light in front of me.

Turns out, Mark still takes catering orders in the "off-season", and just came back from an event earlier that evening, so he had extra servings that didn't go out to the event, and so what I got was the BEST barbecue-type meal that I've ever has, as far as I can recall! And free of charge too (as they aren't officially serving food yet, and I imagine it would have gone to waste otherwise, and Mark said he saved some for himself for his own dinner!)!

Both meats were extremely tender and savory, the beans were sweet and tangy, and the macaroni was probably the best I've ever had. Everything as far as I know is completely homemade, and I was told on regular days during the season, Mark gets to the smokers around 3am every business day to start the meat in the smokers. I believe it... this taste doesn't lie! There was also this mango-chili type BBQ sauce that was awesome as well, however I forgot to ask what exactly that sauce was.

After I finished the mountain of food, it was about 11:30 or so, and the music stops at 12:00 a.m., and since I was in such high spirits, I decided to re-join the "open mic" festivities for the last twenty-odd minutes... but playing the bass guitar instead! With the same keyboardist, the original drummer from the start of the evening, Conway on electric guitar, and myself on bass, we closed the night with "jammed out" versions of "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins, and "Purple Rain" by Prince... very different than Luke Bryan or whomever at the start of the night, and I love it!

An end to my night that I, without a doubt, did not see coming, but it was a blast, and I'm glad I welcomed it with open arms.

Tbone is gonna miss this place! Ahhh if you guys Hear Voices it's just him coming to visit.

Really looks good inside. Mark you did a great job. If you get that good beer in I'll visit alot more often. Just saying see you buddy

Nice new look and is a great place to come and hang out.

This is a great place that supports live music and have some of the best musicians in central Ohio playing in different bands. The food smells fantastic in the help is always good looking. For years they've had a very community-oriented open stage night. It almost seems that the port in the veterans Club across the parking lot are competitive without having the best entertainment possible. if I had guests in from out of town he wanted to see a live band, this will be certainly be one of the places I would suggest.