JT’s Pizza & Pub – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

JT’s has been serving up some of the best pizza since 2007, but it’s their wing sauces that caught our eye.

Located in the Northwest corner of the 270 loop, JT’s Pizza & Pub is a small spot that almost feels like it was plopped into a neighborhood by the pizza gods. We’ve been a few times and have even gone to the Trivia Night on Wednesdays in the past. With daily and monthly specials it’s a nice spot to grab a pizza, pint or their MINI CORN DOGS. Sorry, we got excited.

Open until midnight and 1:00AM on the weekends, JT’s was voted #7 Best Pizza earlier this year by Columbus Underground and #1 Best Wings in Ohio in 2017, so don’t let the odd location fool you, JT’s has a lot going for it.

Alright, first, the important photo, the corn dogs. For a full review, check out the first in our “Columbus Corn Dogs” series. Overall these are good corn dogs with an appropriate size and a sweet and tangy honey mustard dipping sauce. Plus, look at the pattern layout. We didn’t even do that intentionally. Now onto the main spicy event, the wings.

[Record scratch] What is this? JT’s wins “#1 Best Wings in Ohio” and we got boneless wings?! Look, we tried. We called and ordered the wings, expecting them to be bone-in, but it’s possible I screwed up what I said when I ordered them. I will not fault JT’s, but we will be back at some point to see what we were missing out on with the bone-in wings.

JT’s Pizza & Pub features 13 wet sauces: BBQ, Spicy BBQ, Teriyaki, Spicy Teriyaki, Parmesan Garlic, Garlic Butter, Spicy Garlic, Greg’s Sauce (most popular), Spicy Garlic Feta, Mild, Hot, Extra Hot, and Stupid Hot. They also feature Salt & Pepper, Cajun, and Buffalo Dry Rubs. Both boneless and bone-in wings are $6.95 for 6 and $12.95 for 12.

We opted for 6 of the Stupid Hot and 6 in Greg’s Sauce to see what had everyone talking.

Up first, the 6 wings in Greg’s Sauce. The chicken was cooked well enough (nothing to write home about) and the sauce reminded us a lot of the Unicorn Sauce from Mikey’s Late Night Slice. We were unable to confirm, but there’s definitely some garlicky aspects to it, potentially with some mustard? No idea. Flavorful sauce for wings though, with the faintest hint of spice.

We moved on to the Stupid Hot and I passed the box in front of the lady of the farm’s face. A loud “whyyyy” after taking a deep whiff and then a louder one when I left the box with her momentarily. I had an idea. I was going to make the most of the bone-in mix up and decided to turn 6 wings into 12-15 chicken chunks. I cut each in half (or more where needed), and shook the box up for additional coating.

Thick and the right color of red to ward off predators, the sauce now covered each chicken chunk as much as possible. In the bottom left corner you can even see some lil’ chunks of pepper. From a whiff and general observation, this sauce was not messing around. First chunk in and the heat started to hit immediately. A spike of vinegar (similar to a buffalo sauce) and then a blast of the peppers. I reconsidered momentarily. Was shaking the sauce for additional coverage cheating? Nah. Onto the next bite. One full chicken “wing” in and my nose had begun to run. Not overly runny at first, but by the time I’d finished the box I was several tissues deep.

The heat continued to mount through the next three “wings” and my eyeballs started sweating. It had been so long since this had happened I initially couldn’t figure out the sensation. We use eyeball sweat to define when your lower lids start to get sweaty and your eyeballs start to water a little without crying. Sixth and final “wing” down, I was mouth-breathing. This Stupid Hot sauce was actually a stupid level of hot. Definitely not the stupidest version of Hot, but this was definitely a surprise.

We wanted to give a solid look at the thickness prior to when we had shaken it up so you get a full understanding. Is it the spiciest dish in Columbus? No, but it’s made our #4 through #10 spots pretty difficult. Based on the eye sweat, the mouth-breathing and the overall heat, we’re placing this at #7, overthrowing Fukuryu Level 4 Red Dragon Ramen, but just behind OH Pizza & Brew’s There Will Be Tears wings. We still have no confirmation as to what pepper is used in this sauce, but we would guess a ghost pepper potentially. The heat didn’t linger quite as long as we expected, but in the moment it was definitely one to be reckoned with. Even owner Joe Hartnett has noted that this sauce “is way too hot” for him to handle, so definitely not for the wannabe spicy bois out there. One other Pro Tip, you can order the saucing at 4x if you’re really looking to test your mettle (found via the online ordering system).

JT’s Pizza & Pub can be found at 2390 W. DUBLIN GRANVILLE RD COLUMBUS, OHIO 43235. If you’re a live music lover, be sure to check out their schedule as they have a ton of live performers throughout the year.

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

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