The Blarney Stone Tavern – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

We’ve been going to the Blarney Stone for roughly five years at this point and it’s our go-to when the Browns aren’t on locally.

Previously they were in a smaller, low-ceiling building just a titch east on 161 but have since moved into a more spacious location in the new plaza just west of Linworth Road. With outdoor seating and higher ceilings, it’s definitely an upgrade from a location perspective. More importantly, the food has not changed with the move.

The Blarney Stone Tavern is the first place we ever had Irish Nachos, a plate of tater tots and corned beef with a ton of fixings piled on top. Is it good for you? Probably not, but it’s tasty to be sure. Along with the Irish Nachos is a host of other pub fare like Jalapeno Deviled Eggs with pork belly, and Reuben Egg Rolls.

Plenty of sandwiches to choose from as well, including 1/2 pound burgers and the Lady of the Farm’s choice, the Reuben sandwich. Mounds of corned beef, sauerkraut and swiss cheese with their special pub sauce.

The pictures don’t do it justice, but it’s a pretty good reuben.

“Get to the spicy food!” Okay, okay, calm down. The Blarney Stone Tavern has quite a few spicy items on their menu, from their Jalapeno Crunch Burger to their Cajun Garlic Fries, but we were here for wings. We’d been many times, but never really paid attention to the wing list which features a 9-1-1 sauce. First though, the Signature Blackened Bone-In Wings.

The Blackened Wings are the signature wing plate at The Blarney Stone Tavern and the lady of the farm and I have argued for a week about this. To me, these were a bit overly blackened, but to her, they met her expectations. You can be the judge on this one, but the wings themselves are double-fried then lightly dusted with a top secret rub. The rub has a nice flavor to it without much kick and dipping in the Shamrock sauce is an excellent decision. No idea what’s in the Shamrock sauce, but it almost tastes like a ranch-type dressing with a little spice in there as well. Regardless, there’s never any left by the time we finish these wings.

Along with the Blackened Wings, they also have standard bone-in or boneless wings with the following options (from least to most spicy):

• Teriyaki
• Sweet BBQ
• Garlic Parmesan
• Shamrock
• Dougie (a combo of the Shamrock sauce and Chipotle)
• Traditional Buffalo
• Chipotle BBQ
• Sweet n’ Spicy Thai Chili
• Hot BBQ
• Hot Buffalo
• 9-1-1

We’ll give you a guess as to which one we ended up with wing-wise.

Carrots and celery for cooling down.

Of course we got the 9-1-1 wings. Opening the box there wasn’t the typical kick of overpowering vinegar that a lot of wings give off which was interesting. As you can see the wings are a bit wet, but not drenched nor dry. Hints of seeds and a clear look at additional spices in the sauce along with a vibrant red give it an appealing look. The lady of the farm took a whiff and gave a nod of approval with raised eyebrows. First wing in and not much was happening heat-wise.

The second wing started to bring a little more of the heat (still low, but growing), but the biggest thing I noticed was the flavor. I couldn’t quite place it, but there’s a zing to these wings and an addictive spice mix that had me plowing through the entire box pretty quickly. Still no sweat, but one small sniffle and a deep sadness that I’d not gotten the full pound of wings. The sauce tastes similar to one of our favorite Louisiana-style sauces with a bit of habanero, Swamp Gator. There’s some sweetness, some tang, and other flavorful low-heat spices. While they may not be the spiciest wings in Columbus, The Blarney Stone Tavern has a delicious sauce with the 9-1-1.

This one is a bit hard to rank because I became so enamored with the flavor of the wing that I started to forget about the heat. By the time the lady of the farm looked back, all the wings were gone. We’ll be trying this one again, but for now The Blarney Stone Tavern will sit at #21 on our list, above The Rail’s Bonfire Burger and below Amul India’s Level 6 Lamb Vindaloo. Definitely toward the top in best wing sauces from a flavor perspective, so that’s something.

You can find The Blarney Stone Tavern at 2245 W. Dublin Granville Road, right next to Borgata.

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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