The Junto: A Lifestyle Hotel

We used The Junto Hotel as our home base for a staycation in Franklinton as part of my research for The Insiders Guide to Columbus, 3rd ed. It was our first time staying here and we had a really nice experience. The king suite was spacious and modern with nice amenities like refillable water bottles, Bodum pour-over style coffee makers, nifty lighting, and a cool window bench overlooking the patio and green space.

The hotels public spaces are warm and communal (if you want to be). There is a nice outdoor patio with a wood-burning fireplace and indoor workstations. The Gear Garage is a great way to get interactive with the neighborhood and city, as you can rent complimentary bikes, scooters, kayaks, and all sorts of other lawn games and cameras. For late-night nosh, the Poutine Window is open in the evenings.

Cocktails at Little West Tavern and Bar

We enjoyed happy hour at Little West Tavern on the ground level of The Junto Hotel. The bar is beautiful – like an upscale western saloon with a double-sided bar that opens to a patio facing COSI. The bar and restaurant became quite busy, but the service was still good. The full dinner menu is available at the bar and LWT is now open for lunch and will be starting breakfast service soon too. It’s the hotel’s main dining room, but has street level entrances for non-hotel guests.

Dinner at Little West Tavern and Bar

Dinner at Little West Tavern is a bit pricy (especially the drinks!)  and the menu is meat-heavy. That said, the restaurant is a beautiful space with an open wood fired hearth and lovely patio. We were seated at a regular table, but there are a few seats around the chef’s counter, which we would try to get next time. We wanted to see how they did non-meat dishes so we ordered the ceviche for starters along with the cheddar biscuits. The biscuits were great and the ceviche was super fresh, but even with the chili crisp, it still needed some heat and salt. We decided to do a surf and turf for dinner and ordered the steak Diane and ember roasted prawns- both grilled masterfully.

I thought it a little odd that the shrimp came out without any additional garnishes or small side of greens. The a la carte sides are shareable, so we got brown butter mashed potatoes, which were tasty, but the Brussels sprouts were the standout dish of the night. LWT is a solid dinner option, especially for meat lovers and if on the west side. I still plan to go back for lunch sometime to check out the $22 burger. For as busy as they were, the service was very attentive and good.

Brass Eye Rooftop Bar

Our first visit  to the Brass Eye rooftop bar at The Junto Hotel, was during an beautiful fall day post brunch, but a DJ was still playing nice jazz and the weather was perfect. The various indoor and outdoor spaces are warm and comfortable. Cheers to the Columbus skyline on a gorgeous fall day with my love. Pretty view of the city and over Franklinton.

This night, we shared a beautiful sunset from the Brass Eye – Rooftop Bar at The Junto Hotel. It offers a great view of the city skyline from the rooftop patio that wraps around three sides of the building. They make superb cocktails too!