Jed’s Fireballs & Brew

I am SOOOO saddened by the closure of this great place. I was an original Toledo Jed’s devotee before moving to Columbus in 2009. Upon learning of their planned expansion into Hilliard in 2010, I was ecstatic that one of my favorite hangouts from back home would once again be available to me.
It seems to me that despite the loyal patrons and great word-​of-​mouth street cred, the poor (nearly invisible) location was doomed to fail eventually. There was rarely more than 5 – 15 people there at any given time (except perhaps on big game days) and to be honest, despite the delicious food, friendly servers, and decent beer selection, I was actually surprised it stayed open as long as it did because it was often so empty.
I sincerely hope that Jed’s makes another run in the Columbus market in a better location. Their food is head and shoulders above most similar «beer and wing joints» (I’m looking at you, Buffalo Wild Wings and Roosters) and in my opinion they definitely deserved a better fate. I miss it already.
Freakball for life,
–Luke Beeley

I’ve only been here one time and it wasn’t a very good experience. This is basically the exact same layout that the previous Damon’s had. The new owners have put up some murals and movie posters, but he seating is virtually identical to the previous Damon’s.
I was here to meet some friends for a Buckeye’s game. In that sense, it was a fun experience. They have lots of TVs and projectors and it was very easy to keep an eye on the game while talking to friends.
I ordered the bone-​in wings and when they first came out, my reaction was, «Whoa. These are huge wings and look good.» Well, that was until I bit into them. While the wings were large with lots of meat on them, they had just as much fat on them as well. Every bite I took required me to bite through skin and copious amounts of fat. I do not enjoy half fat/​half meat wings. Some may, but I do not. Thinking that this was just one or two wings out of the bunch, I proceeded to work on the rest. I quickly realized that every single wing was the same: half of its size was due to the thick skin and fat that was over top of the meat. I love wings and couldn’t finish mine. The person that I was with agreed with my assessment as well.
Along with the wings we also ordered a quesadilla. The waitress (or perhaps cook?) forgot about the quesadilla, so we had to ask after a while, «Are the quesadillas still coming out?» The waitress said yes, but after about five minutes, she brought it out and admitted that it was forgotten about. Happily, she gave us the quesadilla for free, which was nice.
A friend bought the fireballs, but it looked pretty messy with tons and tons of sauce all over the dish. When I see so much sauce over top of something, I can’t help but think that it’s an easy way to cover up the taste of a poorly made dish. I didn’t actually try the fireballs, so i can’t truly tell you what it tasted like. It may have been good but the presentation looked very messy.
Keep in mind that this was my one visit to this particular place. A second visit could yield a much better experience. Would I come back? I’m trying to think of what would make me come back to this place or what makes it different than a Buffalo Wild Wings, Winking Lizard, or sports bar/​tavern, and I can’t think of anything that sets it apart. if the food was better, I would contemplate comping back.

Your typical sports bar with tons of screens, a decent beer selection, great seating for tv viewing and terrific appetizers. We enjoyed splitting a serving of the Fireballs, an order of quesadillas and a couple of beers. We’d never been before and asked our waitress for her recommendations. She was very friendly and helpful. The service was very quick. Would be fun to be there on a game day.

Went there for the first OSU game. It was packed but there isn’t a bad place to sit here. They have TVs everywhere. They had a special on wings. $ 20 wings for $ 12.99. Couldn’t really beat that so my brother and I decided to give them a try. Holy moly. They were huge and had the perfect amount of sauce on them. They were, dare I say, better than Roosters. The service was excellent but I forget her name :(I will be back very soon! Excellent all around!

Have been here a few times to watch OSU games. Definitely a great place to go on game day. The servers are friendly and there are a ton of TVs to watch the game from.

We used to get great pulled pork and mashed potato balls here. Now… pulled pork was pretty gross — way too much fat and very, very dry. Mashed potato balls… are…GONE. Probably the best thing on the menu is gone. My girls (one relocated to LA and the other to Phoenix) went and loved the mashed potato balls… now we go to Max and Erma’s. It’s right down the street. :) And, it’s still good.

Only got two stars cause couple of the girls working are cute wink wink!!! Food was just under average. Can anyone say Tyson’s chicken … Nothing special (I have high hope) and after we finished we notices mold above us out on the patio … Not a fan !!

I have only eaten here once, and probably will not return. The boneless wings (fireballs) here were so sad. Soggy and barely breaded with some bland tasting buffalo sauce that tasted straight out of a bottle. Not crispy at all like I would expect from a specialty wings joint. They reminded me of a microwaved lean cuisine meal.
My balls were buried under cheese and toppings since I ordered the «garbageballs.» The toppings were actually decent, but I couldn’t get over the chicken underneath. Also, the southwest ranch for dipping tasted like someone made french onion dip with one of those grocery store pre-​made packets. One bite was enough to turn me off from that. My wife got the plain fireballs without any toppings and they were identical to mine. They say they don’t freeze their chicken, but they look and taste like they came straight out of a freezer bag.
Compounded with the food woes was our surly waitress. She had a cynical streak and was maybe trying to be funny, but it came across all wrong. How I longed for the server who was helping the table next to ours. That server seemed bubbly and friendly and I wanted her to serve us. Alas no we ended up with the one who ignored our requests for water and talked like we were inconveniencing her. She threw the check at us right as we finished eating, without ever asking us if we wanted another drink.
At least they had Columbus Brewing IPA. Saving grace? Not really. I have struggled to decide between 1 and 2 stars for this restaurant until I realized that the Unilocal star descriptions could help guide my path. Would I eat here again? Eek! Methinks not.

Mediocre, not great, not bad. It was an off night, but tables were stacked in a corner like they were in the middle of redoing the place. I would give them another try. Service was good, and the beer was cold!

I didn’t like this place. We went on Halloween after trick or treating. It wasn’t that busy so I don’t get why the server couldn’t seem to get it together. The food was mediocre and the service was HORRIBLE! It took forever to have our order taken. I had to ask a different server to get our waitress, 2 separate times. Our server looked at us, but didn’t bother to come over to the table. Ridiculous. I seriously doubt that we’ll be back.

It pains me to write this because I love Jed’s concept. This may as well be Jed’s obituary. I came here for lunch and the server’s attitude basically said I don’t want to be here and I’m not sure why you are. When asked about specials, she said we have food specials and never elaborated. Fast forward and now the food has been laid out in front of us. The Philly cheesesteak that was supposed to have peppers and onions is just beef and cheese. The server said the restaurant didn’t have any veggies. Say what? This is a restaurant death nell. Not having the proper food on hand to make simple menu items only tells me that this place is a month away from closing. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. When your employees can’t buy into the concept and make the customers feel I welcomed you might as well change your name to dicks last resort.

When you care nothing about that bikini body you did or didn’t work on all spring and summer then this is your place! I have been here a few times, service is hit or miss but not a big deal as long as the beer comes out in a timely manner. I have had the wings, Thunderballs, Hogballs, and a cheeseburger. Definitely say go for the Hogballs sans coleslaw (on my list of food old people eat). Tots are ok, fries, meh. Potato casserole is very good. When I went last night waitress didn’t give me the happy hour discount on drinks so I had to remind her, but she was new and didn’t seem to know much of anything… Blondes, they give the rest of us a bad name… Great place to eat on the patio, inside needs to be repainted but I will go back.

I took my son and his family to lunch this past Saturday at 1:00 pm. We were greeted by a very friendly server who was well equipped to deal with two little grand-​daughters. We all enjoyed our meals. Of special note was how our server handled a mixup in two of our orders. The kitchen forgot a side on two meals. When this was brought to the server’s attention, she immediately apologized and made a beeline to the kitchen and the manager. She returned with a solution that far exceeded my expectations and certainly made the problem disappear quickly. I have had the same issue occur at other restaurants but they often do not express a genuine interest that makes a person want to return. However, the Jed’s staff made sure we were satisfied with our meals and went out of their way to insure we walked out feeling good about our eating experience.
From my observation, Jed’s truly has the customer as their highest priority and I will definitely return again with my family.

Was with wife and 5 yr old daughter, and a huge group of friends, and we decided to all go to dinner. Nobody else could seat us, but when we called Jed’s and asked how long for a table for 17, they said «Now!» Perfect!
For most of us, it was our first time to Jed’s. Nice inside with tons of projectors and TVs, all with sports on. Nice setup!
Service was very good, especially for a last minute table of 17. We were loud and obnoxious, and they handled us great!
By far the highlight of the food were all of the appetizers. Between everybody we had, pretty sure somebody bought at least one of every app. The fried mashed potatoes were awesome, especially in the butter sauce. The deep fried pickles were probably the best I’ve every had. The fried broccoli & cheese pieces were amazing!
The entrees weren’t great. I got the original medium fireballs — they were just ‘ok’. I would rather get boneless wings from BW3s. After asking everybody at the table, a few people ordered the «Hangover Balls», and they LOVED them.
Not the «cleanest» place in the world, but not too bad. Great apps, good service, nice TV setup. Good place to hang out with friends!

I work around the corner, so when there are big games on or something sportsy we want to watch, my coworkers and I end up here. I’ve never eaten the fireballs, mainly cause they look gross, but their burgers and their pork sandwiches are decent. Good cottage cheese, good tater tots. Recently, I found out that the fries they top the balls with, barely equal «fries.» The recipe calls for 6 – 8 fries apparently, so thats very misleading for those thinking they are getting fries with their meal.
The servers are typically pretty mediocre, slow service, always seem inconvenienced by you. But, that might explain why during lunch in a busy area, they have maybe 10 tables full.
also, I ordered 4 types of wings once for a big catering event at my office (I ordered 250 wings) and they put them all in foil pans, and didnt label them. So, I get to my office and had to try each sauce and try and figure out which was which, so that was annoying, and has prevented me from ordering them again.
Managers are nice though, and the food is ok. We go back, but usually expect to return late to the office since the food is not going to come out quickly. Just go in with average expectations and you will be good.
Average lunch with a soda is going to cost you around 10 bucks.

I liked Jed’s Fireballs and Brew the first time I visited, and it grows on me a little more with each meal I try.
If you visit at lunchtime on a weekday, be sure that your server provides you with a list of the lunch specials in addition to the regular menu. They have some great deals, including a barbecued pulled pork sandwich that is outstanding!
The atmosphere is pure classic rock and sports bar all the way. It’s by no means a «chick» restaurant, but I’ve dined here alone and sat at the bar several times on my lunch hour, and still had a pleasant experience. The staff is friendly and food is really good.

Some friends took me to this place a couple of weeks ago and I can’t believe I’ve never heard of it! It’s your typicall sports bar, wings and drinks environment. I got a Buffalo WIld Wings and Champs Americana vibe from it.
I don’t have a sophisticated palet, so to be able to order broccoli and cheese bites as an appetizer — I was all over it. I got the garbage sink or something «garbage» chicken balls. I’m not sure why they call them «balls» when they are just chunks of chicken, but whatever, they were delicious.
Now, this is where you’ll truly know I’m not a regular, fine diner at Cameron Mitchell or some other pricey restaurant… when I saw that they had Mello Yellow to drink as part of their Coke line, I thought I was in Heaven… sir, I’d like some more please.

Fireballs are boneless chicken balls. It doesn’t sound all that good to me but they offer a lot of variety. Ten years ago I would have loved this place but I am trying to eat healthier and a mess of ingredients on chicken with sauce isn’t in my diet plan. I love the concept and the fact I can order so many types of food, but the taste was so-​so.
I would say it is a good place to sit and watch some sports and you get enough to eat the entire game. I was stuffed and couldn’t finish my single order. My brother and his wife shared a double and barely could finish theirs. I ordered the taco Fireball which I don’t think I would order again. I also tasted the Gyros which were a blend of the fireball and Euro meet. These do not go together. I also didn’t like the Sweet Jalapeño sauce. Too sweet and not hot enough. I plan to go back if I need a place for an OSU game but i wouldn’t be going there unless I had a game to watch.

I’m not really impresssed. I’m at least glad they stopped calling themselves Jed’s BBQ and Brew, because the first time I went there they didn’t actually have any BBQ dishes on the menu, aside from BBQ sauce for the «fireballs» (which, as people have mentioned, are just little fried chicken chunks.)
I went the other day to the Mill Run location because a friend wanted cheap food and a chance to watch some football before we went back to work on a project. He got the special of the day, a fried chicken dinner with potatoes, and thought it was good. I got an order of 10 wings (as opposed to the fireballs), and I’m confused why you offer 10 or 20 wing selections on the menu, but if you’d like to get more than one sauce, it has to be ordered in batches of five?
The food was decent and the fact that they have Rogue’s Dead Guy ale on tap was nice, but the service went downhill very quickly. Our server seated us and got orders in quickly, but then «forgot» an appetizer order (it finally arrived after the main food did), and when we’d finished our meal and wanted to get our check, the server walked by no less than four times, ignoring us each time, then seated and took orders for three other tables! I finally grabbed another server who was passing by and asked for our checks — and finally our server reappeared saying she’d been «tied up in the back.»
Sorry, no, you weren’t tied up when you walked past our table, you weren’t tied up when you were seating other tables, and you weren’t tied up when you took orders for those other tables.
We finally got our checks, we paid, and we left almost 30 minutes after we were actually ready to go.

I love this place. We tried it because we had a coupon but it impressed me. FYI: fireballs are simply chicken breast tenders, deep friend and they resemble a boneless wing or big chicken nugget. And I’ll tell you, Jed did something right because they are delicious. By themselves, in sauce, or as part of a platter (see picture i uploaded), you can’t go wrong. Platters are $ 10 across the board and they had some really great beer deals during normal eating hours. This Jeds is in an old Damons so the TV setup will be a new favorite for sporting events. I’d highly recommend this place.
Kids had chicken tenders and pizza for dinner. Tenders weren’t as good as the fireballs but the pizza was delicious.