Duecento: Italian Village’s best hidden gem co*cktail bar (2024)

Seventh Son Brewing has become something of a Columbus staple. Nearly any night of the week you can find its Fourth Avenue taproom bustling with patrons, enjoying food truck fare in the summer months and huddled around an outdoor fire pit in the fall and winter.

And while the brewery deserves all the acclaim it receives,don’t let that overshadow what might just be your next favoriteco*cktail bar: Duecento.

I say this because it’s pretty easy for that to happen. At least from a physical perspective. An abandoned building turned chic new watering hole, Duecento still maintains its humble roots from outside the building. The single-story edifice doesn’t look all that exciting or appealing from its Italian Village location, but looks can be deceiving.

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“I am a renovator and designer, and I’m a landlord also. Iwas working on a house that’s in this area for a while and wouldalways pass the building [that became Duecento] on my drivehome from work,” says co-owner Andrew Losinske. “So I’mlooking at this abandoned building every day when I’m goinghome, and I thought to myself, ‘That could be a great littleworkshop.’ ”

After six months of slipping his contact information under the door of the derelict site to get in touch with the property owner, he took over the location. And for awhile the now-co*cktail lounge was more or less a space for him to store his tools and churn out some off-site work.

By chance, Losinske’s friend and current business partnerTed Lawson happened to stop by to meet up before headingacross the street to Seventh Son to grab a beer. Lawson, whonow lives in Florida, is an accomplished bar and drink loungeowner, and immediately recognized that the spot’s interior wasdripping with potential.

And the rest is history.

After several years of renovation (much of which Losinske handled himself), decoration, and permit applications, the co*cktail lounge opened on February 2, 2019, with Losinske and Lawson at the helm as co-owners, and a small but tight and enthusiastic staff behind the pair.

From the moment newcomers enter through the building’s small, modest front door, its interior has them absolutely hooked. Don’t lie. We’ve all seen the moment in the movie Spice World when the band steps into their seemingly regular tour bus, and the shot jumps from outside the vehicle to inside, when the group is magically transported into a mansion several stories tall.

Walking into Duecento feels distinctly like this. From the outside, the humble single-story building still feels underdecorated and even slightly lonely. Its exterior retains a bit ofthe defunct quality that plagued it for so many years.

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However, once you step inside, everything changes. You enter a sleek, almost cavernous spot, sporting 3,000 square feet, with 14-foot ceilings and a pleasing mixture of vintage and contemporary decoration, favoring handsomely polished wood and low, soft, moody lighting. It’s the best “Ta-da!” entrance in Columbus I’ve ever come across.

Don’t get things twisted though, even with a less-than-bright interiorand high ceilings, the centerpiece of the chic yet still-comfortable co*cktailbar is its row of massive, ornate chandeliers, providing the space with anaura of classical charm without throwing its style out of balance.

And while the venue alone might be worth a visit for anyone whowants to feel like they’ve just discovered a hidden gem (which they have)or a secret, trendy speakeasy, the drinks are worth staying for. Duecentowon’t overwhelm you with variety, but that’s so their focus remains onmaking their compact menu of streamlined co*cktails (all laced nicely witha quiet Italian theme) quickly and well.

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Duecento’s co*cktail menu was largely created by drink consultant andColumbus co*cktail veteran Christina Basham. It will soon be releasing aseasonal warm weather menu, but is still retaining most of its best-sellers.

For the new Columbus hotspot, its most popular drink is also its mostunique. The 200 (a nod to Duecento’s name, which means 200 in Italian,and its location at 200 E Fourth Ave.), is made up of OYO Vodka, NuxAlpina, pomegranate, ginger, and lime. A delicious drink in itself, whatsets the 200 apart is the fact that it’s poured to patrons from a draft line.And although some co*cktail veterans might initially balk at this idea, bothBasham and Losinske stand solidly behind them.

“Putting co*cktails through draft lines can be a huge win-win,” says Basham, who noted that the trend of serving draft co*cktails iscatching on as a trend in Columbus and beyond. “The quality of thedrink is there [at Duecento], and this ultimately cuts down on theamount of prep time for servers, plus customers aren’t waiting longat all.”

Losinske agrees. “We love serving co*cktails from our draft lines,”he says. “And service here is extremely important to us; it mattersthat customers aren’t waiting 20 minutes for one drink.”

Also on draft is Basham’s flavorful take on the Negroni, and the bar serves several made to order options as well. These include (with some subject to change, likely this month) a black Manhattan, a gin and tonic with Pasubio, an old fashioned, and a Margarita with Aperol, providing the drink with an earthy, dynamic new twist.

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What you won’t see at Duecento though, is a list of co*cktails that goes out the door. And that’s on purpose. Basham, an experienced mixologist who runs her own consulting service (Bubbles + Agave) is an outspoken advocate of keeping things simple. This includes a streamlined menu and drinks that don’t contain a litany of ingredients. It leads to a reduction in prep time, she says, lends to clarity of flavors, and makes it easier on servers and patrons alike, reducing the time it takes to make any one drink.

Duecento also offers a variety of other beverages, such as craft beer, spirits, wine, and more.

As its likeness with an underground getaway or 20th-century speakeasy suggests, the atmosphere inside is effervescent and fun- loving. It features live music in its DJ booth, plus a spacious dance floor and a set of beautiful red-felted pool tables.

“It can be calm at times too, but on the weekends people here like to get loose,” says Losinske. “They like to turn the music up and dance, and we like to let them.”

Duecento is located 200 E 4th Ave. Follow Duecento on Facebook.

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Duecento: Italian Village’s best hidden gem co*cktail bar (2024)

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