Strongwater Food and Spirits Reviews

After mentally choosing a very different venue, my husband and I last minute toured Strongwater after coming across some photos on the ColumbusWedding Instagram hashtag, and after finishing we just turned to each other and said "this is it." We cannot say enough good things about Strongwater - the staff is so friendly and also on top of everything, the venue is perfect for couples wanting an industrial vibe, and the food & drinks are simply the best. When we told our other vendors we were getting married here they all said "oh Strongwater is the best, you're in great hands" and they weren't wrong. Our day went by so smoothly (at least as far as we knew) because of Naomi and the rest of the staff, guests couldn't stop telling us how good dinner and the cocktails were, and the whole place was just beautiful. If you want a low-stress, industrial venue to have an amazing party, this is the place!!!

We knew right away we wanted Strongwater for our venue just for the aesthetic, but the staff made our day what it was. We had Beth as our day of coordinator and she was AMAZING. We had so many ridiculous requests, from bringing our dogs to bringing our motorcycles. She not only made everything easy and seamless but she made it seem easy. Neither my husband or I stressed about a thing once Beth was on it.

We also did our catering through Strongwater with Marianne as the chef. Her food was to die for and weeks after the wedding, our guests are still bringing it up.

Couldn't have asked for a better place to host our wedding!

Our wedding day turned out to be all that we expected and more, the staff was amazing to work with and ensured everything was perfect. Highly recommended!

Strongwater has been absolutely amazing to work with. Stephen is so responsive - despite the restaurant/event space growing as quickly as it is. He has been willing to work with us in any way to make sure our wants and needs are met for our special day.


We live in Ashland (about an hour north of Columbus) so it's been difficult planning a wedding from afar and Stephen has been great about sending us suggestions from previous weddings. I definitely give this event space a 5 star rating!

It was a no-brainer for us to have our wedding at Strongwater—it's such a uniquely beautiful industrial venue. We worked with Rusty and he was a true partner throughout the planning process. He was so friendly, organized, and was there literally every time we had a question or needed help. We were able to drop off and lockup our decorations during the rehearsal the day before, which made it extremely efficient for setup the morning of our wedding. We originally planned for an outdoor ceremony in the courtyard, but when the weather had other plans, Rusty and his crew seamlessly transitioned to an indoor ceremony and it was freakin' awesome! (Our guests were actually none-the-wiser). The bar staff was great, and the entire crew helped us with teardown and clean up, which was much appreciated! Strongwater was perfect for our intimate wedding and exceeded our expectations. Thanks Rusty!!

My husband and I moved to Columbus, OH and were planning our wedding celebration for 9 months following our move, and so I sought out to find potential venues in our new state versus our previously decided on location 3 hours away in his home state. With a fond love of industrial spaces, I found the Strongwater and immediately fell in love after my first visit. We ended up working with their coordinator Rusty, and he was truly amazing. He was so detailed in his notes, answered every question my OCD brain could conjure up, and made the process entirely painless. A few months prior to our wedding date he noted that an additional room may be available post-renovation so that our ceremony could be in a separate room from the reception (my initial request). I'm wasn't huge on planning outdoor nuptials due to the fact that our wedding was in April and the weather is completely unpredictable, and so this additional option was perfect! It wasn't entirely complete by the time of our day, however he had confirmed our understanding of the unpredictability in the renovation process, and so they had pipe and drapes installed for our day to disguise any unfinished drywall areas, which set up the space perfectly. His entire team was excellent and efficient, and we could not have been happier. We wanted a stylish, intimate wedding in a cool, raw space and that's exactly what we got. Plus his team even assisted in our clean up. All around amazing venue, easy to make your own, and wonderful staff. And for the price? No where else could you obtain this type of space for the low-budget cost. xo

I am unsure why I was unable to give Strongwater a perfect score; none the less, we just had the MOST AWESOME wedding there! Our daughter was married this weekend at Strongwater, and I must say, as well as others, this IS the most fun wedding ever, the staff was amazing, and Steven was 150%. I highly recommend. Great memories from day one! Thank you for your hard work, and assurance, I so appreciate!

We held a welcome event for our our of town guests at Strongwater the night before our wedding. This was a pretty low-key event - we just had drinks and dessert. Since Strongwater’s dessert options are limited, we were able to bring in goodies. We were able to drop these off earlier in the day, which was super helpful. Matt was our contact point and he provided great communication and kept the event running smoothly the entire night. We offered a host bar with a limit, and were worried we would hit the limit early in our event. Drinks are reasonably priced and delicious, and the host bar lasted the entire evening! We were in the Annex, and the space itself was great, with both indoor and outdoor seating options and high top tables. We received so many compliments on Strongwater and highly recommend!

We are so happy we got married at Strongwater! If you're looking for a unique space, great craft beer and cocktails, and yummy food - this is it! We had them cater our wedding in-house, family style and we received so many compliments (even from originally skeptical parents!). The venue staff were really helpful and answered all my questions in preparation for the day. During the reception, everyone who came over to our sweetheart table always asked if we needed anything. The venue and area surrounding offer some amazing backdrops for photographs, even for our end-of-December wedding. I really wish I could do the day all over again :) Oh, and I wanted to mention that you can reserve both the annex and gallery spaces, if you wedding is larger. We were inviting 195, for example. Some wedding websites say they can only accommodate 51-100 people, and that's not true!

Love this venue! It is a great venue for any event. The space is very versatile. The event coordinator, Ally was fantastic. She did the best job and she was very sweet! All the staff was very nice. They really made it easy to plan. And my initial contact with Stephen was very good too! They are very easy to work with and make it stress free! (Well as stress free as possible with planning a big party). Again, loved the venue, friendly staff, great location, and perfect all around.

We had our wedding ceremony and reception at Strongwater’s event space. Our wedding was beautiful and exactly how we had envisioned it thanks to the awesome staff. They did a great job with the set up and tear down of our decorations and our guests were well taken care of by the bar staff. Unfortunately, we can’t give a perfect review.
The event coordinator withheld information about another event happening on the same day. We had several emails around the event because I wanted more details. I was assured that the event would all take place on the Rich St side of the building/south parking lot and minimally intrusive during our rental period. NEVER during our communication did he mention that this would be a NAKED BIKE RIDE. What makes matters worse is the crowd was gathered right outside of the entrance on Lucas Street. Our guests that left earlier (grandparents and children) had to walk past the naked crowd to get to their cars.
We found out the day before our event that Stephen would not be present which was not upsetting. What disappointed us was when we saw him the Monday after our wedding and he did not ask us a single question about how things went. Wouldn’t you think that if you worked with someone for 8 months planning you would want to know if everything was satisfactory? I also stopped by the following evening and when I went to meet with him, he didn’t greet me. Instead, he had another staff member help me with my decorations.
For those of you looking to hold your event at Strongwater- do it. It’s a unique space. We initially had our heart set on having our ceremony outside, but due to weather we had it indoors and it turned out amazing. The space is versatile and the staff is great. Although you can’t bring in decor until the day of the event, they are flexible with drop off times. My only advice is if you find out that there is another event on the same day, do your own research.

We were excited to host our event at Strongwater and signed our venue contract. Then there was a bait and switch and what we felt was extremely unprofessional behavior on the part of Naomi. I gave them some stars because they ended up refunding our deposit without issue.

The catering documentation that both Naomi and Stephanie provided to us before we signed the venue contract stipulates: "Pricing and options are subject to change until the time your catering contract is signed and deposit is submitted". I also explicitly asked Stephanie about the issue of pricing changes when we toured the venue, as I had heard a horror story from a colleague about a venue increasing food prices weeks before an event. Stephanie reassured me that as soon as the catering contract was signed, prices were locked in. We appreciated this transparency and knowing ahead of time what our costs would look like. This is one of the reasons we chose Strongwater.

We signed the venue contract with this understanding. Then I reached out about signing the catering contract and Naomi reneged on the written and verbal information provided to us.

We understand costs change over time. However, we chose Strongwater in part because the documents provided reassured us that we could estimate our costs up front and not have any unpleasant surprises down the line. We felt like the rug was pulled out from under us.

Naomi replied:

"You are correct, pricing and options are subject to change until the time your catering contract is signed and deposit is submitted. Again, the catering contract states that pricing can change up to 60 days out. At this time, your catering contract has not been signed nor have your submitted your catering deposit. It doesn't look like your event contract has been signed either. Additionally, please see below for the Entire Agreement clause within your event contract."

In other words, we were provided with false information up front. Once we signed the venue contract, the bait and switch was done.

Super unprofessional and not a surprise anyone wants. Beware!