12/5/11 – Weekly Events around Polaris

Looking for something to do near Polaris? Here are some events happening this week:

• Photos with Santa at Polaris Fashion Place – click here for the dates and times.

• Check out the sales happening at Polaris Fashion Place Mall.

• Tim’s Karaoke at Blue Agave every Wednesday of December from 6:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M.

• Rave Motion Pictures: two new movie openings on 12/9/11 including New Year’s Eve and The Sitter. Click here for movie times.

• Go for a 4 mile run at Sharon Woods Metro Park annual Holiday Run located at 6911 Cleveland Avenue, Westerville, OH 43081   on Sunday December 11th 2011 at 9:00 A.M. Click here for more info.

• Otterbein University’s theater and dance presents  a production of ‘Angels in America Part 1: Millennium Approaches’. Tickets are $15 and student discounts are available. The performance is located on Otterbein’s campus at Campus Center Theatre, 100 W. Home St., Westerville from December 1-3, 7-9, 2011. Check out more info here.

•  W.A.R.M. Food Drive hosted by Otterbein alumni. Help the needy this holiday season by donating canned goods. Drop off points include WARM, 175 E. Broadway, the Westerville-area Kroger stores on E. Schrock Road and Maxton Road.

Personal Review: Mulan Asian Bistro

Mulan is an authentic asian restaurant located in a strange location in Polaris. By strange, I mean it is located behind several other restaurants and near a daycare.

The restaurant is actually quite nice featuring modern decor and even offering a full bar. I noticed the restaurant is especially quiet, during lunch hours probably because no one really even knows it even exists. Their lunch menu is extensive and offers generous portions. I’m pretty sure if you go during dinner time, it wouldn’t be packed so its a great place if you’re looking to have a quiet and nice dinner. Whats so different about Mulan compared to other asian restaurants is they offer such a wide range of asian style cuisine anywhere from fresh Vietnamese Summer Rolls to the popular General Tso Chicken.

Regarding prices, it may seem a little more expensive to Panda Express or any other fast food Chinese restaurants, but the quality of the food definitely explains the price. The price of any entree can range anywhere from $10-$15.

Whether you are dining it or carrying out, the food is always comes out promptly and made fresh. The employees are also very polite and helpful, especially if you are a new customer. Mulan is worth trying, especially during their lunch hours from 11 A.M. – 3 P.M.

Mulan is located at:

50 Neverland Drive
Lewis Center, OH  43035

Visit their official website:

http://www.mulanasianbistro.com

Personal Review: Crazzy Greek

Crazzy Greek offers something unique for everyone compared to other gyro’s restaurants around Polaris. They offer a wide variety of Greek specialties and Mediterranean cuisine.Located in a quiet plaza in Polaris off of Sancus and Lazell next to Cardinal Fitness, Crazzy Greek is packed during lunch hours and is especially popular among many people who work near the area.

Although it might not look fancy when you walk in as other Greek gyro restaurants in Polaris, it kind of feels homey. However the food definitively makes up for its lack of decor.  The employees are always welcoming, even offering extra servings of their special sauce or drinks to regular customers. They make the food right where you stand in line to order and everything is made fresh. Their serving sizes are always generous, topping every single gyro overflowing with your choice of meat such as lamb or chicken, especially if you order the jumbo size gyros. The prices are also decent for the amount of food you get, ranging from under $10 per entree.

Crazzy Greek gyro

Crazzy Greek also offers delivery around the Polaris area.

Crazzy Greek is located at:

8325 Market Exchange Drive  Westerville, OH 43081

Visit their official website:

http://www.crazzygreek.com/

New Shops around Polaris

 

Polaris continues to expand with a few recent store openings, including a new Tim Hortons and a Jason’s Deli.

Jason’s Deli is a sandwich/sub restaurant and it is the second location to be opened in Ohio, with their other store located in Grandview Heights. Their newest location in Polaris is located just across the Rave movie theater at 1122 Gemini Place.

Tim Horton’s new store is conveniently located at 300 Polaris Parkway.

 

Review: The Suisse Shop Bakery

Cheesecake from The Suisse Shop Bakery

The Suisse Shop Bakery is discreetly located near one of Polaris’ many plazas. They specialize in a variety of baked goods, but are well known for their European style pastries. Creating anything from wedding cakes to cupcakes, The Suisse Shop has been a favorite among many.

The Suisse Shop was founded by a Swiss baker, Therese Whitfield in August  1983. They have well over 300 European style recipes in their bakery and their unique artistic creations on their pastries truely make them one of a kind.

After ordering a few times from The Suisse Shop, from cupcakes, cookies, to cheesecakes, everything tasted excellent and was very high quality compared to the average baked goods from a grocery store. The Suisse Shops offers something sweet for everyone.

The employees were very helpful, especially when it came to customizing a cake for a special occasion such as a birthday or just simply ordering a cake for a family event. I also noticed they were very helpful towards customers who just walked into the shop, buying a few cookies.

“I’ve been a regular customer of The Suisse Shop for years. I always come to them when I need to order a cake for a birthday or a family gathering. The employees are not only helpful, but they always make sure you get what you ask for when designing a special cake. I’m always pleased with how everything always turns out. I’ve definitely told all my friends and family to come here, every time they’re looking for something sweet!”, says Danee Pen , a regular customer of The Suisse Shop.

Overall, The Suisse Shop Bakery is great for someone who is looking for something sweet and different that is certainly not found in your average grocery store.

The Suisse Shop is located at:

2119 Polaris Pkwy
Columbus, OH 43240

Visit their official website:

www.thesuisseshop.com

Polaris Lifestyle Family Fitness Closing

Life Time Fitness just bought out Lifestyle Family Fitness several locations around Columbus including one in the Polaris area. As of now, it is scheduled to close permanently by the end of November.

Life Time Fitness is currently offering membership transfer options to those members effected by the closures throughout the end of the month. There will be no increase in membership fees or any upfront fee required during this transition.

I’ve contacted a member at the Lifestyle Family Fitness in Polaris and asked them their opinion on the closing so I will be updating this post soon.

[Update]

It may come to a surprise for many longtime Lifestyle Family Fitness members as they have decided to close many of their locations in Columbus, including the one in Polaris.

“To be honest, I’m upset that this happend so suddenly. I’ve been at this gym for years now and I’ve even met a few friends here. It has become kind of a daily routine for us to meet here and catch up, while staying healthy at the same time. I’m also sad I won’t be seeing the wonderful employees here as well. They were always so welcoming and helpful to everyone,” says long time Lifestyle member, Alex Dixon.

Polaris Lifestyle Family Fitness members are now forced to either continue their contract at other locations or even begin a whole new gym membership at other gyms located around the Polaris area. Some of these gym includes the popular Urban Active Fitness Club, Cardinal Fitness,  and Metro Fitness.

“I probably will have to go to some gyms around the area. I’m not willing to drive down to the other locations that are still open simply because it is not convenient for me anymore.”

For more information, check out Lifestyle’s official website here.

Santa Visits Polaris

Santa will be at the Polaris Fashion Place for pictures on November 14th-November 23rd from 10:30 A.M. – 3 P.M.  and 3:45 P.M. – 8 P.M.

Click here for more details at the official Polaris Shopping Center website.

They also will be having a special photo event with Santa for children with autism. Polaris Fashion place will be providing a comfortable and suitable environment around Santa’s area. This event will be held on December 4th,  from 9 A.M. – 11 A.M.

Otterbein’s Annual Tree Lighting

Otterbein is hosting another annual tree lighting December 2nd, 2011 at 5:30 P.M. located near Towers Plaza.

The ceremony will begin with a holiday message given by Rev. Monty Bradely, followed by the tree lighting countdown lead by President Krendl. Santa Claus will also make an appearance while the choir helps ring in the holiday’s with various Christmas carols.

This tradition has taken place since the 1960s Dr. Turner’s administration as stated by Bob Gatti, who is the president of Student Affairs at Otterbein. Following the annual lighting, there will also be the traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Campus Center.

Everyone is welcomed to attend.

[Update]

Last friday, Otterbein held their annual tree lighting. Otterbein’s annual tree lighting was held a little later then previous years, due to the universitys’ recent switch from quarters to semesters. This years tradition took place just two weeks before the fall semester ends. This particular event happens to be one of the school’s biggest events during the holiday season.

“The tree lighting always helps sets the mood for the holidays around our school. I always try to make it since my freshman year. It’s important to me since I am so far away from my family and home. I can’t really celebrate the start of the holiday’s with them until break so Otterbein is the next best thing. Otterbein and the community is like my second family and home,” says Tina D., a junior at Otterbein.

The festivities began at 5:30 P.M. just outside the Tower’s Plaza. The festivities was no different then the previous years. Many students and community members around the Westerville neighboring areas showed up to help celebrate the start of the holidays right at Otterbein.

Otterbein’s president, Kathy Krendl first lit up the light’s on the trees around the plaza then Otterbein’s choir proceeded to sing Christmas carols, while encouraging the crowd to sing along. Various student government members passed candy cane treats among the crowd.After a few words from Monty Bradley who wished everyone a happy holidays, all the children began exclaiming excitedly as they saw Santa coming to join everyone for the festivities.

The tree lighting event soon ended and everyone then began heading towards the Campus Center, where a Thanksgiving Dinner was to take place.

Personal Review: BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse

 

BJ’s is a chain restaurant who opened one of its three location in Ohio at the Polaris Mall shopping center a few years ago. BJ’s features a full bar, a wide selection of dishes also including what seems like a never ending combination of types of pizzas, and t.v.’s scattered throughout every angle in the restaurant which makes BJ’s a full house during major sports games.

They also feature a curbside takeout (as most chain restaurants do now), happy hour specials, kids/takeout menus, and on Monday-Friday from 11 P.M.-3 P.M. is when the lunch specials starts.

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BJ’s is by no means a romantic place. At this specific location, it was pretty loud and had a bar-like feel too it (well it does have a bar as stated in the beginning). It’s definitely a casual place that would be a great restaurant for those looking for a place to dine-out with a group of friends.

Out of the many times I’ve been to BJ’s, I’ve only had to wait to be seated once and it was only a 5-10 minute wait. The hosts/hostess are all welcoming and promptly seated my boyfriend and I to a small booth. The servers we’ve had were very attentive and quickly brought our food to us.

I typically would order different things every time I go to BJ’s, but for this specific review, I ordered their Mediterranean pizza as well as their mozzarella sticks for an appetizer.

The mozzarella sticks were really good, I noticed it was not salty like most mozzarella sticks I’ve tried at other restaurants. The pizza was just as excellent.

Overall, there is not much to say other then this is one of the better chain restaurants out there.

Polaris Founders Park

A 1.5 acre park, known as the “Polaris Founders Park”, was opened in the Polaris area behind the Microsoft office building at 8800 Lyra Drive on October 5th, 2011. Some features of the park include a one mile walking path, a gazebo, two waterfalls, and an intricate 35 foot sculpture of the Polaris Star.

The park was developed by the founders of Polaris and was inspired by Bob Echele, who was the visionary behind Polaris. The developers planned the creation of the $500,000 park five years ago and kept in mind Echele’s love for the Japanese culture and Colorado Mountains, as well as the visitors and workers of Polaris.  Franz Geiger, Limited NP manager and other founders held a dedication ceremony for Echele, which was marked as the parks’ official opening.

Polaris Founders Park is now open to the public.

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[Edit]: Recently went to the park and it was closed off as you can see from some of the pictures above. Nonetheless, it looked beautiful from what could be seen.