Cento

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Milestone Restaurant with a Story Worth Knowing

Cento opened in 2023 as Cameron Mitchell Restaurants' 100th concept — the name itself means "one hundred" in Italian — and the choice of location was deliberate. The building at 595 South Third Street in Columbus's German Village has been a working part of the neighborhood since 1904, when Louis and Henry Waldschmidt ran a horseshoeing and blacksmith operation from the ground floor. Over the following century it housed a hardware storage facility, an ice cream shop, a gourmet steakhouse, and a long-running bistro before Cento took over and transformed it into something new. That layered history gives the space a grounded, unhurried quality that no amount of design budget can manufacture.

The restaurant's wine program earned a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence in 2024 — recognition that reflects both the depth of the list and the seriousness with which the team approaches pairings. That same year, Columbus Monthly named Cento one of the city's best new restaurants, the German Village Society presented the team with its Commissioners' Caretaker of a Legacy Award for sensitivity to the neighborhood's architectural character, and Columbus Business First recognized it as the Best New Retail/Restaurant Project at its Building Columbus Awards.

The Kitchen Behind the Italian Cooking

Executive Chef Jonathan Deutschle has been building toward Cento for most of his career. He joined Cameron Mitchell Restaurants in 2007 as a pantry cook at Marcella's Short North, was promoted to Executive Chef there by 2010, and spent years developing his approach to Italian cooking before being chosen to lead Cento's kitchen when it opened. His philosophy is straightforward: centuries-old recipes meet local specialties, expressed through artistic, intentional daily features that shift with what's available and what's interesting.

The Italian cooking here is not fixed or museum-like. Deutschle describes an obsession with technique and research — reading cookbooks, studying regional traditions — that keeps the menu dynamic rather than static. The result is a kitchen that respects tradition without being bound by it.

The Space and the Experience

Cento is deliberately intimate. The dining room accommodates parties of up to six comfortably, with limited seating for eight, and the team asks guests to arrive no earlier than five minutes before their reservation — a small detail that signals how carefully the experience is managed. A Garden Terrazza is available daily for outdoor seating, with walk-ins welcome there and at the indoor bar, where the full menu is served.

The cocktail program leans into Italian aperitivo culture — Prosecco-based spritzes, an Espresso Martini finished with tiramisu and hazelnut, and a spiritless menu that takes the same care as the rest of the list. Happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 pm. Valet parking is available each evening from 5 pm.

General Manager Evan Miller, who has worked across multiple Cameron Mitchell concepts since 2017, describes his approach to each service as hosting a party where every guest should leave having had an extraordinary time. At Cento, that instinct meets a kitchen and a wine program that have already drawn serious outside attention — and a building that has been part of German Village for over a century.