American Craft Tavern

First departures out of CMH? American Craft Tavern is actually open.

Both locations sit pre-security in Terminal T, with Concourse C posted at 04:30–19:30 and Concourse B at 05:00–19:30, so this is one of the few spots reliably serving the 6 a.m. bank of flights. Being pre-checkpoint means you can meet an arriving passenger, grab a bite, then split to different concourses when TSA opens.

American Craft Tavern runs a middle-of-the-road $$ price tier, typical airport bar territory: you’re paying airport markups, but it’s not steakhouse money. The menu leans standard American bar fare with a local-ish tilt, but the standout here is the lineup of leafy green salads, which beat another sad heat-lamp sandwich from a generic kiosk.

The Concourse C location lines up well if you’re on airlines using gates C50–C60 and arrive early from downtown, since you can eat at 5:00 a.m. and still hit TSA with time to spare. Concourse B’s branch works for the “good meals and sweet treats” crowd heading for B gates that might otherwise default to Land-Grant or similar spots later in the day.

CMH regulars on Skytrax call the airport’s food scene “pretty weak,” and American Craft Tavern fits that mold as a basic bar format. Expect draft beer, simple cocktails, and salads or burgers that do the job but won’t be a story you tell at 30,000 feet. Use it as a functional stop, not a destination: hydrate, eat greens, move on.

Tip: if you’re tight on time, order a salad to go at Concourse B by about 18:45; that gives you a buffer before the posted 19:30 close and lets you get through security and to a B-gate departure without eating at the jet bridge.