Seafood eatery closes Gahanna location, to reopen Downtown in Little Palace site
Mar 19, 2025
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A Chicago-style fish and chicken restaurant that shuttered its Gahanna location after a few months of business is planning to reopen inside the Downtown building previously home to Little Palace.
Dawn's Fish and Chicken began operating inside High Street Kitchens, a ghos
t kitchen in Clintonville, last August before opening a Gahanna location at 134 N. Hamilton Road in December. While the Gahanna eatery has since closed, Dawn's is now planning to reopen at 240 S. Fourth St. in April, spokesperson Shenese Cox confirmed to NBC4.
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The eatery has gained a following for a Southern twist on Chicago-style fish and chicken, with menu items including deep fried lobsters, seafood boils, homemade mac and cheese, sweet potato pie and more. Dawn's is named after the owner's late mother, "to keep her spirit alive and pay tribute to her and introduce the city of Gahanna and Columbus with something they've never tasted," Cox previously said.
Dawn's is taking over the Downtown space most recently home to Little Palace, which closed in November after owners Tina and Randy Corbin announced they were unable to reach an agreement with the building's landlord. Watch a previous NBC4 report on Little Palace in the video player above.
The downtown Columbus building on South Fourth Street housing El Camino Inn and Little Palace. (Franklin County Auditor's Office)
The Corbins' announcement came shortly after the couple also shuttered El Camino Inn, a Mexican restaurant that operated in the same building as Little Palace at 238 S. Fourth St. El Camino, which opened in 2012 with tacos, margaritas and began selling vintage items last year, also closed due to "lease negotiations."
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Once open, Dawn's could soon be neighbors to a demolition site making way for a 24-story tower that will be built directly behind the building that housed El Camino and Little Palace. Plans call for bulldozing to last three to four months before construction begins on the tower in early 2026. ...read more read less