Restaurants Columbia Should Have

[Spartan]

Interesting. I think Hops was starting in Spartanburg.

I thought the Noisy Oyster replaced an Applebees?

[waccamatt]

Speaking of restaurants, Columbia is getting a Red Bowl Asian Bistro (VAS) and a Bluepoint Fish Club (also at VAS). Bluepoint is part of the Restaurants America group and the Columbia location is the 4th to open for the chain. (there isn't one in Greenville or Charleston, you say? Horrors!) I ate at the one in Tucson last May and it was excellent. This will be a great addition to Columbia's restaurant scene. If it does well maybe Restaurants America will bring some more of their upscale chains to Columbia.

Bluepoint

Restaurants America

A second Bonefish Grill is also opening in Columbia at Columbiana Center.

[MikesLogic]

Interesting. I think Hops was starting in Spartanburg.

I thought the Noisy Oyster replaced an Applebees?

That was the one downtown They have locations in N Charleston, Johns Island and DT. The only Hops I knew of in Charleston was in N Chas.

[Spartan]

Oh ok. I did not realize the Noisey Oyster had multiple locations.

[CorgiMatt]

Speaking of restaurants, Columbia is getting a Red Bowl Asian Bistro (VAS) and a Bluepoint Fish Club (also at VAS). Bluepoint is part of the Restaurants America group and the Columbia location is the 4th to open for the chain. (there isn't one in Greenville or Charleston, you say? Horrors!) I ate at the one in Tucson last May and it was excellent. This will be a great addition to Columbia's restaurant scene. If it does well maybe Restaurants America will bring some more of their upscale chains to Columbia.

Bluepoint

Restaurants America

A second Bonefish Grill is also opening in Columbia at Columbiana Center.

When are we getting these restaurants? How did you find out? Where are they going to be?

[waccamatt]

When are we getting these restaurants? How did you find out? Where are they going to be?

All of those will be opening in the next month or 2; Red Bowl and Bluepoint have signs at VAS and the restaurants are under construction and Bonefish at Columbiana Center is u/c as well.

[Temeteron]

All of those will be opening in the next month or 2; Red Bowl and Bluepoint have signs at VAS and the restaurants are under construction and Bonefish at Columbiana Center is u/c as well.

Bonefish is going to be at Columbiana *Place* which is the plaza on Bower Parkway...not Columbiana Centre(the mall)....just thought I'd correct you

[waccamatt]

Bonefish is going to be at Columbiana *Place* which is the plaza on Bower Parkway...not Columbiana Centre(the mall)....just thought I'd correct you

Thanks Tem, I rarely go out to the suburbs so one Columbiana is like another to me.

[Temeteron]

Thanks Tem, I rarely go out to the suburbs so one Columbiana is like another to me.

you're welcome! Yeah they are so unoriginal with names around here

[Charleston native]

That was the one downtown They have locations in N Charleston, Johns Island and DT. The only Hops I knew of in Charleston was in N Chas.

Wow, the Noisy Oyster sure has grown since I ate there last. I did know that they relocated on Rivers Avenue to the old Hops and they moved to where Carrie's used to be on Johns Island right by the Stono River. However, I did not know they went DT to the Applebee's on East Bay. I will take my wife there sometime; she would love it!

[Temeteron]

There seems to be land being cleared on one of the outparcels at the Village at sandhills...i hope its a On the Border, or Uno's Chicago Bar & Grill or something we dont already have! On another note, I just tried some pizza from the new Little Caesars off Hardscrabble/Clemson Rd. I must say it isnt all that, and their breadsticks are horrible(rubbery)!

[BryCola]

There seems to be land being cleared on one of the outparcels at the Village at sandhills...i hope its a On the Border, or Uno's Chicago Bar & Grill or something we dont already have! On another note, I just tried some pizza from the new Little Caesars off Hardscrabble/Clemson Rd. I must say it isnt all that, and their breadsticks are horrible(rubbery)!

We do have a Uno's in West Columbia/Lexington. Don't like it at all. Very average food.

[Temeteron]

I know about the one in Lexington, i love Unos! I meant we dont have one as in 'Columbia' doesnt have one

[DigitalSky]

i love Unos!

Me too. Unos is great

[peaceloveunderstanding]

Unos is good but a little too expensive for what it is imo. It has a neat theme though.

[waccamatt]

Bluepoint seafood is now open at Village at Sandhill.

[Mr.Marc]

Columbia needs a Dave and Buster's. Im sick of seeing the commercials on television and the closest one is in Charlotte.

[deibu]

New here, mostly -- have been a lurker since last summer but haven't posted.

It's great to say what chain restaurants we have or haven't got, because it makes a great comparison to other cities to see whether or not we are a worthwhile market in Columbia as a city to have their restaurant. However, I don't think that's anything near what we should aim for. Chain restaurants expand by market, based on what sameness their marketers see as successful in another city. Sometimes the food can be quite good, but regardless, it is the same old prepackaged, premarketed menu of frozen goods that can be marketed anywhere. Is that what we should strive for? Attracting more chain restaurants is not what I want to see for Columbia at all.

I want to see more local destination restaurants, and not the same old chains that some business traveller depends on to get a crappy steak. We need to have more restaurants that are local, and have the kind of creativity that will make us unique(versus the same-old-salmon-and-tuna-and-hibachi-grill-andsteak-house places). Places like 33 Liberty in Greenville, Mr. Friendly's and Gervais & Vine in Columbia, and more places than I can name in Charleston (which is a culinary destination - people visit Charleston JUST to eat nowadays, and it definitely tops even Atlanta as far as restaurants go). This doesn't mean expensive - it just means being unique. I know Columbia can't ever hope to be a culinary destination necessarily, but by encouraging places that are unique, we can stand out as far as restaurants go.

However, speaking of chains.... lol... recently a thread on chowhound.com posed the question of which restaurant to visit in South Park while in Charlotte. Quite a few people said Harper's. That chain (which only has restaurants in Charlotte, Greensboro, Columbia and Lexington, KY) has made quite a few strides recently and keeps the menu seasonal. Fresh squeezed juice at the bar (fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and vodka is awesome and nothing near the bitter crap you would get anywhere else), seasonal menus, etc. We do have that one chain in Columbia which is pretty unique to this state. However, I would not be proud of getting yet another Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs, etc... Those kinds of places really mean nothing as far as there being good eats in town - it just means marketers think our town is "big" enough for the same old crap every other similar city has...

[digihoop]

Hi deibu, I agree completely!

[The_sandlapper]

I as well concour.

[krazeeboi]

Welcome to the forum deibu, and I too agree. Looking forward to more contributions from you.

[TheCarolinaKing]

Well after I posted this somewhere else I saw this thread and thought it might be the more appropriate place for my post...I hope I'm not breaking a rule if so I appologize in advance, but this really bothered me and I think it may prove helpful to others:

I made the mistake of attempting to have dinner party at The Rhino Room, and the experience was less than that which was expected. I heard great things about the restaurant prior to the evening of concern and had developed high hopes. So I made reservations originally for about 15 people, at the time of the initial reservation I was told that the restaurant could handle the number and if I received word of more attendees to simply inform the staff. A few days later I upped the number of the party from 15 to 20, and specifically asked if that number could be accommodated. I told the staff member I spoke with that people would most likely come in at various time through out the evening, some ordering entrees while others may simply use the bar. I was assured that whatever my guest chose to do would be okay.

After arriving the night of the event I was properly greeted by the staff and ordered a bottle of wine to share. After the arrival of a few more people, the waitress began taking orders. The atmosphere was pretty nice and I was looking forward to partaking of my stuffed lobster tail. After the soups and salads had been completed several of the members of my party were becoming concerned with he status of their entree. I asked the waitress about the matter and she informed me that no order could be placed until everyone had placed his or her order. So I made sure that everyone present who intended on eating had ordered and the orders were finally put in.

After the orders were put in to the kitchen a few more people showed up. I asked the staff to add the empty table adjacent to my party so that the recent arrivals could join the group. I made approx 4 requests to two different staff members however the table was never added.

I began to become frustrated with the difficulty in putting in the entree orders and inability for table to be added (which was never used by another party during the evening). Another group of attendees to my party came in and needed to be seated. Since there was no more space at the main group of table and the staff never added the requested additional table the new people had to be set in a different area of the establishment. I asked that they be seated behind me so that they would be close to the party however the staff sat the group in the farthest corner away from the main group saying that the section closest to me was closed and that was the only area available (the restaurant isn

[waccamatt]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience at the Rhino Room, as I've always had good experiences there. To be perfectly honest, though, I think you were asking an awful lot with all of these people coming in and out all night and wanting separate checks for everyone. It is hard enough to be a server with a party that is together for the entire dinner, but when people are coming in and out it would be very difficult to manage. Some of the other problems, like debit and credit card numbers being fully printed, are totally unacceptable.

[TheCarolinaKing]

Yeah I know 20 people is alot, but the reason it was there was because I was under the impression they could handel it. Other wise I would have looked else where or stuck with he old favorites, like Olive Garden. I had/have heard nothing but great things about the place but they dont change the difficulties I had, and yeah the credit card number thing is not good at all!

[Chi2Midlands]

Moving down from the DC area has obviously re-oriented us in terms of the restaurant scene. I will say that Columbia has a good selection of restaurants for a city it's size, and it helps to have the university and state government generate the customer demand for good food.

My wife tends to be of the "nice familiar chain" school - she like P.F. Chang's, Cheesecake Factory, etc. She tends to stick to what she likes. While I do like them, too, I do agree that they are basically semi-upscale suburban eateries, not true quality dining experiences. They tend to be in elite suburban malls in 1 million+ metros, hence why you see them in Charlotte's SouthPark area and not in any cities much smaller than that. While it would be nice to have these chains, I wouldn't hold my breath for them - they depend on a critical mass of a large population of upper-middle-class suburban folks who will visit these places regularly, not just occassionally. This is why you also don't see a Pottery Barn or Crate & Barrel in Columbia - you do not have enough people who will shop there like once every month or two, not just once or twice a year. The Columbia market is heavily weighted in favor of more discounted retail & restaurants - even in apparently upper-middle-class areas. That's why we, for example, tend to attract more Books-A-Millions rather than Borders'. And that's why we have tons of consignment stores, enough that there is even a good-sized "upscale consignment" niche. It is actually quite refreshing to not have such a large consumerist-yuppie demographic in Columbia. The day we get a Maggiano's (Italian version of P.F. Chang's) is the day I know we have, for better or worse, grown into a "big city". As such, I personally don't really miss the chains all that much.

We should strive to promote local eateries, and help them grow into local "chains". This can extend to ethnic food as well - look at San Jose and Miyo's/M Cafe. They should be encouraged to locate in new suburban plazas/strip centers/malls so that they aren't just boutique eateries in one location. Of course I would not be so snobbish as to totally avoid chains - they do provide quality and predictability when you need it (important for young families who can't always afford or at least manage "funky" or "unique" places). Kids' night at Olive Garden isn't the height of philistinism, after all.

We also love Santorini Grill - nice to have a locally-owned upscale Italian/Greek place. They should open locations in Lexington and Irmo.

That being said, here are some types of places I would like to see:

Thai (more of it): Waccmatt mentioned Baan Sawaan - we agree that it was fantastic! It is, of course, not the cheapest, but you definitely get what you pay for - it could compete in a much larger city. One more Thai place like it would be great - perhaps located in the Vista or something to balance out downtown. There are also a couple of Thai places in the St. Andrews area - it would be nice for at least one in Forest Acres or NE Richland so that folks on this side of town can enjoy Thai food.

Mexican (slightly more upscale): There is absolutely no shortage of Mexican restaurants in Columbia - especially with the (Eric's) San Jose and Monterrey chains. However, as much as I like the "comfort food" aspect of their menus, it would be nice to have one slightly more upscale Mexican or Tex-Mex that offers more daring items like Mole sauce. Even somthing like Austin Grill, a local DC-area chain, would be decent.

Gourmet Pizza (locally owned, a little funky): Mellow Mushroom is the closest thing we have to good gourmet pizza (that I'm aware of). However, it is a southeast regional chain. Za's is good, too, but at least the Sparkleberry location in NE Richland is a bit too "suburban" in feel (haven't been to the one on Devine Street). The model I am thinking of is Lost Dog up in Arlington, VA near DC (if anyone has heard of it). Perhaps I'm nitpicking, but Lost Dog was really good. Perhaps I should try out Za's on Devine?

Tapas: It's a darn shame Meritage closed - my wife and I celebrated our anniversary there; we liked it and compared it favorably to the tapas places we've tried in DC. Tapas is tricky becuase almost by definition the food is going to be a bit daring and ecclectic, and you need to share food with intimate friends/relatives (doesn't quite work in a formal business setting) - so it has to be in the right location with the right clientele nearby. We're a bit spoiled in the tapas department because DC was home to arguably the premier tapas chef on the East Coast - Jose Andres. His award-winning Jaleo (Spanish tapas) restaurants are legendary there, and he has opened spin-off tapas restaurants Zaytinya (Middle Eastern/Eastern Mediterranean), Oyamel (Mexican), and Cafe Atlantico ("Nuevo Latino"). While I don't expect this level of culinary experience (they are not chains like P.F. Chang's but depend on a large, steady supply of fairly upscale customers), just one good tapas place would be nice - again the Vista would be the best area. Is there another tapas place I'm missing? Why did Meritage close?