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Gooney Birds Sports Grill, 2250 Sunset Boulevard: 2000s   7 comments

Posted at 11:29 pm in Uncategorized

I had just turned out of Grecian Gardens on the adjacent block when I remembered about Gooney Birds and decided to get a few pictures. Of course that was after supper -- perhaps I'll add a day shot the next time I'm in the area and think about it.

I only ate at Gooney Birds once. I had a burger, and it was perfectly acceptable, but not something so incredibly good that I would pass dozens of other burger places to get over there. I don't recall much about the decor now, but at this remove, I'm wondering if the eponymous 'Gooney Birds' could have been The Gamecocks -- most years it seems as though it would fit well enough.

As do many buildings fitted out as restaurants, Gooney Birds has found new life as a Chinese Restaurant. (The other possibility would be a Lizards Thicket, but there was already one of those in the same parking lot :-)

UPDATE 3 Nov 2010 -- Here's a daylight picture, finally:

Written by ted on December 4th, 2009

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7 Responses to 'Gooney Birds Sports Grill, 2250 Sunset Boulevard: 2000s'

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  1. Awesome. My roommate used to tend bar at Gooney Bird's. For no good reason I can remember, he referred to it as "Goon-Dog's."

    Eva

    5 Dec 09 at 11:49 am

  2. There was also a Gooney Bird's at on of the grocery store shopping centers in Irmo. I think it closed before this one. I wish I had bought one of their t-shirts, because it was a pretty goony looking bird. It looked kinda like the "Instant Martian" from the WB cartoon, only white instead of green.

    badger

    5 Dec 09 at 5:54 pm

  3. When we moved to West Columbia, Gooney Birds became a favorite dinner stop. It was the first place I tried fried pickles and their wings were incredibly good as well as their raw fries which were always the perfect point between too limp and too crispy.
    When the owners sold the place it immediately changed for the worse. They also changed the name to Gooneys. (I believe that the ownership of the name was retained by the original owners and I have seen signs for Gooney Birds in the upstate). The last time I went was after calling in a to go order. I got there and everything was wrong. I had to wait 30 minutes for it to be fixed. The whole place was a disaster that night, and the new owner was apparently just sitting in the office letting things fall apart. They closed shortly after that as they had alienated all their loyal customers by wrecking the menu, having bad service, and generally breaking all Ted's rules for restaurants.

    Larry

    5 Dec 09 at 7:12 pm

  4. I used to go to the Gooney Birds in Irmo that badger is referring to - it was located next to the kroger at the intersection of lake murray blvd and st andrews rd. I had no idea there were other ones. The one in Irmo must of closed in the early 90's, as I believe it was gone by the time I graduated from Irmo High in 93. The food there was always good, and as Larry mentions, the fries were the best.

    Alex

    6 Dec 09 at 4:20 pm

  5. I used to eat at both Gooney Birds when I was younger. I remember the food always been good, and there was a good atmosphere.
    Never went after the name change, but from how the other poster above made it sound, I'm glad I didn't.

    Bill C.

    10 Dec 09 at 2:01 pm

  6. I had always heard that was a gooney birds in columbia. i grew up in spartanburg, eating at the one there after football games. I got to eat there new years eve 2006/2007. A few weeks later i got word that they had closed. which was fairly sad. The one in spartanburg is now a "Clock" restaurant.

    ashley

    8 Feb 10 at 2:18 am

  7. Gooney Birds was where Hemmingways is now. Hemmingways by the way is moving to the corner of that strip mall.

    Doug

    21 Nov 14 at 11:13 am

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