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Uno Pizzeria & Grill, 5304 Sunset Boulevard, Lexington, SC 29072   7 comments

Posted at 11:04 pm in closing

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[In happier times, 9 March 2014]

Well, this one hits closer to home than most as Uno has been one of my go-to places over the years to a greater or lesser degree.

I first got acquainted with Pizzeria Uno (the actual name of the place seems to have been given in different ways in different places) in the Georgetown section of Washington DC back when I was often working projects in that area. We were generally on some sort of deadline, and working late, and I knew that Uno would be reliably open until, I believe at that time and place, Midnight, so I would break out the rental car and head on over when I got back to the hotel (No Metro to Georgetown..)

I had no idea the Lexington location existed until well after it opened. Before I started this blog, Lexington was as remote to me as Columbus, and I had no clue what might be found in its untracked wilds. In the event, one of my cousins mentioned it and eventually I tracked it down. For a long time, like the Georgetown location, it was regularly open late, in this case until 11PM, and I would generally find myself there about once a week 9:30 or later. It got to the point that one of the waitresses would put in my order when she saw me come in the door. Then they moved the weeknight closing back to 10PM, and I was generally unable to get over there from Forest Acres. In retrospect, this was Sign #1 and it should have tipped me off.

I still went every now and then on the weekend until the pandemic hit, and it took longer than a lot of other places for Uno to reopen dine-in, and when they did, they were closing so early (8PM in some cases) that once again I was unable to make it over there. They never did get back to an 11PM closing, even on the weekends though they were open until 10PM then by the end.

As I mentioned in Have Your Say, I was actually there Saturday 23 April, the penultimate day of operation. At the time, there was no sign of anything wrong, and the staff were joking around with each other as they started winding down for the evening.

I really enjoyed the deep dish Chicago pizza, and they had some of the best iced tea in the area.

Here is the announcement on Facebook and here is an article in the Lexington Chronicle. Additionally, this Franchaise Times article gives some background on the chain including the observation that:

“I think the company got too far away from pizza,” said Erik Frederick, CEO of Uno Pizzeria & Grill.

I think there may be some truth to that as a lot of the menu (which I never sampled) was standard casual dining.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 28 June 2022 -- Some post-closing pictures:

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UPDATE 14 August 2022: *Well!* -- This building has been razed! That surprises me some, and suggests that Uno could probably have continued for longer, but someone made them, or the property-owner a better offer:
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Written by ted on April 25th, 2022

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7 Responses to 'Uno Pizzeria & Grill, 5304 Sunset Boulevard, Lexington, SC 29072'

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  1. This was my go to take-out pizza place despite it being a little on the pricey side and their being a Mellow Mushroom across the street from my neighborhood. My teenage son and I liked the deep dish...my husband, not so much. Any deep dish lovers out there want to toss me some deep dish recommendations now?

    Beth

    27 Apr 22 at 10:15 am

  2. Old Chicago in the Vista isn't bad though it is not the same style of deep dish.

    ted

    27 Apr 22 at 11:39 am

  3. According to the P&C part of this lot is to become California based fast casual restaurant Habit Burger.

    Larry

    14 Sep 22 at 9:53 am

  4. @Larry. Looks similar to Five Guys, Smashburger, or Wayback Burgers. Just what we need...another burger joint. The Smashburger in Lexington wasn't too far away and didn't survive.

    Beth

    15 Sep 22 at 8:10 am

  5. I've never understood the appeal of Smashburger. It's not that they are bad, but they are way more expensive than need be for what they are.

    The Uno building has been torn down now and they are getting the site ready for the new build.

    Gypsie

    18 Oct 22 at 8:26 pm

  6. Sign is up for The Habit Burger Grill. It seems like it has taken forever for this to get up and running.

    Beth

    7 Nov 23 at 7:31 am

  7. Smashburger was sued in 2019, due to the Triple Double burgers not really having "three times the cheese and double the beef". They were actually using two smaller beef patties.

    Robin

    9 Nov 23 at 11:25 am

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