Hungry Bull Family Steak House / Tez's / Fannigans / Royal China Super Buffet / 360 Sports Grill / Apple Bottom Sports Grill / Onyx Sports Lounge / Pandora, 826 Bush River Road: 2012 26 comments
I'm not sure what this building was originally, but it sits just to the right of Heartbreakers and behind the Shell Station on Bush River Road.
I do seem to recall that Apple Bottom, or perhaps the previous club in this building, was somehow connected with the former Burger Time in Dutch Square.
Interestingly, the only place I could actually see in the windows seems to have sort of an Asian theme going on. [UPDATE, see below]
UPDATE 13 February 2014: Added 360 Sports Grill to the post title based on commenter Sidney's info. Also Royal China Super Buffet.
UPDATE 14 February 2014: As identified by commenter Jason H, this was a Hungry Bull steakhouse as late as 1976 from which year's phonebook I have taken the ad that is now at the top of the page.
UPDATE 16 February 2014: Added Fannigans and Tez's to the post title based on the comments.
UPDATE 7 February 2018 -- As mentioned in the comments, this place became Pandora and then was burned down. It has now finally been demolished:
26 Responses to 'Hungry Bull Family Steak House / Tez's / Fannigans / Royal China Super Buffet / 360 Sports Grill / Apple Bottom Sports Grill / Onyx Sports Lounge / Pandora, 826 Bush River Road: 2012'
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Sidney
13 Feb 14 at 10:39 pm
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And isn't the same spot that used to be 360 Sports Bar and Grill?
Sidney
13 Feb 14 at 10:40 pm
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"360", yeah that rings a bell, and google confirms it -- I'll add that to the post title.
ted
13 Feb 14 at 10:44 pm
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And, yep, "Royal China Super Buffet", so I'm adding that too..
ted
13 Feb 14 at 10:50 pm
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There were some other businesses in this general area, that might have been in either this building, the Heartbreakers building, or somewhere close by: Tez's Mexican restaurant, The Hungry Bull, Fannigan's (I think it was more of a club of some sort).
badger
13 Feb 14 at 11:25 pm
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I remember the 360 as well and mentioning it when said place closed, it just hadn't featured here yet...
Andrew
14 Feb 14 at 12:40 am
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Wasn't there a steakhouse there at one time? Maybe Ponderosa Steak Barn. It's hard to tell with all of the additions to the building.
Homer
14 Feb 14 at 12:52 am
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I think it was a Bonanza steakhouse in the early 70's.
Arthur
14 Feb 14 at 8:34 am
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I think that it was a bar-b-q place one time. I also once heard that the owner of 360 had wanted to make it a family restaurant, but was scared that having a strip club next door would prevented that from being successful , so he made it a sports bar.
Tom
14 Feb 14 at 1:56 pm
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It was a Hungry Bull steakhouse in the early 70s.
Jason H
14 Feb 14 at 4:40 pm
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Back in the 70's and 80's my Wife and I used to love The Sizzlin and Western Steer Steak Houses here in Columbia. The had a fairly good steak at a reasonable price. Three out of five visits, I would get the Sirloin Tips, steak fries, salad, iced tea, hot rolls, man I could go for that meal right now. Hmmm.. those of you that have read some of my replies in the past may know I still want to open another business. Thinking about Sizzlin Steak House, do you think a steak house of that type and style would be profitable in todays climate? Rick's Western Steer Sizzlin Steak House. Just thinking.
Rick
14 Feb 14 at 5:39 pm
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@Jason H - I would have never remembered The Hungry Bull if my life depended on it!! But once I saw your post I said to myself. "That was it!!". When I was growing up we would go out for steaks about once a month after a Saturday shopping spree at Dutch Square. Mom would always get the small sirloin while Dad and I would order the large. Then he and I would embarrass Mom by going to the salad bar and see just how much we could pile into the bowl.
Homer
15 Feb 14 at 12:58 am
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@Rick - that's really hard to say whether there is a market for that style of restaurant any longer (even though I would love to see them return). The whole 'family' restaurant concept seems to be a dying breed. There were the Sizzlin, Western Steer, Ponderosa, etc. style restaurants as well as Shoney's that all seemed to fall by the wayside when the likes of Applebee's, Ruby Tuesday's, Longhorn's, Outback, etc. sprung up. Heck, Ryan's practically reinvented itself from it's original concept.
You would need something to grab people's curiosity to make them want come in. Then you would have to make damn sure you had quality product at a reasonable price to make them want to spread the word and to return. You would also have to weight the whole alcohol thing. Remember that none of the old 'family' style restaurants served any. But to complete with the 'fast casuals' you would almost have to have a beer and wine license. I don't know if I would go to the trouble of maintaining a license for the hard stuff though.
I went to Longhorn's for lunch recently and did a double take at the menu. I thought they had given me the dinner menu by mistake. I had a 10oz rib-eye with a baked potato, side salad and tea. My bill before taxes and tip was about $23.00!!!! FOR LUNCH!!!!!
Please bring back a reasonably priced steak house!!!!
Homer
15 Feb 14 at 1:27 am
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In the mid 80's this place was Fannigans nightclub. It was great place. I was the dj there. We would be slammed everynight. It had a raised dance floor and a glassed in DJ booth. This was the sister club to the Fannigans in Charleston on East Bay St. On opening night we had so many people trying to get in they were parking at the Kmart down the street and in the emergency lane on the off ramp next to the club. We bought an air cannon and would shoot wads of cash across the dance floor. People would lose their minds. It also had a small oyster bar just to the left of the door. - Ahh the good old days - my how times have changed.
Kc
15 Feb 14 at 2:48 pm
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OK, so if this location was both Fannigan's and the Hungry Bull, it must have also been Tez's because I remember the radio spots identifying Tez's as being in the "old Hungry Bull location."
badger
15 Feb 14 at 3:26 pm
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This building was a Western Sizzlin' Steak House when it opened in the early 70's. It was never a "Hungry Bull". The Hungry Bull was on Knox Abbott Drive. The original Bush River Rd exit off the Highway went right past it and some Hotel that used to be next to it. The Scottish Inn Hotel was across the street and next to it was the "E-Z Mart" and behind that was a place called "The Duke and Duchess" Restraunt.
CayceKid
16 Feb 14 at 12:16 am
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@CK -- look at the ad at the top of the post -- there were three Hungry Bulls in town, and this was one of them.
The Decker building is gone, but the Garners Ferry building is now Eric's San Jose.
ted
16 Feb 14 at 12:44 am
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@Rick. The biggest reason that I do not go to Ryan's or Lizard's Thicket as much as I would like to go is because they do NOT serve liquor (not even beer or wine). If Lizard Thicket served liquor, I'd probably be in there 3 or 4 times a week. And I'd go to Ryans at least once a week for the kids because they like that place.
Sidney
16 Feb 14 at 9:49 am
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Tez was here however he later moved to Irmo
Kc
16 Feb 14 at 2:01 pm
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@Sidney.. I tend to agree, there are some places that I might go to more often if I could have a drink or two when I felt the time was right. So... maybe that's the spin on my steak house idea. Good steaks, good price, have a drink or two when the wife starts wearing me down with her constant chatter, or at least, to where I don't care, and all is perfect with the world.
I love it. Great Idea. Where can I go NOW in Columbia to get that? I don't think there is a place. Let me hear from all the husbands for a place like that. Rah.. Rah.. Would have to do something to make the women like it also, kind of a hidden reason to go. I have a felling I'm about to get slammed for this comment.Rick
16 Feb 14 at 2:13 pm
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There was a Western Sizzlin' and Western Steer on Knox Abbott in the early 80s. Being born in 78, I might be a little too young to remember The Hungry Bull.
TahoeChic
17 Feb 14 at 8:46 pm
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Sadly there are no steak houses or a decent steak in Lexington
KC
19 Feb 14 at 8:05 pm
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December 1984. I was there at Fannigans with the damn "Air Cannon". Before that, Tez's. Before that, Hungry Bull.
Doug
7 Nov 14 at 2:31 pm
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Am not sure of the exact date, however, I leased the property after it had been a Steak House of some sort, and went on to convert it into a beautiful Mexican Restaurant ! Our demise was largely in part of the exit ramp off 26, that came right by the restaurant, was closed due to start of the infamous "Malfunction Junction"! From there, I went and opened another Tez's in Friarsgate Blvd. All in all, we were quite successful in lasting 30 yrs. in business! And to this day, there are so many that were part of our success, still remember those great fun days and great food that we offered! Tez's became the first Mexican Restaurant in Columbia!
Frank Cortez
9 Nov 14 at 11:27 am
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Many great memories from Tez's (Friarsgate). One of my favorite hangouts of the 90's! Coolest sit up bar complete with red chili pepper lights. The friends we made there will last forever. I spoke with the great Tez himself the other night and we reminisced the great times and the laughs created by good people. Thanks Tez for providing the enviornment for special memories!
Doug
10 Nov 14 at 9:55 am
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In the fall of 2015 this building (which became into Pandora following the various places listed in the title of this post) burned as a result of an arsonist.
Sadly that meant the end of the Pandora but the charcoaled remnants continued to sit here.
I'm no property damage expert but I felt the best thing to do was schedule a date with the excavator for this building.
Tom reported on Have your say that this building was being razed and today I saw with my own eyes that the building is indeed being torn down.
Andrew
21 Jan 18 at 1:12 pm
I think that was that big Chinese Buffet place, wasn't it?