Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

While the restaurant proper was apparently not harmed, a major fire on Saturday night 26 October took down the offices, pits & distribution center for this longtime Midlands barbecue staple, forcing the chain to close at least on a temporary basis. According to the video links provided by commenters Logan, Dustin & Andrew, the cause of the fire is still unknown.

I have only eaten at Piggie Park once, but I thought it was pretty good, and figured I would be back some day. Hopefully that will still happen. The place has had a somewhat controversial history with the founder's politics being out of step with the modern South, but his heirs looked to have worked past that, and while various locations have featured here from time to time the chain has remained a local constant.

The pictures above were taken on 25 March 2012, well before the fire. You can see the news reports of the blaze here, here & here.

(Hat tip to commenter Logan)

This restaurant closed as simply 1801 Grille in late 2022, and then reopened in early 2023 under the new branding of Angell Brothers 1801 Grille (which meant they didn't have to take the sign down for one thing!), closing again as of late last month. I believe USC has ownership of the building, and is involved in the operations as well, which doesn't currently look like a good thing.

Some, unspecified, new concept is in the offing, and The State has the story.

As I mentioned the first time, I believe, it's a nice looking space, with an attractive canopied patio. I would expect it to do a decent business with all the students about though it does seem to have been a bit on the high end, with $14.50 lunch chicken tenders...

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

It's unclear to me whether this is a new operation or just a reflagging, but Chicki's Wings on Broad River in the old Taco Bell/Atlantic Seafood building is now Wings House.

Curiously, though the Grand Opening flags are out, the place was not open during their posted Saturday hours.

New York Pizza & Pasta was the follow-on in this little US-1 building to another pizzeria, Palmono's, which was a follow-on to Reds On Augusta.

According to their Facebook they appear to have closed on 31 August. The menu looks decent, but I was never in the area at the right time to try it out.

(Hat tip to commenter JamesR)

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I believe it is safe to borrow commenter Larry's phrase

Well the renovations are extensive

for this Knox Abbot Drive Zaxby's.

This also appears to have entailed knocking down the Sprint building at some point.

As commenter Larry mentions, Liberty Tap Room is going through extensive renovations -- so extensive that in fact it will open as a new restaurant Taco Mundo Kitchen y Cantina. This is another place I never got to, though I think I may have been to the one in Myrtle Beach, which is still open as far as I can tell.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Judging from the Google reviews, this place probably closed sometime this Spring. The closing is also marked "Temporary", but we'll see. You might think that sitting across from two campuses of hungry kids would be a good place for a sandwich shop, but I have to say that the Google reviews have about the highest concentration of one star ratings I have seen anywhere, so perhaps you really can't sell sizzle.

UPDATE 17 June 2025 -- Open again, under new management:

Looking at the Google Reviews, as well as the cafe's Facebook, it seems that O'Hara's was not making book as a table-service cafe, and tried converting to a counter-service bagel shop, which didn't bring in enough new traffic while alienating the existing clientele. This also invoved Rules #1 & #6.

The owners remain committed to the spot, and it sounds from the most recent Facebook post, that something new may be in the offing.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Perry's Gourmet Flaming Grilled Chicken (there's a mouthfull by itself!) opened in this former Taco Cid building in on 29 August of 2022. WLTX had the story here.

Apparently the chicken was Portuguese style, which I am not familiar with, but they had traditional Southern items as well. The Google reviews are almost uniformly positive, though there are not a ton of them, which may be an indication they weren't getting the volume they needed.

And of course, the building is odd and old, something Taco Cid finally gave up on, so there may well be a lot of issues to be addressed as indicated in the Closed For Remodeling sign. Unfortunately I don't see any work going on, and those signs are often more aspirational than accurate. Hopefully that won't be the case here and they will be back, but we'll see.

(Hat tip to commenter Payne)

I had meant to go by the Festival on Saturday when I would have had some time to walk around, but in the event forgot about it completely somehow, and ended up dropping by Sunday afternoon. By that time all the Galaktoboureko was gone, but I did snag some Baklava & Kataifi to take home. There looked to be a pretty good crowd, and the weather was great, in fact unusually warm for late September!