Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

This place goes back at least into the 50s when it was The Friar's Club, then it was Mary's Celebrity Supper Club, and then it was Ole Place Club, and, possibly after Mary Dixon's passing, (The New) Ole Place. I believe through all those times, and the ups & downs of Two Notch Road, it remained a membership-only bar & grill. Judging from the activity on their Facebook page it appears they closed around November of 2022.

Be sure to checkout the Celebrity Club link, and I have a picture of the Friar's Club on a postcard somewhere I will try to get uploaded.

I ate at this Pizza Hut several times over the years while hanging around Baptist Hospital for various reasons. Like the books you read in a hospital waiting room, meals you eat in a hospital context are never really that good, but I suppose it was a standard Pizza Hut, well enough executed.

The move to the old Church's Chicken location should give them some parking, and some traffic from the development that is replacing the old Gonzales Gardens. Curiously, they will still be near a hospital as well. The long period between closing this location and opening that one does seem kind of odd though.

(Hat tip to commenter Larry)

Ultimate California Pizza is one of the Grand Strand based Divine Dining Group's many concepts, and it's a good one. Their pizza is excellent, and they brew the iced-tea strong. I usually go to the one in Surfside Beach, but in the past I used to hit the ones in Murrells Inlet, or at Market Common fairly frequently. Unfortunely, those later two may feature here at some point as they are now gone.

I never made it to this one, in the Kroger-anchored Galleria plaza in North Myrtle Beach, though I kind of wish I had now, as it appears to have been their Chuck E. Cheese concept, except with more to offer adults. There are some quite nice pictures of the place on website, which is still up. I quite like this one. You can see the place in the daytime with the branding still up on the real estate listing. I find it quite amazing the the whole building is pegged at $11,250. Perhaps it's a typo.

As far as I can tell, it was COVID-19 that did them in. The last post on their blog is from March of 2020, and their last Facebook posts are from April of 2020, where at some point they mention combing operations with the Barefoot Landing location. The real estate listing apparently went up in mid July of 2020.

UPDATE 25 June 2023: There seems to be a consensus that this is a former Showbiz Pizza location as well, so I'm adding that to the post title. I barely ever got up here during the period mentioned, so I don't believe I ever saw it then.

Fusco's closed on a temporary basis last summer, but was open again by the end of June 2022. This time they are gone for good as a market, but they continue to prepare lunch and do catering from the adjacent Tavern On 6.

On 19 June, they announced on their Facebook that a new operation, Roxanne’s Market will be opening in their old location on 1 July.

Here is the post announcing their closing, and here is The State on the closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 4 October 2023 -- As mentioned in the comments, now Roxanne's Market:

For a long time, it was not clear if this restaurant was closing or not. I believe they were trying to direct traffic to their other location, in the old Ruby Tuesday building at Dutch Square, but were keeping this one, in a former Wendy's, open too for a while.

In the event, it is now definitely closed, and for sale, and you should head to Bush River Road for your down-home fix.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie & co)

UPDATE 9 October 2023 -- The place has been leased:

UPDATE 13 December 2023 -- A bit better picture of the "Leased" sign, but no more details on what will be going in:

UPDATE 7 Aug 2024 -- Now Braza Chicken:

UPDATE 15 October 2024 -- A slightly better, not pouring down rain, picture of Braza:

Hook Fish & Chicken is aparently a chain of sorts, though it's not clear to me that all the locations are closely related. At any rate, they were the follow-on operation in this building at 3600 River Drive to Lamb's Bread. Going by their Facebook page, they moved in January of this year to the row of shops on Colonial Life Boulevard which houses The Melting Pot:

We are more than happy to announce we will be back up and running THIS Saturday, January 14th.
We are coming back stronger than ever with a new partnership with KrabKingz! Come and see us at 1410 colonial life blvd Columbia sc 29210!!
We know you missed us, because we missed you!!!!!!! See y’all Saturday!

I didn't realize when I took the pictures that they had moved, or I would have tried to get some shots of the new location.

Here is The State on the opening in March of 2022.

UPDATE 19 June 2023 -- Here is the Krab Kingz location on Colonial Life:

UPDATE 1 October 2024 -- Hope springs eternal. Now River Grill House Of Pizza. I can't find any online presence, but House Of Pizza restaurants are traditionally run by Greek families:

UPDATE 5 February 2025 -- River Grill & Pizza is now open:

Speaking of Krystal, Franco's was the Krystal follow-on in this Murrells Inlet storefront, and if you look closely you can still the Krystal signage label-scar.

I never tried this place out as I have plenty of go-to pizza joints on the Grand Strand, and I've always found pizza described as "New York" to be underwhelming. I can't find any media reference to the place closing, but looking on the dates of Google reviews suggest it closed early this year.

UPDATE 9 July 2023: To become Mulberry Street NY Pizzeria

This highly visible spot at Sandhill has housed a several restaurants over the years. It started as Atlanta Bread Company, and was then a Panera until that operation moved to Killian Road.

Esther's opened in August of 2021, and so was there just a bit shy of two years. According to the place's Facebook, the chef will be doing pop-ups and other projects in the future, with one coming up on 25 June 2023 at Polo Park.

The State noted the closing here.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 15 June 2023 -- Here's the interior and closing sign:

This storefront is known to Google as Steve's Deli of WeCo for some reason or other, and appears to have been in business as recently as a month ago.

I don't believe I've ever had a Steve's sub, though there have been several around town for years. Jimmy Johns is my go-to, although Subway is OK. I probably ought to try one sometime, zooming in on the menu shows an All Cheese, which with Add bacon is a good place to start.

(Hat tip to Mr. Hat)

I admit to being a bit disenchanted with Buffalo Wild Wings. I never went to this location, but I used to go the the Devine Street store some because it was open late nights. I had one ongoing issue in that they would frequently be out of unsweet ice-tea. I know it's mainly a beer place, but my theory is that if you are out of something easy to make, and it's two hours before closing: make more. The other insight I had came when I ordered the hot pretzels one night, and decided I would rather have butter than cheese sauce or mustard. There was none. I'm sorry, but if you don't have butter in the kitchen, you're not a real restaurant. (Doesn't have to be in a individual packet, just put some in dressing cup and it will be fine..). Anyway, that's just one man's opinion.

As I mentioned a few posts ago, I sometimes go the the neighboring Applebee's, and from what I could see across the way, Buffalo Wild Wings seemed to be doing a pretty good business. Coupled with the recent closings of the nearby Wild Wing at Sandhill and the Vista Wild Wing, it makes me wonder if the wings & beer restaurant is in decline.

Here is The State on the closing.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)