Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Sabor Latin Steet Grill was the follow-on operation to breakfast & lunch spot Le Peep which closed in April of 2019. Sabor opened in July of 2019, as reported in ColaDaily, giving it a run of something less than a year.

Although the pictured Family Box seems to hew towards standard Mexican items, my understanding is that Sabor had a fuller menu with items from other Southern countries, and I had it on my mental list to eventually visit. Unfortunately, the restaurant was caught up in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and was not able to last from its 21 March 2020 temporary closing into the coming (hopefully!) full reopening period. The Free Times has that story:

The Vista location of Sabor Latin Street Grill, a fast-casual restaurant chain out of Charlotte, closed late last month amid the coronavirus’ impact on area restaurants.

Mark Gardner, former general manager with the restaurant, confirmed to Free Times that the restaurant closed on March 21, and that the closure is now permanent. The restaurant had employed 22 workers.

“COVID-19 … just hurt sales too much,” Gardner explains.

Numerous restaurants throughout the area have grappled with takeout-only offerings since Gov. Henry McMaster closed South Carolina restaurant dining rooms on March 17 in an effort to enforce social distancing. Gardner says the Columbia Sabor gave takeout a shot, but it wasn’t successful enough to justify continuing.

“We tried that the first week, but the sales just weren’t there,” he says.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

I first wrote about this place back in 2007 in one of the earliest posts on this site. At the time, I was noting that it had ceased to be an Atlanta Bread Company. At some point after that, Panera moved in.

I ate there a number of times over the years, and considered it fairly well managed, especially compared to some of the other local locations, but looking at Yelp suggests it had begun to slip some lately.

The last reviews seem to be from the early April timeframe, which would put it during the current crisis. The door sign does not give that as a cause, just noting that they have "relocated" to Killian Road. Perhaps that was the plan all along. Certainly Sandhill is not a hot location now, especially in comparison to that area. In point of fact, I have eaten at the Killian location, and while it is more "modern", if that is the future direction for Panera, I really did not care for it.

(Hat tip to commenter Mr. Hat)

UPDATE 17 June 2021 -- Setting up to be Esther's Soul Food Kitchen:

UPDATE 5 June 2023: Add suite number to post title

Carolina Wings & Rib House has shed a number of locations over the last few years. According to the chain web site, they currently have five operating inasmuch as any restaurants are operating right now.

I was not aware of this Washington Street location at all until commenter Gary noted its closing. This one would have not have been too far from the Gervais Street location which is now Twin Peaks, though I guess it would have been too far for downtown office lunchers to hoof.

(Hat tip to commenter Gary)

And so it begins..

When my parents were still living, we ate at Yesterday's fairly often. In recent years, I have only gone a few times, but never worried about it, as I figured it would always be there. Hopefully they will come back.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I had to go out to mail something the other day, and decided I might as well check out the Steak n' Shake in Blythewood.

There has already been some discussion of this in various comments, with commenter Sidney putting this down to the classic real-estate trifecta: Location, location, location!. I'm sure that has something to do with it, but I believe the chain is having trouble in general. In particular, I know they exited Myrtle Beach last year and were having lots of problems even before the current mess.

The linked article says they closed 107 restaurants that "could not deliver excellent customer service" in 2019, so something is going on. Wikipedia says they adopted a new franchaise model in 2018, so perhaps that is not working out for them. Apparently some restaurants will re-open as counter-service only operations -- I do not know if this one will be among that group.

I have never eaten at a Steak n' Shake -- Columbia's only other one closed years ago, and has been razed -- but it has always been on my list to try someday. Oh well.

(Hat tip to commenter Shut it Down)

Carolina Cafe in Westland Square on Sunset Boulevard, which had been in this location since 2014, closed in early December so the owners could concentrate on their downtown business at 925 Sumter Street in Cornell Arms, according to ColaDaily.

The new owner already had plans for the spot, so the storefont did not sit empty for long, and is now open again as Sunshine Cafe & Catering, though the marquee sign has yet to be fully adjusted. ColaDaily noted the opening:

Sunshine Café, located at 2250 Sunset Blvd. in the Westland Shopping Center, will still offer beloved menu items like fresh-baked bagels and paninis, similar to the previous restaurant. However, owner Shutondia Culcleasure said Sunshine Cafe will be incorporating a “sweeter side” to the menu.

“We’ll have a variety of cheesecakes, red velvet, German chocolate, just a whole sweeter side to the bakery,” she said.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I was not aware of the tea-derived drink called Kombucha until I saw the news of this place closing. From the Coladaily article on the opening of The Favored Life in March of 2019, it sounds like an interesting process:

For those who are unfamiliar with the fermented drink, Gramblin described the process the tea undergoes to become kombucha: “First you start with sweet tea, and you put it in a fermentation jar. I use a ‘scoby,’ which [stands for] a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast – you have to grow it,” she said. “You stick them inside the gallon jar, and that eats the sugar out of the sweet tea, and outputs CO2. It takes all the sweetness out and replaces it with that fizzy taste.” She then removes the scoby, strains the liquid, and adds flavor with organic juices. The whole process takes approximately two weeks.

I like tea, but I'm not sure about fizzy tea. I guess I'm not against trying some. At any rate, as the Free Times reported, Columbia was possibly not ready for Kombucha, and The Favored Life closed its doors as a retail establishment in September or October of 2019.

The Carolina Strip Club steak-house was the follow-on operation in this spot to Bull Market & Taverna, something I was not aware of when I drove by, or I might have stopped and gotten pictures from the other side of the building as well for comparision.

According to The Free Times, the owner put the closure down to building issues and wants to try again in West Columbia:

“I love doing business in Columbia, I was just having some major issues with the building,” Segal explains. “I couldn’t afford to put all that money into it with all the problems.”

So far, I do not see anything about future plans on their Facebook page.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath Roberts)

I was going through some old pictures this evening, and found the above, which I have no memory of having taken. The shot is from 26 April 2015, and from what I can find online, Fat Buddies Two probably closed sometime in 2014 and was near the Publix at Chapin Crossing. The Yelp reviews are sparse, but seem to agree the wings were pretty small.

There are a lot of Asian buffets in the DC area, and I used to end up there with the local staff whenever I was visiting the DC office. Frankly, I never cared for it, so I have not tried any of the various Asian buffets in the Columbia area, and was not aware this one existed until commenter Sidney reported it closed.

I will say it's a good looking building, though a bit hard to get to if you are heading toward Sandhill. This area certainly has changed a lot in the past few years, and there's no sign of that stopping.

I note that the door sign directs customers to the Magnolia Buffet in the old Ryan's on Two Notch, so I guess that has the same ownership.

(Hat tip to commenter Sidney)