Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

The only Mongolian food item I can ever remember heaing of is Kumis: fermented mare's milk, something I've never had the slightest interesting in trying, and interestinly apparently *not* available at HuHot. Apparently was *was* on the menu is that you picked out a bowl of noodles, vegetables & meats, took it to a central grill where it was cooked in the sauce you selected and you could repeat that for as many times as you liked for one price. I think the closest I've ever come to that was a place in Seoul, except you had your own little grill and could cook your items yourself there.

The Yelp reviews are all over the map. Apparently the folks who liked it really liked it, and those who didn't *really* didn't.

Looking in Alphabetical Closings, I see this is the former site of Za's, Loco Bandito's, CW's Taproom and Naughty Macs.

(Hat tip to commenter Sandra>

I think I've mentioned my aversion to feathered fare several times here, so it should be no surprise that I never darkened the door at this Church's Chicken more or less accross from the old Shoney's. I suppose for different reasons, not enough other people did either.

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 10 March 2017: Changed the closing date from "Late 2016" to early "2017" based on the comments.

UPDATE 18 August 2017 -- It appears some sort of work has started here. The building permit is for SC Wings & Deli:

I was unaware of this place, and indeed that Sparkleberry actually had a north-of-two-notch section until commenter JohnBom mentioned it. It appears that at this point, the Sparkleberry Big T location is closed and well on the way to becoming Spring Valley Convenience Store. Indeed, the non-perishables are already being moved in.

Big T has a second location on Garners Ferry, which is still in operation.

As an aside, I note that sometime in the 80s, a really good sign salesman must have worked the Northeast: You see this style of sign up and down Two Notch from east of Rabon to Pontiac..

(Hat tip to commenter JohnBom)

Here's another set of pictures from commenter Homer, who says:

Here are some pictures of the old location of Chickadee's Diner, 7949
Broad River Rd in Irmo (Bi-Lo Shopping Center). I'm not sure when they
closed but they moved to the location that corresponds to the closings
entry for BJ's Cafe at 1729 Marshall St.

You can see the setting up for the Marshall Street location here at the Sunset Grill & Pizza closing. Since I took those shots, Chickadees has opened for business there.

Well, I have to say I am not too surprised about this. I ate at this Carabba's with some regularity, and twice in recent months I arrived well before the posted closing time to find the place with the doors locked. During one period, they even changed the Friday/Saturday closing hours back from 11:00 to 10:00 or maybe 10:30, I forget, but the point is that changing the hours either officialy or by fiat is Sign #1. The last few times I was there, they had started an annoying laser light show in the parking lot as if to say We are still here, and we are fun!

I can't put it on this store, but the chain as a whole has done some things I don't like in recent years, such as doing away with the olive oil bottles at the tables, and eliminating my favorite goto dish, the Tagliarini Picchi Pacchiu.

Still, I liked it well enough that it continued to be on my list. I agree with commenter Sidney about Location, Location, Location!. The last time I ate here (probably only about a week ago) I had actually been heading for the Olive Garden around the corner fronting Two Notch, but it was too packed to deal with, so I drove around and found that.. not to be the case here.

If anyone is curious about the Pizza Buffet called out on the big sign, that has nothing to do with Carrabba's, but was for this operation. In fact, I think that sign is mostly for a Graces Way development that never developed. The places that *are* down there don't bother to list on the sign.

(Hat tip to commenter Steve)

Commenter Bobby reports this location closed as of today (16 February 2017). It's not a surprise as it's been in the offing for several months. As to what's next, as The State reported in December:

In the spring, the location will become home to the second area Charleston-based East Bay Deli. East Bay opened its first area location at 1426 Main St. in Columbia’s The Hub apartment complex downton on Nov. 14.

I used to eat at this location every few months. I liked to get the Pumpkin soup in the winter. Along with a bread bowl, it was a very nice meal. I enjoyed the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies as well; something they don't have at Panera. They used to have a pepper grinder at the condiment station that was nice as well.

(Hat tip to commenter Bobby)

UPDATE 18 February 2017 -- Well, they certainly started into the remodeling quickly:

The Southern Belly (whose sign I originally misread as "The Southern Belle") was the follow-on operation to The Rolling Stone at this Rosewood lot near the Fairgrounds which has been home to many bars and restaurants. I see, in fact, that they never got around to completely removing the Rolling Stone signage, which wasn't essential as I understand the ownership was the same.

At some point around 2015, they moved shop to 819 Harden Street, the former site of Mucho Maragaritas, San Jose, Sizzle and many others over the years:

Personally, I believe I like the Rosewood spot better, at least for parking.

UPDATE 15 February 2017 -- According to commenter Justin, this was not a move as I indicate above, but they ran the Harden Street location (and a Colonial Life location) in parallel with this one and only recently closed this branch. I've taken "moved" off the post title and put a better guess at the timeframe.

UPDATE 11 July 2018 -- Now Peebles Wing Shack:

I was vaguely aware of this place, but never got around to checking it out. The stone facade is something you saw on a number of buildings from the 70s -- I don't think anyone does that anymore.

Apparently this little plaza was the site of a bit of martial history.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Speaking of Pelican's (as we just were), I noticed that the Rosewood location is gone.

This was the follow-on operation in this building to Charlie's Barber Shop.

I'm not totally clear on what is going on. The real estate sign says that they have moved to 1912 Rosewood, which, as far as I can tell, is a vacant lot.

UPDATE 11 February 2025: Updating tags & adding map icon.

Today's post is for a place of which I was totally unaware and comes from commenter Homer:

[This] is a group of pictures from Cotton House Seafood at 7777 St.
Andrews Rd. in Irmo. The story is....

I don't know when they actually closed but the last Facebook post on
their page is from May and from the looks of the deck I can believe it.
The sign on the door states that there were robberies and thefts and
that they will be closed until further notice. I guess Irmo's finest was
too busy setting up speed traps or hanging out at the Circle K to notice
any of this going on. Well, today I noticed the for sale sign next to
the road. Doesn't look like they will be reopening any time soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Homer, obviously)