Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

It appears from their facebook page that a commenter saw this location as Pancho's on 8 March, so I'm using that as a date, though it would have been a bit earlier.

I never ate at this location, but in general do like the one on Beltline. From the name, I suppose this is now a second location for Pancho's on Forest Drive in the old Redbone Alley building.

(Hat tip to commenter TahoeChic)

To the best of my recollection, I've never eaten at any establishment in this Five Points storefront, to include San Jose, though I have certainly eaten at other local San Jose locations, and found them to be perfectly OK.

Commenter MB noted the closing, and pointed out that until fairly recently it was Mucho Margaritas, something I must have driven by many times without it registering at all. Already today the sign was down and folks were carting off the fixtures. With the recent closure of Dreams Of Bombay, there are now two adjacent restaurant vacancies in this building. (I don't know what, if anything, is in the upper storey).

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

UPDATE 1 July 2014 -- This will next be the bacon themed restaurant Sizzle. Mmm, Bacon!:

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Add tags and map icon.

Somehow I never made it to this Monterrey in all the years that it was there (and they were considerable) despite the fact that I often visited the adjacent Sounds Familiar and comic store.

I believe with this closing, the chain is down to the one in the Vista and the one on Knox Abbott.

(Hat tip to commenter J.P.)

UPDATE 12 February 2020 -- Now El Paraiso:

Here's another closed Monterrey on the west side of the metro area.

Afton Court seems to be something of a hard-luck street over the last several years with the closing of Ritz Camera (though technically on another street) and more recently Bailey's.

I like the use of steps on this lot, including a set descending towards the adjacent movie theater.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 30 August 2017 -- Now Don Tequilas:

Well, this is no surprise I'm afraid.

I've told how the original Rosa Linda's was the first Mexican (ish) restaurant where I was a regular, and an important part of my beach trips from the 80s into the oughties, so I was quite excited when the original Rosa Linda's family started to re-establish the restaurant in the former Hoof 'n' Finz in Murrells Inlet where US-17 business and US-17 bypass reconverge around Inlet Square Mall.

When they finally re-opened, everything tasted exactly as I had remembered it, from the yellow rice to the pinto beans flavored with crisp bits of lightly cooked onion. My only disappointment was that the new floor plan (and possibly elevation..) did not make a pizza oven possible as I had really loved the pizzas in the old locations. (And after all it was "The Mexican / Italian Connection").

My only concern was that attendance seemed very light the times I was there, and sure enough I found it closed on one of my 2011 trips.

Later, I heard it was open again, but the story seemed a bit confusing. Basically piecing things together from the Rosa Linda's Facebook page, and some things that local restaurant writer Becky Billingsley (who often seems to know more than she puts down) had written (here, here, here, and here)., I think the story was this: The original owners had a silent partner in the re-establishment of Rosa Linda's and when the initial financial goals weren't met, the silent partner took over the operation with some grandiose plans for making it a chain.

I was a bit reluctant to go back, as the original manager knew me by sight if not by name, and I didn't want to undercut her, but after I saw that they had moved to Texas, I figured it would be OK to check it out. My thought was that the new management would have tinkered with the menu, possibly adding some standard Mexican fare such as chile rellenos etc while keeping the signature items in place. In fact that was not the case, and the menu was completely new without any of the historical Rosa Linda's items. I thought it was acceptable, but gave me no reason to come to Rosa Linda's in preference to the many other Mexican restaurants on the strand. I mean, no Mexicana Mud? Come on!

After that, the place showed the dreaded Rule #1 from signs your favorite restaurant will soon be closing: The hours changed. More to the point, though the place was not supposed to be seasonal, it closed for the winter with a note on the roadside marquee that it would be open again in March. When I went down in March, the sign said it would be open again in April. I think we all know how that story ends! When I went down in early May, the branding signs (except for the parking lot marker) had all been taken down, there were Home Depot boxes and packing tape inside, and the new phonebooks sat in lonliness outside the front doors.

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Here's an interesting little restaurant building in Lexington. It was last a San Jose until that operation relocated to 115 North Point Drive, but the building obviously predates that. It has a familiar look, but I can't quite place it. I would say the front extension was not part of the original building.

The building looks a bit forlorn now, but the murals are a nice touch.

UPDATE 22 April 2013: Added Taco Cid to the post title based on the comments and the 1985 phonebook.

UPDATE 29 NOvember 2017 -- as mentioned elsewhere by commenter ED, this building has now been razed:

UPDATE 30 August 2022: Updating tags and adding map icon.

UPDATE 25 January 2023: Add tag.

As mentioned in the comments on the Lexington Blockbuster this adjacent old-school Taco Bell moved to a new store a couple of years ago. Personally I like these Southwestern style locations more than the "modern" style they have adopted recently. Several in Columbia have been repurposed recently (though the one on Knox Abbott is still vacant), but this one looks as though it may be too far gone for that.

UPDATE -- Work is underway:

UPDATE 17 February 2014 -- Now a Cook Out:

With a name like Senor O'Malley's this place sounds like Columbia's answer to Charleston's Jaunita Greenberg's. I have to admit though that I was completely unaware of it, despite having been in the area multiple times recently.

From the local blogger reviews here and here, it souunds as though I probably would have liked it, though perhaps not when the college crowd was out strong.

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

Well, sometimes things work out and sometimes they don't. It certainly appears to be the latter case here. This Monterrey is in the strip mall associated with the Sunset Boulevard Wal-Mart in Lexington, and, given the manger scene still not taken down, appears to have closed sometime around Christmas.

(Hat tip to commenter Beth)

This spot on Saint Andrews Road just east of the I-26 interchange has been much restauranted over the years as you can see here, here, here and here.

In general my theory is that it's too hard to get back to I-26 from this spot, or indeed to do anything requiring coming out of the parking lot and going westbound on Saint Andrews Road. In this case though, there may have been other factors in play as sadly a security guard was shot and killed here on 25 August 2012 as detailed in this State story. While it appears the culprits were caught, that incident certainly has to have given people pause. And while it appears to have been related to a late-night switchover to night-club operation, still I would have hesitated to go myself after that even during the day. I certainly would not have taken any kids.

At any rate, the place seems to have kept on until Thanksgiving at which time they closed down, and did not re-open as planned. Curiously letters are already peeling from the roadside sign, and missing from the rooftop marquee.

UPDATE 27 Jan 2013: Added the bouncy-castle picture of the Grand Opening.

UPDATE 26 January 2023 -- Interesting this update is almost exactly ten years since the last one! Anyway, as reported in the comments, this building has been razed:

Also adding map icon.

UPDATE 8 February 2023 -- I got some more pictures from inside the parking lot this time: