Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I have been aware of Eggs Up Grill since they opened their first location in Litchfield Beach, in a side-room of Latte Litchfield. Somehow in all those years, I've never managed to stop by a location. This is mostly down to my not being a breakfast person at all, and the fact that they close relatively early in the day. I'll get to it eventually.

As I recall, this location was their first one in Columbia, and in fact, their first one off the Grand Strand. I still think of it as being fairly new, but it's actually been here a good few years now, and it is currently closed while they remodel. I didn't see any proposed opening date posted anywhere, but looking inside, they still have a good ways to go.

UPDATE 3 October 2023 -- Open again:

I was not really aware of La Cazeula, driving that section of road very infrequently, though I must have seen it a number of times.

It appears to have been a largely lunch oriented buffet operation, which will be replaced by another Mexican restaurant soon.

(Hat tip to commenter Matthew Benjamin)

Well, it's the summer doldrums, so posting has been light, and will continue so for a while, but here's a bit from out of town.

When I lived in Aiken, I worked in Augusta, so I ended up eating supper over there more often than not, but I certainly did eat at the Aiken Brewing Company a number of times over the years. They had a decent burger, and while I'm no beer connoisseur, I thought the porter or stout was pretty good. I guess I last ate there sometime in the fall of 2022, when it was still pleasant to sit outside on the sidewalk. When I went back recently, I found that the place was closed, and this story indicates that the owner was retiring. More recently, this story says a new restaurant will be locating there at the end of summer, but I did not see any indication of ongoing work, which seems a bit odd.

I did a closing on the Lake Murray location of Alodia's back in June of 2021 when they were closed due to staffing issues. They re-opened after that, and I made it a point to go by for a meal, and thought it was fine.

Reently commenter Robin pointed out that the Main Street Lexington location was closed temporarily due to financial issues.

You can read more about that from The State, WLTX & The Post & Courier.

I couldn't park when I drove past last weekend, but there was a sign on the door and it did appear to be closed then. However, judging from the recentness of several of the Google reviews I see, it appears they may have already reopened. Can anyone say for sure?

(Hat tip to commenter Robin)

UPDATE 20 June 2024 -- There is definitely much more to this story than is suggested in the initial post above, as the saga has played out in the local media. Be sure to check the comments below. Anyway, at this point the place has closed again, for good, and all the branding is gone:

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: