Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Curiously, I was at this restaurant on, I think, 23 June. I used to drive to the Devine Street Ruby Tuesday once a week for the salad bar to give my 1980 some highway time. After that closed, this one was just a little too far to get to often, and I believe that before my june visit, the last time I was here was during the tail-end of the Pandemic in 2020. At the time, they were doing a bit of innovative entrepreneurship. If you will recall, the retail channel for many items, most famously toliet-paper had become dysfunctional while the janitorial supply-chain was still working, and in fact under-stressed with so many people working from home instead of offices. Anyway, this location (and I believe a number of others nationwide) was selling toilet-paper and a number of other items along with their regular menu. I don't know how long that lasted, probably no more than a few months I guess, but it was good hustle.

But, getting back to the main thread, it had been quite a while since that visit, and out of the blue I had a hankering for the salad bar, so I drove out for lunch that day.

Immediately as I stepped inside, I had the feeling of a restaurant on its last legs. The floor was dingy and sticky, and the staff was apathetic. It took me several minutes to get recognized and greeted, and I was finally seated at a dirty table and had to request a table wipe. It took quite a while for the waitress to get back, and when I put in my order for the salad bar, I went over and found it rather disheveled with wilted and spotted lettuce and number of other items that needed tending to. Then when my tea came, it tasted very odd. I picked through my plate, and decided that this place was off the list. As it turned out, a week or two later it was off everyone's list.

Here's the story in the Post & Courier.

(Hat tip to commenter Trevin)

I first became aware of this strip-mall storefront on Garners Ferry when it was Ye Old Fashioned Ice Cream & Sandwich Cafe.

Next it became Anthony's Old Fashioned Burger & Fry Co.. When that closed, there was a sign for a time that it would be re-opening as Ma's House Of Pizza, but in the event the new concept was actually Pepper's Pizza, Burgers, Pasta & More aka Pepper's House Of Pizza.

As reported by MrBO, that seems to have closed sometime around mid-January 2014.

Through all the incarnations, a lot of the physical plant remained the same, including the neon sign for Fresh Salads. In fact, walking around the side of the building, I found the remains of the Ye Old Fashioned sign:

(Hat tip to commenter MrBO)
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