Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I was not really familiar with this small Asian grocery storefront, though I have done closings on this wing of the plaza before. Commenter Gypsie says it has probably been closed since late last year based on review dates.

I believe there is still another Asian grocery on Saint Andrews Road down near Quail Valley.

(Hat tip to commenter Gypsie)

I'll confess that I never picked up on the fact this was an Asian restaurant until I looked at the menu this evening. From the name, I expected burgers, or maybe barbecue.

This building has been a number of different eateries including Moe's Grapevine, Rooftop Pizza Pub & Eric's San Jose.

ALley Street opened here after Eric's around August of 2024, so they didn't make it a full year. I think the building itself is a bit of a challenge. Apart from not knowing what kind of place it was, you might look at it and wonder how you were going to get grandma up the steps and inside. I'm pretty sure there is an accessible back door, but that's not readily apparent from Rosewood.

The building is currently for rent, so we'll have to see if another restaurant is in its future.

The State has the story, such as it is, here

(Hat tip to commenter MB)

Miyo's at Columbiana Station has moved to the old M Kitchen location at 340 Columbiana Drive.

M Kitchen was another in the Miyo's family of restaurants, and the building was never sold, so it's not clear to me if the new location is called M Kitchen again or not. According to the door sign, the Miyo's menu will be served, so if there was a difference before, that may be a clue.

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

Asian Express started to set up in this old Church's Chicken location in late 2018. Like the one on Broad River Road, which also took quite a while, the crews appeared to be working on it as a side project. For a while, things appeared to be going OK, if slowly, though there were some setbacks as when somebody broke the windows, but it has been months since I've seen any activity there, and as it is more than four years since they started, I am moving the place into the "never opened" category. I'd like to be proved wrong shortly, but it's not looking that way.

Jimmyz moved into this former KFC sometime after 2015, and seemed to do a decent business. I think COVID hit time pretty hard though, as they never reopened for dine-in service after it hit.

I can't find any definite info on the closing date, but it was open in January, and given the still fully equipped state of the place, I think the end of March is probably the logical time to guess.

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If you look closely at the first picture, you can, barely, see the Fuji Cafe signage still on the marquee of Suite G at Kennerly Crossing back in September of 2018. As nearly as I can tell from the Google reviews, it closed around 2019, and the suite is still empty.

M Kitchen was built on the site of the old Steak 'n Shake after razing that building, and is part of the peripatetic Myio's empire.

As of 27 June 2021, this location is closed, with the staf moving to Bower Parkway

(Hat tip to commenter Mitch)

I have written about this spot twice. Once when it was no longer a Quincy's and again when it was no longer a Maurice's BBQ.

After Maurice moved out, the original building was razed, and a new building was run up. It was to be a Blossom Buffet, and clearly looks stylistically similar to the Jasmine Buffet on Two Notch.

However COVID happened, and that fell through (that's my guess, anyway) and now the new, mostly finished, building is for sale.

UPDATE 29 June 2021 OK, mea culpa, this place is now in fact open as noted in the comments. The real estate sign that confused me and made me think the whole building was up for sale without the buffet opening is apparently for prospective retail space on the south side of the building:

UPDATE 2 March 2022: It turns out that Blossom Buffet is a moved and reflagged Happy China Buffet from down the street.

Miyo's of Lexington was already planning to close at the end of March 2020 to make way for a Chipolte. I don't know if the current crisis advanced that date at all. ColaDaily has the story, which, essentially is that the lease was up, and they decided not to renew.

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 20 August 2020 -- Chipolte is now open here:

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)