Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

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)

When I took these pictures on 30 March, I couldn't see any indication on the door that the place was about to close, but apparently by the last day, it was there.

I have never eaten at any of the Miyo's or M locations, but I believe this one had been at Sandhill from the early days.

(Hat tip to commenter Rashaad)

UPDATE 22 May 2019: The State says this is to become an El Jimador.

Apparently a grease fire which got way out of hand.

UPDATE 17 February 2018 -- Apparently still in the process of getting the premits straight and getting to work:

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>