Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

I was unaware of this newish pizza joint until commenter Heath mentioned that it was closing. It's down the section of Sumter Street north of Elmwood, someplace I hardly ever go. Apparently a co-owner made himself notorious on social media recently and that hurt business, or at least that's the take at The State. Well, I don't do social media, so I missed all that, and anyway apparently that gentleman is no longer involved with the restaurant, so I decided I would check it out before it closes on Saturday.

It's a very small place, with only one lowtop table that I would pick as a favorite, but there is also some bar and hightop seating. You order at the counter, but they do bring the food to the table. They are fancy enough that they don't have pepperoni as an ingredient, so I ordered the Pizza Margherita (pictured above). I thought it was pretty good. The crust could have been a little crisper, and I whould have preferred a basil leaf on each slice, but it was quite tasty. I could never be a regular here because they do not have fresh brewed tea, but they do have some beer, wine and bottled drinks.

Here are stories on the closing from The Free Times and Cola Daily

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

Domino's at Polo Plaza has moved across the parking lot and around the corner to the freestanding building at 9814 Two Notch Road, which used to house Blockbuster Video and then A Goodnight Sleepstore.

As you can see from the pictures, they are only occupying the north half of the building, and the south half is still for lease.

(Hat tip to commenter LD)

Places in the Vista come and go before I even hear about them. All I know about Newk's is what Google has to say

Regional chain offering a menu of salads, pizzas & sandwiches in a casual setting.

It sounds like something I might have liked, but I'm not sure when I last ate lunch in the Vista.

The State has a few more details, and it looks like the only Newk's remaining in South Carolina is in Summerville.

(Hat tip to commenter Judy)

Charlie's took over fairly seamlessly from Nick's, and has now in its turn yielded to King's Pizza, though the sign changeover is less than finished.

I'm not sure if this is the same King's Pizza which replaced Chickadees on Marshall Street, but it would be an odd coincidence if not.

(Hat tip to commenter David Edwards)

Domino's would not be my go-to for pizza unless I were in a strange city and needed something likely to be acceptable delivered to the hotel. That said, when I've had it, it has largely been OK, and certainly better than some of the other things the boss could order for a working lunch.

This location was in a fairly pizza-ed area of Lexington -- next to a Mellow Mushroom and not far from an Uno. It looks like the new location at 205 Columbia Avenue is also near to a number of other pizza places, but I guess, where isn't these days?

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

UPDATE 12 May 2019 -- Little Caesar's signage is up:

Well this one is a shame. Pizzera Opa was the new name for Zorba's Express which was here in the Publix plaza for many years, and was the follow-on restaurant for the crew from The Parthenon in Five Points. The Parthenon was my favorite pizza in town, and when I was living in Aiken, I would come back to Columbia on weekends and take my father to The Parthenon Saturnday evenings.

When I discovered Zorba's Express, the pizza was just as good as ever, and the manager, who remembered me from the Five Points days, would always come out and say hi. Unfortunately, the new location was just too far out for me to visit more than a handful of times; I wish it would have been more, and I wish them well.

(Hat tip to commenter IrmoJeff)

I did another closing for Firenza on a store on Bower Parkway that never actually opened.

This one, in the Lowes plaza in Lexington actually did open, but not for too long. The State pegs the Grand Opening as 9 January 2018, with various free pizza promotions, so that was a run of about 9 months.

I had to check online to make sure I had the right place as there is no sign on the door, and all the fixtures inside look to be at the ready for the next day of customers (It was raining hard enough that I didn't get any pictures of the inside). It appears from looking at the company web site that this was the only store in South Carolina, and that the closest location is now in Charlotte.

So far Mod is the only one of this current wave of "fast" pizza places that I have tried. It's starting to look like perhaps a number of them built out too fast.

(Hat tip to commenter James R)

Uncle Maddio's was the follow-on in this location for Jasmine Deli & Cafe and opened sometime in 2013. I never ate there, and had not realized until looking at this post that in fact Uncle Maddio's is a chain of franchaises based in Atlanta, and is another fast casual pizza concept like Persona, Blaze, and Firenza.

Looking at the company web site, it appears this was the only South Carolina location, and the next closest is in Charlotte.

The signage still posits this closing as temporary, but the Free Times has verified that it is, in fact, permanent.

This spot has been the home of a number of restaurants over the years, including Capitol Cafe, Cat & Cleaver, Dunkin' Donuts (almost), Fever, and Roll Call Deli.

I never ate at Persona due to the fact that I rarely go downtown at lucnch time, and would go some place with parking if I did. I will say that I would not use that name for a restaurant as the first thing I think of is Persona Non Grata..

(Hat tip to commenter Tom)

Firenza is an interesting name for a pizza place because it suggests both "fire" and Italy (Firenza is the native name for the city we call by the exonym "Florence").

Fast casual pizza is now officially a thing, and Firenza is one of the chains in that market. This particular store, in Columbiana Station has not been here long. Commenter Heath reported in November of last year that this slot opened as a Persona Pizza and was just converting to Firenza at that point. Actually, Persona is the only one of these chains I have been to, and I was happy with my meal at the Woodhill location, so I'm not averse to checking out Firenza, Blaze or 1000 Degrees. Interestingly, as you can see in the pictures, there is a Blaze just across the street from this location.

Exactly what is going on here is a bit cryptic, but apparently it is an upfit of some sort and Firenza promises to return.

(Hat tips to commenters Heath & James R)

UPDATE 23 March 2018 -- Hmm, commenter Heath notes that apparently the place never actually opened as Firenza after Persona shut down. Maybe they got distracted by the Lexington opportunity. Anyway, I'm changing the title line qualifier from "(temporary)" to "(coming?)".