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Wild Wing Cafe, 1150 Bower Parkway Suite F6A: March 2020   7 comments

Posted at 11:51 pm in closing

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I was shooting against the light, and didn't really have time to get out, so these aren't great shots, but the Wild Wing Cafe in Columbiana Station on Bower Parkway is closed due (mostly) to the COVID-19 crisis.

I say "mostly", because looking at the Yelp reviews, this place was pretty clearly on its last legs, and you have to feel kind of sorry for the corporate rep who had to comment on the 1-star reviews with apologies. Curiously, the Copper River Grill in the same shopping center (and which will soon feature here) had similiar reviews, and the spot there which was most recently (I think!) HuHot Mongolian Grill has been a revolving door for years. For some reason, restaurants don't seem to do well here..

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 23 August 2022: Updating tags.

7 Responses to 'Wild Wing Cafe, 1150 Bower Parkway Suite F6A: March 2020'

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  1. BLUF (bottom line up front): *if* you don't hire good people, your food is middle-of-the-road and you backpedal on your business model, you're not going to be in business in Columbia long. I'm surprised this location was around as long as it was.

    Wild Wing Cafe made a fairly big splash when their 3 stores (Sandhills, Vista and Irmo) came to the Columbia market years ago. This store became a halfway decent place to hang out as they hosted bands or DJs playing music. Then, two things happened: fights started happening in the bar and the food went down-hill in a major way.

    Someone I knew played music there regularly. At first everything was great and business was strong. I believe, after a certain hour, they had a dress code. No big deal, but they got some pushback and knuckled under. That's pretty much exactly when fights became more and more common.

    Second, at some point Wild Wing Cafe changed from having a local owner to being company owned (local owner was bought out). That's when the menu went through multiple changes and not necessarily for the better in the eyes of customers.

    "For some reason, restaurants don't seem to do well here.." Wouldn't be shocked if we see more and more of this in Columbia. Landlords/Landowners seem to have drunk their own Kool-Aid. The mentality appears to be that properties are made of platinum and diamonds (I'm looking at you, Vista) and they can charge almost otherworldly rent for often poorly maintained locations. Um, you *can* but probably not for long, and once that horse leaves the barn...

    Lone Wolf

    10 Jun 20 at 9:42 am

  2. I went to the Sandhills Wild Wing location before COVID hit, and it was one of the worst restaurant experiences I have ever had. On Tuesday night, at the beginning of the regular dinner shift, we had service that was absolutely non-existent. The food we did actually receive (appetizers only), before leaving after 45 minutes of waiting for wings, was mediocre at best. I worked in restaurants for a while, and this was the worst I've ever seen. I'll be surprised if that Wild Wings doesn't end up featuring here soon too.

    Cam

    10 Jun 20 at 10:33 am

  3. Yeah same with Sandhills. Once the bands stopped playing, it went downhill. And even though they brought them back, it's just too late, they already lost their following. The only time I see a lot of people in the Sandhills WWC is when Tokyo Joe is playing.

    I still like the wings. And the promos they had going on during the shut down were awesome. 30 wings for $20. Or 30 wings, 2 large sides and a salad for $25. PLUS 20% off. I paid $22 (that included tax) plus tip for the 30 for $25 deal.

    Sidney

    10 Jun 20 at 10:54 am

  4. The Harbison location had the Hep-A issue spring of last year. With multiple restaurants having the same issue throughout the Midlands, this restaurant had numerous mentions in the media. I agree with Lone Wolf. This place was terrible way before the Hep-A.

    B Mitch

    10 Jun 20 at 12:25 pm

  5. Dress codes are usually inherently racist. I imagine that was the reason for push back.

    This is a good scholarly article about that issue.

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1536504214567859

    Mr. Bill

    22 Jun 20 at 1:34 pm

  6. When people come to your house and you ask them to take off their shoes or not smoke inside or not put their feet on your furniture, is that racist? As I understand it, a business can have whatever "house rules" they like, so long as they are equitably applied.

    People can elect to support a business or not. *If* a business has a policy you don't agree/like, you have the right to go elsewhere and essentially "vote with your wallet." (Not that this matters, but I do this exact thing a fair bit.)

    Not everything is racist, just because someone doesn't agree with it.

    Lone Wolf

    26 Jun 20 at 12:25 pm

  7. Folks this space is now home to a place called Burnin 99 Korean BBQ & hotpot

    Andrew

    7 May 23 at 7:12 pm

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