Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

Not straying too far from yesterday's post, I noticed that the West Main Lizard's Thicket in Lexington is under renovation, and closed for now. There did definitely appear to be work going on, so I think this one will legit be back, which is not always the case when a place closes to remodel.

ColaDaily reports that this and the Beltline Lizard's Thicket will be closed temporarily due to staffing issues during the COVID-19 crisis. (Old Chicago in the Vista had signage indicating the same issue). They do plan to re-open both stores at some point.

I can only recall eating at this store twice though I have probably been there more. The most memorable experience was when I had been working across the country for a month, and *really* wanted some comfort food, so as soon as I touched down at the airport, I was already planning what vegetables to pick!

(Hat tip to commenter Heath)

UPDATE 5 January 2022: As mentioned in the comments, this closure is now permanent, so adding pictures and updating the post title to remove "(Temporary)":

UPDATE 17 April 2023: Now a Murphy Express.

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags.

It appears that the Broad River Road Lizard's Thicket is the latest location of the chain to undergo renovations. I noticed that it was closed coming up Dutch Square Boulevard this last weekend.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think the Sunset Boulevard location may be the next closest.

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags.

Looks like the Lizard's Thicket remodeling effort that has revamped several of their stores is continuing. This one is at the corner of Knox Abbott Drive & State Street, and was some sort of restaurant before, though not a Shoney's like the Forest Drive and Beltline locations. I've eaten there before, and don't recall any particular building issues, but I guess everything has its time.

UPDATE 8 April 2019 -- I don't have a picture, but this location is open again, and has been for a while.

Wow, there's "remodeling", and there's "tear out everything down to the bare walls, and some of those too". This is the latter.

The State says:

Once renovations are complete [in fall 2017], the location will include increased parking, new exterior siding, state-of-the-art kitchen equipment and a remodeled dining room with new booths, Wi-Fi access and USB chargers.

Somehow Lizard's Thicket has never seemed like a USB charger kind of place to me..

Read the rest of this entry »

"Rolls or cornbread?"

I snapped these two pictures driving by Lizard's Thicket on Beltline; perhaps I can get some better later. At any rate, the chain is renovating this old Shoney's building, and it will be closed until that is done.

I believe the nearest other Liz is the one on Forest Drive, also in a former Shoney's.

UPDATE 9 April 2019 -- I don't have a picture, but this location has been open again for a good while.

UPDATE 24 July 2020 -- Closed again, due to COVID-19 staffing problems as is the Airport Boulevard location:

UPDATE 10 February 2021 -- Open again, again:

UPDATE 31 January 2022: As mentioned in the comments, closed again for staffing issues.

UPDATE 5 July 2023 -- Now Moctezumas:

UPDATE 6 July 2023 -- Daytime pictures:

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags.

Wow! If IrmoJeff hadn't mentioned that this was a Lizard's Thicket, I never would have known that in fact this was the Lizard's Thicket, the original first location from 1977. You can see an artist's representation of what is clearly the same building on the company's history page, which says:

The original Lizard’s Thicket was a five room house converted into a restaurant with three small dining rooms and a small kitchen.

Now I go through phases of eating at Liz and not eating at Liz, but I find when I'm down, or fighting a cold or trying to get back on track after days of erratic eating that their Southern comfort food really hits the spot. I particularly like to get a vegatable platter with field-peas over rice and macaroni & cheese.

I'm not sure when the original location closed, but it was a good while ago though there is still one on Broad River Road.

La Fogata until fairly recently has seemed like the up-and-coming local Mexican chain, joining San Jose, Monterray and Casa Linda. They had this location on Broad River, took over the Pirmarily Pi location on Sunset and took over the Village Bistro location at Sandhill. I don't know if they over-extended, or just figured the economy would turn around faster than it has, but they've since closed this location and the Sandhill location. I've never eaten at a La Fogata, but comments on the Sandhill closing indicate it was pretty good.

I don't know anything about the La Fogata follow-on operation, El Meson except that it was also a local Mexican restaurant. Their door sign indicates that they may be back. The omens are mixed for that. On the one hand, the roof and roadside marquees are down. On the other hand the fixtures and decor are still inside.

Does anyone actually drink Clamato?

(Hat tip to commenter IrmoJeff)

UPDATE 25 May 2011 -- Well, it appears that even though the fixtures are still apparently in place, there will be no re-opening:

UPDATE 31 March 2012: Added Westbury's wing joint to the post title based on commenter IrmoJeff's info.

UPDATE 24 August 2012 -- Now Tain's Caribbean Cuisine & Bar:

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags and adding map icon.

I don't eat at Lizard's Thicket that often, but it's good Southern comfort food. I recall working in Kansas for about a month once, and being so glad when I got back, drove out of the airport here and saw the Liz on Airport Boulevard. There are times when only field-peas-over-rice will do.

Someone described Lizard's Thicket here in the comments of some post or another as a "hermit crab restaurant", ie: one that likes to let another restaurant build the building and fail and then moves into the empty shell. It strikes me as a sound strategy, but that being the case, I can't speak to what was in this building before Liz. This particular store was a bit unusual in that it was one of the two Lizes closest together of all those I am aware of (the other is just a mile or so down Two Notch towards Spring Valley). It was also the closest Liz to our house, and the one we went to most often. I remember two things in particular about it. First, they had a pot-plant by the register which was connected to a lamp. Through some sort of capacitance effect, if you touched the leaves of the plant, the lamp would turn on, cycle through dim, normal and bright and then off again. Second, once when we were eating there, the waitress subtracted the cost of our drinks from the bill rather than adding it. I've had days like that..

The building sat empty for a bit after Liz left (to go down to a new location [and building!] near Sandhill) and then the current tenant moved in. From the amount of time it was taking, and the car I often saw parked there, my impression was that the new owner was doing most of the work him(?)-self. I think too, that when it first opened, the "Korean" rubric had not been added. I haven't eaten there, but it seems to draw a good lunch crowd. I doubt there's peas-over-rice though.

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags and adding map icon.

I first became aware of this building when it was "Po Folks", and I think that was the original tenant. Po Folks was, the name suggested, a sort of fauxy-down-home type of place where they served "country cookin'", served the drinks in mason jars and wrote the menus in misspelled "Southern" dialect. That's not really a criticism; there's a place for that type of thing, and I remember the food as being pretty good. Certainly my parents liked it a good bit, and we ate there fairly often. I don't know exactly what happened to Po Folks -- they are still around as a chain, but apparently they have contracted a great deal and no longer have any locations in South Carolina. I do know that they continued to have a Myrtle Beach location for a while after the Columbia location closed, but it's gone now as well. Today the chain seems to be largely a Florida operation with a few other restaurants in Alabama, Arizona and California.

After Po Folks left, the building went through a long period of "musical concepts". I think next it may have been the original Fran's location (Fran's later opened "Little Fran's" on Forest Drive as a smaller second store, which became simply "Fran's" when the original Fran's closed and which itself recently closed). After Fran's closed, the building was vacant for a while prompting some distruntled former patrons to put up a "Bring Back Po Folks" sign on the property. I lose track after that, but at some point it was one or possibly two different night-clubs and then an urban-comedy club. The Jim Moore used car dealership has been there a couple of years now, so possibly the site now has a stable tenant, though it's doubtful they can supply you a Blue Ribbon Chicken Dinner.

UPDATE 22 June 2009:

Well, not that stable! Moore For Less is now gone. (Also added the street addres to post title above).

UPDATE 13 March 2011: The building has been knocked down. See the Moore For Less link for pictures.

UPDATE 29 June 2021: Updating the post title with more former tenants of this building thanks to commenter Paul's research and adding tags & map icon.

UPDATE 17 June 2025: Updating tags.