One star because of the food and the prices are way out of whack.
The decor and ambiance is 4 stars.
Service was 'acceptable'
When you walk in it is very very nice. We really liked the atmosphere.
The menu is extremely high priced. Higher than most every quality steakhouse.
The quality of the food is completely average. I get the same quality or even better from Ruby Tuesdays or similar chain places. In fact in Bishopville Harry and Harry 2s has a steak and cheese sub for 6.50 that is far better than ANYTHING the 4 of us had at Colas.
15 dollar hamburger that was very mediocre. Wendys has a new burger that is as good or better.
22 dollars for crab cakes that 'Phillips' frozen from the grocery store easily beat. The quality was very poor. Informed the waiter who said sorry and did not seem to care about it.
The drinks are also very high priced. A few drinks from the bar can break 50 dollars quickly.
Not at all family oriented. Which I could accept if the food was not such a giant ripoff.
I would NOT recommend anyone even try the place unless money is meaningless to you and you want to check out the atmosphere. We spent over $100 for a group of 4 and nobody was remotely satisfied. Complete ripoff. Will never even consider returning.
We went to Colas for the first time with a group of five. My reservation was for four so we started out our visit at the bar waiting for a table. I started out with a jalepeno oyster shot that was so spicy I almost wanted to cry! Ouch...After about 20 minutes of waiting, our group was getting antsy and we were about to go ask about our table when we see the hostess heading our way to finally seat us! When we finally get seated we ordered three appetizers which all ended up being great! We ordered the BBQ springrolls, the hummus trio and the shrimp dumplings. The BBQ eggrolls were the favorite and they came with this amazing mustardy BBQ sauce I wanted to dip my whole meal in. After appetizers our group ordered shrimp and grits (to die for), crab cakes (lots of crab), pork tenderloin (didn't try), spiced chicken (ehhh..ok), and a lamb burger (told it was good). Then as no dinner out is complete without dessert, we ordered bread pudding, hazelnut mousse and the chocolate brownie which came with homemade coffee icecream. I know this sounds gluttonous but we did have Five people!! The best dessert was by far the bread pudding..OMG It was delicious. It came  out with a vanilla icing drizzle and it didn't have raisins (which I hate).  Also notable was their strawberry basil mojito. It was the best I have ever had! So overall I give Colas an A! Definitely try it out but be prepared to spend some moolah...yumminess like this doesn't come cheap!
Review Source:Beautiful building and decor but the food was overpriced and just average. The fries were the best and who wants to spend $25 for fries. So don't come here for a memorable meal. Boring food for the price.
Our party was 10 people and they absolutely would not seat us with 9 people there. A single mom was running late and we had to stand at the bar for 20' till she got there. Not a good way to start our meal.
Our waiter was good but overwhelmed and very slow until some other tables left then we got good service.
So very disappointed in the food but the decor saved it a star.
Whole Crispy Flounder, Lobster Mac and Cheese, Good Wine List, and Great Service!
Met a client here for dinner and though I read many mixed reviews I was surprised and impressed.
We met at the bar where the bartender was attentive and professional.
Next was our meal. Nice booth, though a table would have been better with again, great service.
The Whole Crispy Flounder was a suggestion of one of my clients. Gave it a shot and was glad I did!
Now this would not be listed as a Healthy Cooked Fish by no means, but darn it was great! Finish one whole side and boom! Turn it over and eat again!
Would I return? Yes!
We had dinner there again last night...I'd give it a 3.5 star rating if possible. The food was good (not great) overall...service was ok. Our poor waitress was working her butt off and clearly spread to thin. She did a wonderful job, and we know that the delays and little glitches weren't her fault. One con: the noise level is deafening when full on a Saturday night. One pro: fun, lively atmosphere that will bring us back. Oh, and the lobster Mac appetizer and crab cake entree are pretty great. Skip the polenta fries and some of the blander pasta options. Wine trumps cocktails here too.
Review Source:Decided to give this place a try despite bad reviews and mixed feedback. We waited nearly an hour for our food to come out & when it finally did 2 of the entrees weren't what we ordered. Server acknowledged the mistake but at this point we were all starving & didn't want to wait for 2 new entrees to be prepared. The owner did acknowledge the long wait but never stopped back by to check on us. A small gesture such as a round of drinks, dessert, or even some accommodation for the  2 entrees that were wrong could have saved this experience but no attempt was made. I approached the manager upon leaving to share my comments & concerns.  Yet another opportunity to try & improve this dining experience which fell on deaf ears. Prices are to high for the lack of service & mediocre food. A restaurant group that is this well established should know better instead of operating like it's amateur hour.
I won't return nor will the 5 other people we dined with.
Shelf life of this place won't last long.
Came on a Wednesday night, was seated right away because the place was quite empty. They had the giant windows open, which created a nice breeze and the restaurant itself is gorgeous. However I was blown away by the prices and lack of pizzazz on the menu. Nothing stood out to me, nothing made me say "wow that sounds fantastic". I can get steak and potato anywhere, the prices and lack of creativity made it seem a bit pretentious. So I ended up spending more time trying to figure out which protein came with the most sides. I ended up with the cedar plank salmon.
When it came out, again I was taken aback at how small my portion was. To make matters worse it was presented on a very large plate, making it seem even smaller. But, the saving grace is that the salmon was good. It was moist, with perfect texture and had a very nice sweetness to it. The sides seemed to be more of a garnish, since I did not get many.
The salmon saved my review from being lower than three stars. Sure it was not anywhere near large enough for me, but it was great.
I have been anticipating the opening of this restaurant for over a year for two reasons: Â as an architect, I was intrigued by the exterior renovations and wanted to see the finished interior, and as a foodie, I was desperate for some new food in Columbia.
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First, I love what they did with the outside of the old John Paul's. Â Assembly Street is in desperate need of character and, well, green stuff. Â I'm also glad they incorporated a garage door to open the restaurant for al fresco dining without infringing on the narrow sidewalk. Â That being said, I believe most of the interior renovations were reserved for the kitchen (which I know was probably pricey), because the dining area and bar could have been a bit more compelling--I'm hoping they'll continue to spice up the interiors with more colors, textures, and better-placed lighting (our table was very dim). Â We also had our feet splashed with water from the sous chef watering the herbs outside the window we were sitting near. Â It wasn't a big deal--at least for me in my sandals--and being more outgoing than my husband, I waved it off when I spoke to the managers, not realizing that the water had stained my husband's leather shoes. Â Regardless, for such a weird mishap, and in spite of my non-chalance, I expected our dessert (or SOMETHING) to be comp'd. Â Nope--didn't happen.
Second, and probably more important, is the start of the meal. Â We started with the lobster mac n' cheese appetizer, which wasn't quite as cheesy as I might have liked, but the pasta was al dente and there were generous chunks of lobster. Â Problems started with our drink orders. Â I ordered a gin lemonade, which I believe had cucumber and Hendrick's, and was pretty good, but my husband stuck with his normal scotch (on the rocks, with a splash of water). Â His glass never should have made it past the bar, because the highball was full to the brim with ice and water which completely drowned his $15 scotch. Â I was kind of shocked that the bartender was able to accomplish my muddled cocktail, but not a simple scotch and water--a fundamental that all "fine-casual" dining bartenders should know. Â
Third, my husband ordered braised pork shank with root vegetables and mashed potatoes. Â His meal was melt-off-the-bone good. I ordered the lamb meatball with potato dumplings. Â I was expecting perhaps knodel or gnocchi with a savory and moist meatball. Â The dumplings were more like coquettes, but not lightly fried, and a bit too starchy and raw tasting. Â They were bland--some egg, flour, and salt would have greatly improved their texture. Â The meatball was far too lean, leaving it dry. Â I'd suggest sticking with ground chuck or introducing some fat to the lamb for texture and flavor. Â The tomato sauce was good. Â Portion sizes were acceptable, leaving us with enough food for another meal.
We couldn't decide between the s'mores mousse and berry milkshake, so we got both. Â Both were pretty good, but I'd suggest picking just one and splitting it. Â We suffered from sugar overload by the end of our meal.
The reason, though, that I give this restaurant 2 out of 5 stars, is that I just don't think the food or ambiance quite stacks up to other restaurants in Columbia, or at least exceeds any of them. Â The quality of the menu items was inconsistent, in spite of what we ended up paying for the meal. Â Cola's is going to be one of those restaurants for me that was an okay dining experience that I don't plan on repeating; it's not something I'll ever be in the mood for--Cola's lacks the character in a restaurant that keeps me coming back.
If you haven't tried it yet, go for it. Â I won't be surprised if you have a much better experience that we did--I'd chalk that up, again, to inconsistency.
Went there last night, Had to wait for a table 1 hour, That was fine we had drinks at the bar. limited tables. The heart of a restaurant is food. I had short rib mashed potato and asparagus. Everything was cold and tasteless , if were any colder i would have needed a jacket. LOL my wifes salmon was covered in cracked black pepper i gues shakey was working that night. They are trying but you can see not professional. Not one person asked how was the meal not even the waitress. This looks like the usual quality for columbia, if this place was in another state it would not make it. My wife paid the bill when i got home i look at the ticket the the beef short ribs price 27.00$, they charged me 28.00$. look at there web site. An the nerve of them i asked if i could sub the sides out for other things and the waitress said yes but failed to tell me she was going to charge me 3.00$ extra for each. FOR A GRAND TOTAL OF $ 34.00. I do not think we will be going back after these tactics. I do not wish them the best  can't do it. Give it a try suckers.
Review Source:My friends and I dined at Cola's 2 weeks ago, and before I posted a review (as this is a newly opened restaurant and I wanted to give them a chance to hear my feedback before publishing it) I contacted the restaurant by the only email on their website. After one week, I never received any response from the restaurant.
The food overall was outstanding- it was expensive, and slow to come out, but that is to be expected during a newly opening night. However, we had major problems with almost every aspect of our drinks and cocktails. We were all eager to try out the specialty cocktails, but had overwhelming issues- one of us ordered something that was described as a gin lemonade (or something to that effect) , and was served at most a generous shot in a large martini glass. My husband tried the punch (or something like that I do not remember the actual names), which did not taste like it had any alcohol at all. The peach vodka did not taste like peach at all in another drink. Every cocktail was a very miserly pour. A gin and tonic was not served with any garnish despite the request for such. We voiced our concern to our waitress about each and every cocktail mishap, who reportedly voiced it to the male bartender, however did not get any redress to our concerns even after offering to chat with the bartender about these issues.
The other issue was despite the fact that they were still opening, no one other than our waitress seemed to care at all about our experience. Immediately after being served our food, someone who was walking by (a manager? I have no idea he did not introduce himself, nor stop to talk to us. I guess this was because he did not know us, as he was engaging in long conversations with many other customers there who seemed to know him) asked us how our dinner was, we replied that we were just served (so could not comment on the dinner), and he continued walking. Because we all ordered 3 courses, and cocktails, and food came out somewhat slow, we were certainly there more than 2 hours for someone to check in on our experience (other than our waitress).
Because the restaurant was new, and the waitress did her very best, and the food was good, we did not press the issue and delay our experience by asking for the manager to come and talk to us, nor did we protest our bills and the exorbitant prices we paid for the 9 cocktails we consumed, as we did consume them (they were just not good, or not at all in line with their prices). However, the cocktail issues and lack of concern about our overall experience (other than our waitress), underwhelmed me, and our combined check for about $250 for 4 people certainly overwhelmed me considering our customer service experience.
Colas has been open for almost 1 month. I've been anxious to try it but it has been packed on the weekends. That tells you something.
It is a Tuesday night and it's  pouring down rain with lightning and hail; a great night to try Colas. We were right. Try it during the week.
We tried the Applewood Smoked Bacon wrapped Polenta. Delicious starter.
We ordered the Crabcakes with Corn Salsa - 2 cakes with lots of crabmeat. It came with French Fries maybe you could swap out for a different side. We tried the Lamb Burger it was really delicious with a great combination of seasonings. Lastly, we ordered the Tilapia which was very good but you will want to order a side.
We finished dinner with the Coconut Layer Cake - wow! Just try it.
Love the decor. But the acoustics are loud. This is a great addition to Columbia, the menu isn't like anything else here.
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