Jake's Bar & Grill

One of my favorite bars in Columbia. Food is good if you get there early and the staff is great. Jake's is always a stop during my trips to Five Points. Nice because it's not an underage crowd--bouncers are strict and the bar is much better because of it.

As others have pointed out, yes the crowd is better than your typical Five Points scene, you will not find drunken college kids flopping around or anything.  Just a bunch of after work professionals hanging out and socializing over a beer or two, it's a pretty mellow and tame atmosphere.  Jake's is not a sit down service establishment, while they do have food, you have to order and pay at the bar and they bring your meal out to you.  The food is sub par and is dominated by fried apps and pizzas and calzones.  The pizzas are thin crust so that's a plus, but the taste is mediocre.  I wasn't a big fan of my eggplant diva, it was more greasy than I would've liked, and the flavor was pretty bland, even after adding crushed red peppers to give it a kick.  The sweet potato fries were alright.  They could enhance this dish by accompanying a nice chipoltle dip with it instead of ketsup.  However I realize people go to Jake's more to grab a drink and hang out than for an actual dining experience (we ate our pizza on paper plates!).  Out of several groups in the restaurant, our table was the only one eating!  I'm writing this review primarily for people looking for restaurants to eat at, if that's the case, Jake's wouldn't be a place at the top of my list.  HOWEVER, they have a really nice outdoor patio area and on beautiful days like today it's awesome to be able to sit under the sun and have a beer and/or meal.  If you are looking for a chill place to have a drink or two and lounge for a bit, Jake's is ideal, but if you're looking for a venue to have a quality meal at, I'd go elsewhere.  

p.s.
Good service, forgot to mention that!

Jake's is the quintessential 5-Points college and sports bar, with 6 indoor HD screens and 5 outdoor screens that play sports and other available cable  programming.

The best part of Jake's is the outdoor deck/patio area.  They have a fountain, plenty of deck area with seating, and an outside bar that is open on weekends and other busy times (seasonally, of course).

Indoors, the beautiful old wood bar is often overlooked.  You can also find the usual pool tables (pay), darts, a large shuffleboard table, and other video games.  They have 50 domestic and import beers on tap, with plenty more available in bottles.  As for bar food, I think the buffalo hot wings are some of the best in Columbia, as is the pizza by-the-slice.

They also have every beer on the draught wall for $2.50 on Monday nights if you're looking to save some money.