Gather Cola Columbia Food Hall: Review and Guide

Gather Cola Food Hall Overview

Gather Cola is an open air food court, or “food hall” in the parlance of our times, located in the up-and-coming Bull Street District just outside the heart of downtown Columbia.

It is essentially the same concept and an answer to Gather GVL, located in Greenville’s downtown district, and appears to be owned and operated by the same father son duo, at least according to this article.

The Gather food hall in Columbia is located in a partially open-air complex on Freed Street, between Bull Street and Boyce Street.

It’s around the corner from the parking garage behind the Starbucks and sort of diagonal from the parking lot in front of REI with the main entrance on Freed Street, about a block from the main entrance to Segra Park.

There are a variety of food vendors here along with a few retail vendors in a setting reminiscent of a mall food court, perhaps with a bit more upscale feel.

I guess that’s why they call it a “food hall.” For what it’s worth, there’s no Sbarro’s or Chick Fil A, and I didn’t get any free samples of sesame chicken.

The Low Down on the Gather Columbia Food Hall

In the sections below, I’ll go over all the basics and practical info you might want to know to plan your own visit to Gather Cola.

Then, I’ll share my thoughts on our first visit in a minireview based on our experience.

Gather Cola’s Hours

On their website, Gather Cola has two sets of hours.

For what it’s worth, it’s not clear if all the food stalls adhere to the same exact hours. My presumption would be yes, but I can’t guarantee every stall will be open right at opening time or not stop serving before closing time.

Winter Hours

The winter hours are in effect from December 29 to late March (no specific date is listed) and are as follows:

• Monday: Closed
• Tuesday-Thursday: 10 AM to 8 PM
• Friday and Saturday: 10 AM to 10 PM
• Sunday: 10 AM to 8 PM

Rest of Year Hours

Normal hours are in effect from late March to late December and are as follows:

• Sunday-Wednesday: 10 AM to 9 PM
• Thursday-Saturday: 10 AM to 10 PM

I should note here that I am not affiliated with Gather Cola in anyway, so you might want to check that link above to confirm hours just in case they change at some point and I haven’t updated this page.

I presume that page, or perhaps their Instagram, would be a good spot to check for an announcement of the actual date winter hours end.

What Restaurants are at the Gather Food Hall in Columbia?

Here is a quick list of the food vendors at Gather Cola, with a brief description of the type of food each serves:

• Smoke It Up Express: Barbecue
• Melt Cheesesteaks and More: Philly Cheesesteaks, Italian Beef, and other sandwiches
• Los Chicanos Jr: Mexican (same ownership as Los Chicanos food truck)
• Kiki’s Chicken and Waffles: Chicken, Waffles, and Wings (same ownership as restaurant of same name)
• Gyromania: Greek/Mediterranean
• Cocobowlz: Fruit Bowls and Smoothies
• Bull & Bread: Sandwiches
• Big Easy Seafood Co by Spicy Voodoo: Cajun and Seafood (same ownership as Spicy Voodoo food truck)
• Bessie’s Burgers and More: Burgers and Sweets (same ownership as Bessie’s Bites and Sweet Delights food truck)
• Banh Sai: Asian Fusion

I don’t see anywhere to find individual menus, and I’d imagine they are subject to change, but hopefully that gives you a good idea of what kind of food is served at Gather Columbia.

From a glance at their Instagram (linked above), there look to be occasional pop up food trucks and stalls too, and I’d imagine each stall might do their own occasional specials too. So, I’d check there to see if anything special will be served soon.

Do They Sell Alcohol at the Gather Columbia Food Hall?

Yes, you can purchase alcohol at Gather Cola.

The individual food stalls themselves do not sell alcohol, but there are two bars/alcohol vendors on site. They are:

• Session Tap Room: Serves a rotating curated list of beers and cocktails. It is located on the first floor just next to the entrance.
• Remedy: Serves craft cocktails from a bar located in the upstairs area.

It might be worth noting that you can buy drinks at the two alcohol vendors and carry them around to tables to eat elsewhere as long as you keep all alcohol inside the gates.

Retail Vendors

There are a few shops inside the Gather Columbia Food Hall too. They are:

• Crumbl Cookies: They sell, well, cookies, of course!
• Ageless: Vintage clothing. It’s a small shop just past the entrance, but looked like they had some cool stuff.
• The Avenues Flower Pop Up: They sell handcrafted arrangements and bouquets.

While it’s not listed on their website, so maybe it’s just temporary, I noticed a Trucker “Hat Bar” set up by the stage when we went. It looked like you could have them print you a custom made hat.

Is Gather Cola Family Friendly?

Yes. All ages are welcome at Gather Colombia.

As I mentioned above, I took our 2 year old daughter Aaliyah on my first visit, and I thought, despite the crowd, it seemed like a very child, including young child, friendly environment overall.

I was pleased to see there were a few toddler sized tables.

In fact, we had to sit at one, because we couldn’t find anywhere else to sit! I did manage to snag a little stool from a nearby fire pit for myself though!

Still, it’s nice they have these, and they would be great for a group of little friends with parents nearby on a less crowded day.

There were also some big blocks for kids to play with and a small open space to play right by those toddler tables.

I did not see a family bathroom, but there are changing tables in the bathrooms, even in the men’s room (which is sadly not always the case!). It was right by the sinks and air dryers, so not ideal, but it was clean, at least.

While technically not part of the food hall at Gather Cola, there is also a large open space, sort of like a turf field, just across from the main entrance that would be a good place for kids to play.

We saw an impromptu soccer match there.

Is Gather Cola Dog Friendly?

Yes.

The website’s FAQ page notes that well behaved pets are welcome in all the outside spaces.

It does specifically state they are not allowed upstairs. It’s a bit ambiguous if they are allowed in the covered area with long picnic tables towards the back of the downstairs.

We saw a fair number of dogs of varying sizes during our visit, much to Aaliyah’s delight!

Is There Parking at Gather Cola?

Sort of.

There is, of course, plenty of street parking right around the area, especially around Segra Park and on Pickens Street around the corner from the food hall.

The Gather Cola FAQs (linked above) states that everyone gets 2 hours of free parking in the following garages or parking areas when they use the Passport App:

• Sabal Street Parking Deck (next door to the food hall)
• Freed Street Parking Deck (across from Segra)
• Bennet at Bull Street Garage (on Matilda Evans Street between the two Bennet at Bull buildings)

Once again, I’m not officially affiliated with Gather Cola, so you might want to double check or ask in case those policies change at some point. I’d hazard it might be a bit more complicated on Fire Flies game days and nights too.

I would also hazard you could get away with parking in the huge lot in front of REI without any problems most of the time too.

In fact, we parked there because we popped in there first to look at rain jackets for Aaliyah.

Is there Live Music at Gather Cola?

Yes.

From a glance on their Instagram (again, linked above), it looks like there will be occasional, or even frequent live music at Gather Cola.

It looks like they’ll also have special events, like for St. Patty’s Day and, I’d imagine, other holidays or times of year.

Their website doesn’t have events listed, so that Insta is probably the best place to look for planned artists and special events.

Other Amenities and Practical Notes

If it’s bad weather, I’d hazard that somewhere around 1/2 of the seating is covered, although the seats around the edge of the upstairs patio might not be so comfortable in the rain, especially if it’s coming at an angle.

As I’ll mention below, we picked an especially crowded day to go, but I’d think most days, there’s enough seating to where I wouldn’t expect it to be too hard to find a place.

There are also a fair number of heaters, both the big tall ones checkered in with the seating as well as some little fire pit style ones you can sit around.

In fact, they were selling smores kits for like $3, which is probably one of the best deals I’ve ever seen compared to how much smores kits cost at events like the Fireflies Holiday Lights at Segra Park or Riverbanks Zoo’s Wild Lights! =

That might of just been a special one off thing though.

I can’t think of any other important info to include here, but if you think of something else, do let me know in the comments below!

Our Experience at Gather Cola

As I’ve alluded to several times, the truth is we picked a bad day to go here, especially just Aaliyah and I.

It was the day of the Carolina-Clemson baseball game at Segra Park, and the place was packed!

I probably should have known that, or been clued into it when I saw people directing traffic into the parking garage.

Or, well, maybe by all the Carolina and Clemson swag people were wearing, although that isn’t really all that uncommon here in Columbia.

Anyways, I didn’t realize it until it just kind of clicked in my head, oh yea, this is why it’s so crowded!

In short we couldn’t find anywhere to sit downstairs, so I figured ok, I’m sure there’s plenty of seating upstairs.

Nope!

Let me tell you, carrying a toddler who didn’t want to walk down the stairs with two boxes of food ain’t an easy task. In fairness, Aaliyah did walk up the stairs and behaved wonderfully overall while we were there.

Still, navigating the crowd was a bit of a challenge, and having mom along would have been helpful.

All that being said, I’d come back here, even just the two of us, but probably not on a day I’d expect it to be crowded.

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about what we had to eat.

I got the shrimp Po Boy from Big Easy Seafood Co.

I thought it was solid. Not amazing, but it was good and satisfied the craving for fried shrimp I got when I was walking around looking at menus.

It wasn’t huge, but it was good size with a decent amount of shrimp. The shrimp were flavorful, well seasoned, and well breaded.

I also appreciated the seasoned fries and the cajun remoulade sauce to dip in was really good.

I got Aaliyah a Birria Quesadilla from Los Chicanos.

I’ve had the Los Chicanos food truck’s food a number of times, and it’s never disappointed. Nor did this quesadilla. It was loaded up with plenty of beef, was grilled to a nice, golden, crunchy brown, and had a great taste.

Aaliyah actually ended up enjoying my fries, a few shrimp, and a bit of my bread more, but I definitely enjoyed the majority of the quesadilla she didn’t eat.

To be honest, the quesadilla was definitely a better deal value wise too!

I did have a beer as well, and I appreciated the selection with a tasty Edmund’s Oast Porter on a still sort of chilly day.

It took quite a while to wait for it though. In fairness, there was quite a line, so I’m not marking them off for that, but it would be nice if they just poured your beer and handed it to you right away rather calling out orders a few minutes later.

Speaking of lines and waiting, at Los Chicanos, we got a little beeper thing, and at Big Easy, we got a text when the food was ready.

So, it sounds like each of the restaurants at Gather Cola might handle that a little differently.

In either case, both of these ways are more than acceptable for me, and food came up from both pretty quick.

Both places did serve their food in a to go box. I didn’t notice anyone with trays or anything.

I imagine, this is not the most environmentally friendly way to do things, but logistically it probably makes the most sense.

And well, there’s no way I could have handled a tray with Aaliyah in tow! Balancing two to go boxes was enough of a challenge.

I thought the overall atmosphere at Gather Cola was nice, with some more private feeling tables as well as some places a bit more mingle friendly, and it’s nice that it’s family friendly but also has drinks, making it a good spot for all ages.

I do think prices are a tad high (15-20 dollars-ish for most meal sized items), but that’s pretty standard for food truck prices nowadays.

Still, you can eat for the same or a bit cheaper at plenty of sit down places around town, so I guess you’re paying a tad of a premium here for the atmosphere and to have extra choices.

In short, I will definitely be back!

I’ve heard good things about the Philly Cheesesteaks, so will plan on trying that next time, and I’d be curious to try the barbecue too.

Ready to Visit Gather Cola yourself?

I hope you found this guide to Gather Cola along with my review of our personal experience useful in planning your own visit.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on Gather Cola, and any favorite things you’ve tried so far in the comments below!

Cheers and Happy Exploring!