Susana and I recently visited the newly opened Prohibition Columbia restaurant in downtown Columbia’s Main St District.
I had actually tried to visit the Prohibition Charleston about a month earlier after I ran in the Charleston Bridge Run, but it, along with just about everything else in Charleston that day, was packed.
So, when I saw they were opening a location in Columbia, I filed it away in my mind as a place for us to try soon.
It so happens it’s one of only a handful of nicer date style places we haven’t been that is open on Sunday too, so we made a reservation and went and checked it out in the early evening Sunday April 28, 2024.
Actually, this was our first time out on a date just the two of us since our daughter was born, so Prohibition will always be a bit of a special memory for us.
Of course, it helps that we really enjoyed it too. You can find my full review and comments on what we enjoyed below!
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Columbia Prohibition Restaurant Overall Thoughts
We really enjoyed Prohibition Columbia!
We thought our service was good, the drinks we had were good, and we especially loved the food!
All of it had a lot of flavor and there was a good mix of different things and ingredients to try, which was perfect for the small, tapa style portions.
Located in the former Main St. Public House on the corner of Main and Taylor Street, the Columbia Prohibition restaurant has a big space, and it’s well decorated with images and decorations that evoke the Prohibition speakeasy vibe, although it does feel just a bit swankier.
I especially thought the leather sofas in the lounge area were a nice touch.
It’s too bad you can’t sit and smoke a cigar there!
There also is a stage, and although there was no music while we were there, I know the Prohibition in Charleston frequently has live music, so I imagine the new Columbia location will have some live music up and running soon.
I will say, it’s probably a little better a place for a friend group dinner or drinks with snacks than a date night since the food is mostly small plates designed to share. It reminds me a bit of Coa in that regard, which happens to be one of our favorite places in Columbia.
While we did end up ordering quite a bit of food, having a couple more people would be nice.
That way you get to try more!
I did also think the little two person table we had was almost too tiny, but I get they want to fit as many people in as they can.
I don’t doubt they do it either, because even when we finished around 6:30 on a Sunday, there was a quite a crowd.
The bar was full and many of the tables were occupied, and that happened pretty quick after we arrived at 5 (their opening time and earliest reservation).
Also, while we loved everything, since the food is small portions and there are lots of good options, it’s definitely easy to run up a large tab here. It feels like that’s the case in most nicer restaurants nowadays though!
Overall, I think we’ll definitely be back.
While I wouldn’t avoid it for a visit with just the two of us, I’d like to come back with a small group to be able to try a few other things, like for example, the crispy brussels sprouts (Susana’s not a fan).
Check out their website here to learn more about them, see their full menus, and make a reservation.
Continue reading to hear about what we ordered and what we thought of each dish and the menu at Prohibition Columbia.
Prohibition Columbia Menus
You can see the full Prohibition Columbia menu on their website here.
Food Menu
There are vegetable plates that work well as appetizers or sides.
There are flatbreads, that our waitress said were a little on the larger side portion wise. We didn’t order one, but they did look fairly large, not to mention tasty when we saw them being brought out to other tables.
There are a number of seafood dishes, all of which sounded pretty good.
Finally, there are some beef and chicken plates, including a burger and ribeye.
It’s a good variety overall and just about everyone should be able to find something that sounds good. There are some really creative and even a few eclectic flavor combinations, but also some more standard and classic tastes.
Drink Menu
To be honest, for a place named Prohibition and billing itself as a high end cocktail bar, I would have liked to have seen some more house and specialty cocktail concoctions.
Maybe I’m being unfair, because there are about a dozen. Most of them are unique twists on classic cocktails. It’s not a bad menu by any means, but I would have liked to have seen a few more completely off the wall unique concoctions or at least some more options that leaned less on sweet and fruity flavors.
I will say, I was pretty impressed with their whiskey list though. There were tons of options for bourbon, but a few nice scotches would have been nice to have been included too.
I’m sure, the bartenders can whip up any of your standard libations and might have a few tricks up their sleeves if you sit at the bar too.
What We Ordered
For drinks to start, Susana, who is still breastfeeding our daughter, got a virgin margarita. She really liked it and had a second. I tried it, and although I thought it would have been better with some tequila, it was quite good and definitely better than your run of the mill margarita.
I had the Fiesta, which was almost like a mix between a margarita and a pisco sour. I enjoyed it, and appreciated that the passionfruit was balanced out well. When we go back, I may give the Manhattan a try, made with rye whiskey. The Old Fashioned sounded good, but I’m not crazy about peach, so passed on trying it.
I did order a Basil Hayden Dark Rye, a whiskey I had been intrigued with a few times in the liquor store but not quite sure about pulling the trigger and committing to buying a bottle. I think I may be now.
As I mentioned above, I thought there was a good list of bourbons and ryes with most of your well known options at different shelf levels and a few like that one that are a bit more niche.
We struggled a little bit to decide what to eat, but were happy with everything we ended up ordering. We originally ordered 5 things, two of the vegetable/app/side options, and two of the seafood options.
Since we were coming in at 5 and just snacked for lunch, we were both pretty hungry, so ended up ordering a 6th thing, which sure seems like a lot thinking about it now. We definitely left full.
We started with the Roasted Red Pepper Romesco Dip.
It was great, and it would be perfect for an appetizer to share in a group. I especially loved the warm, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside almost pita like bread that came with it.
The dip came out with the Crab Stuffed Deviled Eggs.
These were really, really good!
The filling had a great flavor and perfect balance of egg and crab, and the panko breadcrumbs on top added a nice little crunch. I think these may have been my favorite thing. If you do come with a group of friends, be advised the order only brings 3!
Next, we had the Charred Wings, which had a tasty, a very mild spicy and tangy dry rub and were charred to just about a perfect light brown to black crunch on the outside and very tender inside. The carrot hot sauce and ranch drizzle added some subtle flavor but they didn’t need them to be honest.
The order came with 5 wings, and we wish it had come with at least one more because we both wanted the last one.
We also had an order of the Grilled Street Corn which brought 3 nice sized pieces of Mexican style corn on the cob, charred crispy on the outside and covered with cotija cheese and a bit of spice.
It was also great!
We finished our initial order with the Lobster Roll.
It was about as good of a lobster roll as I’ve had in South Carolina. The roll was solid and toasted to be crispy on the edges and soft on the inside. The lobster was tasty without the sauce dominating too much of the taste, which is sometimes the case with lobster rolls.
Sorry, we were enjoying ourselves too much to take photos of either of these, or the additional thing we ended up ordering! I promise you everything was super well presented though.
I think had we eaten like normal people during the day, that would have been more than enough food for the two of us, but we decided we still had a bit of room left for something else.
I do wish they had some dessert options, especially since the food is so well done, and something chocolatey would have gone great with my whiskey for dessert.
However, since there’s no dessert, we debated the fried chicken thigh, the beer battered cod, and the burger.
We ultimately settled on the Short Rib Burger.
It was really good, bigger than expected and tasty. I appreciated that they toasted and just barely charred the edges of the bun.
Of all the things we ordered, it was definitely the largest since it came with fries. Which, by the way, the fries were great and had some extra batter or flour on them to make them extra crispy, which we are big fans of.
I think you could order the burger as a stand alone meal.
Final Verdict on Prohibition in Columbia
Overall, we really enjoyed Prohibition Columbia and will definitely be back.
As I said before, I think it works a bit better in a group or maybe for drinks and snacks at the bar rather than a date night, but honestly, we’ll probably be back the two of us anyways.
It’s also definitely on the pricier side but everything was so flavorful and well presented, the price felt about right too.
If you go to Prohibition in Columbia I hope you found this write up of our experience helpful and I hope you have a great time.
Cheers and Happy Eating!
In town visiting Columbia?
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