Saluda’s Restaurant in Columbia’s Five Points Review

Saluda’s Restaurant in Columbia, SC Overview

According to Saluda’s website, the restaurant opened in 1996.

It’s located in a larger than it looks at first glance space on the second floor of a large brick building in the heart of Columbia’s Five Point District, overlooking the fountain at the corner of Green Street and, you guessed it, Saluda Street.

Despite Five Points’ fame for college bars and more relaxed bar and grill or cafe style restaurants, Saluda’s offers a fine dining experience that is among our favorites in town.

It’s certainly on the pricier side.

However, to be honest, it’s not outrageous either.

The decor is nice enough to feel like you’re treating yourself to something better than your average restaurant but the atmosphere still feels relaxed enough that you won’t feel like you have to get overly dressed up either.

It’s more business casual or nice cocktail style attire than suit and tie or dinner jacket fancy here.

It might be worth pointing out that the restaurant does prohibit infants and very young children, and the webpage does note that it only accepts well behaved children.

So, I wouldn’t consider it to be family friendly or count on them having a high chair or chicken nuggets for toddler.

In short, much like Motor Supply in the Vista, Saluda’s hits a nice balance that works great for a nice, romantic dinner, or special events like birthday, graduation, or anniversary dinners.

Saluda’s Restaurant Review

In fact, Susana and I came here for to celebrate our anniversary recently, and we’ve been here for birthdays and at least one other anniversary in the past as well.

The review below is mostly based on that recent visit in December 2025, but it is also informed by our other visits to Saluda’s over the years, and I’ve sprinkled in tid bits here and there about those visits where relevant.

Saluda’s Restaurant Menu

I’ve always been impressed with Saluda’s Restaurant’s menu.

It’s one of those places that has a relatively small menu that somewhere still feels large, or at least feels there’s always more enough variety.

There are always tasting sounding specials, and the main entrees change around now and then as well, often with slightly different preparations or sides.

It’s obviously very informed by traditional southern cuisine.

There’s always at least a few seafood dishes, including shrimp and grits, one of SC’s signature dishes, as well as at least one steak on the menu.

You’ll likely see collard greens incorporated in at least one dish and the side menu, and fried green tomatoes and pimento cheese are mainstays on the appetizer menu, in some form or another.

However, some menu items often have some creative fusions and international flare as well.

For example, I remember having a great pork chop that came with Mexican style street corn as a side.

Honestly, there’s always several things I have trouble choosing between when we go here.

For example, the steak is always a winner, and that sweet tea brined pork chop, one of their signature dishes, is always really good itself, but whatever sides they are serving with it always sound delicious.

On our recent visit, the bacon gouda mac and cheese that came with it did definitely feel like it was calling my name.

Actually, to be honest, I considered making my meal the side order of lobster bacon gouda mac and cheese along with another veggie side order or salad.

By the way, I should point out that I do consider the entrees here to be good sized portions. They aren’t humungous but they aren’t skimpy either.

Additional sides can be ordered for the table and served family style.

Their drink menu is also very good.

There are always a few special cocktails, a great list of liquors, including a good selection of whiskeys, especially bourbons, at different price points, and there is a terrific wine list, including some reasonably priced bottles as well as nicer, pricier ones and plenty in between.

You can see the Saluda’s menu posted online here.

For what it’s worth, on this visit, the menu we had was not exactly the same but was very similar to what was posted online that day.

Those differences were mostly slight tweaks to sides or ingredients and maybe one or two different dishes. For example, I think the menu online said the steak came with a different glaze or butter.

Our Recent Visit to Saluda’s in Columbia

As mentioned above, our most recent visit to Saluda’s was in honor of our 9th marriage anniversary on a chilly Monday evening in the closing days of 2025.

Despite the chilly weather and weekend evening, it was nearly a packed house when we arrived for our 7:45 reservation.

By the way, you’ll generally want to make a reservation, as a nearly packed house on a Monday evening is a testament to just how popular a choice Saluda’s is.

If you’re flying solo or you and your date don’t mind sitting at the bar, you could probably walk in and have decent odds for a spot at the bar.

You might even be able to score a table without too long a wait, especially if you go a little later, as it did thin out quite a bit before we left.

On the weekends or around any special events in town, you’ll definitely want to make a reservation.

Ok, back to our experience at Saluda’s.

We decided to do the crab cake appetizer, although I was tempted by both the fried oysters and the fried green tomatoes.

The crab cake was a winner though!

I also did the special Old Fashioned to start, which was made with a Blade and Bow bourbon and walnut bitters.

I remember getting a really tasty Old Fashioned here another time when we came with my mom, sister, and brother in law to celebrate my birthday one year, so they must always, or at least frequently, have a special Old Fashioned on the menu.

Meanwhile, Susana did a virgin version of their blood orange margarita, which she enjoyed. It was beautifully presented with a toasted, charred lime on top.

For entrees, Susana ordered the special pasta, a fettucine with amatriciana sauce with the option of meatballs, shrimp, or steak.

Susana went for the shrimp, probably her favorite thing to order out.

To be honest, I came pretty close to ordering this myself with the homemade meatballs or steak, but figured I would order something else and snag a few bites of hers.

The couple bites I had were terrific! The sauce was really flavorful and tasted super fresh.

At our waiter Nick’s suggestion, I went for the special steak.

He pointed out that he loves the steak and that he considers it their overall best choice for how well they do it. That suggestion made my tough decision a bit easier.

I was definitely happy with my choice!

The steak was terrific, with a good sear but nice and juicy inside.

It came with parmesan fingerling potatoes that were tasty and a few twigs of some terrific asparagus.

The black and bleu butter on the steak had a great flavor but I was happy just letting a small amount melt and pushing the rest off to the side.

The steak was just that good and really didn’t need any other flavor!

For dessert, we opted for the red velvet brownie, which was great.

I don’t think I had ever had or even seen a red velvet brownie before, and they nailed the crunchy exterior but fudgy interior with moist red velvet.

Nick was great throughout as well, and made good recommendations for a good wine to pair with my steak and a tasty bourbon to pair with dessert.

Saluda’s Restaurant in Five Points Final Verdict

Overall, we couldn’t have been more pleased, and it’s one of the nicest dinners we’ve had in a while.

The tab, while certainly not small, was less than I might have imagined considering how well we ate and drank.

So, we’ll definitely be back and I definitely recommend checking out Saluda’s in Five Points for yourself!

If you do go, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did, and I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!

Cheers and Happy Exploring!