As with a few of the hotels we visit, the Holiday Inn & Suites in Columbia North has no in-house food options for lunch and the only restaurants within walking distance are Waffle House and some chain steakhouse. For your sake, I hope you have access to a car because there’s no hotel shuttle. We only drive to Columbia from Raleigh or Atlanta, each of which is over three and a half hours.
Anyway, inspired by my presenter’s craving for a Greek salad, I get on the trusty ol’ Yelp and find the closest Greek eatery is this place called Nick’s Gyros & Subs #3. I get a taxi from the hotel and start telling my driver where to go, but before I can even finish telling him, he pulls down a menu for this joint and exclaims, “Man! That is my PLACE!”
The place is less than two miles from the hotel and looks to be in what could easily pass for an old Wendy’s building. They specialize in Greek food, but serve a little of everything: Italian, seafood, burgers, rice & beans, salads, and whatever. All at very reasonable prices and with pretty quick service, so just keep the meter running.
Great food, many options, cheap, and an obvious favorite of the locals makes this an obvious choice. Oh, and they’re open until 2 a.m. every night except Friday and Saturday when they’re open ‘til 4 a.m.
[yelp]
