yum, but.... i tried colas tonight for the first time, and thankfully someone else was paying. great location right across from the state house, and surprisingly had plenty of parking available at 6pm on a thursday. friendly staff, nice décor.
see the picture i posted of the mahi. tasty, perfectly cooked, decent portion, with a great risotto side and crisp asparagus. my wife hadfiletmignon. we ordered medium, but it came out what i consider to be medium-rare. tender, underseasoned for my taste buds but of course a goodfiletdoesn't need much. the crab cake was good-sized and decent flavor, but nothing special, with a successful corn side. fried green tomatoes with shrimp was underseasoned, but well-cooked. excellent sweet tea.
the prices are high in my opinion. for $18-33 per entrée and commensurate appetizers, desserts, and drinks, i really expect a special memorable "date night" experience. everything we had was good to quite good, and i would happily go back, but for that price in columbia i really hope for either extra flavorful or creative, and colas fell a little short.
2nd visit: tremendous shrimp risotto cake, very good flash-fried whole flounder, good calimari. wet disappointing crab cake this time. nice seafood stew. tea still great.