motor supply co bistro

columbia area foodies will tell you that absolutely must go to motor.  by motor, they mean motor supply company bistro, columbia, south carolina's shining star of culinary awesomeness. for more than twenty years, theplacehas been kicking out amazing food.  much like soby's in greenville, the restaurant set a standard for the culinary scene in columbia, and was one of the first restaurants in the now, very cool, vista area of downtown. let me tell you.  this restaurant doesn't play.  they are serious about some food.  almost everything on your plate is house made. they make their own stocks for sauces, they butcher and smoke their own meet, make their own charcuterie (sausages and the such ), pickles, mustards... they are event venturing over into house made beverages, making their own ginger beer and soon, their own sodas.  and what they can't make inhouse, they locally source, reaching out to area farmers like the folks at city roots , trail ridge , wil-moore , doko farm , carolina

very good. a colleague and i took out clients to motor supply company and we had a great meal. two of us got steak, one got tilefish, and another got pork chops; everyone enjoyed their meal. we sat in the outside section and the weather was awesome. theplacehas good service and great food, will definitely go back.

wow!. oh my goodness, thisplacewas amazing! we found it on urban spoon and decided to give it a try, as it is apparently "the happening place" in columbia. we chose wisely. upon entering i asked for a table for two and was greeted with "do you have a reservation?". this had me concerned, but she also told me they had a full service bar which was great, as that's aplacethat i'm pretty comfortable in. so cutting to the chase, the service was excellent, letting me sample a couple beers before ordering. then once settled in with a tasty ale, we started with the mussels steamed in white wine, which were absolutely divine. almost as good as my own, but seasoned with different herbs than i'm used to. maybe lemon grass and a touch of rosemary?? again, quite tasty. then had the ny strip with mashed taters and a bourbon glaze. incredible!! it was all i could do to keep from lifting the plate and licking it clean.

so i've got two more months of visiting columbia, and now that i've discovered this place, i'll be back for multiple visits each trip. so satisfied. so satisfied.

disappointment. after much ado it was nothing with a nice price tag... loud barroom kind ofplacewhere you need to really speak out to be heard. no ambiance or music. food was less than 1 star. don't waste your time.

enjoyed. priceyplacebut very tasty. i had the ny strip. it was cooked perfectly and veggies/mashed potatoes and duck gravy was spot on. very good wine selection as well. service was perfect and the atmosphere nice. worth a try.

with a different menu every single night depending on what is in season and chef’s preference, we could only view the menu just before departing. even with the boys in tow, we were treated with nothing but courteous and helpful staff, and the meal was fabulous. after our time in france i often times think i might have become too picky for my own good, but thisplaceleft me satisfied and f

always enjoy thisplaceparticularly like the outside patio portion. food is original usually very fresh and services excellent. parking can be a problem they have valet service.

overpriced but worth it. thisplaceis like one of those places that you know you will spend a lot of money and well you would have spent a lot of money. i am not saying that you should not eat here no not really i am just saying you will not be surprised or let down to much. look if you want to go out to a nice restaurant and spend 100 bucks this is your place.

don't bother - just simply awful. i would certainly like to have the dinner all the other folks on this site are raving about.
ours was sub-par at best.
first of all, the restaurant is filthy. the off-yellow wall we were next to was covered in grease stains, pen and scuff marks. all of the vents that i could observe were fluttering with fluffy mold. so already i was turned off.

and the moment we were seated in the dining room i remembered why i haven't been there in such a long time. it is extremely loud and quite difficult to have a conversation.

the app of mussels were served with a butter/garlic sauce was supposedly with ham. i don't recall what variety of ham, but i can assure you it wasn't supposed to be country ham, which it most certainly was. the broth was thin and a bit salty, but not overly so.

then was the disaster that was called a salad. i know a bit about anchovies and what was placed on my plate was unfit to be delivered for consumption. i didn't think it was possible to make those little briny fishes bland, but mission accomplished. inedible is the only word that fits. my wife's salad was nothing special with tomatoes and a few cukes.

my wife's ribeye was served raw. granted we like rare steaks, but in this case it was ordered medium rare. it wasn't even a good pass at a black and blue. it was sent back and eventually served up on wallpaper paste, better known as mashed potatoes. the steak was promised a sauce of peppers and cheese (don't recall the exact cheese), but what we received was velveeta and rotel. that was scraped off immediately.

my gag grouper was nothing special. just panned seared, but no flavor whatsoever. i could have had a fish stick and tartar sauce with more imagination.

the service was not particularly attentive and often we had to flag her down to correct numerous plating issues. wine service was non-existent, unless you count arriving and pouring, literally, the last drops into my glass.

what was good? the haricot vert, which was served on both entrees, was perfect.

and yes, we did make our complaints, politely, known to the waitress (i still can't use server as a word). she was apologetic, but that was as far as it went.

overpriced, under-served and food not worth it at virtually any price. stay away!

not that my review matters as theplacewas packed and folks all around us were stating how pleased they were. apparently a lot of people in columbia truly have no idea what a decent meal tastes like.

great place. my wife and i dropped in one night to have some to talk. we sat at the bar and had a glass of wine and sampled some of the wonderful appetizers. the restaurant was packed, but the staff was willing to chat about any questions we had about the menu. there is not anotherplacelike this one in columbia.

enjoyed it.... will be back. i really liked going here for dinner the other night. we did not make reservations but were treated like they were made 2 weeks ago. the daily hand written menus are a real nice touch that both my wife and i enjoyed. the atmosphere is dark and romantic while it still can accompany parties of any size. the pork loin that i had was simply amazing. i could not stop talking about it the entire evening. we did not stay for desert however, we went to nonnah's desert shop not even a block away. everything clicks for the thisplacefood, atmosphere, and wonderful service.

great food and great atmosphere! i had the duck and it was fantastic for a littleplaceon the vista. i love that the menu changes, keeps you on your culinary toes.