Mr Friendly’s New Southern Cafe

What a treat! I rarely give five stars, but this restaurant deserves every single one of them. Both the food and service were exemplary! They have a unique menu that includes some southern dishes with a wonderful twist. When in the area, I will definitely stop in again. Yum!

Dis place hella spencive. But they got fried chicken that make me wanna slap my momma: not a place to bring your side chick. Four stars!

Nom Nom Nom grits!
The lunch menu is pretty large Outstanding food and terrific atmosphere.

We found this gem on vacation. Cute space, love the art for sale on the walls. The fried grits came with a goat cheese topping and a whole roasted garlic on the side, delicious. The entrees were amazing as well, bacon wrapped filet, and fried catfish. i wish I saved room for dessert!

Mr. friendly’s was a great evening dinning experience. My wife and I were on a road trip all the way from Phoenix Arizona. We are not too familiar with Cajun cooking but the food we had was absolutely five stars. My wife had the fried chicken over mash potatoes and I had the Mustard Grilled chicken with a side of greens and sautéed veggies. I don’t know what they put in those stewed greens but they were to die for. I literally could have ordered a double serving. The service was very friendly and the owner himself delivered our food which was nice too see. You could tell he was passionate about his establishment. The only off putting thing was the dessert. While is was good you could tell some of the items on the plate were pre packaged or already made. If you like a classier, upscale place with great local Cajun food this is a place I recommend.

This is a popular local restaurant on the nicer side. It’s hard to spend less than $ 20 on an entrée unless you skip meat. The quality is good, cocktails are tasty, i personally like the peach mint sweet tea cocktail. The food is fairly classic southern fare done well.

Outstanding food and terrific atmosphere. Three of us dined there for the first time and all of us loved our meals. I had the soft shell crab and it was spectacular!

Mr Friendly’s has established a sterling reputation in Columbia and it’s one of the more talked about of local restaurants, especially for New Southern cooking, so I was very eager to try it. The physical space is nice and the location great for Five Points and downtown while the staff young, friendly, and pretty prompt getting to you and your order – at least for lunch. There is a bar and their selection of Bourbons – a necessity for a Southern restaurant these days – is not extensive but what they have is superb. I didn’t order a drink though at lunch so I cannot attest to their bartenders’ skills but it looked like cocktails, Bourbon-​based of course, were a draw here as well as the food.
On to the food, Mr Friendly’s seems as known for its lunches as dinner, so I was eager to see how their lunch fared. I won’t say I was disappointed, but not as impressed as I expected, either. I ordered a mountain trout special they had for the day and it came with grits and slaw. The portions, even for lunch, were somewhat small, and the trout was well-​prepared but not exceptional. The grits I would say were exceptional, but grits are not that difficult a dish: still, great to see someone do a first-​rate job of them. The slaw was pretty good. Their iced tea was good – and that matters because if it wasn’t at a New Southern restaurant we’d have a problem. They had a television at the bar, sound muted, and they couldn’t figure out how to switch the channel so I suggested just turning it off: I mean really, you don’t have a major game on, it’s noon, and the sound’s off, why even bother with a TV? Especially at a restaurant like this? They left it on and kept fiddling with it. I was somewhat chagrined to see people at a nice and well-​regarded restaurant trying in vain to get a decent TV station on when no one was watching the silly thing anyways.
All in all, a good but not great restaurant based on one lunch experience; perhaps if I return for dinner they’re earn their fifth star but while pleased I was not fully impressed with this visit. Still, not a bad option in the area, either.

Had the pecan crab cake as an app, never been a huge fan of crab cakes but this was tasty, good size to share with another person. I then had one of the specials, yellow Finn tuna, had it medium rare, was delicious and reasonably priced at $ 23, especially since it came with really nice veggie medley and rice. Would definitely eat her again next time I’m in town. Unilocal strikes again! !!

I went here with a former student to catch up over lunch. We were able to sit at a table on the sidewalk and enjoy the lovely South Carolina weather. The lunch menu is pretty large — many sandwiches, salads and even a few specials; there are also some cheap lunch wine options — $ 20 bottles and $ 4 glasses.
I had the fried green tomato BLT with chips. At a place like Mr. Friendly’s I expected something a little better than destroyed ruffles potato chips but it did say chips so I guess you get what you ask for. The BLT was very good — the only critique I’d have there is that the pimento cheese could have been spicier, well a lot spicier.
My lunch-​mate ordered the special seafood cakes with succotash. He said the seafood cakes were amazing and then gave this yankee a southern lesson on succotash. His side left me quite envious.
Small notes: Parking can be quite the mess, the lot is awkward and small. I got lucky and found someone pulling out of their spot when I arrived. I liked the list of local items they had on the chalkboard by the hostess station, a local touch is nice when dinning out!

Was pretty excited to try this place out with all of the great reviews, however my friend and I were not at all impressed overall…
Visited on a Friday evening, and the environment was very dark. Then we were seated at a table where the lamp above the table was out. The waitress did not even seem to notice/​care, so we commented on it. She acted like it was no big deal, and said she would send someone. Instead of just moving us to another table, they sent someone in to replace the light bulb above us, while we had our food! Seemed unprofessional to me.
My friend ordered the chicken fried steak, which didn’t seem anything out of the ordinary. Typical simple plate with lots of gravy.
I ordered the shrimp and grits (one of my favorites), and was not able to finish it. The shrimp did not seem fresh, and the dish was overall bland.
Sad to say I was quite disappointed with our experience, perhaps I had my hopes too high.

The atmosphere was very casual. Went on Thursday afternoon for lunch and it seems like i got there right before the lunch rush. It looks like a lot of people go there for business lunches for out with their co workers.
The food itself was very tasty. i got the fried chicken with mashed potatoes. I have nothing to complain about. Our server was also very attentitive and friendly.

This restaurant has amazing service and pretty decent food too. I had the apple goat cheese salad as a starter, nice and fresh; cute cheese ball. I didn’t love the mustard vinaigrette b/​c it seemed more mustard than vinegar. The peach salmon was solid. Grilled veges just right. I appreciated being able to swap the grits for garlic mashed potatoes without any hassle.

A supposed 15min wait on a Monday night turned into a 30+min wait. The food was ok (nothing extraordinary) but the service was quite slow. Looked like our server had a number of tables he was waiting on.

THE AMBIANCE IS AWESOME!!! Specialty drinks über tasty. Food really good. I also loved that there is art from local artists on the walls for sale. I love places that support local talent. I had the catfish and I loved it.
My aunt lives down in this area and kept raving bout this place and it certainly lived up to expectation.
I would go back when the weather breaks and sit on the patio.

These guys inspire me:
pimento cheese on all things…
Let’s make it happen.

Really really good blackened shrimp and grits and key lime pie. All from scratch and a treat for this California girl! They also have great service. I will be back the next time I’m in town. My friend said her ahi tuna was amazing as well as her pecan pie.

This place was not on my agenda when I set out for food. I was going to another place with another type of cuisine but that didn’t work out so I looked to Unilocal for some suggestions. This place had good reviews and figured I’m in the South so can’t pass of a place that lists «Southern» as their cuisine.
First, this place was harder to find that I expected. Not the neighborhood but the actual building. There signage is practically non existent. I didn’t see anything at all driving and it was simply because I’d lucked up on a parking spot on the street across the street from the «you have arrived» announcement on my GPS that I even ventured out to find it. It was actually my powers of deduction that saved me. (As I was walking, I saw the address numbers were going down and that was in the right direction based on the address of the restaurant… I’m so clever. lol)
The have a driveway that has a sandwich board sign with (IMO) far too small writing to let you know that is the correct spot for the restaurant. It wasn’t until you walked further up the driveway that you see the door and know you’re in the right place.
The hostess was very friendly and greeting me as soon as I walked in. I sat down at the bar and Justin, the bartender proceeded to be engaging, friendly and provide excellent customer service throughout the entire meal. It was a slow night and so several of the wait staff congregated near the bar in between checking on patron’s needs and everyone I encountered was very pleasant and friendly as well.
Now, the important part… the food. At Justin’s recommendation, I chose the short ribs that were on the daily special. It came with garlic mashed potatoes, greens and horseradish leeks that I initially asked him to leave off. I’m so glad I trusted him as the the leeks were so good, I plan to try and make my own rendition. The short ribs were braised to perfection! Tender, flavorful (although a smidge more salt would’ve made them perfection) and the horseradish leek was the perfect compliment. The garlic mashed were fluffy and delish and the greens tender and well seasoned.
Overall, SO glad the accident turned into such a great meal! I would definitely INTENTIONALLY go back next time I’m in town!

This place has been around a long time, and I really enjoy their food. Parking can be an issue, but it’s pretty easy to find a spot at Andy’s Deli.
The food is really consistently good. I love the Fried Grit Cake with Roasted Garlic and Goat Cheese for an appetizer. I highly recommend!
For my entrée I had the Bacon Wrapped Filet. It came with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Sautéed Vegetables. Food was amazingly good.
Now for the service… Not too good… We were promptly seated in a nice corner table. But it seemed like they had only one waitress on our side of the restaurant. I thought I was going to thirst to death. After we finally received our first drink… We went a long time without seeing the waitress. I drank my drink, then all my water, started eating the ice, then started to steal my husbands water. I know she had a big party of guests to help also, but I still expect good service.
I would have given this place a 3 ½ stars if it were available. The food was a 5. But the service was a 2. I’ll still go back through. The food is good and hopefully they’ll get the service issues addressed.

The food here is always top notch but, the service can be hit or miss. Had our dinner not been spot on, I would have posted 3 stars.
Having had a busy day, we choose to have dinner a little later in the evening. We arrived and were promptly greeted at the door and shown to our table. Menus and waters were immediately provided. From there the service was a downhill. It took 10 plus minutes to get a drink order in and the frequency did not get better. Our waitress had her hands full with a larger table but the rest of the place was emptying out. I won’t harp on the service any longer… It could have been a lot better.
Food !!
We started off with the fried grit cake with goat cheese and roasted garlic. This has been on the appetizer list as long as I can remember and I just can’t seem to get enough. The combination of the soft roasted garlic spread over the grit cake with goat cheese is incredible. I’m always impressed with outside the box thinking and this appetizer is worth a try!
For my entrée, I went with the Coriander Seared Yellowfin Tuna with South Carolina peach-​pecan salsa, cider-​molassesc glaze, brown sugar mashed sweet potatoes and Southern broccoli salad. The Tuna was rare as it should be. The coriander was seared into the surface of the Tuna giving a slight crunch and a pop in flavor. The peach pecan salsa was awesome as were the sweet potatoes. The flavors were just awesome!
My bride had the bacon wrapped filet and mashed potatoes. She devoured it… Nuff said as I’m sure she will give you her take.
This place could be 5 Stars all the time… They will have to deal with the service issues before that will happen.