I always eat here when I'm in the greater Columbia area. When I'm on the road, there's nothing like a tasty home cooking meal.

Nostalgia breakfast for me this morning it's been a longtime. Early breakfast pretty average food some breakfast is better than others you get here. Always friendly staff. read more

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Good news about Lizard's Thicket restaurant is they don't serve any lizards! Where that name came from is yet to be determined; however, I did come with a large group of people to get some of the delicious home cooked food they have been marked for serving. For lunch, I decided to get the fried flounder with the rice and gravy and the okra and tomatoes. When the food arrived it was piping hot. The fish was fried to perfection because it was light and crispy. The okra and tomatoes tasted as if they had been stewed for a long time. The rice and brown gravy was delicious too. I felt like I wanted to ask for seconds, but I remembered that I was in a restaurant and not in someone's house even though the comfort food made me feel that way. The service was top notch. The servers were gracious and kind. They listened very well and they got the orders right which was an impressive feat due to the volume of orders. The dessert was a piece of chocolate cake. It was rich and decadent, but mostly a nice touch to end a perfect lunch. As a result of this experience, I decided to order the special plate of the day to go home. I knew we would arrive home late, so I made the order while the rest of my group was eating their meals. It was ready on time and no one else was inconvenience because the folks at Lizards Thicket knows how to do to-go right. I would definitely recommend this place for a good home style meal with delicious vegetables and dessert. read more

Lizard's Thicket Restaurants - Southern Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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I got a garden salad (iceberg lettuce). It was good. Catfish nuggets are not crispy. Have to come home and crisp them in the air fryer. Collards were ok (good portion of meat in them). Got the steak (no seasoning ) looked as if they were scared to put some heat on it. Got potato salad to go (decent /taste very similar to the local big box band). Not sure what is really fresh country/soul food anymore. Many items are not fresh anymore (from the can or plastic containers). Saw the cabbage it looked okay, but didn't try it. read more

The food here is great early in the morning after a night out. I like it for lunch and dinner too but I'm mostly on the breakfast crew. My Daughter and I walk over to Thicket once a week before school. We've been going here for 12 years. The thing that stands out even more than the food is this place has the best service in the city. I frequently give 100% tips here because the wait staff is so excellent. The ambiance is dated but perfect for a Southern Diner. Keep in mind on Saturday and Sunday morning this place is a madhouse. Any other time of day you'll find ample seating and the friendliest staff in Columbia. read more

Lizard's Thicket Restaurants - Chicken fried steak and a grilled biscuit is my go to with a bottomless Diet Coke! - Southern Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

One of my favorites restaurants to visit in Columbia. They have many good entrees and sides and the menu on the wall makes it easy to order. I love the Ice Tea and atmosphere. read more

This location is always fast and the food is alway fresh. Meatloaf Wednesday is my favorite! Side note, the gentleman at the front counter helped me carry my gallon of tea to the car!! :) read more

Lizard's Thicket Restaurants - Wednesday special of meatloaf, spinach, and squash casserole - Southern Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

The food is really good. I would consider it comfort food, including all desserts. It is conveniently located in the Columbia, South Carolina area. Great for call and pick up or dine in. read more

Great people and great food I got the chicken and waffles with a side of bacon. The feel for this place is authentic and really makes you slow down and have a good meal with friends and family. The chicken and waffles came with really crispy, juicy chicken strips which I would highly recommend! read more

Lizard's Thicket Restaurants - Chicken and Waffles - Southern Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

So sorry to say that Lizard's Thicket is no longer worth the prices they now charge. I understand that Bidenflation is hitting everyone these days, but $15 for a basic "Meat & Three" featuring over-seasoned canned vegetables and a $1.25 surcharge for the "extra" corn muffin that used to be included in the meal price is the final straw for our family. I hope the Williams family has invested their money wisely, as they appear to be actively trying to price increase themselves out of business. read more

It is what it is. It satisfied the hunger. Grits & liver pudding. This is my go to place whenever I need a quick fix.

Wow this place has really declined. Sad to say this is my last time coming here. All I wanted was a sausage and biscuit w/ cheese and a bologna and egg biscuit w/o cheese. Not a big deal right? Why am I back here because I got a egg and cheese biscuit and the sausage, egg, & cheese biscuit was a sandwich. Fortunately my mom was cool with hers(sausage) but I had to come back. I go back and the lady looks at me confused. Then come they tell me they don't make bologna and egg biscuits. Should've told me that earlier. So waited for the other sandwich. 30 minutes gone over a sandwich This place used to be cool but nah I'm done here and maybe all Thickets together. read more

Had Billy as a server, guy runs the whole time we were there. Does a great job serving his customers. I had a BLT very good sandwich. Janet had grits with cheese egg omlet sausage links. Very good place to eat Tell it like it is J read more

This Lizard's Thicket has old fashioned booths from the 70's (or earlier) and most of the servers have been there for years. I usually sit in Billy's section when I grab a pre-work breakfast. The coffee is always good, the juice is cold and the eggs are always perfectly cooked. I recommend the bcon or the hamburger patty to go with the eggs - and try the country skillet apples and biscuits. My only complaint is that the prices have gone up recently but it's like that everywhere! read more

We came for breakfast on a Sunday. The place was busy. We were told to seat ourselves. We all ordered breakfast. A couple items came out wrong but they were quick to correct it. Food was good and really inexpensive. Service was good. read more

I had a southern staple of liver pudding, grits and eggs. It was really delicious. The waitress was very friendly. The service was great. read more

Lizard's Thicket Restaurants - Liver pudding, grits and eggs. - Southern Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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You can tell from the greasy dirty sidewalks at the entrance that you should do an about face and not go in. They advertise fresh country home cooking. They serve frozen fried food that sits under a warmer. If you complain about the food not being hot they microwave it and bring it back hot and greasy. The food is extremely salty, I guess to make up for the lack of flavor. Go anywhere else and it will be an improvement. If your home cooking tastes like this you need to get a new home. read more

Let me just say you ain't never had Southern fried catfish like this!!! My breakfast included two scrambled eggs, cheese grits, two pieces of the best catfish I've ever had and and a biscuit. On this day I would have easily won the clean plate award because I ate it all. The service was good and down home. Everyone was nice and glasses were consistently full of delicious sweet tea. Prices were low and well worth it. I would without question go back, as a matter of fact I might go now. Bye!! read more

Lizard's Thicket Restaurants - Southern Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

This food tastes like pulling up a chair to grandma's table when your grandmama is from the Deep South. We stumbled upon this little gem quite by accident while in Columbia on business and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The waitstaff was friendly and engaging. We were seated quickly and our food came out piping hot and fast. When my husband wasn't thrilled about one part of his meal the waitress went in the back and brought him a substitution that he loved without any muss or fuss. Wonderfully relaxed and friendly atmosphere with good service and great food! read more

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Oh my heavens! If you have any southern blood in you at all get yourself to this mothership of a restaurant! My daughter and I were traveling to the Outer Banks and our hotel was right across the street from this wonderful place. So many vegetables, we had catfish, creamed corn, collards, squash casserole, butter beans and fried okra. A corn muffin which was not delicious was served with our meal. The squash casserole was almost as good as mine and everything else was delicious except for that lone little corn muffin. I think he was embarrassed to be served along such delicious food, I'm going to mail them a recipe, we'll see what happens read more

Food is amazing. Service was fast and vary polite. Prices are vary reasonable and food value is worth more then they charge.

Reminds me of a little diner. We went on a Sunday afternoon and I have the BLT. It was alright but nothing to brag about. Our servers switched out during our meal and the first one didn't inform the other one anything. Luckily our second server was a real sweetheart and figured it all out. read more

Always solid. Many choices. Reasonable for the amount of food you get. Only observation, go back to the larger plates-food is running off the small plates. And, reopen the belt line one. read more

I'm new to Columbia and have never eaten here. I've heard so many warnings about it. So I thought I'd try for my self. The waitress who helped us was pregnant and really did a excellent job. You seriously need to give her a raise. The sweet tea was unbelievably tasty. I drank 3 cups. I had the chicken n waffles with fried okra. The chicken had a delicious taste and so did the waffle. The okra was so so, I've had better. Your staff here is really nice, specially our waitress. I'd definitely eat here again. Thanks for the pleasant meal. read more

I give up. Have tried this place several times hoping to find something we liked. While the food is reasonably price it sure full of extra salt and sugar! I am a very good cook and have enjoyed cooking good old southern food for over 40 years and not once have I or any member of my family added sugar to the vegtables they have cooked. When I eat vegtables or chili from your restaurant it taste like i am eating dessert . How awful! I want to taste the full flavor of the vegtable flavored with some fat. I've decided people in this town don't know what good country cooking is! read more

I am from California and I really enjoyed my meal. The server was really polite and attended our every need. She was very helpful in helping me decide what to eat. I had the macaroni and cheese with creamed corn, collard greens and fried chicken, was delicious. Loved the fact that the menu said that the mac n cheese was a vegetable. The service was great and so was the food. I will be back when I am in SC again. The biscuits were delicious as well.. read more

Cheap and delicious food, friendly service, what else could you ask for! This place is great. I was here with a couple of work friends for our lunch breaks. Our waitress came over immediately as we sat down. She was great! I unfortunately didn't save the receipt so I couldn't get her name. I had the fried chicken with green beans and fired okra. This is great southern cooking and we will be back. read more

This is my favorite place to eat. The prices are great, the food is always good... But the service? WONDERFUL! When you go tell Kayla the "Banana Pudding " lady suggested it!!! It's a great experience!! read more

Lizard's Thicket is great for breakfast. Plenty of food on your plate and delicious. The fried bologna is nice and thick and fried to perfection. Onion sausage is available, but not listed on the menu. Grits were good, too. read more

I probably eat here 10 times or more a month I love the consistency of the food taste I just love eating here the staff is always friendly and professional, no matter which location the services are always great! read more

It really deserves more than a 3 star but I don't want people to get the idea that this is fine dining. It isn't fine dining but it is comforting, consistent, and available for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I go to this restaurant about 3 times a month with my grandma. The selection of home cooking is great but I am pretty sure 80% of the food is bought and made elsewhere and is heated up in the restaurant. I can't be certain of that but it is the only way I can figure that they can offer such a wide variety of food while keeping the prices so low. I love this place and I hope you go eat here. read more

Got an order of biscuits and gravy to go for breakfast. We're in the South, so that's something any restaurant here should know how to do decently if they want to have a breakfast/brunch service. It was absolutely inedible! The biscuit was clearly of the cheap frozen variety. I could get past that if the gravy was good, but it wasn't. The sausage was a broken up patty full of grisly, chewy filler pieces. The gravy was the worst part. Thick and completely flavorless. I was really hungry so I thought I could add a bunch of salt and pepper and try to choke it down, but I couldn't. Threw the whole thing out. Total waste of money. The extremely poor quality of this meal has ensured I'll never try Lizards Thicket again. I don't understand how this chain stays in business. I'll never subject my taste buds and stomach to such abuse again. read more

Staff at the Firest Drive location isn't as helpful as the former Beltline location. I and my friends waste a lot of money here eating things we've bought which are disappointing. Yesterday evening they weren't busy & I requested that my take out order of liver & onions be lightly cooked because I was going to reheat it later in the microwave & didn't want the meat to get tough. They / the chef ignored my request & gave me already over-cooked meat. Forget re-heating it; in fact, I threw it in the trash after the first 2 bites. If they weren't/ couldn't accommodate my request, I wish they'd told me so that I could have ordered something else. I'm tired of wasting money here. The staff can call me "honey" & "sweetie" all they want, but if they're going to ignore my requests or forget to come back with tea or extra napkins, I'm not enjoying my meal. The Two Notch NE location seems to be better. They have the best hamburgers (custom cooked) of anyone in town! read more

This is the worst of the Thicket's. It's greasier, saltier and sweeter than all the others. It was gross 15 years ago, and it's still gross now. read more

Honestly its not the cleanest, if at night staff can be a bit cranky, drinking glasses not that clean either. Had to ask them to wipe off a table, replace 2 drinks cause there was stuff/food stuck on the inside. Davette our server was not the best mood as she was short and heck being our frist time here not sure i want to come back. OMG they have cob webbs growing from the lights over the tables, dusty as heck, sure could use one heck of a cleaning. The food is a whole other screw up, my food for the most part was cold and when I said something to Davette she wanted to put it in the microwave i was like NO, are you seroous. I can only go with 1 star and that's to much if you ask me. read more

So I simply ask for soft bacon with my breakfast. What they bring is so crispy that it breaks in half when I pick it up. I explained that I asked for soft bacon and her reply is "this is soft for us". Not sorry I will remake it, it this is soft for us. I have been to other Lizard Thickets and get soft bacon when I ask for it. The customer service at this particular location is absolute crap. I would not recommend coming here as I know that I will not return. read more

I ate here on Thanksgivinf with my daughter. Neither one of us was impressed with the food. My meal was lukewarm at best and tasted like it came right out of the freezer. Never again! read more

A year ago I posted a review, and the same great service has continued without interruption. I am there at least once a month for an evening MeetUp in the meeting room, and the BLTs (lots of bacon, overflowing the edges of the sandwich) and the lemon meringue pie are reliably good. Thanks to Lisa for the great attention in the meeting room. read more

My wife and I just moved to Columbia and tried out Lizard's Thicket in Forest Acres for lunch today. It's a standard meat-and-three greasy spoon where the sweet tea flows thick and the brown gravy flows thicker. The complimentary cornbread muffins were good and the formidable selection of sides kept me second guessing my order until the moment I placed it. I had the country fried steak with mashed potatoes & gravy, macaroni & cheese, and green beans (though I actually ordered *greens* and just decided not to correct fate's intervention ). Our server, Susan, was very friendly and attentive from the moment we arrived to the moment we left. We enjoyed the experience and look forward to trying their breakfast service very soon. Good food, good prices, good people. read more

The Okra and tomatoes are great but the staff is slow and does not pay attention. If you ask for anything unusual or unusual quantities it blows their mind. My drink ran dry twice. read more