Our ROMEO lunch group went here for the first time today. Two of our group had been here before and suggested trying it. We were immediately greeted a very friendly waitress that took our drink orders. When I asked her what she recommended she said they have very good hamburgers and that the Vella's Special turkey sandwich was always popular. We had one person order the Prime Rib sandwich, medium well done. One person ordered the Vella's Special Salad, one order for the Rueben sandwich, and six of us ordered the Vella's special turkey sandwich. It is heated and has turkey, crumbled bacon, provolone cheese and comes with a dipping sauce, one side and a soft drink for $9.99. A good deal. The sandwich itself was good but seemed to lack something, IMO. Most of the guys rated it as a 4.0 with a couple of 3.5's. The Prime Rib sandwich was a hit and so was the salad. The Cole slaw served with the Turkey sandwich was good but I heard a couple of mentions about it not being sweet. Looked like KFC's but not sweet. I liked it Several guys ordered the home fries and said they were just ok. They have a very good looking menu with a lot of interesting options for dinner time. I'd like to try their Philly Cheese Steak next time I go back. Service was great, ambience is nice, food slightly above average. Our overall rating was a 3.83. read more

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I've been several times over the past 15 years and it is always reliable in being positive experience. The food is great, the drinks are cold & available and respectfully priced! My favorite part is it's a dark atmosphere of sorts and fairly quiet with a good sized menu and the service is always awesome! The steak is great, the fries are fluffy and crisp, the chips are nice (esp with malt vinegar near), coleslaw (spot on w/that sweet mayo style but not too much), au jou, ranch dressing, fried mushrooms, prime rib, that awesome bread, so much more.. it's a great place to go! I was so pleased with my last meal i ordered a 'to go' of about the same thing, YUM! read more

Hello! The food.was palatable. I ordered the grilled salmon, baked potato and house salad. Was okay. Then I ordered fried okra which was okay. Service was expedient and friendly. Ambience was down to earth, however slightly on noisy side. I give 5.stars for effort as nothing really bad. Just not outstanding either! Lol read more

Vella's Restaurant & Tavern - Grilled salmon & baked potato - American Near Me - Cayce, South Carolina

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This restaurant open in 1951. I use to go here when I was in high school in the early 70's. Although you could drink back then at 18 I didn't. My wife said we haven't been here in a while so we went. It was wing night which was nice. The staff and owner were very friendly. I got over that not drinking beer thing a while ago lol and had a few beers they did have a fair selection note a lot of craft beers. The food was fantastic my wife had a hamburger (she said hamburger steak) no it was a hamburger. The raw home made chips were great. No wonder they been in business so long. Good place read more

TLDR - Awful service, gross food. We were immediately sat but then never served. A waitress served the table directly beside us but purposefully avoided us for 20 minutes before we finally got her to make eye contact so we could get a server, idk why she was so angry? The hostess came and apologized, a woman i assume is the owner came and apologized, all the while we said its totally fine, and then a different completely pissed off waitres came and was like im not your server but ill get you drinks i guess. We rolled with it and finally got our server who was also.... pissed off? I have no clue what was going on but the service was AWFUL. The food came and was so gross. 2 out of 5 of us didnt eat it at all. We were all never given a refill, never given boxes (to feed the somehow $20 chicken fingers to my dogs bc they were so gross), never saw the waitress again until checks came. We were there for what felt like forever, and left hungry. read more

It could be so much more .With the right management. I love the vibe. The food is just okay . The service is quite good.

Been coming here for years.. came in after a couple month hiatus.. Man, things have changed.. I get being on rough times.. but not only have they gone up on prices (wings are now $.95 cent a piece on "wing night" from $.65 a wing a couple months ago!), the quality has taken a nosedive.. For instance, the Hamburger steak used to be hand-pattied, fresh beef.. They brought out the Walmart special frozen hamburger patty.. Menu states Mushrooms and mushroom gravy is a $1.50 up charge.. they charged me $3! And the sweet potato.. ha. They put so much cinnamon, you could can it and it have it 5 years from now.. Long story short, it will be a LONG LONG LONG time before me and my family return.. This was purely RIDICULOUS! read more

Move this place to #1 because of the NEW 18oz. Steak and the wings. both were cooked just right. The service was great. Tea glass stayed full. Plenty of napkins for the wings and the waiter always wanting to know if everything was ok. 1 Note: if you like it a little quieter while you eat ask for a seat not close to the bar. Keep in mind. I TELL IT LIKE IT IS !! JH read more

I've eaten here before but I think I'm probably going to stop coming. The food is NOT fresh it is reheated to order. I ordered a chicken dish (I cannot remember which one) and in about 5 minutes it was out. It takes way longer than 5 minutes to fully cook a chicken breast and mine had plenty of color even though it was just above warm but hardly piping hot. The pasta as well was sticky, and room temperature. It tastes like they precook it then toss it in warm garlic oil just before service. I understand that it takes time to cook food. I expect to wait 20 minutes for an entree to be prepared. I expect to wait a bit for a $17-24 meal. This is a nice ambiance and a midrange cost-- this is not fast food. If I wanted precooked reheated food in 5 minutes I could go to fazollis and pay less than half the cost. How about slow down and go back to cooking stuff fresh to order? read more

Not the Vella's of old but still good. Prices not bad either. Will still come back from time to time.

Tuesday wing night is awesome. As of this post the price is .90 per wing. Now a days under a dollar a wing is a good price. I am not from the area just here on my bi monthly business trip, and Vella's is one of my must go too when in town. Lunch or dinner they wont disappoint. read more

This place has the best prime rib I've ever had. However the last time I was here it wasn't even on the menu and I had to ask for it specially. This is also a great spot to go to drink beer and watch sporting events. read more

Great food and a great time! We can on trivia night but it wasn't too insane! Very clean fun! I ordered the chicken finger plate with raw fries and veggies! This comes with three, nice sized portions! read more

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I have been going to Vella's for over 20 years and the quality has just completely gone down hill. As soon as we walked in last weekend, 3-4 waitresses are sitting in the back on their phones and not paying attention to the customers. That's not what you want to see when you first walk in. The food was nothing special, and you can tell they are cutting corners and serving more frozen food now. It's just sad to see what it has become. read more

GREAT service and atmosphere. The Vella's special and crab legs were great! My husband got the prime rib which he said was ok but the rest of us loved our food. And it is so hard to find a place with good service. It can be a little warm in there so I wouldn't recommend a jacket on the summer time. read more

Vella's Restaurant & Tavern - Vella's Special - American Near Me - Cayce, South Carolina

Well.... I was disappointed coming here. I used to come here a lot in college. Lots of good memories here. I got the prime rib sandwich ... Their Friday night special. The sandwich was pretty good with the exception of the big piece of fat in it. The cold slaw was FULL of mayo. The raw fries were shining with grease. I never could find a crisp one. The service was slack. We kept looking for our waitress. I would have had more drinks at least with better service. Maybe then the fries might not have tasted so greasy. We even complained about them to the waitress.... She could have cared less. Prices are good. Service was slack. And raw fries were pitiful. It may be a while before we return. read more

Vella's Restaurant & Tavern - people sitting at the bar - American Near Me - Cayce, South Carolina

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I have been coming here for years and consider the owner and his family friends. My issue is with the new managers who seem to enjoy drinking and socializing with customers more then managing the establishment. One of the major issues with the restaurant side is the food is subpar (sucks) at best. I generally eat before I come in to avoid being disappointed. It wasn't always this way however, the complacency and incompetence of the current staff leaves me no choice but to find an alternative place to enjoy my favorite past time. read more

So glad you are open for carry out! Staff is always so kind, food is great, just wish your take away silverware came with a plastic knife so I didn't have to eat my steak like a caveman. read more

After a short break from coming to Vella's we returned to give them another shot. As usual the staff was super friendly and on point. Unfortunately the same issues are still present. The floors and tables are sticky and the place has a severe dank smell. The mushroom Swiss burger had no flavor but was cooked as I like it. The wings as usual are awesomeness. And lastly their delicious cole slaw was tampered with since it was all mayo. Perhaps it was too early or just a bad day. We will be back in a few months in hopes it will improve. read more

Always great food! Always great service! Tonight, the service exceeded great and was exceptional! The waitress had a smile on her face the entire time she took care of us and went above and beyond! Her name is Connor. And she's got the best personality I've seen from a server in a long time!!!!! read more

Terrible! Food was awful and steaks were tough could not chew! Kitchen staff cussing and so obnoxiously annoying!

I have heard so much about Monday nights and all you can eat crab legs so I had to try them for myself. You get a small basic salad, hush puppies and all you can eat crab legs served with a generous portion of melted butter and a slice of lemon. The crab legs were all they were made out to be. Yummy!! They were served warm and the waitress kept them coming. read more

Vella's Restaurant & Tavern - American Near Me - Cayce, South Carolina

Great food and nice people. They used to have a black and blue salad that is steak with blue cheese which was wonderful. They have a fairly large menu and everything that I've tried is good. You can't go wrong with their wings and chips. read more

Just dropped by Vellas for lunch with my bf! He ordered the Patty Melt and that comes with French fries and slaw. I got the 7.99 6 wing lemon pepper with raw fries. Food was overall good and hot. The only downside was when we walked in there was this smell and I thought it was crab leg night but it wasn't and the raw fries were a little bit too soggy. Would definitely come back though read more

Maybe the back dining area is different, but in the front, where I was seated, there were only 3 TVs (2 19" and 1 25") of the tube-variety. Difficult to see and even more difficult to hear with the volume all the way down. I got the Vella's special based on the previous review. I have to say... hard as they may try, they didn't come close to Andy's special. Despite the description of the sandwich being 'served hot', it actually arrived at room temperature. I'm not sure if it was *ever* hot, as the cheese just kind of sat on top and wasn't even melted. The dipping sauce, which pales in comparison to Andy's, was cold and bland. The bread was even more so... There were large bread-only gaps at each end but it was so... 'bready'... that I didn't even want to eat those bits (and I *love* bread!). I tried a little dipping sauce but that didn't help. The raw fries were pretty good. And there was a sizeable mound served with my sandwich. The water, however, tasted... industrial? You know that odor in the air when you drive past the filtration plant in West Columbia? Yeah, thats what the water tasted like. "No, ma'am, thank you. I would *not* like a to-go cup of water" read more

Came here about a month ago and had a great server. We stayed and closed out with our server and he told us the bar would stay open later if we wanted anything else. The bartender did a great job checked on us and served us but around 1015 we could hear the manager yelling she needed everyone to hurry up and leave so she could go get laid. I've never heard such inappropriate things being said especially from someone in management. She kept screaming about it until we left. We came back about a week ago hoping for a better experience. The restaurant was extremely busy and all the servers and bartender did a great job. This time we saw the same manager sitting and drinking at a table and yet again she was loudly telling everyone about her sex life. At first I thought she wasn't working but randomly she would get up and go do something but for the most part she just sat around drinking and hanging out. I felt so bad for all the servers running around with little to no help from the manager. Not sure if we'll try coming back. Hopefully something is done about their manager. Maybe we'll try a different night then Thursday but we love their shrimp special read more

The beer is cheap. The prime rib sandwich was great. The raw fries were dripping with grease and overlooked. Did I mention the beer was cheap. This may be the only bar sporting 19" tube TVs...... Did I mention the beer was cheap. read more

We recently visited Vella's on a Saturday afternoon for a early dinner, us and some friends -- 4 adults and 4 young kids. It was my family's first time (our friends live nearby and strongly recommended Vella's) and we really enjoyed ourselves. Both inside and outside, Vella's looks a bit like a hole in the wall. Frankly, I like that -- some of the best food I've ever had came from holes in the wall! It reminded me a lot of a restaurant I loved in Indiana, and so I felt very much at home. I ordered French onion soup, and a mushroom swiss burger. The soup was salty, but otherwise well-made. The burger was AMAZING, with barbecue sauce and bacon in addition to the mushrooms and swiss cheese. Their cole slaw is great, and I loved the "raw fries" (homemade potato chips). The kids each liked their various kids meals. I got to taste a few bites of my friend's mozzarella sticks (best I've ever had) and honey barbecue wing (delish!). The husbands took advantage of a 2-ribeyes-for-$20 special of the day, and were both extremely pleased. Overall, this was a yummy dining experience in a pleasant, comfortable atmosphere. Our server was cheerful and helpful (not always easy when there are 4 kids at the table needing extra napkins and occasionally spilling water everywhere) and helped make the outing fun. We'll definitely be back -- for lunch on our own, or for dinner with the kids! read more

Wow. The all you can eat crab legs are delicious. They can be a little salty sometimes but it's just the crab itself. We came around 4:45 and got seated for the ayce crab legs. It starts at 5:00 and we got out food at 5:10. The salad that comes with it looked like day old salad and was withering but I didn't really mind it because I was here for the crab legs. It also comes with a side of hush puppies which were not too bad but on the sweeter side. They give you two legs to start and with the refills they give you one and a half or sometimes two legs. Now I prefer this location for crab legs instead of D's wings because it is less saltier and the refills on the crabs are all together and not just small legs. Our waitress was very nice and attentive and I would come back to try our their regular menu food. Also when we came in we were like one of the few that came in before the whole place got really busy. When we got out of the restaurant there was a huge line of people waiting to come and eat. Wow you know a place is really good when there are at least twenty people if not more waiting outside in the rain to come and eat! read more

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Vella's is a top-notch family owned restaurant. From the outside, it looks like a hole-in-the-wall, but like most well established hole-in-the-wall's, their food is amazing and service is down to earth and friendly. The atmosphere is cozy... flat screen TV's surround the eating area, while sport, South Carolina, and Gamecock paraphernalia give the walls and ceiling rafters a one-of-a-kind look. Their menu consists of burgers, wings, and sandwiches... and have a few specialty items as well. (By the way, their Vella special w/ buffalo fries is the bomb.) They have a full bar too. read more

Classic American Dinning at its Best! Vella's has been in this same location for over 50 years. My father spent the latter years of his adolescence in the are with my Grandfather. At the end of a long week working the gas station he owned he would take the kids to, at the time, Vella's Deli. There he would get a fantastic, affordable dinner for a family of five! There are a lot of things to love about this place of which one is for sure the BEEF! Steaks, Salads, Sandwiches including Roast Beef, Prime Rib, Ribeye and more! Awesome wings ($0.50 Wings on Tuesday)! Fantastic Appetizers made in-house not simply picked up from the Chef Store ready to fry!! Weekly and Bi-Weekly Events and Specials; which include All You Can Crab Legs on Monday! Team Trivia Nights on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month! read more

Have gotten a quite a few take out orders since Covid 19 and each time everything is accurate, no matter how busy they are.

Second time at Vella's. First one was a few years ago, sat at bar. Beer & bar appetizers was pretty good. Walked in today and my husband and I weren't warmly greeted. Just a "how many", as she picked up menus. Asked for a booth, and we ended up in the last one on the end of wall, by the bar. Bench seats were cracked and old. Asked to sit in a different location. Nice table by bar, but was told this table was reserved for 4 or more people. I wasn't going to argue. Decided to just leave at that point. Not sure if I'll go back anytime soon. read more

I was kind of leary to go in here due to how it looks on the outside. My fiancee who has lived here his entire life insisted it was good. I looked at the menu outside and inwardly groaned when I saw "Bologna Sandwich". I kept reading and saw Duke's mayo is on said sandwich. Now we're talking. I walk in and the interior is dated, but charming. I ordered the prime rib sandwich and fries. It was delicious! I was quite satisfied and will be back! read more

If you live in or around Cayce then you know about Vella's. It seems like it's been there for as long as I can remember (which is a decent amount of time) and it's definitely a local institution. I appreciate it for what it is. The food is nothing to write home about and anything fried definitely leans on the greasy side. They will make your raw fries any way you like which is nice. (Extra floppy, please!) They have a pretty large menu so most people could find something they like and they have daily specials. I had the Vella's sandwich which is very reminiscent of a particular sandwich at 2 other local institutions. It has roast beef and turkey and comes with a thousand island kind of dipping sauce. It was pretty tasty but a little on the dry side... even with a generous helping of sauce. I don't mind popping by sometimes but it's not something I'd drive out of my way to visit. read more

The place to go for a cold beer, fresh shrimp, crab legs or a juicy chargrilled burger. The wings, raw fries, and BBQ are phenomenal! The owner, management and wait staff are friendly, attentive and ready to serve you. They can get busy but that only shows how really delicious the food is! Trivia nights are fun with a group of friends and family. Honestly will never go anywhere else for a burger or crab legs! read more

Stopped by for a quick dinner with my favorite dinner partner, the hubs. This place is definitely bigger than it appears to be from the outside. It's not massive or anything, but I definitely didn't realize it was occupying the space of 3 storefronts. This is definitely a "locals" kind of place--my favorite. I always say if the locals embrace it and keep it open, they've got to he doing something right. We had a couple draft beers, and ordered the raw chips with blue cheese and their buffalo shrimp. Their chips are fantastic--light and crispy, and perfectly cooked. Their shrimp were plump and well fried, and the buffalo sauce was tangy and had a great kick. We split the steak and shrimp entree. The steak was cooked to order, and tasted great. The grilled shrimp were great, as well. The portion was generous, and again they were nicely plump. My baked potato was a teeny overcooked, but a little butter fixed that! My husband really enjoyed the fried okra. All in all, it was a great meal, and I would definitely go back. read more

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Ahh good ole Vella's. I'll be honest, I was very hesitant about eating here. My boyfriend took me here and said it was his go-to spot in college. The exterior of the restaurant is not very appealing. It's in a small, run down, strip mall building. When you go inside, it's kind of the same story.. the decor is definitely dated and all over the place (think TGI Friday's in the 90s). Of course it is a casual sports bar so I wasn't expecting anything fancy. It's clean for the most part and the food is great! I got the mushroom swiss burger with raw fries. The burger was fantastic! The raw fries were more like straight up potato chips but they were still good. The burger, raw fries and side of cole slaw was only $10! My boyfriend got the Rueben sandwich and it's one of his favorite meals. They also had Shocktop on draft for $3, what a steal. The service was not the best. Our server was friendly but took forever to take our order and deliver our check. All in all, it's not a fancy or hip joint but the food is good and that's what counts right?! read more

Vella's Restaurant & Tavern - Mushroom Swiss burger with raw fries and cole slaw - American Near Me - Cayce, South Carolina

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Yum. Great staff. Enjoyed the barbecue sandwich and pecan and salted Carmel cheesecake to die for!

I'm NOT ever going back again! Ordered food today and 50 minutes later still NO FOOD! Quality of food over the last couple years has gone down tremendously, so will NOT recommend this restaurant anymore and will NOT be going back. read more