Future still uncertain for Lizard’s Thicket location on Columbia’s Beltline Boulevard
The fate of a Lizard’s Thicket restaurant that has been closed for several months remains uncertain.
Lizard’s Thicket CEO Bobby Williams told The State late Tuesday afternoon that no decision had been finalized as to what the future holds for the restaurant at 402 Beltline Blvd. in Columbia. That restaurant is located not far from Midlands Technical College’s Beltline campus.
There are more than a dozen Lizard’s Thicket restaurants in the Columbia area. The chain has been in operations for decades and specializes in meat-and-three country cooking.
The Beltline Lizard’s Thicket has been closed since August. At the time, the company said it was temporarily closing the unit because of pandemic-related labor shortages. Signage at the Beltline location continued to list it as temporarily closed because of labor issues as of Tuesday afternoon. The company’s website also listed the Beltline unit as temporarily closed.
However, speculation on social media this week suggested that Lizard’s Thicket on Beltline was closing for good and that a Mexican restaurant was going to take the space.
Williams told The State on Tuesday that there were talks about leasing the Beltline location to a Mexican restaurant, but that did not work out. He said no lease has been signed with another restaurant.
Williams said he would still classify the Beltline Lizard’s Thicket as temporarily closed but noted the future for it is not certain.
“We are having discussions every day about which direction to go on it,” the restaurant CEO said. “Nothing is concrete yet. ... We have not made up our minds completely yet.”
