Popular Midlands brunch spot adding new location near Columbia. Here’s where
A well-known brunch restaurant in West Columbia is adding a second Midlands location.
Breakfast at Ruiz, which has had an original location at 116 State St. in West Columbia for about three years, is now prepping an additional location at 566 Spears Creek Church Road suite 104 in Elgin, near northeast Columbia, according to owner Iris Perea.
The new Breakfast at Ruiz location will be in the space that formerly was home to the restaurant Ratio, which closed in June.
Perea is hopeful that the Elgin restaurant will open later this month.
The original Breakfast at Ruiz has built a following with its brunch menu and cocktail offerings since it opened in September 2022. The timing was right to open a second spot in a different part of the Midlands, Perea noted.
“This expansion comes as a lot of our guests travel [to the State Street location] from the northeast,” Perea said. “They have been asking us to expand, basically, since the first year. We knew we couldn’t grow that fast, but now we’ve found the right opportunity.”
The space on Spears Creek Church Road is just a touch larger than the West Columbia location, Perea said, and will have a slightly larger patio dining space. The Breakfast at Ruiz co-owner called Elgin an “up and coming” area of the Midlands.
As for the food, the menu at the Elgin location will largely be the same as the West Columbia spot. Breakfast at Ruiz is known for its shrimp-and-grits, omelets, French toast, waffles, breakfast sandwiches, mimosas and more.
Breakfast at Ruiz continues to enjoy its space in West Columbia, Perea said, and she conceded that wait times for a table can sometimes be considerable on the weekends, when brunch crowds swell.
“We even have people come from North Carolina and Georgia, as well,” she said. “We are so thankful that the second location is going to open up. ... We didn’t want [the two locations] to be too close together. We wanted to space them out.”
Perea said Breakfast at Ruiz could add even more locations in the future — she said the company has explored options in Lexington and Charleston, for instance — but that it will be be taking its time and making sure any further expansion is handled with care.
Breakfast at Ruiz is hiring for its Elgin location, Perea noted. Interested parties can visit breakfastatruizelgin.com and click on the “jobs” tab to apply.
