New shopping center near Columbia to get location of popular hibachi restaurant
A well-known chain of hibachi restaurants is planning a location at new shopping center near northeast Columbia.
Tokyo Grill, which has restaurants across the Midlands and South Carolina, is planning a new location in the Pontiac Towne Center commercial development at 10508 Two Notch Road in Elgin. That newly built shopping center is anchored by a Food Lion grocery store that opened in January.
The shopping center has a number of spaces that will be developed for other businesses, and one of them a few doors down from the Food Lion had a building permit in the window as of Tuesday indicating work for a new Tokyo Grill restaurant. There also is a poster in the window of that space that says “Tokyo Grill,” and an online map of the site shows the space has a Tokyo Grill coming. An opening date for the restaurant hasn’t been publicly announced.
Tokyo Grill is a familiar name in the Midlands, with more than a dozen locations across the region. The restaurants are known for quick service meals with a Japanese flair, including hibachi chicken, teriyaki chicken, hibachi jumbo shrimp, fried rice and more.
The Pontiac Towne Center is in a busy, growing area at the corner of Two Notch and Spears Creek Church roads. More than 21,000 cars per day traverse that section of Two Notch Road, per state Department of Transportation data, with more than 10,000 cars per day traveling down Spears Creek Church Road nearby.
This story was originally published March 18, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
