Midwood Smokehouse — Restaurant in Columbia

I visit Columbia often to see my family and each time I come I love to try someplace new. Midwood was my someplace new. I was really in the mood for hush puppies and some comfort esque food. I was going to order ahead but I assume due to maybe the busyness of the inside of the actual location they didn’t open their online take out system until 4pm on Saturday, so I decided to just to partially dine in. There were a decent amount of folks there but I wouldn’t call it packed by far. The bar had a good amount of open seating so I choose there. First impressions were cool. The bar tender seemed nice / pleasant. I had already looked over the menu so I knew what I wanted. I ordered the nachos and a Long Island to start. The Long Island was cool, nothing great nothing bad. The nachos were tasty but not my favorite. I could totally see how someone else could absolutely love them though. Made well with a good amount of toppings. Could’ve used a lil more brisket and less tomato’s for me. So the bar tender after I ordered those two things never came back to check on me again, smh. I caught her walking past and was able to place my Togo order. She took that order but didn’t acknowledge that my drink was done and she never gave me any water from jump. So I was just drinkless. My Togo order came out decently fast but back to my very inattentive bar tender she never came back to ask me to pay. I truly don’t feel like I should ever have to chase a bar tender down to pay for my meal, someone else would’ve just left and I wouldn’t have blamed them. I ate the Togo order when I got home and its safe to say I personally will never go back to Midwood. Mac and cheese BOO, two thumbs down. It was dry and seriously lacking in flavor. The greens same BOO except 4 thumbs down, these were trash. I didn’t even eat them. The burnt ends were okay, cooked well but for me everything was lacking proper seasoning and they could’ve given way more sauce. The hush puppies were quite literally the highlight of this meal! They slapped but I also have a unhealthy obsession with hush puppies. So I wouldn’t flat out tell folks not to go here but I wouldn’t go back on my own time and if someone asked I would recommend we check out some other spots first .

———————————————————————— Updated April 2023 I came back with my grandma to give it a second try and I can say I’m glad I did. I chose NOT to get the Mac and cheese again or the collard’s and I think that was for the best. Our server Sarah was awesome and super sweet. I got the wings from the app menu but I wouldn’t recommend, the mean just wasn’t very good, pretty small, and I got the habanero spicy flavor and it wasn’t spicy nor did it taste like habanero… just tasted very smoky. This time I got the chopped brisket sandwich with pimento cheese. It was really good and cooked well, I also loved the crinkle fries they were so good and the perfect size. The hush puppies were slapping...

We'll probably visit again as we were there about an hour before closing. We were visiting from out of town, and we got to Columbia around 7 pm. I decided to look up places that would close late, 10 pm was close enough. The restaurant was not packed which was great but we knew going this late (850 pm-ish when we got to the restaurant) might have some understanding of the food we will be served. We were greeted by the host who seated us immediately. The waitress was friendly and did not rush us into ordering (I did not catch her name). The atmosphere was also great, open, and relaxing. There were still several people eating or just chilling. We ordered several appetizers, bacon-wrapped jalapeño, and Nachos Libre. We also ordered the 'Pig Out' ($45) pick 4 proteins; the three choices we picked were Carolina chopped pork, beef brisket, and 1/2 rack pork ribs, and substituted the 4th choice for another 1/2 rack for an additional $11. Our sides were all rice, which also included hush puppies and house pickles.

We understand that we were there an hour (we were there at around 850pm-ish) before closing. So the rating is based on the food served at that time. •Customer service was absolutely, 5/5. •Nacho Libre, 3/5 •Bacon-wrapped jalapeño, 4/5 •Hush Puppies, 3/5; can it be a little bigger? •House pickles, 5/5 •Carolina Chopped pork, 2/5; it wasn't dry but didn't care too much for it. •Beef brisket, 4/5; •1/2 rack pork ribs, 3.5/5; some charred ends • Rice, 2/5; hard rice was mixed in it. We ordered rice because rice is life. Ha. • the 3 sauces, 3/5; vinegar and bbq was good. •drinks (driving reasons), tea, and Pepsi, 5/5 (not watered down). There is a bar and bar seating.

Overall rating, 4/5. We'll try again way, way before closing time.

We paid with a debit card and tipped in cash. Two 🚻 bathrooms are available and it was kept clean. Plenty of parking is available and within walking distance of shops nearby. There is also an outside seating. I believe call for a pickup/take-out option is available. Check with them.

We spent about ~$90 total (this includes the tip) for our dinner.

Support your local...

Who would've thunk it? Mall barbecue for the win! There were some definite high points and low points. We were on our way from NYC to Florida passing through and found this place via Yelp. I deeply regret not trying the ribs, but maybe we'll catch them on the way back up. Despite not being a huge fan of the burnt ends and Mac N Cheese, I'd say the brisket and collared greens were SO good, I'm still giving this place 5 stars!

I love the pictures in their bathrooms.

The waitstaff were all super friendly, lovely people. Every single one of them conscientiously wore facemasks, which was appreciated. However, we were, literally, the only customers wearing facemasks. Not a single man, woman, or child were wearing them. Sigh.

Brisket: A+ Reminds me of Hill Country back home. Very aromatic, very fatty, incredibly soft. Obviously smoked very low and very slow. The bark on the brisket is black and thick. Very pretty smoke rings. For me, the brisket was so amazing that I'm giving this restaurant 5 stars ("as good as it gets") despite the miss on the burnt ends. I couldn't tell you what my most favorite brisket has been, but I can tell you this much -- this brisket is definitely in my top 5, hands down.

Burnt Ends: C+ A definite swing and a miss. These aren't burnt ends. For starters, they ain't burnt! I couldn't tell if these were chunks of lean pork that were smoked or simply braised in a smoky sauce. In any event, burnt ends are supposed to be burnt and oftentimes sweet. These were neither. And they were lean beyond description. Literally had to choke some of the pieces down.

Collared Greens: A- Very solid offering. Delicious flavor, nice soft vegetable. You can actually eat this vegetable next to the heavenly brisket and not laugh your butt off. Beautiful meaty flavor, tender and soft, and nearly perfect (perfect would've been chunks of bacon in there).

Mac n Cheese: B- Underwhelming. Would've liked some kind of hard crusty cheese and/or breadcrumbs on top, a much sharper cheddar, and perhaps macaronis that...