Columbia Eats Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Longview

We decided to give Columbia Eats a try yesterday; they were still in their “soft opening”…as they have been for the past month. It’s a good thing they are still in the Soft Opening…because they do need to work out some issues.

We ordered the spaghetti bolognese and the beef teriyaki with an appetizer of pot stickers. Honestly, I’ve had better food in a grade school cafeteria. The bolognese looked beautiful; yet the flavor did not match the image. The sauce was runny and pooled water on the plate it was so thin. The ground meat was nothing special at all, just browned ground beef in the sauce. There was absolutely no spices or flavors in the sauce or the meat. Add something…anything to the sauce to make it pop…but nope.

The beef teriyaki also looked good, but sadly, it was not. When I tried the meat, it was warm in some places and cold at other places on the plate…much like a microwave would heat it…spotty at best. Even the flavor was only average and the meat was tough and looked like a portion from the US Food store/restaurant supply. Straight out of the frozen box and onto my plate. It came with rice or fries, the steak fries were good, but not salted enough, if at all.

The owner guaranteed us that the pot stickers were home made, and I believe him. Because their flavor was as lackluster as the rest of the items. The sauce with the potstickers was the highlight of the entire meal.

I’m glad Longview has a new restaurant, but I wish it was something I could get excited about. This town has to much average food, now we have another average restaurant. As we say, it was “Longview Good”…

The portions were a good size, but that was just more of the average food…of these meals, I did not want a large portion. I might give it a try next year; I’ll give them quite a long while to figure out...

Alright, 2nd time visiting this hidden GEM! This place deserves all the local business, not only is the inside clean, organized and well decorated; the host/owner is kind, respectful and an all around normal person with great thoughts, ideas, and a sense of humor, but also the food is insanely good with large portions and the best prices in town (not joking). Even their bar is less expensive than Applebees! All food is cooked to order, and I cannot wait to try more as their menu is super diverse and can fulfill whatever craving you’re having! First time I went, I got their egg rolls and Pasta Bolognese with penne, and it was good but this time I got the dumplings and Pasta Bolognese with spaghetti and a side of chili oil sauce and it was crazy good! My SO got the chicken yakisoba and enjoyed every bite. For two appetizers, two entrees, two beers and a soda, the meal only cost about $60 which is what we normally pay for two meals and drinks without apps. I don’t typically write reviews (hence why I waited till the second go before writing this one) but I REALLY want this place to succeed and would love for more people to give this local business a chance to win you over! Where else can you get a large portion pasta cooked fresh for $13? Heck, even Taco Bell nowadays is $10-$15 per person. Seriously, give this place a try and see for yourself. Is everything perfect? Of course not, this business is new and still working things out but will you be treated with the utmost respect and have a really good tasting meal? Absolutely! The owner is very open to opinions and criticism and we for sure will be frequenting Columbia Eats, we are even planning my birthday dinner to be held there, we are stoked. I hope this review offers someone on the fence the push they needed to give...

My husband and I decided to try Columbia eats during their soft opening.

I kept reminding my husband it was a soft opening and there might be some kinks to work out.

We ordered steamed pork buns for an appetizer, I got spam pineapple fried rice, and my husband got some bowl that had fried rice, fries, beef, onion and peppers drowned in queso.

Our entrees came out first. My rice was still white, didn't have much taste. There were peas and carrots that looked like they had been microwaved from the can and thrown in. And instead of cooking the pineapple with the fried rice they put 4 small chunks of pineapple on top of the rice straight from the fridge.

My husband's food was drowning in watery queso. even the waitress who brought it out commented it was a lot more queso than usual.

A bit later our appetizer came out. my husband grabbed a bun and bit into it and the pork in the middle still frozen solid.

we talked to the owner and explained what was going on and that we weren't satisfied with our meal. he took off the pork buns and gave us an 8% discount on the other food.

the waitress who is was helping us was very kind and helpful and was embarrassed at the state of food we got.

I know from personal experience that running a restaurant is not an easy job. but I really think that Columbia Eats should rework things for a couple weeks and maybe try reopening with some feedback from...