Cured 18th & 21st — Restaurant in Columbia

The design, music, and bar are the greatest assets of this restaurant.

The food is beyond lackluster. It appears that this restaurant was a speakeasy at some point and must be struggling to change their format to a formal restaurant.

Basics on food service failed several times. The steak they served for me and my two other guests appeared as if they were cooked directly from being frozen, and we're of the lowest quality marks. Like what you'd expect from a cheap service chain that basically microwaves them. Two of our steaks we're overcooked. We sent them back, as we had asked for medium rare. When they returned with the new plate, they we're very undercooked. Like, blue. This is the easiest thing to get right and they failed twice for two separate plates. The server couldn't even deny this, as it was readily apparent.

The one plate that was cooked correctly was hardly flavourful according to my other guest.

For the prices they're charging for food, it is completely unacceptable and disrespectful to serve that to your customers. And then to add a 20% minimum mandatory tip speaks volumes about your service standards. This isn't merely a new problem, you can see their food service has been having serious issues for over a year. Other restaurants in the area have not floundered like this, which tells me it is an accepted practice by management.

Our tables server was nice enough, but even she could hardly promote the menu. Pushing sauces for steaks can be a red flag, and it definitely was this time.

For four patrons, we had a bill of over $500. Now, I don't mind spending money for a good experience, but this just wasn't it. No effort was made to remedy our troubles, no apologies, nothing. I will say we did order several drinks which did boost our bill, and I don't regret the drinks, but the food not being comped is a serious issue.

If you're to go here, stick to drinks and appetizers only. The entrees are a travesty for a restaurant of...

Love the name and vibe of this place. Who wouldn’t love a speakeasy style restaurant (though we opted for an early dinner on the Cured side of the restaurant)?!?!? We also opted for a tapas style dinner of appetizers: bean and ham soup, duck fat fries, herbed falafel, and grilled chicken skewers with peach BBQ sauce and cucumber/radish salad. The bean and ham soup surprised us with a red base but was excellent. The duck fat fries were perfectly crisp on the outside and soft inside. Incidentally they were tasty with the Peach BBQ sauce. The chicken skewers were perfectly done. I was disappointed by the falafel. It came sandwich style in a pita pocket with 2 falafel balls in each half. The tzatziki was very unusual- finely shredded, long strips of cucumber mixed with what I assume was yogurt. It was very thick but also the yogurt had been watery and left small puddles on my plate. By the time it was delivered both the bottom sides of pita and falafel were soggy. I ended up pulling the falafel out to just eat them. They were soft and smoothly blended which is not my preferred consistency for falafel. They were also somewhat bland.

For drinks I had the Cardi Peach which was very good! My husband, a whiskey guy, had a sampling of whiskeys. If you like whiskey they have a HUGE menu- almost 500 between the two sides. From all over the world.

For dessert we had warm stone fruit clafouti and donut bread pudding. I would have preferred the clafouti with more fruit. The donut bread pudding was very good! It tasted just like a warm Krispy Kreme donut.

Service was phenomenal. The bartenders were friendly and knowledgeable. I prefer to chat with bartenders about the alcohols and food I am tasting, history of the establishment, etc and they were very accommodating 😊

We will be coming back soon to try the 18th and 21st side of the restaurant. This was a great find and if you are a whiskey person, they have whiskey club that sounds like...

Went to 18th & 21st with my partner.

Food: 4/10

For my appetizer, I ordered the filet mignon sliders. The filet mignon was not seasoned at all. No salt, no pepper. Nothing. The cook on the protein was uneven. I had one medium, and the other was well. I absolutely love the idea of filet mignon sliders however there needs to be a sauce or something added to them as mine appeared to just have cheese and some sort of arugula on it.

For my entrée, I had the Duroc pork chop. For 30+ dollars I was beyond disappointed. The pork chop was extremely thick like a hockey puck. It was difficult to cut into, dry on the inside, and again lacked so much seasoning and flavor. The potatoes were lightly seasoned and they were edible. The green beans were soggy and oily. I was not impressed.

We ordered a side of truffle Mac and cheese. Again the Mac and cheese had no seasoning and lacked flavor. The truffle really came through, but for 10 dollars an entree I expected better.

We decided NOT to order dessert.

Service: 9/10

Our waiter was nice, upfront, and knew what he was doing. He stopped by several times to make sure we were okay and to refill our water. My only problem is that when we were done eating dinner And the waiter took our plates , We sat and waited for the bill for over 10 minutes . The staff in the front were extremely nice as well.

Drinks: 10/10 I ordered a strawberry swing and a smoked old-fashioned. Both drinks were extremely delicious.

Atmosphere: 7/10

The space is a bit cramped up. it is a little awkward to look right next to you and see and hear what someone else has going on. it also gets a little loud in there as the band is playing. It’s not ideal for a nice quiet romantic night.

Overall, My bill was well over $200 and it was just a mediocre experience. I would probably return for drinks but food wise I would go...