HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Rockaway Athletic Club
2719 Rosewood Dr.
Columbia, SC
(803) 259-1075

The nondescript Rockaway Athletic Club hides out in the open

Rockaway athletic club is hidden in plain sight in Columbia’s Rosewood district. The plain brick building has no signage all. Neither does it have a Website. It seems to have sustained a loyal customer base on word of mouth alone. It sits at the corner of Rosewood and Holloway in a nondescript building that must at one time have been a manufacturing plant of some kind. It’s easy to miss, as I did the first two times I went looking for it. (Hint: There’s a Karate school across the street.). I went there, apparently like most customers; because an acquaintance told me that they had a great pimiento cheeseburger, which is a favorite of mine. The small parking lot at the rear was about half full, as was the restaurant itself on this early Friday night. There is a back porch that sits about thirty with the de rigueur big screen TV tuned to ESPN’s Sports Center. Inside is a warren with at least two bars and several dining rooms. The furniture was eclectic with a cigar store Indian, a framed French cartoon, reminders of Saint Patty’s Day, Cinquo de Mayo, and Oktoberfest—the beer drinker’s holidays. In one corner, below a canoe hanging from the ceiling was a framed “quilt” of t-shirts the place had commissioned commemorating various festivals going back at least ten years, a paean the joint’s staying power. A huge map of South Carolina took up a whole wall near the door.

We found a table in a side room with a TV tuned to that salvation of insomniacs, the Golf channel. Above our table was a reproduction of a photo of Samuel Clemmons. The only hint of athleticism, other than the TV’s and the high and dry canoe was a pool table in the middle of our dining room that had service ware stacked on its vinyl covering. The waitress claimed that the place had “just about any brand of beer you want.” I couldn’t think of the brand name I wanted to test her with (Yeungling), and ordered a Coors Light in frustration.

The pimiento cheeseburger was very good; thick, juicy, well done and crumbly around the edges-signifying a hand tossed patty. The pimiento cheese was creamy, with a goodly amount of pepper chunks. The pimiento cheese fries, however, were a disappointment, though it was no fault of the restaurant; pimiento cheese just doesn’t belong on fries. It was a gamble that didn’t pay off. The prices are reasonable. It’s not a bad place to spend a few bucks on victuals—once you find it.

Diner rating: 4