Carolina's Restaurant

Tried far in advance to make a reservation for parents weekend but was booked. Due to a cancellation we get in! I'm from Chicago and have been to a few brunch and must say this place was Awesome. Better than a few places I've been to. The food was excellent, the staff were friendly , polite and helpful. The view was beautiful. Took a bit to get use to the revolving . I will be back!!!! Best brunch and priced reasonable. Thank you for a great experience . Students can use a meal plan here just need to pay the difference.

It’s been a long time since we’ve visited Top of Carolina and our first visit for their BBQ Friday lunch. We went the Friday before Easter for an “experience” with our 14 year old granddaughter. It exceeded all expectations. Other than finding a place to park, our lunch was perfect. There was a big selection of food; bbq, fried chicken, fish, salads, vegetables, deserts and ice tea, lemonade and coffee were included. It takes about an hour for a full rotation and we enjoyed the changing scenery. One of my favorite things is it’s casual....jeans, shorts and even baby strollers were there. For the price you can’t go wrong and our granddaughter had a meal she will remember for a long time. The servers couldn’t have been nicer and went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed,

The view is nice. Unfortunately, the food is sub par. Food was lukewarm. Salmon was fishy a d the pasta was too salty. The salad with the orange vinaigrette was great. My wife was eating off of the "vegan" menu, but they brought her a salad covered in goat cheese that we had to send back, then on desert they brought her chocolate covered strawberries and a pound cake with cream that we also had to send back. I was "aware" of the price, because I called in and asked, but I was told $80, I overheard someone else in the restaurant be told $70, the bill came out at $77 but was not itemized. I'm not sure if that was $70 plus tax or $70 flat including tax and they up-sold me on the sparkling cider. At this point, I was just irritated, and I was ready to go.

Just experienced our 2nd Mother's Day Brunch at the Top of Carolina restaurant. The food was delicious and plentiful. The wait staff very friendly and helpful. And the price for this buffet brunch is very reasonable. This has to be one of the best brunch options in the Columbia area. And the view of the downtown Columbia area from this revolving 18th floor restaurant is absolutely outstanding. We will come again.

You must make a reservation a week or longer in advance. We went on a Sunday with a reservation at 1:00 pm. Handicap parking is available in the dorm parking area and there is plenty of parking across the street. The building and restaurant are wheelchair accessible. You need to use the elevator on the left. The other one does not go up to the restaurant. When you go up the elevator, a host will greet you. They have an enclosed lift for 1 wheelchair or 1 person with a walker at the restaurant itself. I was in my wheelchair and had no problems. The tables and chairs are set up on a very slowly moving platform facing the window. There is an aisle behind the chairs and food stations set up on the inner wall alongside the aisle. You are able to walk around and get your food. The servers are awesome, the food is absolutely amazing and the view is wonderful! It is an all you can eat buffet. It is pricey but so worth it! The most pleasant surprise was their corn muffins. So sweet and moist! The potatoes were delicious, we loved the waffles with chocolate chips, omelets, ham, grits, great coffee too! Go and enjoy! Nice restrooms too!

Last week, my husband and I ate Sunday Brunch at Top of Carolina. We had never been to this restaurant and we didn't know what to expect. The meal was outstanding and so was the service... the shrimp and grits were the best and so was the smoked salmon. The restaurant is at the top of a skyscraper near the USC campus and the entire dining floor rotates around the building... the view is spectacular! We will go back to this restaurant in the near future.

Great food, great atmosphere, great employees & great reasonable price for the brunch buffet. I only had one big problem. My family of (6) made reservations for Mother's Day and when we arrived, they could not sit us all together at the same table. At first, they sat me and my boyfriend at a table for 2, then my family at a table for 4. The waitress then said they could push a 2-person table up to my family's table, but then the manager came out and told us they do not do that since they "were booked slammed". I still do not see how that could have been a major problem for them since the other reserved table was exactly a party of 2, and they could have moved to my original table that sat 2. The manager seemed to just pretend to listen to what my family and I had to say, and acted as if she did not really care about our concern. It was MOTHERS DAY for pete's sake and we could not sit together regardless of our reservations.

I hear the view is amazing, and the food pretty good, but we wouldn't know. We made a 10:30 am reservation for Sunday brunch on their website. We showed up only to be informed it doesn't open until 11. We waited till 11:15 and still no employees showed up. I called at 11:30 and no one picked up. If it's closed for the season, they shouldn't allow reservations to be made, and definitely not reservations outside of their operating hours.