The Tomato Palace

I had the unfortunate luck to eat at this Columbia eatery this past Sat. nite.  From the name, I figured it would be along the lines of a Macaroni Grill.  I was wrong.  That would be insulting the Macaroni Grill.  I found the food really lousy, boring, and just not good.  We went there to meet an old fraternity brother of my husband's who he hadn't seen in about 25 years and who lives in Columbia.  Another frat brother was there too, so it was fun reunion for them (and the one who lives in Columbia insisted that dinner was on him, which was very sweet.)  But back to the restaurant.  It's part of the group that owns Clyde's which is really surprising since most of the restaurants in that group are pretty good.  The menu is subs, pizza, pasta, and salads. Nothing out of the ordinary, but the food was *extremely* mass produced.  I should have been forwarned when my White Russian was served in a beer/ice tea mug.  The Ceasar salad tasted funny, the calzone I got was huge but tasteless, the ice tea was out of a jar, and the espresso tasted like mud.  All in all, a truly lousy meal.  I'm sure it wasn't just the night we went - this is food produced for the masses by cooks that churn out the same stuff each and every day.  Anyway, just a warning to those who haven't tried it - don't!