Al's Upstairs Italian - West Columbia

This was an absolute wonderful experience, I am beyond sad that they will be closing soon. My husband had told me about this restaurant and we finally went. The atmosphere was great and welcoming, I love simplicity of a simply decorated table and restaurant. We order a mushroom truffle flatbread for our appetizer and it was absolute perfect. The flavors melted in your mouth. I order the veal parmigiana and again, perfection. My husband ordered the rack of lamb and raved the entire time we were eating. I server, Shawn, was great. He was attentive, gave suggestions based on what we were looking for. I wish they were not closing as this has to be one of my top five restaurants in Columbia. Get your reservation now!

This was my first time here. With them closing I wanted to at least try the food. My friend had been in the past and raved about their sea bass dish. We had a great view by the window. I ordered the mushroom and truffle flat bread pizza and salad with candied pecan and blue cheese. The food was great.

I called to see if they would take reservations for 6. Al 's is a small dining room and I hadn 't recalled every seeing a table for six. The person I spoke with said she 'd have to check and see if they could do it and that she would call me back. She called back in about 5 minutes and said they could. We had an early reservation at 5:45 so that may have helped. They had set up a table in the first room before you get out into the windowed area, and it was fine. Waitress took our drink orders and was helpful with the menu. The menu online seemed very limited, but their menu at the restaurant was great, with a large variety of choices. I selected the Pork Osso Buco and an appetizer of the Lobster Bisque. My wife chose the Chilean Sea Bass and a Spinach Salad. Our friends ordered the Chicken Charleson, Filet Mignon, Boneless Braised Beef and one other dish which I can 't remember. The Osso Buco was a very large pork shank. It was excellent and fell off the bone. I wasn 't impressed with the broccoli that came with it. The floret was tender, but they served it with most of the stem, and I don 't think I could 've cut through the stem slightly under the floret with an axe! I would have taken off most of the stem and just served the florets. The Lobster bisque is very unique, served with a puff pastry top over it. That 's always been my favorite appetizer, but last night it didn 't Wow me. Not sure why...it didn 't seem to have quite the taste that I remembered. My friend loved the Chicken Charleston and his wife liked the filet but was surprised at the small size of her baked potato. My wife wasn 't pleased with her Chilean Sea Bass. Apparently she didn 't care for the sauce that was served with it. I had one bite and thought the Fish was good, but it could 've used a better sauce that what they had last night. The other friend said the Braised Beef was very good. Great atmosphere, good service and a nice place to go for special occasions. You would think they would do something for a Birthday person like some of the other restaurants. I told them it was a special occasion but apparently they don 't do much for that.

I seriously cannot rant and rave about this place enough after our dining experience here! It was the absolutely PERFECT place for a date night. There was a very intimate romantic vibe about it when we sat down at our table by the window. The view was very nice the food was fantastic! We started our date with a calamari appetizer, as they also brought out some complimentary fresh bread to the table with olive oil to dip. Then, my husband ordered the Pasta Alla Al I ordered their special of the evening as my meal, the Shrimp and Scallop Spinach Ravioli. I had a glass of wine with my meal and my husband had a glass of bourbon with his. All in all, we spent a little over $100 for the whole meal and it was worth every penny! Our server, Alex, was amazing! He gave us the most excellent service, a true 5 star experience. We would have definitely had dessert if we weren't so stuffed with all the delicious food we had just eaten. They had creme brulee, key lime pie, tiramisu cheesecake, ALL of which we love! This seriously my new favorite date night spot in West Columbia! I will always highly recommend this place to people and will definitely plan on coming back again.

Great food. Server was very knowledgeable!! I loved the atmosphere! As soon as we walked in we were hit in the face with the smell of the best smelling food ever! View was awesome! Loved it here!!