Corner Post restaurant review
No one is a stranger at Ernie's

by Nicholas Jain, posted May 3, 2010

Stepping into Ernie’s Café and Steakhouse at 1005 E. Walnut in downtown Columbia takes one back in time to a simpler place with easy food and friendly people. Walking up on a warm day means music blaring from speakers over picnic tables set up on the sidewalk. Inside, Ernie’s is decorated with shaped neon signs and stainless steel everywhere. The walls are bright colors and diners sit at booths with photographs of 50s stars like Marilyn Monroe. A street sign from Haight Street, the birthplace of the hippie movement, complements a painting of the Golden Gate Bridge and iconic brightly colored Victorian row houses in San Francisco. Original Dick Tracy-styled cartoons of the restaurant also decorate the restaurant. Without the computer at the end of the counter, it would be easy for customers to think they had traveled back in time to the previous century.

Ernie’s serves breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is currently their most popular meal. Their homemade French toast is savory and sweet and goes well with their eggs, which have the rich taste of a well-seasoned griddle. The hash browns are great and go well with all the other breakfast standards served: toast, bacon, sausage, ham, omelets, waffles and steaks. Although they seem popular, the pancakes have a flat taste matching their flat shape.

At lunchtime, Ernie’s specialty is their Chopped Cow. It’s a house-made hamburger that’s simple and fresh like hamburgers should be. It’s no wonder that the restaurant used to be primarily a burger joint. They also have a good selection of other salads and sandwiches including their sliced club sandwiches.

Ernie’s Café and Steakhouse has been open in Columbia since 1934 and at its current location since the 40s. The patrons of Ernie’s are a cross section of resident Columbians who come together in the small building to eat, visit and meet new people.

Employee Nathan Fuchs thinks people are brought together at the café as strangers and regulars sit next to each other at the bar, engaging in friendly conversation. He said that many customers have been regulars for decades and only know each other because of eating at Ernie’s. While eating lunch, one can hear patrons reminiscing about eating lunch at Ernie’s when they were younger and skipping school. Together, people reconnect and catch up on one another’s lives, and the servers greet many customers by name.

The breakfast shift is much busier and the restaurant is full of people who, on the weekend, mostly seem to be reminiscing about the parties attended and people seen the previous night.

Ernie’s is a Columbia tradition and is a great place to find an affordable meal with friendly service. Their breakfast selections range from $1.95 to $10.95 and sandwiches from $4.25 to $9.95. It is open daily from 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

{back to homepage}