Last updated: July 1, 2021

Opening Thoughts

This early review is based on a media preview of the restaurant. While media events aren’t the best representation of a restaurant, we want to share our first impressions in case you’d like to try it out before the restaurant is open long enough for a full review. We’ll update this page when that time comes. Curious how we review restaurants? Read about that here.

With their second concept, the owners behind NoDa hit restaurant The Goodyear House are headed to the suburbs. Old Town Kitchen & Cocktails, opening Thursday, July 1 in Rock Hill, brings similar flavors to a simplified menu format.

Where The Goodyear House is meant for long stays at tables over cocktails and conversation, Old Town better suits a traditional dining experience. Executive chef Chris Coleman shows once again that being a great chef doesn’t require plates composed with gels and powdered garnishes, instead creating another standout menu with unassumingly creative dishes centered on the quality of the ingredients on the plates.

A certain favorite of the nearby college students and their families will be the Rock Thrill burger, heaped with pimento cheese and fried onions as well as the traditional burger fixings. The menu lists other salads, sandwiches, and burgers, as well as a modern meat-and-three “meals” section with your choice of dishes like beer can chicken, catfish, and steak served with two sides and a roll, as well as dessert. Our favorite menu item so far is the pork on a stick, with meat so tender you truly can bite it off the skewer and a sorghum-mustard glaze that brings depth to the bite. The long list of sides include well-sourced items that simply need a boost to their natural flavors. Don’t miss the corn if it’s on the menu. Coleman’s light touch to sides like the marinated tomatoes are all that is needed when such care is taken when growing the produce.

The restaurant’s interior takes cues from its location near Winthrop University, meant to invoke feelings of a college library with mahogany-toned bookshelves and a matching take-out window, college pendants, and an iron gate that will close off the dining room during the the restaurant’s eventual takeout-only breakfast hours. One patio will feature dine-in seating, the other will be covered in faux grass and act as a lounge area. There’s continuity with its NoDa sister concept, however, with neon lighting and historic photos of the Rock Hill cotton mill building that houses the new restaurant.

The Goodyear House is such a success because its management group took the time to understand how the neighborhood dines and where the gaps were, providing a restaurant where families and 20-somethings alike feel comfortable stopping in for a quick meal or spending hours on the patio. Old Time Kitchen & Cocktails is not that style of experience, and we don’t expect the neighborhood wants it to be. It, too, will fill a gap in Rock Hill, though a different one: the need for locally operated, locally sourced restaurants with great food.