So close and yet so far…read more.. I guess I am spoiled having owned and operated several successful restaurants ( including a popular steak & prime rib house ), and owning a home in San Francisco where no doubt one can easily find amazing food served in amazing restaurants by classy staff who understand what delivering excellent service means... But, we do love our Laurel.....and I do love The Loft! Food gets 4 stars, atmosphere and "the experience" gets 2 stars... Tried The Loft last night for prime rib... 1. The cute as a button young hostess was chomping on her gum to the point it was annoying! Very sweet young lady, but chomping her gum with her mouth open as she talked, walked, sat you, etc. Issue number one here.... no manager on duty? No adult with a measure of class to advise her to spit out her gum.... and THIS is consistent with the tone of this rant & atmosphere..... her open mouth gum chomping is only a part of the issue at The Loft. 2. Prime rib meal was a great value and the quality of the meat appeared to be excellent. Correctly priced in my view! The portion was excellent. I ordered my cut medium-rare and it was served to me a perfect medium-rare..... but look at the photo I attached! Looks well done, huh? SEE ABOVE- my Prime Rib & Steak House did 5.5M a year in sales, we were experts at roasting high quality prime rib.... STOP DIPPING THE PRIME RIB IN AU JUS AS IT DOES TWO THINGS..... ONE, IT TOUGHENS THE MEAT AND TWO..... IT ELIMINATES THE BEAUTIFUL PINK/JUICY PRESENTATION OF A FRESHLY CUT SLICE OF MEAT. Do not make the same mistake that Hog Heaven makes... by cutting the prime rib in advance then storing it on a steam table.... need to slice prime rib "to order", and NEVER dip it in hot au jus as it toughens the meat and makes rare or medium-rare or medium meat look well done. Mt cut was on the tough side but only because I can tell the cook (sorry, not a chef ) dipped it in au jus to heat it up right before serving... it came out looking well done but it was in fact medium rare as ordered. The hot au jus toughened up the meat though, so you lose a few stars for that bad practice. SEE my other photo of my prime rib from my restaurant, never dipped in au jus, and look how nice and pink and juicy it is compared to what was served last night. At my steakhouse / prime rib restaurant I had a batch of baked potatoes coming out over the oven every 20 minutes during peak hours of operation to guarantee my patrons received a fresh and hot potato. Last night the server explained upon arrival to our table that the cook forgot to put in the potatoes so they may not have any in time for my dinner.... happily, by the time we were served the potatoes came out of the oven so mine was incredibly hot and fresh... and hopefully the owner reads this and adopts the "out of the oven every 20 minutes" practice. Reduces waste too... Salad was fresh and the portion size perfect... no complaints coming out of either end of me regarding the lettuce! :) Ok, now the bad part.... Turn up the air! Same complaint we had last year... the same complaint we heard from two tables near us..... your restaurant is TOO COLD and the icy air blows down on the hot food doing what? You guessed it.... making your food cold! No need to freeze your patrons... cool is ok, icy cold is not fun, not comfortable.... Your flatware, again.... is a joke. Come on... as I asked before... drive down to Hattiesburg and visit Longhorn and take note of their nice silverware and steak knives. SEE the photo? We are not prison inmates, this is not elementary school or a long-term care facility.... please provide your patrons with some decent, not cheap, flatware.... your choice of the cheapest flatware takes down your restaurants classy-level by 2 stars. Train your servers! Laurel is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to see the Home Town sites... and obviously many visit The Loft. One's impression of Laurel, in part, is formed by ones experience at each restaurant visited...yes we are small town, yes we are deep south... but lets train what class is! Please... Learn the wine menu, where each wine comes from, etc., and learn the stages of service that includes how to properly suggestive sell. Our server was great overall, but she did the usual " did you save any room for desert?" routine. To increase revenue, server quest check averages and tip averages, teach how to suggestive sell! After pre-bussing and then later removing dinner plates.... have them approach the table and say this... "I just tried our bread pudding and it was amazing! We make it fresh daily and the cheese cake too which, by the way, I had last night and it was incredible... can I bring you a slice? You're going to love it..." Is The Loft a nice place? Yes, but "nice" is relative... it's not "fancy nice". Lastly, men... take your hats off!

Must eat at restaurant in Laurel! I was visiting Laurel for a girls trip and just checked in to the…read moreAirbnb and we were starving. Yelp led us to The Loft and thank goodness we got there about 10 minutes before open because there was already a line down the sidewalk. We got in line and were seated right when the doors opened for dinner. I enjoyed the interior of the restaurant. It had a rustic vibe and a man playing the guitar and singing. The music was great but wished he was a little bit louder. The service was good and were in and out within about 1 hour and 15 minutes for dinner. I started with a cocktail - Stormy Laurel. I'm a suckered for any drink with elderflower and it was light and refreshing. The food was delicious! The house side salad was huge and the croutons were so good. I like that they provided plenty of salad dressing. I ordered the fried shrimp dinner with the loaded potato casserole. The shrimp were massive, there were so many, and they were seasoned well and breaded just the right amount. The potato casserole was yummy and had a slight kick which I appreciated. We also ordered the bread pudding for dessert. I liked the white chocolate chips throughout. Come here for a solid meal! I loved the food and atmosphere. I thought there were plenty of options on the menu and everything was priced well.

Our favorite place when in town. Amazing food, friendly folks and the best seafood!!! Love this…read moreplace!!! 5 stars......

Delicious food, when they get it right. The service is 50/50 because the people are kind but they…read moreare always hustling around and find it hard to get your order correctly. They are great for takeout, and the ambiance is nice as they have a well lit and warmly decorated dining area.

First of all, Mr. Fish is the REAL DEAL. He saved the day for our family when some were stranded…read moretraveling, and he NEVER EVEN ASKED OUR NAMES. We are still practically speechless. Thank you, Mr. Charles. We can never repay your kindness. The food is fresh and cooked to order, and it was delicious! The atmosphere is so nice, easy and relaxed. The restaurant is clean and decorated so lovely. Everyone we met was friendly and greeted us warmly. These are good people who love the community and have hearts for others. Go, sit a spell, and enjoy the experience. Wish we could give 10 stars. We will never pass by Laurel without stopping in.

Wow! So delicious! We had fried catfish, whiting and shrimp. The cornmeal coating was so crisp and…read morenot greasy at all. Everyone there was so friendly. The place itself is welcoming and so clean!

The service here was great and the place seemed clean enough. With that said, it is some of the…read moremost bland (how do you make sushi bland?) Asian food I've had. Wife and I enjoyed the time spent here but the food, specially the sushi (we ordered $80 worth and my wife ordered chicken hibachi,) doesn't merit a return. Good service, clean place, bland food. I'm out

Good place to get japanese food in Laurel. I enjoyed their teriyaki combo which came with half a…read moreorange, 8 small pieces of sushi, a cup of fried rice, grilled chicken, yum yum/hibachi sauce, and 2 gyoza (potstickers/dumplings). It didn't come with salad and soup like it said which is disappointing, I did order online for takeout if that matters. Anyways the food was good, good variety and good price although like I mentioned a bit small of a portion size since there was no salad or soup.

The service was good. Food was good and the setup and style of the restaurant was beautiful. It…read morewas not crowded at all and my friend loved it... I wish the small town of waynesboro would support their local businesses as they always say... this place could be more booming if it were properly managed. Not saying it's not but if this place was in a better location.., it would take off.. the locals need to support... this is the closet you will get for fine dining ‍!

Surprisingly not bad for a steakhouse in Waynesboro, MS. We had lived here for a few years…read morepreviously and was surprised to see a nice restaurant like this open in town. The inside was very nice and staff was friendly. We had to wait a bit in the beginning because no one was in the front. We were seated eventually. The steaks we ordered were huge and fairly priced. We got the 16oz Stanford Ribeye which was $32 and comes with a salad and side of your choice. We got baked potato and asparagus. The house salad was small and simple which I loved. I hate it when restaurants serve a huge side salad. The asparagus were cooked good and seasoned well, and the baked potato was pretty good as well. Both of the steaks were very under-seasoned. We seasoned a lot with table salt and pepper but it was still a little bland. The meat was thick, so that's why it was lacking in seasoning. The au jus was okay and a little bland as well. Besides the flavor, the steaks were cooked perfectly and the fat pieces were nice and buttery with the meat.

This is the best BBQ in Laurel, MS while it isn't really my favorite brisket it is better than most…read moreof the other options. The best brisket in the area I've had so far is at Swamp Shack BBQ a short distance away in Ellisville, MS. They seem to often be out of things here and then they have "specials" that they are also often out of which seems to indicate they are very busy usually. This place is definitely VERY popular in the area and it tends to be VERY crowded. They sometimes serve you really huge portions and other times smaller portions. I'm a big fan of Texas style BBQ which the brisket here doesn't seem to resemble the brisket I've had in Texas. Overall it is the best BBQ in Laurel, MS and they do have a cool space which is decorated with all sorts of bling bling inside.

Laurel was our planned lunch stop on a long road trip from Up North to New Orleans, and Hog Heaven…read moreBBQ was the obvious choice for so many reasons: easy access from I-59 and great reviews, here on Yelp. We were not disappointed. The first sign we'd hit gold was the line of (likely) locals pulling in to the drive-up window. We ordered brisket, pulled pork and the corn nuggets. No surprise that the brisket and pulled pork were excellent (juicy, flavorful, plentiful portions), but the corn nuggets: wow! And it also bears mentioning, the staff treated us like visiting family.

This restaurant is located on Hwy. 84 West about 2 miles from Laurel. It is only open Thu-Sat and…read morehas both indoor and outdoor seating. While the signs outside mention BBQ (they do sell ribs only) they primarily serve fried seafood here. It was lunch on a Friday before Christmas and I ordered the seafood platter for $11. It came out in about 10 minutes (see pic). It was a nice sized amount of food that included fish, shrimp, stuffed crab, hush puppies, fries and cole slaw. It was a good meal that I enjoyed. I believe this is a good place to go for fried seafood at reasonable prices. I would like to try their BBQ sometime but I don't like ribs and that's all they serve. Counter service inside was friendly and helpful.

Boiled shrimp and catfish plates are my favorite good service good food can't go wrong trying this…read moreplace out when you need a seafood fix.

A shady looking little buffet that serves really good and Hot Chinese food at a great price…read more $23.00 for two all you can eat or a to go box with as much as you can get in it for only $7.95. Now I understand why so many people were getting their food to go. You won't be disappointed.

Decided to try this spot for lunch for takeout. I got togo and realized upon paying it's by…read morecontainer and not by weight. Anyways the food was okay, out of the Laurel-Picyune area, this is probably my least favorite chinese buffet. The quality was not too good, food was mushy/dry but thats the price you pay for.