This rural, buffet restaurant is as Southern, as Country as it gets, and has been now for close to 30 years, serving up Fried Chicken, Country Style Steak, Fried Seafood Fri & Sat), Biscuits, Hush Puppies, REAL Mashed Potatoes, and excellent Fried Squash. Throw in a nice salad bar, a few great pie choices, and the friendliest service you could hope for, and you have yourself an excellent country cooking dining experience.
The restaurant is a bit larger than most restaurants of this style, and it's a bit worn, and rather dimly lit. The walls are fully decorated with NSCAR memorabilia, with special homage to native son, Richard Petty, who grew up in the nearby community of Level Cross. The buffet is not especially large, nor is it particularly varied - there is fried chicken, country style steak, fried squash, real mashed potatoes, hush puppies, biscuits, and other country veggies every time, with fried seafood thrown in on Fri & Sat nights, and Country Ham available from time to time.
The Hush Puppies are as good as any I've ever had - ever! They do not use a mix, but rather prepare their own with flour, corn meal, the tiniest dash of sugar, and liquid - then they fry them perfectly crisp, tender & full of flavor inside. The biscuits have nothing to hang their heads about - dense, yet lite tasting, full of flavor.
The CS Steak is very, very nice, and the accompanying gravy is as good as it get, especially when loaded on those thick, creamy mashed potatoes, or sloshed over a biscuit. The Fried Chicken was a bit overdone on this visit, not something I'd encountered previously. The Fried Squash is special here - it is very thinly sliced, and I mean mandolin thin sliced, lightly batter in corn meal, and carefully fried to a delicate level - an amazing preparation of this vegetable.
The service is as down home friendly and engaging as you could want, and yet very efficient. The owner stopped by to chat, a most pleasant gentleman. Almost everything about this visit was 5 Star quality, except for the fried chicken, and the overall breadth of the buffet. The price for everything for 2 was $21.29, unquestionably a real value! read more