Review: The Dillard House in Dillard, GA for Lunch

Dillard House with Flag at 1/2 for the Orlando Shooting

 Review:  

The Dillard House Restaurant 

768 Franklin St
Dillard, GA 30537

Since:  1917

  

Yesterday morning, we all decided a day out was in order for the humans in our family.  We turned on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DVD for the FurBabies, set the a/c (it's been in the 90's here), and off we went.

We decided that the famous Dillard House in Dillard, GA was a great place to go for some grub.  Our current location is so close to many different states (SC, NC, TN, and VA).  It's a big reason why we chose to locate our RV here in the Franklin, NC area for a while.  Our drive into Georgia was filled with lush greenery and it was really pretty and relaxing drive.

The Dillard House is someplace that my Mother-in-Law "Mama" and my Sister-in-Law Amanda went to many times about twenty years ago.  Neither Heather nor I had ever been there before.  It was on Heather's Bucket List.  For 20+ years Heather has thought they served the best fried chicken ever. 

The restaurant is very large, pretty, and it has a million dollar view.  The interior of the entire vast building is finished in beautiful yellow pine and flagstone.  I can also report that the restroom was very clean, as well. 

There were only a few seasoned or over 18 years old staff members.  The majority of the staff was young girls and boys maybe out of grade/high school on they summer breaks.

The second we walked through the front door we were rushed to a table.  While walking in we noticed that there were only two other tables that were occupied.  We were not even fully seated in our chairs when our drink orders was taken, the first 4 bowls of food arrived (chow-chow, apple butter, coleslaw, and a salad of tomatoes and cucumbers.)  Seriously, why were we being so rushed?  

Within 4 minutes of sitting down, lunch had arrived!!

View From the Parking Lot

Flowers Near the Entrance

Me, Myself, and I

I Love My Mother-in-Law Candy "Mama"

My Beautiful Wife, Heather <3

It's served family style, there is a lot of food served (all you can eat) and you can take your leftovers home, if you like.  We hear that is not the case at Paula Deen's Restaurant.  Her place will be a future Bowen Knot review.

• Fried Chicken:  Like most of our dishes this one arrived stone cold.  It had been reheated at some point and the breading was very heavy and mealy. Not good.  We pulled off the breading and found very little over cooked chicken.
• Pork Chops:  We ordered a second plate.  The first was medallions, the second was a different (3/4 fat) cut maybe a short rib?  There was a cherry sauce and the pork was smoked, very tasty and all three of us loved it!
• Sweet Potato Souffle:  Very sweet, but also very tasty.  Heather loved it!  A winner all around.
• Parsley Potatoes:  These were a no show...We were served fried old dry potatoes!  I think these were leftovers from breakfast.  100% not the mashed potatoes with gravy we were expecting to get via the Dillard Houses online menu.  A big bummer, the country gravy from here is raved about far and wide.
• Corn on the Cob:  Huh?  Never even showed up for the meal.  Corn on the Cob is everywhere!  It is for sale at every farm stand along the roads here.  It is available in mass amounts at Walmart, and in every chain grocery store around here.  The only place you will not find corn on the cob is at the Dillard House.  It was Missing in Action :-(
• Fried Zucchini:  Crunchy, Tasty, and Yummy
• Green Beans:  Mushy...Nuff said!
• Cabbage Casserole:  It was good! Two of us enjoyed it.  Heather just wanted it off her plate. Lol
• Broccoli Casserole:  Overcooked broccoli is nasty to me. The ladies didn't mind, as much.
• Calico Salad:  Another MIA item...Anyone seeing a pattern here :-(
• Coleslaw:  Bland, heavy on the mayo, no vinegar, and basically tasteless
• Apple Butter:  Very heavy on the all spice, it overpowered the apples. All three of us voted it off the island. We will sick with Heather's Homemade Apple Butter or the Apple Barn's in TN.
• Chow-chow:  Awesome! A little spicy but, I like it like that.  Good Blend and Pickling.
• Breads "Cornbread, Yeast Rolls, and Cheese Biscuits":  Last but not least, a basket of bread showed up.  Cornbread, yeast rolls, and cheese biscuits.  I had a small roll and real butter.  Not bad, but Heather and Candy tried them all and were disappointed with all three.
• Strawberry Cobbler:  It rudely arrived while we were still eating lunch.  It was a thin slice 2" x 0.25" of pound cake, topped with warm strawberries sauce and a touch of soft serve vanilla ice cream.  It was yummy, tiny, and needed to have some real strawberries in with the sauce.

Beverages:  All of us drank Southern Sweet Iced Tea! and Loved It! 

$19.95 per Adult

$1.95 per Beverage

The online menu showed that the Dillard House was serving meatloaf for lunch.  However, after the meal was over and we were heading to the desk to pay did we noticed the board in the lobby showed different items than the website showed.  What arrived was very different.  It was a split red bell pepper stuffed with a spicy meat mixture covered in cheese.  Our family voted this dish "Off the Island, as well."

The service was marginal.  The ladies don't like dark meat chicken and that was the only type served to us less a wing with no chicken meat.  We had to ask several times for different chicken.  A bit frustrating, at this price.

Country Ham was available upon request. We didn't know this because we were rushed to a table and it was never mentioned to us as an option.

Every three minutes throughout our meal someone different came over to see if everything was okay and/or see if we needed anything.  That gets annoying.  I think had there been more patrons or training things would have been very different with the service.

While using the local kids is great, it does affect the service as they have little idea what it takes to do the job. I think a better mix of even slightly older help would provide the teens the guidance and server training they lacked.

Mama and Me at The Dillard House

The Feast We Were Served at The Dillard House

The Feast We Were Served at The Dillard House

The Dillard House provided catering for the movie "Deliverance."

Old-Traditional Peanut Brittle = BURNT :-(

Here is the Menu We Saw After Lunch :-(

Fun Fact:  The Dillard House provided catering for the movie "Deliverance."

Our overall feelings on The Dillard House:  We all had great expectations for this place.  Candy had great memories and had talked it up to Heather for over twenty years.  But things change and the Dillard House, has as well.  The price of three meals and drinks was $70 dollars.  At that price range, I expect my food to be hot and tasty!  We decided on just two shamrocks.  We are sad and disappointed but that is as much as we can give the Dillard House.


The Bowen Knot's Shamrock Rating and Overall Opinion of the Dillard House:  It's pretty much cafeteria-style food that is reminiscent of school lunches in the 1980's.  We Award the Dillard House 2 Shamrocks!  Disappointed :-(