BethL3

Couple of gals traveling to Savannah in November and wondering what are some good restaurants to try for lunch and dinner? Looking for great food but nothing outrageously expensive. Would like to spend no more than $10-15 for lunch and $30-40 for dinner. What have you tried?

Thanks!

Orlando_Vic

To quote myself from another thread:

"For lunch, Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room:

http://www.mrswilkes.com/
http://tinyurl.com/yvm5xm
http://tinyurl.com/yrxvtp

This is a Savannah institution!"

At $13 for lunch, this is within your budget and a "must see" IMO.

NeoPatrick

I agree regarding Mrs. Wilkes, although I'm unclear exactly what is happening there these days.

Lots of people rave about Lady and Sons, and quite a few do not. We were turned off by the lines of people for what mainly looked like a buffet, so we went right next door -- Savannah Bistro (?) and had a wonderful meal with great service that would be well within your budget.

elsiemoo

Patrick, The Lady & Sons has a full menu as well as the buffet, all (that I've tried from both) delicious! The lines can be daunting ... last time I tried, I ended up grabbing lunch at River House instead.

I've found that most people who complain about "the Lady's" food didn't know what to expect when they went there, and don't like country comfort food, which is what she serves.

NeoPatrick

I was aware that they had a full menu, but looking in at the confusion of most people doing the buffet, it just didn't seem like a relaxing sort of place to sit and order a meal. In fact, we probably would have done the buffet ourselves as it's a better way to sample all the good country food that we both really DO love. Although frankly it's hard to beat the quality of the fried chicken at Mrs. Wilke's, at a fraction of The Lady's prices. But no -- I didn't mean for that to be a direct overall comparison of the two restaurants.

By the way, there are a whole lot of comments on the Fodors destinations board for Lady and Sons. They are a mixed bag, but one thing is clear. The buffet at Lady and Sons has gotten smaller and smaller as the price has increased with the fame. Quite a few people mention that there are only a handful of choices now on the buffet, hardly making it a buffet at all -- more of a serve yourself from all the dishes on the sideboard -- rather than make choices. And I'd probably gripe a bit too at the cost of $4.00 for an iced tea to go with a help-yourself meal.

Lord_Mesron

My recommendations would be:

Lady and Sons - southern comfort food
Uncle Bubba's Oyster House - on Tybee Island - seafood and southern comfort food
Churchill's Pub - British food
Fiddlers Crab House - seafood

aliska

Love Southern homestyle cooking, but not a fan of Lady & Sons. There seems to be an inverse correlation to Paula Deen's growing fame and the decline in her food. We like The Pirate's House, place is historically interesting and their pecan crusted fried chicken is pretty good.

BethL3

Thanks to all who have responded already - getting excited about the upcoming trip and trying the restaurant recommendations...!

gail

I second Uncle Bubbas (in addition to all the usual recommendations). It is Paula Deen's uncle (or some other male relative) - on road to Tybee, just before one of the bridges, on the right - a little difficult to see. Informal seafood.

P_M

DH and I thought Mrs. Wilkes was the most overrated place we went in Savannah. The food was very good, the service was mediocre at best, and it was just not worth 90 minutes of standing in line. But if you do go, bring cash because they do not accept credit cards.

Our fave was Blue Moon Cafe. The food was good and they have their own ghost. ;-)

NeoPatrick

I'm laughing my ___ off. The service as Mrs. Wilkes was "mediocre at best". Huh? It's called a "boarding house" for good reason. You stand in line and wait for a table to open up and they fill it with strangers. They bring the food automatically and place it on the table for you to help yourself. You have to take your own plate to the kitchen when you're done eating. You have to go up to the cash register and tell them what you had and pay them. What service are you talking about? There is NONE. Someone either never went there or missed the entire point of the restaurant.
And 90 minutes in line? You're kidding, right? Has it gotten THAT popular? I've never heard of waiting more than maybe 10 minutes at most. If you waited for 90, no wonder you don't remember how the whole place works.

pat

I like the Pirate House too. We had baby back ribs and they were delicious!

P_M

Patrick, we most certainly did go there last May, and yes we did wait 90 minutes in line. When I said the service was bad, I meant the servers were a bit snitty.

I'm sorry if you don't believe we really went there, but I am not making this up.

NeoPatrick

P M, I really wasn't accusing you of NOT going, but when someone talks about the poor service at a place where there is none, it just seemed really odd.

I wasn't there, so I can't imagine what you could have done or someone else could have done to make someone putting food on your communal table "snitty", or even exactly what that means. I do recall one old gal putting food on our table and telling someone to sit up straight and take their elbows off the table. They also told several that they couldn't have dessert if they didn't clean their plate. Maybe that was "snitty" to you. We thought it was all part of the "atmosphere".

It's not a place for everyone, admittedly.

NeoPatrick

By the way, you'll note I clearly said that someone EITHER didn't go there or missed the point of the restaurant. Since you did go there, then I suspect it was the latter problem instead. Have you ever eaten in a real "boarding house"?

Oh, and I also remember one person getting up from the table and starting to leave, and one of the old lady servers saying rather loudly, "what part of take your plate to the kitchen did you not understand?" Snitty?

And since you actually waited in line for 90 minutes to get in, I'm not surprised you didn't like it. It's a great, fun place, but I wouldn't stand in line 90 minutes for it. I guess it shows that more and more people are loving it. I haven't been there in about two years, but I had never heard of it being THAT long a wait by a long shot.

Thomas6

B. Matthews on Bay Street - we had lunch there and loved it; they also do dinners. The Firefly Cafe on Habersham Street was a nice, not-touristy place for dinner for us. The locals we asked about it were surprised we had heard of it. We had a light dinner at the Blue Moon that was okay - it's a brewpub; the beer was excellent and the atmosphere noisy.

P_M

It was my first time to eat at a boarding house so maybe we didn't understand it would be a different experience. I think the root of the problem was the long wait. It was my idea to go there but by the time we got through that line, DH was not in the best mood. The food was very good indeed, and for a 10 minute wait I would probably go there again. But 90 minutes--no way.

Brian_in_Charlotte

No place is worth waiting 90 minutes in line for. I'm always amazed by those places where folks will queue up in huge lines just to get pretty basic food. The Daniel Boone Inn in Boone, that breakfast place on Tybee Island, a pancake place in Nashville and even The Penguin here in Charlotte all serve very simple food but somehow convince folks to wait in line for long periods for it even though there are other options with decent food of the same type nearby with no waiting. I think folks must just like the "excitement?" of waiting in line with other people and convince themselves that there must be a good reason all these people are waiting too.

aliska

Brian, if you are referring to the Pancake Pantry in Nashville near Vanderbilt campus, well, we waited in line for a long time there. The food was good. But, you are right. While in line, we made the acquaintance of a true Nashville native and got several other restaurant recs and big endorsement for some out of the way tourist sights that we didn't have high on our list.

NeoPatrick

I agree. It's hard for me to imagine standing in line an hour and a half for anything!

But speaking of that, has anyone ever stood a long time in line for a Las Vegas buffet of steam table food, where you could sit and order what you want freshly prepared instead? Talk about something I don't "get".