gracieb

Just returned from a short Savannah trip. The weather was gorgeous. Stayed at the East Bay Inn - great location. Cross Bay Street and you are steps away from River Street, but 1/2 block away from my favorite restaurant, the Olde Pink House. Ate a late night meal at the Irish pub on River Street and enjoyed the singer ($2 cover charge). As always, the Pink House was fabulous. I love ordering several appetizers so there's room for their fabulous desserts. The salad special, bisque, fried green tomatoes and shrimp & grits were great!

Finally got into Lady's and Sons now that they've moved into a larger building with 3.5x more seating. Saw Paula's son and wanted to ask him about his bridesmaid dress...but he didn't come to our section of the restaurant. I've Tivo'd Paula Deen's wedding show and it's about the funnies thing I've ever seen!

Took the Old Savannah Tours trolley and enjoyed it, especially Bob's tour. He grew up in Savannah and added a lot of personal antecdotes.

Wandering the squares and Forsyth Park was great as always. Enjoyed a short visit to City Market and an explanation and samples of gelato at Gelatooh's. It was good to hear that they are going to tear down the City Market Parking deck and restore it back to a park - reclaiming one of the "lost" Savannah squares.

For doggie travelers - enjoyed having pooch at the East Bay Inn in one of the rooms they allow pets to stay. Wanell and Innkeeper Ronnie were very friendly and welcoming.

bonniebroad

gracieb, glad you had a wonderful time in one of my favorite cities! Did you enjoy your food at Lady & Sons? I would love to have dinner there tonight!!! Happy to know that East Bay Inn allows the pooches!

gracieb

The food was fabulous at Lady and Sons. I had the buffet with wonderful fried chicken, and tons of starchy food to die for (hopefully not literally!) The mac & cheese was very cheesy, the mashed potatoes were out of this world and then rest of the veggies were great too. The cheese biscuits and the fried hoecakes they served were wonderful.

Loved their Tshirt sayings including, "Good for the Soul, Worth the Weight, Body by Lady and Sons, and Our Hoes are Complimentary".

My friend had an aspargus and cheese sandwich on pumpernickel. Very different but very good!

bonniebroad

GracieB, I love all the foods on that buffet.......... and your description of them is good! LOVE the hoecakes, and we always order a side of fried green tomatoes to go with the buffet (NO, you don't need them, but what the hey!!!!!!!!!!!! ) I'll have to have one of the shirts!!!!!

Craig

gracieb - saw your reply on the ripoff thread. Maybe I was there on a bad night but we took one look at the buffet, said "yuch! this stuff looks gross" and ordered off the menu. You were probably lucky to go at lunch but we eat very light for lunch, especially on vacation when we usually have a big breakfast.

bonniebroad

Craig, you pronounced the food "gross" on the buffet without even tasting anything? The dinner buffet is just an expanded version of lunch........... and, IMO, they're both wonderful. But a variety of opinions is the spice of life, I guess!

Craig

It was gross because it was fried chicken, starches and very little vegatables all looking like it had set there for a while - not very appetizing to me.

gracieb

Well, golly Craig...you just described Southern cooking. As in, "If it's not fried, it's not done".

You and I saw pretty much the same buffet. When I brought my plate back to the table my comment was "Well, there wasn't much there but starches". In fact, the only "non-starch" on my plate was green beans...and they were a bit saltier than I'm used to. But, that's down-home country cooking.

I eat that kind of meal about one a quarter, but it sure is good!

My grandparents ate that kind of lunch every single day - but then headed back on the farm and worked it off.

I've recommended Pascal's on this board before. Don't go there Craig. You won't like it. Or Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House.

I can't believe it had been sitting there for a long time - especially if the wait was an hour long. They were constantly replenishing the buffet during my lunch - and it was a slow day for them.

Craig

Well maybe down home country cooking is obsolete. After all, the average American is no longer going to work it off on the farm. I consider myself slightly overweight (thin but with a bit of a paunch-belly) and I exercise regularly to keep my weight under control. I LOVE to cook but try to incorporate HEALTHY stuff in my meals. Life is too short to waste on a place that feels that "value-added" is quantity versus quality which by my definition is somewhat healthy food.

gracieb

I can't say I disagree with anything you just said Craig.

Well, I'm not sure I agree with the first statement. Country cooking is not obsolete when people come to a Southern city or town looking for good, old-fashioned, traditional (although fried and starchy) food. My 103 year old grandmother obviously isn't cooking anymore, but it was like setting a place at her table last week at Lady and Sons!

I took a look at their dinner menu online. I'm glad they have healthier, less starchy menu options for dinner and lunch.

But, the buffet sure was tasty! I would guess most of the diners enjoyed the quality and weren't the "all you can eat, quantity is what counts" types.

Craig

Ok, gracieb I hear you. Other than our experience at Lady & Sons, we loved Savannah. I think the thing that bugged us the most at Lady & Sons is we showed up at 4:45 PM (they open at 5) to AVOID the wait and we were forced to stand in the hot sun (it was July) while they gradually let people in for the first seating - we got in at 6:00 - not the way to run a good restaurant in my opinion. If the buffet had been any good (again a judgement call) we probably wouldn't have felt ripped off after the long wait.

bonniebroad

Craig, you & Gracieb have had a pretty good exchange here so I'll just add this ......... if you're not used to the Southern down-home style of cooking/dishes, they could look to you as though they'd been on the buffet too long, when, in fact, they were just put there! AND, most people who love this food, and do not work on farms anymore, do not eat it every day. It's for some Sunday dinners and special occasions in our family, although the healthier, leaner versions of some of it, we have more often. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking you had not really eaten this kind of cooking before? I know Paula has some healthier items on her menu if you prefer, but most people who go to Lady & Sons are going for the very things that you thought you would find unpalatable. Different strokes for different folks and all that!