I have seen this reference a number of times and wonder if someone can tell me exactly what it is. Is it just for food or is it actually a boarding house where you can stay. I am looking for reasonably priced accomodation in Savannah & Charleston can somehone help

Its a restaurant only. You sit a big tables with others, and are served family style. Great southern food. Just make sure that your table is getting ALL the bowls of food that they are serving that day. Was there twice in the same week and on one of the visits our table was missing a couple of bowls.

As the poster notes - it's restaurant only and having just read one of your other ?'s noting you're an Aussie, I'd recommend it even more highly. It's a fun experience; the food is good; it will give you a wonderful chance to sit and visit with a tableful of folks. Don't know how tight your budget is - it's not super-pricey and could serve as your one big meal of the day. Open for breakfast and lunch only - get there about a half hour before opening. The standing in line can be another chance to visit with others....Super 8 and Red Roof Inns are two "budget-minded" motel chains. Nothing fancy and not necessarily all that cheap, but def cheaper than many others. Here's a tip for once you are here: gas stations, and family-style restaurants (Shoney's, Perkins, etc) along the interstate highways often carry little magazines with a slew of discount coupons for local lodging. They should help stretch your budget some. (Sorry - I guess some of this info should have gone into a reply to your other post...but the brain is just now clicking into gear!)

Sue...I was in Savannah in Feb. and went to Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. It is a restaurant with food served family style. Tables are filled with bowls and platters of food. Mrs. Wilkes says a prayer before the first meal and then instructs everyone to "Eat". The food is replenished until you are satisfied. When you are finished eating, you are instructed to take your plates to the kitchen to be washed.

Mrs. Wilkes is always there to sign her cookbooks and speak to visitors. Her daughters and other family members help to run the restaurant.

Go there with an appetite.

Sheila

The Food Network on TV did a thing on this restaurant - it showed people lining up outside and then sitting family-style at round tables to which they brought platter and bowl after platter and bowl of food. Kitchen scenes showed this is definitely not food a cardiologist would endorse, but it all looked great.

Mrs. Wilkes cost $12 per adult for lunch on May 3, 2002. Probably a safe bet they haven't gone up.

I highly recommend it. If you want to avoid the crowd, we got there at 2:30 on a Friday and waited 5 minutes. Still plenty of food left.

It is like going to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving.(If Grandma is a really good cook!) We sat with two couples from England who were really enjoying this type of meal.

I love that place. When I went, some southerners scolded me in a polite way, for eating the chicken with a knife and fork. I would not recommend the cook book. I cook alot, and the recipes have never come out for me.

I found out they have a website mrswilkes.com Also, go to savannahgeorgia.com for some biographical info on Mrs. Wilkes. Now, I want to go there, too - but I was in Savannah one June and it was unbearably hot - will have to wait until later in the year.

You should know too that Mrs Wilkes is only open Monday through Friday, no weekends.

At one time it was a boarding house and served only her boarders--thus the name, Mrs Wilkes Boarding House.