Part of the main reason we went to Savannah was to go to
Mrs. Wilkes for lunch. My friend had been before and gave it rave reviews, and
although I had lived in Savannah years before (living only a couple blocks away)
I had never actually dined there. We did our research and knew that the doors
open at 11am, but also knew there was always a line of people waiting to get in
and you had to get there pretty early if you wanted make the first seating. We
arrived around 9:45 on a Wednesday morning and were surprised to find that
there was only one other couple ahead of us. Score! We made friends with them
and found that they were actually from our area in Florida so we had plenty to
talk about while we waited (and smelled the biscuits baking).
Just as expected the line
began to form and much to our surprise they actually let us in and seated us
about 10 minutes before 11am.
They show you to your 10-seat table, which is already covered in bowls
and bowls of different Southern-Style dishes and plenty of Sweet Tea.
Once the table is seated they say a quick blessing over the
food and then everyone at the table takes a dish, serves themselves, and then
passes it. Although some people might not like to be seated with strangers or
eat “family style”, this is a big part of the charm of eating at Mrs. Wilkes
and it has worked for them all of these years (I believe they have been open
for like a million years or something). On a side note… even their Bathroom has
a certain charm to it!
Now as for the Food… My Goodness, where do I begin? Fried Chicken,
Biscuits, Green Beans, Black Eyed Peas, Okra Gumbo, Meatloaf, Corn Muffins,
Lima Beans, Mac N Cheese, Beef Stew, Sweet Potatoes, Collard Greens, Baked
Beans, Squash Casserole, Cabbage, Rice, and Rutabaga! (I didn’t even know that
people knew what a Rutabaga was! LOL) The menu changes a little each day
depending on what is in season… but trust me, as long as you like Southern
Style Cooking then you will find tons of dishes that you like and you will
leave stuffed (or like me, Miserably Stuffed).
I will say that everyone at my table was more then happy to pass the
dish around again and also comment on what their personal favorites were.
My basic game plan was to take a tiny portion of everything and then go
back for what I really liked.
Although everything was basically pretty good, I had three stand-out
dishes that were my favorite… The Sweet Potatoes (They are not kidding with the
SWEET… they were like candy, or better yet… Pie Filling), the Creamed Corn
(Creamy and delicious, and truly from the South) and my favorite of all The
Black Eyed Peas (Salty goodness and I loved the Green Beans mixed in).
The Dessert options of the day were Banana Pudding and
Blueberry Cobbler. I must say that they were both a little underwhelming,
however they were included in the price ($18 per person) so why not?
We also had to buy a Mrs. Wilkes Cookbook on our way out, and then we
meandered through the Savannah Squares for a while to “Walk Off” our food. I
will say that a trip to Mrs. Wilkes was something that I checked off of my
Bucket List, and I think that everyone should go there at least once before
they die.
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