Bea's Restaurant

Authentic southern cuisine, very delicious fried chicken with so many yummy side dishes.
Make sure not to miss out the cherry pie!

From the moment I walked in I was hit with this ominous odor of dust, must, and, perhaps, sewage.
Entering anyway, I paid $20 (before tax) for a "buffet" at your table with no drink. Immediately I was concerned at the uncleanliness I was presented with.
Uncovered pitchers of water and tea sat at each table, left there permanently from patron to patron until emptied and consumed.
Who knows what the last people who sat at this table dropped unintentionally into these drinks. The ceiling was breaking open and coming apart in places.
The base boards were broken and dirty.
The chairs felt sticky.
There were crumbs all around the pitchers and napkins and BBQ sauce bottle on the table.
It was...
not good. The food was served in shareable portions with plates to dispense to.
I received fried chicken breast, ham, pulled pork, and about 5-6 sides.
The best items were the chicken and ham.
Everything else varied in degrees of adequate to bad.
I took one bite of several of the sides and wrinkled my nose at the bland, unpleasant taste.
If I had to pick a best side, I guess I'd say it was the pickled beets. Though the fried chicken was good, it wasn't exceptional, and I could get equally good fried chicken from my hometown Popeyes. Dessert was peach cobbler.
It was okay, but syrupy sweet, gelatinous goop with canned peaches, and I only ate 3-4 bites of the large portion they gave me before deciding I was done. The best thing I can say about this experience, is that the waitress was very friendly and kind and helpful and agreed with us that thwre was a bad odor and the restaurant seemed unclean. I would sooner go to Golden Corral, wich is cheaper, has much more variety, and, is frankly better.
Seeing as Golden Corral is barely adequate itself...
That tells you something. Not sure how this restaurant is still going without deep cleaning and renovating at the least. IN REPLY to Bea's reply to my review: Oh, believe me, it was specifically as soon as I walked into your restaurant that the odor (must, dust, and sewage) hit me.
Not before or after.
So don't worry.
I don't have covid 😉 As for "maintaining" your restaurant for 75 years...
well, you're clearly not maintaining it.
Maybe maintaining the way it's run, but not maintaining the restaurant itself.
It seems to be wearing all 75 of those years and desperately needs upkeep. If this level of clean is what you call "deep clean" then I'm afraid for what a quick clean must look like.
The pictures I attached were bits and pieces of the grime as a whole and didn't remotely cover everything.
There was dust, rust, crumbs, stains, and grime everywhere. Food taste varies wildly, but as someone who cooks at home as well as traveling a lot and eating at many different restaurants, I understand food and could list two dozen country restaurants and three "family style," "buffet at your table" restaurants with better food (Farmer's Daughter in Chucky, TN; The Kitchen in Jonesborough TN; and Dan'l Boone Inn in Boone, NC) one of which has been around for over 50 years and yet somehow manages to keep its restaurant free of odors, upkept, rust-free, and clean. I don't have anything against you, personally.
But in my opinion, restaurants should maintain a level of cleanliness to remain open.
Not sure how yours managed to pass the test based off of everything I saw without doing more than a general glance around the rooms.
Regardless, others ought to know what to expect before they venture in.
Had I seen a review similar to mine before making the trip to your restaurant, I would have saved us both the time and skipped it.

This experience was completely different from any buffet I had ever been to but let me tell you it did not disappoint! The food was amazing they brought out all kinds of different things which we ate all of it and the staff was definitely 5 star! We went after church so it was busy but the lady who had our table was running her behind off but she stayed on top of it as if we were the only customers in there ❤️

Owner response