Ben brought me to Mary Mac’s Tea Room for an early dinner. It’s just 4PM.
Mary Mac’s Tea Room serves authentic southern meal. It was officially named “Atlanta’s Dining Room” recently by the State of Georgia.
As it was still early for dinner, the restaurant was relatively quiet.
Ben had buttermilk while I had sweet tea for our drink.
Complimentary bread basket includes butter roll, corn bread and cinnamon buns.
Complimentary pot likker; a vegetable broth made with collard greens.
Crispy fried chicken for my main; a must have southern dish.
Each order of main came with two side dishes. The above was recommended by the server; Brunswick stew, it’s smoky with corn and beans.
Another Southern popular dish; Collard Greens.
Ben’s main was Grilled Liver and Onions. I had a bite and found it too metallic tasting for me.
Ben’s first side dish was Macaroni and Cheese; a comfort food.
I love Ben’s second side dish; Sweet Potato Souffle; it’s more like a dessert to me.
We also ordered an extra side dish to try; Fried Okra. We found that the batter was on the heavy side.
My dessert was Georgia Peach Cobbler; the cobbler was too mushy drown in syrup.
Ben’s Banana Pudding was too sweet.
I was surprised when the server asked us if we want to have some sweet tea to go when left the restaurant.
Your trip to Atlanta is bringing back a lot of memories. We did almost all the same things including this restaurant. We were not big fans of Southern food ie collard greens and grits. But there were plenty of really great restaurants in the city. Ace Barbecue was quite an experience. We were very hesitant to go in when we saw the outside but the food was yummy and the whole meal cost less than the tip at our hotel restaurant the night before.
Just a slight redirection: re: pot likker. Was it really spelled that way on the menu??? Rather than licking the pot it should be pot liquor — liquid essence from the pot. The south eastern states seem to like overly buttery sweet desserts. Even the sweet tea was too much for me.