THE LADY & SONS

He says:
By 3 pm, the line stretched all the way down the block, at least 200 people deep. It was nearly ninety degrees in the sun, maybe eighty-five in the shade, and the gelato in my right hand was dripping faster than a leaky faucet. A man came down the street selling cold bottled water from a cart, as if we were waiting in line at an amusement park. Most of us weren’t amused though, because we weren’t in line for a roller coaster. We were waiting to make a reservation at the Lady & Sons.

If you have ever visited Savannah, then you’ve definitely heard of – and probably dined at – the Lady & Sons. Owned by Paula Deen, the Food Network’s “Queen of Southern Cooking,” the Lady & Sons is by far the most popular restaurant in this beautiful city. Unfortunately, the crowds are totally out of control. Even worse are the rules the Lady & Sons have established to secure a reservation.

She says:
It’s a nice thought for a restaurant to not take reservations since it gives procrastinators a fair shot at a securing a table. On the flip side, it’s completely normal for a restaurant to take reservations. The Lady & Sons does neither. Or rather, both. They don’t take advance reservations, but they do allow you to line up several hours before a meal to try to obtain one. This, to me, makes no sense.

After standing in line for an hour and fifteen minutes, we reached the front, only to be told the dining room was full for the entire night. But if we returned at 6 pm, the maitre d’ said we might get a standby seat at the bar. We rushed back to our hotel, showered, changed, and hurried back to the restaurant. After another half hour, we got inside. “This food better be f***ing amazing,” I said to Downtown Boy.

He says:
After all that hassle, I was just glad to finally sit down. The décor of the Lady & Sons is country casual, with tall white walls and green wood paneling. A line of fans whirl in unison from the high ceiling. We got a nice window seat, which gave us a clear view of the crowds milling the street below, as well as the 30 empty tables nearby. Why, you may ask, were there 30 empty tables when hundreds of people are waiting outside for a seat? Probably for the same reason we were supposed to sit at the bar and somehow got window seats – nothing at this restaurant makes sense.

However, from our table I had an excellent view of the fried chicken sitting at the buffet table. Even though I had no intention of ordering the entire “Southern buffet,” I couldn’t resist trying the chicken. For $1.59, the waiter allowed me to snag a single drumstick. Price aside, it was pretty darn good. The golden brown skin held firm to the chicken and had a terrific balance of crunch, seasoning, and oiliness. The meat within was tender as well. Though I cannot proclaim myself a fried chicken expert, I believe the Lady & Sons’s is among the best around.

She says:
A bite of that chicken and a taste of the complimentary butter-soaked biscuits told me that yes, Paula Deen is the Queen of Southern cooking. Similarly, the fried green tomatoes were a perfect delivery system for the excellent fried batter. As Downtown Boy explained to me, nobody actually wants to eat green tomatoes… they are just something to fry. But Dish (in Virginia Highlands) has a version that is lightly fried and served with a small dollop of goat cheese. I was expecting something similar from the Lady & Sons … Southern food with a twist. This was merely a tastier version of Mary Mac’s.

For my entrée, I ordered the Savannah crab cakes. Were they worth an hour wait in the hot sun? Definitely not. I could barely force down the first crab cake I tasted – it had a dirty fishy taste, like the bottom of a swamp. Downtown Boy nibbled on the second crab cake on my plate and deemed it edible. It was better, but when I told our long-lost waiter of the disparity between the crab cakes, he had no sympathy. The bland rice & beans and dried, salted greens on the side weren’t worth eating.

He says:
I had better luck with the chicken pot pie. The chicken and vegetable broth was topped with a latticework of puff pastry, a tasteful French touch. The cream broth was a tad on the rich side (Uptown Girl commented there must have been an entire stick of butter in it) but after a long day of standing under the sun, I needed the extra calories. The Lady & Sons is generous with their hunks of chicken thigh, although I felt the dish needed much more broth to counterbalance that enormous pastry. At any rate, the pot pie was rich enough to eliminate any possibility of dessert. We were stuffed.

We say:
Paula Deen’s Southern cooking definitely puts Mary Mac’s to shame, but if you’re going to ask customers to waste their time to line up for Studio 54-style marketing, you have to deliver more than the goods … you have to deliver the greats. For those brave (or foolish) enough to eat at the Lady & Sons, do the smart thing: bring a bottle of sunscreen and order the fried chicken.

He says:
… but I’d think twice before coming back.


She says:



The Lady & Sons
102 W Congress Street, Savannah, GA 31401
http://www.ladyandsons.com/