Granny's Kitchen

I see a lot of complaints about how unhealthy the food is here.  AND it's all you can eat.  Choose wisely and get over it!  This is typical local Southern food and, IMHO, fantastic. It reminds me of dinner around my grandmother's table as a child. It is NOT from a modern menu, but each and every item is a comfort.  Fresh peas, stewed apples, cornbread, and yes--fried chicken.  The assortment varies, but there is always salad, soup, many veggies, meats, deserts.  Well cooked, well seasoned.  There are few choices for places to eat in Cherokee--this is my favorite.

This past weekend my wife and I gave Granny's Kitchen a try will in Cherokee.  Compared to the other places were ate will in town, we were impressed.  This is buffet style country food.  Service was great and the price very reasonable.  We hope to eat here the nest time we are in town.

An unexpected surprise - and I don't mean the food. I mean the bout of gastrointestinal issues I suffered after eating here.

When you drive into Cherokee, North Carolina, you notice that there are not a lot of places to eat. Sure, there's the usual fast food places such as Arby's, Burger King and Wendy's, but not a lot of 'local' or mom-and-pop diners. So along the road coming in, there is this place called 'Granny's Kitchen' (on the building) or 'Granny's Restaurant' (on the sign).

When I first walked in, I was seated by a young lady who was maybe all of 14 years old.  I figured this to be a family owned place, so no big surprise there. I was seated, by myself, at a table for eight. I noted that several solo individuals, as well as couples, were also seated at very large tables.

This place is apparently ONLY a buffet. What's sad is that the dining room is quite large but the buffet is extraordinarily small. There is a very, very limited selection to choose from. This is NOT your granny's Golden Corral (or even a Ryan's). Half was dedicated to the salad bar and the other half had maybe a half dozen or a so 'hot' items.

Compliments:
1) the tea was actually very good.

2) the salad bar was also very good, though I suspect that the potato salad is not homemade.

3)I will say the staff is friendly (though the guy carving the roast beef looked and sounded bored out of his mind).

Complaints:
1) The first FOUR plates I picked up were dirty. They had food stuck to them still. Customers should not have to man-handle every dish just to find a clean plate.

2) The soup 'cauldron' had no lid. It was just sitting out, exposed with no cover. Never, ever eat soup from such a setup.

3) The fried chicken is so flavorless and dry. Deep fried cardboard would taste better. No seasoning. Just flour it seems. I had to pour salt on it just to taste anything.

4) The ham with pineapple had so much glaze in it, that it was almost a soup. There was literally more glaze than ham or pineapple.

5) I never thought creamed corn could be messed up. This place has apparently been trying to perfect messing it up.

6) The first set of silverware was dirty. Just like the plates. Fortunately, there were SEVEN other place settings for me to eventually pull a clean fork from. I won't even go there with the knife.

7) The price for this "meal" was outrageous. Approximately $13 (with tax). Golden Corral, which has about twenty times the items and tastes better (sometimes) is about 25-30% less.

8) Did I mention I got sick after eating there? I hadn't eaten anything in more than a day - having spent most of that time driving and having also neglected to bring anything to eat with me. So, I was rather surprised when I got sick less than an hour after eating there. Fortunately, it passed rather quickly (no pun intended).

Do yourself a favor and don't ruin your trip. Visit one of the name-brand roadside food factories or another diner... say, in Asheville.