Ila Restaurant

Post BRO outing (see Broad River Outpost review). We shared 1 towel amongst the three of us and changed clothes in the parking lot. Hair was a mess, smelling like B.O. and river water (put it on in the am, but forgot to bring some in the car), just finished kayaking it up for a few hours, and was looking more like the Waffle House crowd than the Applebees crowd which isn't really saying much. Since we were so damn hungry after being on the water we decided to hit up the first restaurant we came to. 15 minutes later we drive through Ila and see a restaurant parking lot chock full of cars. Must be good right?

We walk in where we discover a large restaurant teeming with people dressed in their finest church clothes. Yay for small town Sundays! Looking and smelling as we did, we of course had to get in the buffet line that snaked throughout the restaurants 2 nicely decorated rooms. Ila Restaurant appears to be a mix of Elk Club chic and Piccadilly cafeteria.

When we finally make it to the buffet and see that we have a choice of meat plus 1, 2, or 3, with extras being an additional meat or dessert. I think meat plus 2 was $6 or so. Meat choices on this fine day were fried chicken, ham, or chicken n' dumplings. Veggie choices included green beans, pinto beans, mashed 'taters, sweet 'tater souffle, mac n' cheese, green salad, potato salad, and coleslaw. I get fried chicken, mashed 'taters, mac n' cheese, a piece of cornbread, and hot apple cobbler.

Food results: I tore into the food so I can't say much other than it was damn good for that time and place. The fried chicken wasn't too dry, had a nice crust, and was delicious! The mac part of the mac n' cheese was way too soft, but the slightly browned uber-cheese helped make up for that oversight. Mashed potatoes were okay. The apple cobbler was warm and crusty, but I think the apple filling was straight out of the can. I think it would have been better if completely homemade.

Final thoughts:
*They don't kick you out if you look or smell like river ass.
*The Sunday brunch is mighty tasty and extremely cheap!
*A great place to stop after enjoying all that the Broad River has to offer.