Went here based on all the Yelp recommendations. Not that great. Was a Monday night so I guess they are one of a few restaurants open which the manager told the table next to me was the reason for the HOUR wait for their dinner. They got entire meal for free. Now we sat down right after them, also waited an hour for our meal with no apology. We told the waitress we had a spill and she made no attempt to help us clean it up. We were left without utensils or any napkins. We waited over 10 minutes once we got our main course to get someones attention to get utensils. They do not know what's going on in their dining room. Food, overall okay, not stellar. I got the rainbow trout which came out just north of raw with potatoes that were not nearly cooked well enough. Again got blamed on full house but come on you're supposed to be one of the nicest restaurants in town. I wish Red Hen would have been open!!
Review Source:I wonder if you take away the wine and the liquor how many people would go there for the food alone?
Sometimes you just have to judge places on the merits of their food. The food should be what brings you back. The outside of this place is nice, the interior is also nice, but the food is just ok. Not bad, but not great either. I had the chicken. It was tasty, but not any better than KFC or Chick-Fil-A, or for that matter, the fried chicken on the buffet at the Lee Hi Travel Plaza over on Lee Highway is just as good. Â
The salad I had was also good, but if you told me it was out of a bag from Food Lion down the street, I would not be surprised and for $4.50 I was expecting a little larger than the portion I got. The spinach artichoke appetizer was also "nice".
I know, I know, the food is supposed to local sourced etc, but that doesn't make it taste better. Handcrafted beers, local wines, and cocktails do not make food better either. Â I can't say anything bad about the place because the food was ok, but I really can't say there was anything exceptional about it that would make me recommend it or go back either.
Southern Inn is a white tablecloth place, with the servers in white shirts, black pants. Fine, adult dining, with top notch food. Â But, the prices are quite reasonable. Â Entrees are $14 - $15 and a half salad (which is huge) is $4.50. With a craft beer and a nice tip, I had a great dinner for $30. Â Â Worth a trip out of your way.
Review Source:Overall very good. Crab cakes were great. Rainbow trout was good, but was not scaled properly. Pork tenderloin was outstanding. White cosmo martinis were strong but delicious. Server was very nice and attentive. Great ambiance, but a little music playing in the background wouldn't hurt.
Review Source:Food was very freshly prepared and tasted homemade. Â I ordered a beet salad and my husband the reuben sandwich. Â Both were very good. Â Service was attentive and pleasant even though it was a busy week day with the Washington and Lee graduation. Â We would definitely go back when in Lexington.
Review Source:Overall, my boyfriend and I enjoyed this restaurant.
The restaurant is very clean, and the food & service were very good. The only odd thing we noticed was that none of the staff appeared to look very happy. They actually all looked very unhappy; it was really weird. No one was rude, but no one was overly friendly either. Our server was a little aloof at the beginning, but seemed to warm up over the course of our dinner.
Overall, we enjoyed Southern Inn and would recommend it to others.
This is my 2nd or 3rd visit to Southern Inn, even tho I am not in the neighborhood much. Â I'll go back.
Two of us landed there last Saturday afternoon about 3pm. Â Twixt and tween lunch and dinner times. Â A good time to be there because there was no wait, of course, and there were plenty of tables.
At first glance from the outside, you might be tempted to pass the Southern Inn by. Â A place with history to it in an old downtown college-town building, you might think it was just another tired old, standard meat and potatoes restaurant. Â Well don't judge this book by its cover.
Cause staid it ain't. Â
Waiter Cameron took great care of us, and here's what he brought us:
Ceasar Salad: Â It boggles my mind how many restaurants try to do their own unique take on this simple and, in my opinion, favorite of American salads. Â Even Southern Inn tries to innovate a little bit, but unlike most so-called innovators, they succeed. Â But I am a picker of salad nits, soooo.... Southern Inn chops their Ceasar Salad into leetle, beety peeces. I dunno why. Personally, I think the classic way of tearing romaine into decent sized pieces is both more attractive and more flavorful. Â But that is a small nit. Â The dressing is perfect, the amount of it is right, the croutons are there, and they use shaved pecorino/romano(?) on top vs. crumbly powdered parmesan throughout. Â Yaaay. Â Good sallet. Â Wusht I had one right now whilst typing.
Savory Cheesecake: Â A kinda, sorta misnomer which should not prevent you from ordering it by any means. Â It's chevre cheese mixed with sundried tomatoes and herbs with a balasmic glaze. Â Looks like a little salmon colored patty when it arrives, accompanied by crostini--basically baguette slices toasted, buttered, and over-salted for this already salty goat cheese. We preferred to spread it on the unadorned bread which came with the meal. Â Mo betta accompaniment. Â Good stuff. Â Git you one. Â
Rigatoni Bolognese: Â rigatoni pasta, w/an excellent "lean" (not oversauced) bolognese (meat) sauce, with a little (sour?) cream either on or in the sauce. Â I really liked it. Â Et ever morsel. Â Would do it again, too, if I had the chanct.
Corvina: Â Came on a wedge of a thin, nice polenta, accompanied by some veggies (sorry forgot which). Â Very good. Â We et ever bit of that, too.
We also had a strange and wonderful drink from their "Pre-Prohibition Style Cocktails" menu. Â Huh, "Prohibition"... did that acutally happen!? Â It was a Bufala Negra: bourbon, fresh basil, balsamic vinaigrette, ginger brew and simple syrup. Â Sounds horrible, right? Â Well the memsaab, thought so, but I did not. Â I liked it just fine. Â Velly intellesting...
We finished everything off with a couple of excellent homemade ice creams. Â A good lunch/supper for us before we took the long drive home. Â Thanks, Southern Inn. Â We et everything you brang us, and lakked it just fine.
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The Southern Inn never blew me away with it's food, but nonetheless, it is good. Fried chicken, pasta, meatloaf, all good staples on the menu. Brunch is good. They have a decent bar.
Maybe it's just that I spent too many evenings getting drunk off of Long Island iced teas here in college and having friends buy me dinner with their parents' credit cards, but there's something about this place that feels like home. The atmosphere, the homey food, the nice wait staff. I miss the Southern Inn.
I lived in Lexington in the early 90s and ate here a few times. A friend of mine wanted to go there and it was her turn to pay so I said fine.
The pros: Water glass always filled.
The Cons: Noisy, and somewhat pretentious.
Don't get me wrong, I like a nice white table cloth and herbs in the water (mint?). What I didn't like was the menu. Not so much the prices,  but the sides offered with the entrees. I ordered the meatloaf ($14) and then had to pay an extra $4.50 for a tiny side salad. The meat loaf tasted like a hunk of fried spam with a lot of spices (tarragon?) with mashed potatoes and some raw'ish veggies. Someone else reviewed the meat loaf and said it was left under a heat lamp for too long. It  was bone dry.  Made me wish I ordered the fish special, but I am not a fan of mango salsa so much so I didn't.  Our waitress seemed a bit distracted, and really didn't do a great job of selling the special of the night. Like I said, she kept our water  glasses filled which is something I do appreciate, but I would rate her a 6,  if she would have shown just a bit more friendliness or enthusiasm she would have got a higher mark.
The place filled up, and so did the noise level. I couldn't hear my friend speak from across our table. All and all, for the $50 bill I would rather have gone somewhere else.
Pretty good food. My meatloaf seemed to be under the heat lamp for a while. My wife enjoyed her scallops special. The service was good. I don't know if other people like it, but I didn't't really like my table next to the brightly lit kitchen. We were hoping for a romantic dinner and that part of the restaurant didn't do it for me. Other parts seemed much nicer.
Review Source:Southern Inn is okay. The food is good, if overpriced, but it's definitely one of the best meals in Lexington. The salads and entrees are wonderful and their reuben sandwich is my favorite in town. The waitstaff is very pleasant, but I can't stand the bartenders. They are always way slower than is appropriate and always are careful to selectively serve customers.
Review Source:Came to this restaurant because it was the first place out of several people's mouths when asked about a decent restaurant in the area. Â The place is decent, nice on the inside, nothing special, but fine. Â Folks were nice, service wasn't great but was sufficient. Â As for the menu, I was surprised at the fact that there just aren't a lot of items on the menu. Â Not much to choose from. Â Little variety. Â The food I ordered was pretty good, no real complaints. Â I guess for the area, given that Lexington VA isn't Boston MA, it is a decent option to recommend to people.
Review Source:I figured Lexington for one of Virginia's ritzy little college towns and thought it might have some nice dining options. So on the short side of a long day of driving I was in need of some fine fooding. Southern Inn did not disappoint.
Clean, formal dining space. Well attired attendants. Waitress very knowledgeable about the restaurant and menu. Speaking of, what a great menu for a small town eatery. Features some seasonal dishes with some American classics. Most appreciated were the desserts. So often restaurants just get stupid when it comes to dessert.
I had the bourbon BBQ pork loin. There's not a lot I haven't seen done to pork loin, and some of it I have seen done to pork loin, I wish I hadn't. This was something new, and something quite good. The BBQ was terrific. Spicy, fun, rich. I substituted regular potatoes for the mashed sweet potatoes. No problems. Wife had the pan seared scallops and pasta. Very good. Also impressed with the winter cobbler dessert. Naturally sweet, understated, ample portion.
Very reasonable prices for the quality. Even the restrooms are nice. One recommendation; scallop dish was too salty. Maybe a little heavy on the butter? Need to scale it back. A small infraction to an otherwise top notch performance. Southern Inn is as good as anything I've had in DC. Highly recommended.
The town of Lexington had a huge parade the evening I dined there. The waitstaff handled the monstrous crowd this caused with ease and quickness.
The food was very good. Not great, but very good if you're looking for a warm, homey dish. Lots of flavor, nothing fancy.
Great cocktails and smart selection of craft draught beers.
I'd go back if I was ever in Lexington, VA again.
This was always kind of our go to place in town if we had a date or something of that nature... atmosphere was fine and the food was very ordinary, if a little pricey...but this is lexington we're talking about. Â The bar could get incredibly crowded, but they were always very fast with the drinks...which is generally the only thing we as cadets cared about!
Review Source:I sure do not understand the negative reviews. I dined with two business associates and all three of us were very much impressed with our meals. The service was also superb.
I had the Italian sausage & rigatoni. It was not the typical faux Italian. The waitress explained that the sausage came from a local producer. It was excellent - slightly spicy and served over the rigatoni with a demi - more like a gravy. Not what I was really expecting but I found it to be very tasty indeed. One of my fellow diners had the lamb chops which were the evening's special. He said that they were excellent. The other had the blackened chicken penne. He said that the chicken was not terribly spicy but he, also, said that his dinner was excellent. All three of us ate every bite of our meals.
Do NOT leave here without having dessert. I had the pear Napoleon which, again, was not what I was expecting but it was absolutely delicious. One of my companions had the cookie dough ice cream. The waitress (oops...SERVER) explained that they make their own ice cream. I had a scoop of it and IT was out of this world. Awesome presentation of everything, too.
It was a tad on the noisy side - but it was packed due to the fact that there was a conference at VMI. So I sure don't hold that against the place. The decor was very tasteful even if the tables are a tad close together (makes it a little tough to move about).
The service was superb - very prompt and efficient (with some assistance from the maitre d') without being overbearing. It is a bit on the "classy" side but we were seated even though we were dressed in jeans. So no pretentiousness at all.
As another reviewer noted: This place would cost twice as much if it was in a major city. Three of us got out with one appetizer (the chicken & black bean empenadas - very good), three dinners, two beers, iced tea (excellent), three desserts, and three coffees for about $120. Not bad at all.
This place, as far as we are concerned, is top-notch in every respect!
Considering the other selections in town (aka, not much!) this is one of your better bets. My husband and I had lunch here and it was fine. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either. The empanada appetizer was pretty good--I can safely recommend that. I didn't, however, care for the felafel platter. It was fresh and obviously made in-house, but the felafel itself was dry and not very flavorful. The tzatziki sauce with it wasn't very good either. I'm not sure what it was missing, but it tasted flat or like extremely low-fat yogurt. My husbands ruben was also lacking flavor, and the meat was overwhelmed by the massive amount of bread. Â
In short, the Southern Inn gets the job done, but it's pretty run-of-the-mill.
The Southern Inn is a nice restaurant with excellent quality food and service.
So why just a three star review?
I feel that the location, space and Chef's ability could make this the Southern Inn a special place. Â Unfortunately, a good small town restaurant, yet not special.
I'd love to see the decor updated to an even more "retro" look that made you feel like you were back in and earlier times  The place setting, and table and chairs, seemed to come from the 1990 restaurant supply.  I'd love the inside to look more like the outside.  To me that means using items that are not found in the "average" restaurant.
I'd also like to see the food more localized and served like it was before everyone trained at a Culinary School. Â Beautiful, unpretentious simple plates. Â There is so much history in this town, I feel a survey of some of the town's elder cooks might inspire some local dishes.
When a restaurant reaches for something special and succeeds, it inspires the traveling diner to some back and to tell his friends to make the trip to Lexington just to eat there. Â The Southern Inn, was on the track but just not good enough to inspire me.
Great Food, Nice Bar, Friendly Service!
I visited with family on a Monday evening. We were told there would be a 15-20 minute wait for a table. I was a little surprised at how busy they were for a Monday night...but I made good use of that time at the bar. Pretty well stocked (including premium label liquors). Budweiser and a double-shot of Jagermeister was just $9.50 + tip. Upon sitting down at the table, we were greeted promptly. I ordered the Surf and Turf which was $25 and at the high-end of their menu pricing. Food was excellent, and it was presented very well. Â I am convinced that if this restaurant was in a larger town, they could get away with almost doubling their menu prices..and still get excellent reviews.
There is a glass wall that allows you to see into the kitchen, which is nice. Parking can be a little difficult. There is a parking lot behind the restaurant - which is your best bet. Otherwise, you will need to parallel park on the street.
A number of people have commented that they do not have very good "Southern" food (written primarily by nothern folks passing thru the area). Very true. True southern food is best found at small diners and greasy-spoon establishments. This is an upscale, classy restaurant featuring dishes most commonly found in larger cities. Just because it has "Southern" in the name does not mean it is southern food.
Great atmosphere...a solid 5-star rating!
Disappointed: Â After reading the reviews we thought this would be a great place to eat. Â Pulling around the bend we knew an empty parking lot was not a good sign. It appears the place is Closed, not as in after hours but CLOSED. Yelp!? Are there processes in place to alert Yelp users when businesses close? This is the second time we've had this happen.
Review Source:Thanks, Yelp, for helping us find a great spot to eat along our Memorial day road-trip. We stopped here for an excellent, reviving lunch of fried chicken, a perfect reuben sandwich, and glass upon glass of water with refreshing mint leaves adding a little extra something, all for under $20 at a white-tablecloth restaurant with impeccable service. The reuben was really excellent, and not too heavy, and the fried chicken was also quite good, though a little lacking in salt-- I was also hoping for dark meat rather than breast meat, but I guess I can't complain as this made mine a slightly healthier meal. The mashed potatoes and greens that came on the side were also tasty, and made for a surprisingly balanced plate. A great taste of the south in a beautiful town!
Review Source:I ate here yesterday at the very tail-end of a very long drive from Boston to Knoxville. My mom and I stopped here for a quick dinner around 5pm. Lexington is a very cute, quaint little college town and the restaurant does a great job of playing on that. The atmosphere is really nice inside, and it exudes a sort of high society southern charm.
Since we got there a little early for dinner, the waitress gave us lunch menus (which I'm completely fine with--same food, cheaper prices). For an appetizer we got the mushroom paté on grilled bread. The paté was mediocre and the bread was pretty good. For my meal I got a falafel platter that turned out to be essentially hush-puppies seasoned with a mild falafel spice blend. There may have been some chickpeas thrown into the batter but it was mainly just breading. I don't mind hush-puppies, but I certainly don't like them as much as falafel. The falafel balls were served over some tasty greens with an okay tzatziki sauce and on the very bottom was a spongy pita to soak up all the juices. I like to eat my falafel as a sandwich so I dug up the pita, cut her open and then filled her up with all the toppings.
I guess I've been on a bit of a middle eastern kick lately and so I've tried a lot of falafels in the past few weeks, but this one ranked pretty low on the list. From what I experienced, the restaurant has a great atmosphere but not so great food.
Stopped here enroute to N Carolina for a Friday lunch.
I've heard so many good things about historic Lexington so today was the day to check it out for myself.
Yelp showed this as the top rated restaurant and the most reviews with 28.
This is what I call 'upscale' Southern. Nice dining room, big kitchen, well decorated with lots of cool and original art.
I got a window seat looking out over Main St on an overcast March day. Lot's of people walking by...some peering in...like maybe the place had been recently been through some construction.
My waitress, Heidi said she had just moved from Waynesboro and had been working there just a few months...she said she followed her boyfriend to Lexington and really liked it so far.
She told me the owner's brother owned a farm and they got all their beef fresh and all organic. There were several specials, Chesapeake Oysters, Fried Chicken and Meat Loaf but she sold me on the five bean soup for an appetizer. The way she described their hamburger, i couldn't say...no.
It was all good! Heidi also told me they had their own on site bakery and baked all their bread and buns fresh. She was so right...the comp bread basket was delicious.
The burger was exceptionally good, thick and tasty served with a side of fries.
I will put this place in my GPS and will def be back for more.
Lexington, I like you...quaint, historic and flush with character.
A nice Southern experience for sure.
Say hi to Heidi!
Place looks real nice BUT WOW! The food is ridiculously bad. Â I've never complained at a restaraunt before, but when our soups arrived, they were so shallow, watery and tasteless, I had to say something. Â Party of 8 with 4 bowls of soup and apparently they gave us some left over broth because they were running low. Â Seriously. Â It was incredibly offensive that they served it and even more so that they weren't embarrassed and apologetic. Â Thats the only reason I'm airing my grievance publically. Â It was just shameful
I'm not one to major in the minors and I rarely complain, but this was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. Â I think what magnifies the negative experience though, is the fact that the nice environment and overpriced menu set me up for some kind of reasonable expectation. Â It was weird. Â My hope is that others will know what to expect and perhaps the restaurant can learn from this.
I give two stars because at least they tried to be polite (fake as it were) after my reaction and while they never apologized or validated my concern, they removed the soups from the bill. Â Maybe it's just their soups and everything else is fine.
Such a great little spot in the middle of historic Lexington. Â Stopped here for lunch and they had nice patio, perfect for hiding from the sun but not too hidden or shaded to keep from seeing the some times busy street. Â Service was excellent. Not too pushy or overbearing but always there to collect plates or refill a drink.
We had no intention of stopping in here, just found it by chance and glad we did. He ordered the burger and I ordered the pulled pork. Â Both were very good, no complaints. Â We also started with something but I can't recall exactly. Â I think they were cheese stuffed mushrooms - could have been a special or something on the regular menu... I couldn't tell ya.
It was a nice spot to spot off on a our way back home to NoVa. Â Can't say if we would ever return, but I would recommend it if you're ever in the area.
It you loved the Southern Inn, don't go until you hear that is relocated to Main Street. Â
My wife and I chose Lexington and Southern Inn as our Christmas gifts to each other and Souithern Inn specifically based on a previous exceptional experience. Â Disappointed!
Southern Inn has been a local favorite for decades but they experienced a fire in the summer of 2010. Â During renovation they are trying to operate from inferior space under a strip mall in a space that failed as a Chinese restaurant. Â The atmosphere was between a bowling alley and a saw mill. Â It is brightly lit, very crowded and extremely noisy. Â Although the menu struggles to remind guests of the elegance of Southern Inn, the sweatshirt and jeans crowd identifes this as just another college hangout.
They did not have our first choice of wine, a simple white zinfandel, Â or our first choice of entree. Â We ordered 2 steaks, the sirloin ordered medium was overcooked and flavorless. Â The NY strip ordered well done was pink and bloody. Â We tried to save the night by selecting an intriguing desert which consisted of the dryest cake we have ever had in our mouths highlighted by foreign object particles.
If you are going to drop $100 on a meal for 2, do yourself a favor and go to Golden Corral 10 times, it will be quieter and more intimate.
PROS: Â the host and the servers clearly were struggling to overcome their surroundings and did the best they could despite the shortcomings. Â The host spoke longingly about the summer 2011 reopening in the original location with many improvements. Â He was convincing; try them after they get settled into their original home. Â The appetizer, Savory Cheese Cake, was delicious.
With its history and commitment to sourcing locally where possible, I had high hopes for the Southern Inn but unfortunately left feeling underwhelmed.
Met a friend for lunch here as we were both passing through and I must say, the temporary space for the Southern Inn is surprisingly cozy especially when you consider it's tucked away in the back of a strip mall that houses stores like Advanced Auto Parts. Service here was equally warm and attentive plus they take online reservations via OpenTable.
The letdown for me here was the food. I was really craving some good fried chicken but Southern Inn's version felt almost too timid to to be Southern. (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/JWWQhme8rPkpibA0c6-nEg?select=pyJfaDsFa7sUZGZ9tbUpKw">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>) The batter was under-seasoned and felt too refined for its own good. The chicken looked like it was steaming beneath the crust which made the crust soggy on the underside. The biggest turnoff was that the chicken lacked any flavor whatsoever. Salt and pepper your meat before coating it please.
I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the garlic mash that came with the mediocre chicken. If you like butter, than you will love this mash. The vegetable medley of carrots, butternut squash, and broccoli was a nice counter-points to the rich mash. My friend had the Reuben sandwich (<a href="http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/JWWQhme8rPkpibA0c6-nEg?select=m9nmItwfG3Em0HhPps58bg">http://www.yelp.com/biz_…</a>) and it was good. The homemade potato chips were a nice touch.
All in all, the Southern Inn is not necessarily a bad place all things considered but if you are looking for something great, I have a feeling it might be hit or miss here.
We came here for dinner for my bf's admitted student day weekend. We're both from the west coast so everything here including this restaurant were factors in his decision to come here in the end. We definitely experienced southern hospitality here. The service was more than perfect. I only wish restaurants in the west coast would take after their awesome service. I'm tired of sloppy service in LA.
Anyway, the food was delicious. I tried southern fried steak for the first time and it met my expectations. The chicken batter was very crispy with a golden color and the chicken itself was very moist and juicy. The portion size was too much for me finish and could've been shared by another. We also ordered mussels for our appetizer. The sauce was very rich and flavorful and was perfect for bruschetta to soak in before taking a bite. The complimentary bread came with sour cream and chive butter. We couldn't get enough of it and had to ask for more.
Overall, this place deserves five stars.
Went here tonight with my dad. Overall it was pretty good. We got kind of disoriented and went in through the bar first instead of the restaurant (apparently there are 2 entrances). Overall decor was nice.
My dad and I split the spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer. It was served in a hot bread bowl but the dip itself wasn't hot...odd. Â Pretty good, except for the fact that it was cold.
I had the scallops over pasta. The scallops were exceptional and the pasta was flavorful; lots of garlic but not too much. My dad had the stuffed chicken breast and said it was really good.
Dessert was...okay. I had a warm brownie w "homemade" vanilla ice cream and my dad had a lemon tart. His tart was pretty good, but mine was odd. The brownie wasn't warm, as advertised, and the ice cream had a very weird and gross lukewarm temperature and gooey texture but it managed to stay together in a ball somehow. The raspberry sauce was weird too. I ate the whole thing but at this point I'm not really sure why.
3.5 stars. Service was good, although our server couldn't give us any recommendations because she hadn't tried anything that we were wondering about. So, 1.5 stars taken off for appetizer temp, weird dessert and unknowledgeable waitress.
Here you'll find the philosophers' table!
Usually in one of the windows. It's a little quieter than elsewhere and a nice place to have drinks. I usually just went for beer, but I remember Gayle used to get a yummy apple-caramel martini-ish thing.
I'll always remember getting taken out here by Profs Mahon and Goldberg after I got my first acceptance into grad school (embarrassingly enough, I forgot my ID and had to have a lemonade). That same night, they were already arguing what I should do when going on the job market. One thing's for sure: I wouldn't be where I am now (namely, procrastinating my presentation on Bratman's theory of agency...) without such awesome and supportive people in my life!
Decent Southern-style comfort bar food. Â One of the few restaurants/bars opened on a Sunday afternoon. Â I expected it to have Southern comfort food, and they had it the best they can being one nof the few bars in town.
The burgers are cooked well with the option of two toppings. Â I'm a big fan of their caremelized onions, though I wished I picked cheddar instead of havarti cheese on mine. Â My husband's portabello mushroom sandwich was pretty good aside from the too-pungent Brie that was also on it. Â And the key to make the meal taste better: coarse salt. Â Especially on the fries.
The drink menu had even more options than the food. Eat some, drink lots and be merry here.