Paula Deen's Family Kitchen

My family and I visited this restaurant for dinner on 27 Nov 2024. To be honest, I didn't know Paula Deen had her own restaurant until we were visiting Nashville during Thanksgiving week. We used to watch her cooking show years ago so when we realized she had her own restaurant, it was a must-visit event. As you walk up to the restaurant, you can't help but admire the architectural design of the building, especially when it's lit up at night. Also, I was informed that this restaurant was built as a replica of her actual home - I'm not sure how much of it is exact since I've never been invited to her home (probably filled with butter).

Prior to arriving, I looked at the online menu really quickly and saw that this restaurant was a family style dinner. I presumed this meant that it was just sharable; I didn't know that this meant it was an AYCE style family dinner. Needless to say, this was outstanding news and well worth the amount you have to pay for your dining experience. We ordered "The Georgia" which consisted of 4 entrées and 4 sides. There were several options to choose from but we opted for the Best Ever Southern Fried Chicken, Beef Pot Roast, Chicken & Dumplings, BBQ Spare Ribs, Fried Okra, Collard Greens, Broccoli Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Ooey Gooey Butter Cake, Banana Pudding, and Peach Cobbler.

In general, the food was good all around; however, there were a couple items that weren't as impressive as the others...those being the Southern Fried Chicken and Broccoli Casserole. I understand that you would want to market your brand as the "best ever" but if you do that, it better be the "best ever." I think the average American can say that they've had several variations of fried chicken in their lives to be able to determine what is good and what is just ok - the chicken here was just ok. As for the casserole, I don't know what I was expecting, but this one didn't satisfy - I think it's because it was a textural thing since I enjoy my broccoli slightly on the crunchier/crispier side (this one was mushy). Everything else hit the mark and I am forever grateful that they served fried okra since I've been in the mood to have those. Also, those biscuits are better here than the ones from that popular franchise restaurant named after a "certain-colored crustacean."

The service was outstanding! Our primary server, Sencerity, did a phenomenal job that evening...she was super attentive, friendly, and highly efficient at her job. The décor was beautiful; I especially enjoyed their choice of light colors...it made it a lot more relaxing and that "cottage in the summer" feel. You even get greeted by Paula Deen as soon as you walk in the building...ok, maybe it's not actually her, but the cutout of her makes it feel that way. The price-to-quantity/quality ratio was extraordinary - you definitely get your money's worth here. I especially respect this business for their continued support to the active men and women of the Armed Forces and its Veterans - thank you for that! If you're someone that's into that light fare type of diet because of fitness goals or for medical reasons, then I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to you, nor would I recommend it to those that eat a 6 oz steak and get stuffed from that. However, for everyone else reading this, I highly recommend this restaurant to you! Paula Deen, we're waiting for you to build a restaurant in our home city...

I enjoy southern comfort food, and was pretty excited to try Paula Deens. I want to start by saying the service was mostly good, but I marked down because our entire meal our server never refilled our sweet teas! ??? Why? We both enjoyed the tea! Also the cheddar roll they serve as an appetizer was delicious! We enjoyed our table being right next to a window facing the river. Our server explained how their restaurant works-you get 3 meal options; you pick between 2, 3, or 4 entree meals, all come with 4 sides, and your choice of dessert. Theres always a lot of food. All of them you cannot take leftovers home except the dessert. Each item is unlimited in nature. My husband and I ordered the fried chicken, country fried steak and white gravy, meatloaf, and spare ribs. The following is my honest opinion as a home cook. The fried chicken and country fried steak were the best options we ordered. The chicken was fantastic! I marked our server down because I told her originally when we ordered that I wanted white meat and we received all dark. I ordered the white so I could taste the breast. It was juicy and delicious 😋. The country fried steak had a light crispy breading. I just wish the gravy was served hotter. We both absolutely did NOT like the ribs. They were dry, tough, and the sauce was tasty but neither of us took more than a bite of it. The meatloaf was alright but if you're used to mama's homemade meatloaf, this is not that. It had good flavor, but the texture was more dry-not what I was expecting. For our sides, we ordered the macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and I wanted a fresh salad-the poppyseed salad was good, I really enjoyed the fresh greens with all that fatty fried food we ordered. Every other side we ordered came out luke-warm. That was a bit of a turn-off for me. My husband didn't even try the mashed potatoes. He liked the baked beans ok but I was thrown off by the crunchy peppers in them. We both agreed our favorite side was the macaroni and cheese, but even that wasn't anything to write home about. Reading the reviews now, I feel we may have been better off with some broccoli casserole. The mashed potatoes were creamy but lacked the texture I was hoping for. We took our dessert to go because we were so full from all the food. The banana pudding was delicious! I don't recommend the chocolate ooey gooey cake. Its more of a brownie, and it's light but becomes rather thick in your mouth. Would be delicious with ice cream or something to wet the palate. Overall, I'd say that for the quality of what we were getting, it was way overpriced. I mean our two meals were $74.06 and we didn't really enjoy even half of it. For that much money, I feel like I would have enjoyed the ambiance at the aquarium restaurant more. I call...

HUGE Boast for Paula Dean's Kitchen Opry Mills even bigger boast for Ms. Cassandra aka Sexy Chocolate (lmao yes this is what they call her!)

Let me start off by telling you.. you definitely get your moneys worth! Make sure you wear pants with elastic or at least no belt… And ask for a wheelbarrow to roll you out after you’re done! 😂

They serve family style meals & this is an all you can eat and yes dessert is included! (they do not allow you to take to go boxes… Even the food that’s left on your plate)

The Albany $25.99 per person Choose 2 Home Dishes and 4 sides..

The Savannah $27.99 per person Choose 3 Home Dishes and 4 sides.

The Georgia $29.99 per pason Choose 4 Home Dishes and 4 sides.

We debated getting the Georgia but choose the Savannah (I’m glad we didn’t get the larger one!) This is what we ordered:

We started off with a basket of cheddar garlic biscuits. These were the fluffiest biscuits I have ever tasted. I would’ve been perfectly content just eating the biscuits as a meal! They definitely put Red Lobster’s Cheddar Bay biscuits to shame.

BEST EVER SOUTHERN FRIED CHICKEN Our specially seasoned, hand-breaded chicken, fried crisp and golden. "Some things in life can't be improved upon!" Now… would I say this was the BEST chicken? YES! this was definitely some of the best fried chicken we have had. It was tender & juicy & seasoned perfectly.

BEEF POT ROAST Slow roasted 'til tender and full of flavor. Lovingly shredded, ladled over buttered white rice. “Comfort food at its finest!"

When Cassandra brought this out the first time it was on the white rice. Neither myself or my friend Charity Cruz cared for the rice. The next go round we got it without the rice & it was smothered in gravy. This was one of the most tender & flavorful roast beef we’ve had.

SPARE RIBS Slow roasted, fall-off-the bone ribs smothered in tangy barbecue sauce. "The perfect blend of sweet and spicy, Y'all!"

I am not a rib fan.. too much trouble to get a lil amount of meat off the bone. I clearly have never had ribs cooked correctly for me before! These were delicious… The meat literally fell off the bone! They were tender, cooked perfectly and the barbecue sauce that they added went really well with the ribs. I didn’t really get spicy from the barbecue sauce… But I’m okay with that.

The sides we choose were baked mac & cheese.. this was really bland. fried okra.. this had no flavor. broccoli casserole.. we didn’t care for the bread crumb topping. corn on the cob.. corn was delicious..

The side dishes definitely lacked flavor and seasoning. But the entrees made up for them! We were so full we didn’t get to try dessert.

We will definitely be back to try something different until we’ve tried everything &...