Magnolia 23 — Restaurant in Asheboro

Today I didn't have a great experience. Me and my 2 friends were the 1st ones in the restaurant. We sat ourselves. 3 other tables were waited on before anyone took our drink order. The Latino lady that took the drink orders of the customers sitting behind us looked at us and walked right past us and took their orders. Then she walked past us again. By this time,, 3 tables had their drink order and one of them even had their food. When the Latino lady finally came back by us I stopped her and asked her why she didn't take our drink order,, and told her we were the first ones in the restaurant. She immediately shift the blame on the other lady that was supposed to be waiting on us. I nicely told her but you never even spoke or even asked us did we want anything to drink. Our waitress that was supposed to helping us had already helped another table and they had their food!!! However,,she did acknowledge us and said she would get with us as soon as possible. The Latino lady said our section was not hers,,,and she was just helping. Then she began to take our order. By this time she acted as if she had an attitude!! Finally once our food arrived it was incorrect. Our initial waitress finally got our food correct. This was poor service from the Latino lady. She could have at least spoken to us and getting an attitude was so unprofessional.

I did return yesterday October 5th and had the Ruben sandwich and potatoe salad with sweet tea and water. The Ruben sandwich was good but not cooked pastrami with hot saurkraut. It was a cold cut thick slices of sandwich meat with lots of thousand island dressing and cheese. No rye bread. No pickle. I've had many Ruben sandwiches that were very hot and delicious. Actually Arby's has a lot better one than what I ate yesterday. I've even had several better than Arby's. The potato salad was ok,,,lacking seasoning. My tea was very sweet,,,too sweet for my taste. I'm glad I ordered water. The service was great this time. As soon as we walked in the door we were seated and waited on. It did not take long for our food to come. I also had the lemon blueberry pound cake. Really good but no blueberry taste. I've eaten and baked enough of them. You should be able to see whole blueberries and of course taste them. Fo yesterday service I give them 3 and...

Let me tell you about Magnolia 23: it is a gem of a restaurant run by one of the most generous men I've met, with a respect for food and tradition that runs very deep. Although the menu changes daily, I doubt you'll ever have reason to be unhappy with anything they cook up. At first, I was disappointed--when we arrived around 1, they were out of white meat fried chicken. I settled for the chicken and dumplings instead. It was a happy settlement--they were delicious. Perfect chewy dumplings and flavorful chicken. I had soft, creamy limas on the side and an incredibly sweet (though not overpowering) serving of yams as well. The owner and chef came to speak with us and he was so incredibly gracious and welcoming. We talked soul food for a while and about the importance of passing on traditions in food, especially in the south--the heart off truly all-American developed cuisine. I guess he enjoyed our company, because he gave us a fried chicken wing to go--with the condition that we also try a piece of fried catfish (also on the house) and tell him what we thought. Well, can't argue with that deal. The chicken was delightful--you know how everyone always says, "like grandma used to make?" Yeah, this time it's actually like that. But the true star was the catfish. Full disclosure: my mom and I hate fish. All fish. Fried, grilled, raw, seated--we just don't like it. But this catfish was amazing. We both agreed we would happily eat it as an entree--HIGH praise. The fish was flaky and fried perfectly. The breading was not overwhelming, but instead added another dimension of tasty cornmeal goodness to the dish. If you are in the area--or a few hours away--I cannot recommend...

Very disappointing! We finally tried Magnolia 23 after hearing people rave about it. We entered through the front door and found no hostess or sign indicating that we had to wait to be seated. We found an empty table and were immediately approached by a hostess, who emerged from the rear of the restaurant and rather rudely told us that we couldn't sit there. She instead directed us outside to their patio and seated us there, which was fine.

Their menu is extremely limited -- about three entrees to choose from, if I recall correctly. I decided to try their fried chicken, as I had heard some great things. Our waitress was very nice, but the restaurant was busy so service was slow. When my food arrived, I was surprised. My plate contained two very tiny pieces of chicken. The chicken leg was the size of a drumette that you'd serve at a Superbowl party. The thigh wasn't much bigger. It wasn't horrible, but I've had better chicken at Bojangles or KFC. The potato salad was really good, though.

My real gripe, however, was our second encounter with the hostess. As we went inside to pay, she stood at the back door, holding it open while looking directly at my wife. As my wife and son got close, the hostess stepped inside, with the door closing behind her. They were only a few feet from the door and she didn't even have the courtesy to continue to hold it open for them. Coupled with our first encounter with her, I can only assume she's always this unpleasant.

All in all, it was an overpriced, mediocre meal, with a sweet waitress and a nasty hostess. I...