Mama Hamil's Southern Cookin' and Bar B Que Buffet — Restaurant in Madison

I am the toughest critic of home cooked food because I ate it every day as a child. I am serious- my father is one of the best chefs that I know when it comes to southern cuisine! With that being said, I rarely enjoy any southern restaurants. They just don't compare to what I am accustomed to. However, I will say that I was impressed with this spot!

First off let's start off with the ample parking they have. It is clear that this place is supported by the locals . t's my understanding that they typically have a line.

When we walked in we were not necessarily greeted or given a warm welcome. I guess I was expecting that good southern hospitality

At the front and to your left is where you start your dinning experience by paying! Yep they need that money up front! We opted for dinner so it was $15 per person. Dinner is from 4-8pm. Lunch is currently $12 and is served from 10:30am until 2pm.

After paying, the indulgence immediately begins. Every customer is asked to wear gloves as they fix their pate from the buffet line, as well as obtain a new plate upon re-entry.

There were so many food options to choose from. The items that remain the same every day are as follows

Salads: Cole Slaw Potato Salad Fruit Salad Cucumber Tomato Salad Broccoli Crunch Salad Basic Tossed Salad Homemade Ranch Dressing Homemade Comeback Dressing

Sides and Vegetables: Turnip Greens Cabbage Greens Black Eyed Peas Butter Beans Pole Beans Creamed Corn Rutabagas Mashed Potatoes Rice Brown Gravy (on side) Macaroni & Cheese BBQ Beans

Desserts: Bread Pudding Banana Pudding Peach Cobbler Cinnamon Rolls Assorted Cakes

The meat options that were available during my visit included BBQ Ribs, Fried Chicken, Smoked Chicken, Fried Livers, Fried Fish, Chicken & Dumplings.

I honestly enjoyed most of the food I tried. However, I will admit that I was not a fan of the Mac and cheese, or the black eyed peas. The peas tasted like canned peas and the Mac and cheese was not cooked the way I like it. Overall though this place was solid. Some of my favorites were the smoked chicken, potato salad ( the best I have ever had), and the fried fish.

I have to admit that if you are in the area, stopping by this place will not be a...

We (my husband, me and my service dog, Casey) were flatly denied entry to a restaurant for the first time since I’ve had Casey - four years. Four years of eating out, traveling the Southeastern US, working, going to church, and doing everything people do, with my service dog Casey in tow to mitigate my disability. It was Mama Hamil's Restaurant in Madison. I never thought I’d experience discrimination against disabled people in my own hometown but I was wrong! Hamil family, BE ASHAMED. Veterans, blind people and other disabled persons who have a task-trained, ADA compliant service dog deserve the same service as your other patrons. Moreover, this action is a violation of state AND federal law. I completely understand fake service dogs and their blight on our community. I also have to deal with fakes and they endanger me and my dog too, as well as the community at large. But there’s no excuse for denying access to a disabled person. The Americans with Disabilities Act provides resources for you to determine whether or not an animal is a service animal and the law expressly prohibits denying access because of a service animal. They are considered medical equipment (like a wheelchair). Your opinion and preferences do not trump state and federal laws! I suggest you research and learn the ADA since I will be making a complaint to the Department of Justice about this. (FYI, the penalty for denying access to a service animal and handler is $75,000 for the FIRST OFFENSE so I hope it was worth it to you.) I offered to show the laws to your employees but they didn’t care and said they were under strict orders not to allow any animal into the restaurant. Thankfully, my husband is a lawyer, I’m a seasoned paralegal, I’m quite familiar with my rights and the laws, and we have the financial resources to see this through. Many people don’t. But I will fight for myself AND for them and hopefully work to end this awful discrimination. If you’re disabled, consider skipping Mama Hamil’s and eat somewhere else where you won’t be humiliated and discriminated against. DO...

I came to see what all the hype was about and I’m still wondering. The vegetables were all very sweet. The choices of meats were abundant but the quality was lacking. I’m assuming what I got was fried pork nuggets? However, they were all just large hunks of tendons. (Between my husband and I, we had about 9 pieces and none were edible.) I was very excited to try the bread pudding but it was so sweet that I couldn’t even take more than 3 bites. I am a huge sweets fan and even this was too sweet for me. The peach cobbler was questionable. The peaches were all gray/brown… Possibly overcooked? The one thing I did enjoy was the broccoli salad. Overall, my experience was disappointing. Every single employee we came in contact with seemed like they hated their job. The women at the cash registers didn’t even speak to us and seemed miserable. The woman wiping down the buffet was completely aware that there were many people trying to access food items, however, she continued to moved extremely slow and not once apologized for being in the way. (I should add that she was wiping nothing. There were no drops or food to be cleaned up. Her actions could have waited.) Then as I was literally about to touch the serving utensil of the half full pan of chicken, a cook/server “snatched” the pan and ran off with it. And of course, no apology. It wouldn’t have bothered me so bad if I hadn’t been two inches away from putting my hand on the utensil. We will not be returning. For so many things to go wrong for my first time visiting, I don’t see this being a “maybe it was an off day” thing. If the employees hate being there, why should we all want to...