Bill & Fran's Restaurant — Restaurant in South Carolina

Bill & Fran's Restaurant. What a unique place! First, just if the reviews of this place have been off the charts. My wife and I, mostly on my insistence, went today for the first time.

Located right off I-26, the place was due easy to find. And the decor in the building certainly is a draw. But what caught my attention was that for Sunday at about noon, the parking lot was packed! Always a good sign.

We went in, and first thing we noticed, there's no hostess out any signs saying to seat yourself. A little bit of a drawback if you've never been, though it only took about five minutes to notice that the "regulars" were coming in and seating themselves. A bit odd since the place was packed. Following suit, a table opened up and we sat ourselves.

Now, there was the cashier who did ask our names and number after a few minutes of waiting. However, no fault of her own, she had such a long line of paying customers, she seemed a bit overwhelmed.

Once we were seated, Cathy came to our table. Certainly hope that's her name, because that's what was on the ticket later. Older lady, extremely sweet and kinda humourous. I don't think we had even gotten our masks off before she was getting our drink order. I like that kind of customer service!

I ordered the fried chicken, since most of the reviews said his great it was, and it comes with white rice with gravy. I got mashed potatoes and cole slaw for my sides. My wife ordered pancakes and biscuits and gravy. Within minutes our drinks were brought out to the table, asking with a plate of cornbread and a side of strawberry shortcake. Loved the cornbread! Not sure if it was just an appetizer, out came with my meal, but it sure was good!

Take a second to describe the inside of the restaurant. First, there obviously were a lot of locals. Always a plus. But there also seemed to be a lot of tourists and folks stopping from off the highway. The decor reminded me of what a Denny's would be like if it had a "restaurant baby" with a Waffle House. Nothing fancy and a tad crowded. But still nothing that took away from the food that arrived.

My wife swears that biscuits and gravy were excellent. Her pancakes took up the entire 12" plate. My fried chicken? Over the top delicious! I ordered white meat. The chicken was juicy, the seasonings were great. The rice and potatoes both had a chicken gravy that tasted homemade. Some of the best chicken I've had since I moved to Chapin. The cole slaw had a string flavor to it, and while it was good, it wasn't great. Took me a bit to figure it was the amount of pickle relish they had in it. Had a sour brine aftertaste. Had the slaw been on a burger or hot dog, my opinion may be boosted a bit. But by itself, I didn't finish it. No big deal. I was already getting full from that great chicken.

I finished off with the strawberry shortcake. Damnit. The piece was too small! Like I said, it came out before the dinner. So it had plenty of time to sit in the juice. It was incredible! I could see myself going in just to pick it up for dessert. It's a must try!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. A solid five stars. The service was great, the food incredible. Can't wait till my next trip back and I'm waiting to try the...

Walked in , thought cool, little greasy spoon. Waffle house style place. I'll get a hot meal. Over heard wait staff tell line cook, greenbeans are cold. ..... while I sat at the bar and watched this whole transaction happen. He walked over with a gloved hand and stuck his hand in the greenbeans on the hot bar, and I quote Yup sure are! All the way to the bottom!!! Bad sign number one.

Bad sign number two. He never changed the glove, continued to make food and plate food, touching everything from the refrigerator door to the prefied bacon on the grill top in a pan. As he plated food. I shook it off.

Bad sign number three, everything that could be fried was fried together, fries, fish, raw fries(potatoes sliced thin), and God knows whatever else they can fry. By now, I am closely watching every move to see when my food will be made. (Burger and fries) Lord help. So I waited and waited. They seemed to be over whelmed with the possibly 20 people in the whole place. With two waitresses and two line cooks, or maybe the lack of organization, who knows. So I waited and waited and waited. Finally, Bubba Earl got around to my burger. With the same gloved hand, he temp tested the greenbeans. He reached in the cooler and grabbed a burger patty, luckily was wrapped in plastic, slapping it on the grill. The fries came up first and were dumped from the frier basket on the grill til time to plate them up! Lol, this is great, I can't make this up. 🤣. By now, which had been roughly 45 mins, I needed to run. So I got Bubba Earl's attention and asked him to put it in a box. With a moaning groan, he got a box and put my food in it. (He never touched my burger or food with his glove) used a spatula. Thank goodness. I paid the 12 dollars and something for my burger, fires, and tea. I tipped the waitress 5 dollars cause it wasn't her fault. I get it, some places are better than others some people don't know any better nor do they know what good food is, they weren't really short staffed for amount of people they had, who knows maybe it was a bad day for the whole crew🤷‍♂️. I try to leave honest reviews. The burger was fair at best, cheap hamburger meat, I didn't bother with the fries. Maybe in its hay day, this place was jam up, but tonight, on August 1, 2024, it was not. A small local greasy spoon that caters to the locals who are known by the name that haven't traveled past the next county line. Bless your heart is what I say. Try this place at...

First, let's start with the service! There are ABSOLUTELY NO BLACK PEOPLE working in the front of this restaurant!! NO BLACK PEOPLE COOKING ON THE GRILL, NO BLACK WAITRESSES, NOTHING! The black people come from the back with dishes to restock clean dishes, so I'm guessing they are the dishwashers. The waitresses are not friendly and if you'd like a refill for your drink you will have to flag down the waitresses to get one. The setting is awkward and sections are most of the time blocked off but there are LOTS of white people sitting in the area blocked off. Second, let's talk about the food! The chicken is not fried done and crunchy like it is supposed to be. The cube steak is tough and hard. The rice and gravy taste like powder with NO SEASONING. THE MACARONI...LET'S JUST SAY STOP WHOEVER COOKING IT FROM COOKING IT FROM HERE ON OUT!! I'VE NEVER SEEN MACARONI AND CHEESE SO UNCOOKED IN MY LIFE WITH SO MUCH WATER AND SO WET WITH HARDLY ANY CHEESE AND NO SEASONING! CORNBREAD IS HARD AS A ROCK! FOOD WITHOUT ANY SEASONING! YOU ONLY GET HALF OF A SPOONFUL OF FOOD ON YOUR PLATE!! This place is overpriced and the food is NOT GOOD! When I told the waitress that my food wasn't good she said, "Oh well, I don't really like it myself." Then stood there and waited for me to pay. There is this awkward thing in front of the bar seating area that a pregnant lady almost fell onto her face from tripping over it and the staff didn't even ask her if she was ok. They just put a trash bag over it and said they hoped no one fell because they wouldn't be able to sue them. 😳 I do NOT suggest anyone eat here!! PARKING IS HORRIBLE TOO AND SHARED WITH A GAS STATION. I went down the street to get food after paying them for something I...