The Gin Restaurant — Restaurant in Tupelo

Our family drove through Tupelo today on our way to Alabama for vacation. We’d previously seen a positive review of The Gin online and thought we’d stop by and try it for ourselves. To begin, the decor was lovely and very inviting - the perfect blend of the owners’ Delta roots and Tupelo locale. This looks like the place you want to be when dining with friends. We stopped for lunch and so everyone, except myself, ordered the hot bar. My husband and daughter gave the chicken and dumpling high praise - likening them to his grandmothers’! The creamed corn, roasted new potatoes, carrots and green beans were also well-seasoned and very tasty. Chicken tenders were just like homemade. For myself, I chose the blackened chicken poboy with homemade onion rings. Another hit! This is a sandwich you’re going to want to eat with a fork, but the tomato tasted like it came out of the backyard and the chicken was juicy. The buffet included dessert and everyone chose the white chocolate bread pudding. I have to say - it was the singular item I wasn’t in love with. Just too sweet for my palate! But hey - ‘It may just be me’ - ha! From the beginning to the end - the service was excellent! This is a staff who are all pulling in the yoke together and who are genuinely happy you’re there. Everyone wanted to know how we were enjoying our food and they seemed so happy to be doing good work. It was really a pleasure dining with y’all! Special shout out to Janet - great waitress - great attitude! And I didn’t catch your name ma’am - but you were hailed as the one who arrives at 5am to work your magic. We appreciate your passion and enjoyed that little extra taste of blueberry bread pudding. We are business owners ourselves - and so we’re rarely short on discussing amongst ourselves what we think other businesses could do to improve. The Gin - there wasn’t much talk going on at this table today. 10/10! We’ll be back for...

Nice, relaxed atmosphere. Great customer service. Food served quickly and hot. Really large portions-easily shareable. Dinners come with 2 sides and your choice of bread- roll, Mexican or regular cornbread, hush puppies. The sides selection is extensive- you can just order a plate of sides. Smoked cabbage, lima beans, green beans, black eyed peas, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, coleslaw, salad, etc…The special tonight was blackened chicken and grits- very tasty. Grits were perfectly seasoned. The fried chicken tenders were juicy and not overly breaded. The chicken and dressing was delicious. The cream gravy was very thin. The catfish was fried nicely- not hard. The hush puppies were dark but not hard- nice texture and not greasy. The smoked cabbage was sweet and buttery- if that’s how you like it, you will be happy. The baked potato was nice and fluffy. The pot roast was served in a bowl like a stew with small potatoes. The meatloaf was thick but not dense and cooked perfectly- Overall, each entree was good. They also have bread pudding for dessert. A full bar. TVs showing a variety of shows from sports, automotive and entertainment....

If you are hungry and like good southern cooking, this is a must try place. We went there a week ago Sunday and were pleasantly surprised to see a buffet offered for lunch. However, when we went through the line, we were informed it was not a buffet, but was a hot bar despites signage up front to the contrary. There is nothing to tell you what is included so we assumed the little pre-made salads were part of it. They were not and were separate charges on our bill. So be forewarned.

The food was good and our servers were outstanding. The portions are large and we were glad we got there early, as by the time we were about half way through our meal the line wrapped around the patio/stage area. My wife had heard about their deep fried tamales so we ordered a side of those as well. The online review was right on - they were outstanding.

So I can recommend the restaurant and we'll probably eat there again. They just need to properly set customer expectations about hot bar vs buffet. There is a difference in people's minds and it is a bit disingenuous to blow off customer's genuine surprise when they...