The Dillard House

We are local-ish and eat at the Dillard House often. We had hoped the new owners would not change much but discovered this past weekend that they changed the rib recipe and the fried chicken was not the same quality. The other food was good and plentiful and as always the staff and service we're great, we were just really disappointed in the new rib recipe.

I have been going to the Dillard House for 50 years; however, I had not visited since it became under new management. What a disappointment! I wished that I had read these reviews prior to going. There are literally pages of bad reviews. Apparently, the Dillard House is now being managed by Legacy Ventures. Changes are fine; however, there is no excuse for ongoing poor-quality food and a bad value for the money. Legacy Ventures, you have had enough feedback, do better!

So disappointed. Haven't been in a few years and was in town today. I couldn't wait to go. The new owners are going to kill this place. The country style steak must have been from frozen. It was bland and tuff. It use to be amazing. The chicken was good but not crispy like it used to be. It must have been sitting in a container with the lid closed or something. The sides were good though. Service was still great. I really hope they bring back the old country style steak that's home made.

Beautiful venue... beautiful views. Old cafeteria style seating with a family vibe. A bit of all the food available is brought to the table. That was cool. The servers were attentive. Fried chicken, pork ribs, creamed corn, black eyed peas, collards, squash, fried okra, corn bread and rolls. Apple cobbler for desert. Great concept... but the food was unappetizing and didn't taste fresh. I would not come back to eat here.... but there is a petting zoo and stable on premises. (It's raining so we won't be able to check them out.) Unfortunately I highly do not recommend.

The Dillard House is a North Georgia institution having been established in 1917 by Carrie Ann Dillard. The food here is served family style in a huge dining room with a lovely view of the mountains. They serve lunch and dinner Monday through Sunday and add a breakfast service Friday through Sunday from 8:00 to 10:30. I have been to lunch and dinner before but on this day we were having breakfast. By we I mean a party of 17. We had been camping all week and decided to take a break from campfire cooking. We were there promptly at 8:00 am. The website had asked for reservations to be made for parties of 15+ but we just decided to break in to 2 groups. The hostess seated us at two long tables next to each other. We needn't have worried because there were too many other diners at the point. The server soon came by to get our drink orders, soon after the food began to arrive. First there were two baskets of baked goods: warm cinnamon rolls in one and biscuits and mini blueberry muffins in the other. The cinnamon rolls were very good but the biscuits were outstanding! The kids really liked the muffins. After that they brought out grits, home fries, pancakes, a big bowl of scrambled eggs, sausage gravy, sausage patties and a plate of bacon and fried pork tenderloin. They told us that we could request more of anything we'd like. Our table consisted of three ladies and four kids and we ended up only getting another bowl of grits. Our other party had three teenaged boys and the rest of our menfolk. They got three servings of everything! They did offer styrofoam to go containers for the items we had left. All of the food was good. I was disappointed they no longer served country ham at breakfast. I liked the fact that the service was very attentive, they serve real butter, and the coffee was hot. On the downside, the drinks were either $3.95 or $4.95 each and the syrup was in a plastic squeeze bottle (I know nitpicking). The gratuity is added automatically and was 18% for our party of 7 and 20% for the other table of ten. The cost of the meal was $21.95 for adults, $14.95 for young adults (ages 12-16), and $11.95 for children (ages 4-11). Children 3 and under eat free. My total bill for two adults and a 7 year old was $83! My daughter pointed out that eating here was an "experience" and while that's true, it was an expensive experience. Afterwards we took the kids to the "petting zoo" which only had a long horned steer and two goats. They were also able to pet some horses. I recently read that the restaurant had been sold in February of 2024 to Atlanta based Legacy Ventures and I don't know if our experience reflected the new management or not.

The last time I was at the @dillardhousegeorgia, it was about 20 years ago, early aughts or so, and they had just won a few awards for their food. We went at dinner and it was amazing. All you can eat family-style down-home Southern cooking with all the fixings and only your appetite to tell you when to stop. Fast forward to this morning and we were in the area, so we decided to hit it up for the breakfast version of that. To say it was a disappointment would be a disservice to disappointments. I'm not for sure what happened in the last 20 years or so, but it's like they weren't even trying. I get that it's all-you-can-eat served family style, so I'm sure the food is just sitting in steam trays in the kitchen, but wow, it was bad. Everything was room temperature. Nothing was hot. The sausage was so salty as to be inedible, the bacon was cold and flaccid, and the grits were minutes away from becoming spackle. The only thing I could eat were the scrambled eggs. This spread of food you see here isn't much better than the breakfast you'd get at a mid-tier hotel chain. I get that things change over two decades, but The Dillard House is an institution in NE GA and this Tallulah Gorge-level of a drop off in quality should not be what passes as acceptable. So what do you get for the admission price of $20/person and $3.50/drink? Well, you do get a beautiful vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains and quantity over quality when it comes to food. But honestly, I don't know how much quantity of this poor quality food you'd want.

Visited the Dillard Houss again after nearly 4 months. The food and service was very much improved. the fried chicken may be the best that I've ever had. service was excellent and very attentive. the new owners are really putting their best foot forward. price is the same as before, but still no leftover boxes.

We have been going to the Dillard House for over twenty years. it is a two hour drive through the mountains topped off by a wonderful ranch style meal. we went up the yesterday for a small gathering of family and friends. All good things eventually come to an end. The food was not prepared well, their famous fried chicken was overcooked and dry. The spare ribs were so salty they were not edible. The dessert used to be cobbler or crunch with a scoop of ice cream, we got crunch with a tiny spot of whipped cream. Unfortunately, we will not be back. I found out that the Dillard family is no longer associated with the Dillard House. There in is the answer

Mediocre food with high prices. The view was good but service was lacking. Will not return.

If you're driving through Dillard's, Ga, I highly recommend trying The Dillard's House. It is southern Family style restaurant. They offered Fried Chicken and Fried Fish along with about seven side dishes. A warm apple strudel with whip cream to top off your meal. You will have a great view of the beautiful mountains and hillside. Our server is awesome. She checks on us several times to make sure we have enough to eat. She'll bring more fish and chicken as you wish; I guess that's what Family meal meant. Something different to try if you're passing by Dillard, Ga

This is a VERY popular "all you can eat" style restaurant. The food is not served buffet-style, your food is served to you at your table which makes it much nicer. Call ahead to get a reservation, this place is VERY crowded! The tables are packed close together, but since your food is served to you there won't be a lot of people banging chairs into each other! We had lunch here, and the dishes were PLENTIFUL! Fried chicken, Country fried steak, salad, green beans, coke slaw, cabbage, sweet potato casserole, fried okra, rolls, creamed corn and mashed potatoes were the dishes when we visited. Oh - and Apple Brown Betty for dessert! The servers was friendly and fast. They offer beer and wine in addition to non-alcoholic beverages, but we found their Chardonnay to be - dreadful. The cost was $27.95 for adults, a very good deal for patrons who enjoy their food. We loved their mashed potatoes and green beans. The fried chicken was a bit dry, but we are sure it is very difficult to prepare SO much food for SO many. They are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but call ahead or check their website for the days and hours they are open. You WON'T leave here hungry! This style of restaurant and the crowds weren't "our cup of tea", but we are very glad we tried it! Call ahead if you want to try it!

Traveling up from Canton GA. to Highlands NC. I came across this wonderful hotel/restaurant called the Dillard house located just about on the GA/NC border. What a wonderful find! The buffet was an amazing and delicious array of what seemed like never ending classic Southern food. I would challenge you to name a dish they didn't have. Lol All this and a gorgeous view of North Georgia Mountains while seated in a historic charming space makes this a must stop if you're ever in the area. The menu might change slightly during different seasonal veggies but there will be many to sample, believe me. Tomato and cucumber salad, warm bread, butternut squash casserole, cream corn, mashed potato's with Red Eye gravy, green beans, fried okra, meatloaf, fried chicken, coleslaw and sweet potato soufflé. Just get the wheel barrel and roll me outta here! Lol. Everyone was better than the last. The Dillard House is family owned and operated since 1917. Over a 100 years! I need to get back here soon as there are many other accommodations and amenities to check out. Hotels, stables, petting zoo, chalets, cabins and a spa! Just a wonderful experience. Thank you Dillard House.

Nice location. liked Decor. Seated. No explanation of food. 1st and last visit. food came 5 min barely warm. Rolls no butter or jelly had 2 ask 2x. We don't eat catfish. Was told no ham We could only have chicken they plopped down 1 leg and thigh for the both of us. Calico salad tomatoes onions and cucumber ok. coleslaw ok. cabbage with cheese on it looked like hashbrowns I wish!! . 2 tiny pieces of corn. lima beans don't eat. Trust me for 28.00 go somewhere else. never again. almost cold tasteless food Apple cobbler highlight of meal and still nothing to die for. Staff friendly but no explanation and food was thrown down here ya go. How bout this is what we have anything u don't want? They waste food by not asking. As I said never again traveled from nc 45 minutes because we heard was good. It was terrible.

The food is still good but the price is outrageous ($27 for lunch) and they will no longer allow you to take leftovers! I have gone there for 40 years and will no longer go there because of that. Very sad to stop this tradition.

Love the Dillard House, food is off the hook. Always eat to much and still take home leftovers. Service is always good and very helpful. Would recommend and will return.

Usually so good I have driven a couple of hours just to eat there. But today was a huge let down. The menu said country fried steak and fried chicken. The steak was a no show, substituted roast beef instead, dry and tasteless. The only thing that was good was the Apple Pie at the end. Sad to see a great restaurant like this go downhill so badly!

We ate here today and all the food was cold.. Service leaves a lots to be desired.. Sorry folks a real disappointment.

Food options are very limited now. Things have definitely gone down hill since a company bought this restaurant from the Dillards. I paid $30 plus tip for so many less choices of food than they previously offered. There were no green beans, no butter beans, no okra, no carrots, no country fried steak, no biscuits, and no country fried ham. I asked for a straw and they had no straws. The cobbler had no ice cream on top...just a tiny bit of whipped cream. The waitress wasn't pleasant and didn't refill my tea until I was about to leave. Too little food and service for way too much money!

About a month ago a couple of us at lunch because of the great memories. Too high for quality of food. $28 for fried chicken lunch is high. Initially brought 2 pieces of fried chicken so of course we had to ask for more. Cubed steak was good. Once the food has been brought to the table, what you don't eat, they have to throw away. Why not let us take leftovers with us. I read the new owners initiated this policy. Use a little common sense unless you are feeding the "petting farm" animals. Fast forward a month and we're here on a Sunday so we try breakfast. $24 too high for scrambled eggs. Still same policy about taking home food that will be thrown away. Operating on past reputation won't last long.

This restaurant has been in business my entire life - not a short time!! I've read some reviews that were critical but frankly I believe that the only people who could complain about Dillard House dining either get to eat at their southern grandmom's house regularly or never grew up eating "southern home cooking"! I miss this kind of food! We recently were in the area camping in our RV and ate here for lunch on day 1 and breakfast on day 4. At lunch, the fried chicken was crispy on the outside and moist and tender inside. I loved the cabbage casserole and acorn squash soufflé and we both enjoyed the creamed corn and green beans. I'm not a huge fan of the strawberry cobbler - I'm more of a peach or blackberry cobbler girl, but the ice cream was good and they brought my husband extra on the side. The breakfast meats (pork tenderloin, homemade sausage patties and crispy bacon were excellent - and my husband had two helpings of the country ham). All of the other breakfast items were excellent and the servers are happy to bring more. All of the breads in the breadbasket are always delicious, from the rolls and cornbread muffins at lunch to the homemade sweet rolls, biscuits and muffins at breakfast. Next time we are in the area, we will be back. Haters gonna hate but we love this family style dining experience!

Excellent Place to Eat, Just For The Experience! Food was Great Every Time. Just Recommended it To Someone! A Destination Every Time We're in The Area!

This has really gone downhill. We used to come up here for a good country breakfast but this sucked. Meat was over cooked, not as much variety, no fruit or apple butter. Don't come here!

What a fantastic dinner with exceptional atmosphere! This is probably our 5th visit over a 25year span of visiting Georgia and North Carolina. We have never been disappointed. The impeccable views add to the ambiance while enjoying the delicious southern cuisine. You don't want to miss an opportunity to dine here. I must say that some have the reviews posed concern prior to our most recent visit. Our visit completely discredited the negative reviews. Dinner was scrumptious. The restaurant was spotless. The experience was perfect! Highly, highly recommend. We were too excited about the food to take initial pictures. Sorry about that. We are planning to dine here again later in the week and I'll try to add them to the review.

The Dillard House does not disappoint. Our experience was wonderful with excellent food and excellent customer service. The ambiance is scenic and a great experience. Standouts are the fried chicken, the cabbage casserole, and the strawberry cobbler and ice cream for dessert. I bought the cook book and all of the recipes are in there and so much more. After eating a family style meal where you can get as many "seconds" as you want, the gift shop is great and filled with so many wonderful items. The bathrooms are nice and clean and the place overall is amazing. We really enjoyed our meal and time spent at the Dillard House.

Served family style, this is good home style, country cooking. The best part, however, is the view of the countryside as you eat. They also have a little gift shop.

I would only go there off very hungry, as it is all served family style and all you can eat. Service was ok, but not spectacular. Food was ok. Setting was a nice building, but the used tables were not biased promptly and the restaurant as a while was not neat. Price was high unless you can eat a lot.

I have heard a lot about the Dillard House for years. So my wife and I decided to stop by today while driving home through the area. Glad we did. It is what we expected. Solid home cooking with a lot of dishes to sample from. Friend chicken, creamed corn, butter peas, potatoes, slaw, pickled tomatoes and cumber salad, slaw casand other dishes. We had plenty to eat. Price is fair for the amount of food. Drinks are extra. Great gift shop. Good service and ambiance. We were about the only ones there for a late lunch - 3 p.m. - and imagine it is more crowded earlier or later and on the weekend.

We made reservations for 3 for the Thanksgiving Day meal. I can say that all of the employees were wonderful. They were behind on seating times. The meal was just "ok" Nothing spectacular. Rice served instead of mashed potatoes. We had asked for more dressing twice and never got it. The silver creamed corn was like soup. We had a guest in from out of town & was embarrassed by our choice of restaurant. No to go boxes allowed. A total shame to leave that food on the table to go to waste. Will not return.

Views are amazing. The Christmas decorations were beautiful. This place has been open for many many years; don't expect a fancy restaurant. It's country cooking and served family style. The menu was fried chicken 10/10, fried shrimp 10/10, fried catfish 10/10, corn on the cob 1/10, Lima beans 0/10, biscuits 9/10 & cornbread 5/10, cabbage casserole 8.5/10, mac n cheese 9/10, calico salad 9/10, hush puppies 7/10, coleslaw 4/10, broccoli in cream sauce 3/10, ham (this is upon request so make sure to ask) 8/10, and apple betty cobbler 9/10. We liked the mac n cheese and fried shrimp the best. Also, the sweet tea is a nice addition!

Food Home cooking served family style! Pork roast was awesome! Scalloped potatoes were delicious, cabbage not so much! Other sides were pretty good! Overall good meal! Service was great, the host that sat us was not having a good day but our server was very nice and attentive! View to die for! Complaint ladies bathroom was disgusting, smelled for urine so bad and after going in to stall realized urine all over the floor, and then of course my shoes! Yuk!!!! Had to hold my breath to get outside! No excuse for the situation!

Ate here with wife for dinner tonight. $27.95 for the family-style dinner which included fried chicken, pork chops, lima beans, creamed corn, cabbage casserole, mashed potatoes, fried squash, cole slaw, tomato-cuke-onion salad, and strawberry cobbler with ice cream for dessert. Service was very attentive, but dining room was almost empty. A gourmand's paradise. Impossible to eat it all, but you can get boxes to take things home. If you like to put it away, this is the place.

Do not eat at this restaurant .Our entire experience was horrible from beginning to end. Upon entering the establishment we had to follow signs to what was supposed to be an area to be seated by staff . However, we were not greeted for several minutes and one server said he would be right with us. He never showed back up . Another male server said to follow him to our seats . He did so but he walked around the entire eating area and served a table while we stood behind him . He then sat us at a table but never offered us a menu . He only told me that the menu was "set" in place and their were no substitutions and that we could not get a discount if we did not want any portion of the meal. He went on to say WE could not have the price of drinks taken off and get a credit towards the price. I never knew the price because he never told us. We still did not get a menu . Another server came and brought several terrible vegetables and cold country fried steak which was not steak and not fried . We also got 3 pieces of chicken which was one wing , one thigh and a chicken leg . I had to ask for larger pieces of chicken and finally received two breasts. I asked the price of the meal and finally a nice server wrote down the amount because he could not speak clear English to communicate with me. $30.00 each plus tax. The server led us to believe we would have numerous servings of dessert . I told him to only bring us things that were chocolate like a cookie or cakes. He told me there were no choices ,only blueberry shortcake. The cake was NOT shortcake and it was a tiny cube of what seemed to be a quick, cheap, prepackaged cake mix type muffin with fake whipped cream on top. It was extremely bad . Everything except the chicken was barely room temperature . None of the food was tasty and we will never go back to this restaurant. It was only near the end of the meal that I realized why the first server(host) told us rudely that we could not take off a portion of the cost of the meal - I had brought in a bottled water . I did not intend to drink their water or a beverage of theirs at all but I did not expect a discount . The menu was poorly whipped potatoes with chunks of hard potatoes , cold cabbage casserole, creamed corn which had a good flavor but was mostly liquid not corn , green beans which were not seasoned , chicken and the so called steak ( formed patties ). The bread was tasty but it was pre-package store brand and we only got two tiny bite size corn muffins . DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE . I give very fair yelp reviews and am open- minded about eating other cooks southern cooking . I like to cook and enjoy eating good southern type dishes. This place gives true southern cooking a bad reputation .

Wow, is all I can say. We been coming here for years & recent reviews had me hesitant to go. OMG, it was great. Ribs, fried chicken, cabbage casserole, colard greens & service, amazing! Only critique is price but we got our money's worth. Either other bad reviews are bogus or they got their sh-- together.

We absolutely love the Dillard House. We drive over two hours to eat here every couple of months. Tonight we came for the Valentine's Dinner and we weren't disappointed! We had waiters and waitresses checking on us every few minutes and we didn't have to wait long at all for any of our refills. The portions are small, but it's all you can eat, so we understood that. My only complaint is that the portion of fried shrimp was only 5 per plate every time and there were three of us. However, our waiter was on top of it and kept running back to get us more. All of our food was hot and tasty! The restaurant was clean and the manager even checked on us. We look forward to coming back.

This restaurant has been considered the absolute best place to eat if you visit the northeast Georgia mountains for as long as I can remember! Is the price a little high? Depends on what you compare it to-- it's about the same as any nice restaurant for dinner. And I guarantee you will LOVE the food and go home absolutely stuffed!!! We go here for birthdays or when we have guests!

Food not memorable, flys everywhere, really everywhere. Service was rude, we would have have a better meal At Burger King. They don't reply back if you email them. Did I tell u there were hundreds of flys. Couldn't enjoy anything always trying to shoo the flys off. Tables sticky with some of the food from the people before us on it still. Will not be returning.

I've grown up taking trips to Dillard Georgia and Clayton. Whatever the occasion was i enjoyed the trips. One of the highlights was Dillard House great food great service. Gift shop was amazing. My favorite restaurant is now as of today my worst experience. What happened to the cooks and waiting staff? Our food was cold greasy and not at all what was offered as the restaurant menu on line. We traveled 2 1/2 hours just for the acorn squash soufflé. Was not on the menu today. Update your menu, as easy as that. The menu on wall offered Apple Brown Betty we received some sour strawberry concoction that was not good and no explanation from waiter. ( Not very friendly either ). What I am saying they do not hold their restaurant now to the standard I and my family remember and hold high expectations and regards for. We all are not coming to this restaurant again. To charge the ridiculous price and not care for your food standards. How could take a memory and destroy it in such a short time?

food was bland, service was Good. Food has gone down hill as compared with the past. Chicken is greasy and lacked seasoning.

We really enjoyed the kids taking us out for Father's Day this year at The Dillard House. The food was great, but someone needs to work on they're strawberry shortcake. It was not a really good strawberry shortcake. It tasted like it had been made for day's and was very dry. The Dillard House is beautiful.

Avoid this place. Looks very nice from the road and expansive area surrounding the place. We walked in and were seated immediately. Waitress didn't explain anything and just started bringing us food after our drink order was placed. Family style dining. Food consisted of pork with some gravy, canned tasted green beans, sweet potatoes, scalloped cabbage and watery creamed corn and some lukewarm fried chicken that consisted of a wing, breast and leg. Few rolls also. The cost $28 per person and $3.50 each for ice tea. Total cost: $67 for disgusting lukewarm food that was basically tasteless. There are too many places in this area to choose the Dillard House. My husband chose the place based on our proximity and time of day. Don't waste your money.

I enjoyed one of the best meals of my life here. I liked that they serve most everything family-style. Our table was loaded with dishes of fried chicken, country ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn on the cob, fried okra, macaroni and cheese, green beans, black eyed peas, and squash casserole. Yeast rolls and cornbread were also included. To me, all of the food was quite good. Sure, a few of the veggies lacked salt but I actually prefer that. There was a salt shaker on the table for an easy fix. To finish the meal they brought a very tasty apple Betty with vanilla ice cream. Eating this lovely dessert while watching the glow of the sunset over the mountains is a dining experience I will never forget. To conclude, the food is very good and the views are something you'll always remember.

Mediocre at best. Used to be a gem of the south, now it's really overrated. Food is cold and lackluster. Breakfast is better than lunch or dinner, but other than going for the novelty, it's really not worth the price anymore.

If you like cafeteria food because that's what it taste like. Food hit the table about 5 minutes after we sat down. It was all cold. Definitely NOT worth the $29.99 a person. 0/10 don't recommend. Yuck!

If you want home cooking with a dropdead gorgeous view than this is your place. Meals are served family style and you won't leave hungry. Check on the website to see what the daily selections are. You get to meet in about six different vegetables and homemade cornbread.

After not going for a few years and looking forward to it this time, it was a total let down. Food was like getting food from a broken down restaurant. The menu shows the same for alot of days. We will never come back.

We've been coming here for years off an on. We came for breakfast this time and I'm sorry to say we won't be back. The food was cold when we got it (eggs, gravy, grits, pancakes), we had to ask for butter but it got to us after we'd eaten what we wanted it for. One of the servers acted like we were bothering him. It was only our table of 4 and a larger party. Certainly not the breakfast rush we expected. The view is pretty but the food was cold and tasteless. Certainly not good southern cooking. Sorry Dillard House.

Wow has this restaurant gone downhill. We began going to the Dillard House 20 years ago on our annual family trips to North Carolina. In those days it was such a great experience, and the food fantastic, fresh and plentiful. The last three years we've noticed a steady decline in the quality and variety of the food being served. Yesterday's trip was just another example. We arrived about 3:30 in the afternoon to an empty restaurant that did not smell good the minute we walked in. The online menu said the entree's were fried chicken, chicken pot pie and country ham. We sat down and the server delivered our first tray of fried chicken and chicken pot pie. The chicken was dried out and the pot pie was lacking flavor and they said they didn't have ham. Bummer!! It took to our third order of chicken to get a fresh plate of fried chicken and it was delicious!But come on, that should not happen at The Dillard House. It's time for a complete overhaul of this place including the interior and the kitchen. Please bring back the place we used to plan our vacations around....PLEASE!! The only reason this review gets 3 stars is the server was very attentive courteous and the cucumber salad and coleslaw were fantastic. Please fix it!!

Pretty place, that looks like it was really great at one time. Today, the food is below average, and the place needs a deep cleaning. Food is somewhat family style. It was all very salty and looked old.

Found a bug in my food... not a small one either lol. Let the staff know and all they did was say "let me see what I can do". They then sent a very young employee to just hand us the receipt to which they gave us two children's cost. The food is family style so anyone could have gotten it and that was all they did to address it... Frustrated that no one came to apologize. The food isn't that good you just get a ton of it.