Buckner’s serves up decades of southern food and hospitality in Butts County

"Anybody can do great food. There is great food in Atlanta, but there is an experience here." - Drew Buckner, 3rd Generation Owner

Buckner’s Family Restaurant, located on Bucksnort Road in Jackson, Georgia, is, according to Waze, 80 minutes (with snarling Interstate 75 traffic) and 50 miles from my Intown front door. However, Butts County, population 5,867, feels like another planet.

Southern hospitality, once a cultural definition, has figuratively “left the building” in modern Atlanta, but not here. Nestled in a little hidden corner, just before the state prison and shadowed by whirling I-75, it remains.

“For 46 years, this remarkable place has been a refuge for travelers, strangers, church groups, friends and family to eat and connect. It’s about fellowship,” volunteered Ralph Wilson sitting across from me with his wife. “It’s also the cleanest restaurant around.”

Here is the dining choreography of the Buckner’s experience. Patrons check in with the hostess, you are then designated to a communal table in the dining room sporting a “Lazy Susan” (spinning wheel for food). Depending on the time of day, your table may be full of other patrons. Upon arrival, the introductions begin, “Hi! I’m Jeff from Atlanta, nice to meet you.”

“The tables of people are extraordinary,” said Allison Buckner, wife of Drew. On this day, she is serving food. Strangers united by the experience of sharing food, as it’s been through the centuries. "I’ve seen tables praying for someone battling cancer, college friends reunited, or bringing in Braves (HOFer) Chipper Jones. It’s always amazing.”

Today, the crowd is older, racially diverse and mostly from Butts County. The menu is slightly different too.

“Our food today is a nod toward grandmas of the Southern kitchen. All of its very recognizable,” said Drew Buckner who oversees the operation like Kirby Smart on Gameday.

Go Dawgs!

Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, red beans, green beans, cabbage, cornbread, dinner rolls, stewed tomatoes, cube steak/gravy, sweet tea and their unforgettable peach cobbler (vanilla ice cream $1.75 extra).

“Jeff Hullinger, I’ve been watching you for years,” shouted Ellen Dalrymple at a table of friends who have been having lunch here for decades. “I miss you on 11Alive, but know you are at Georgia Public Broadcasting.”

I laughed, hugging Ms. Ellen. “Thanks for hanging in there with me!

The vibe in the dining room is unlike anything you will experience near the encroachment of a booming big city.

“There are so many stories here over the years,” offered Bill Shanks, a University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication alum and popular, well-respected Middle Georgia sports anchor, reporter, and radio personality. “There was a time when Pittsburgh Pirate HOFer Willie Stargell (Braves Bench Coach) was powering through the fried chicken, while my friend sitting at his table, was shooing admiring patrons away.”

Bill was passing through on his way to covering the Braves game in Atlanta and decided on lunch. The Buckner’s placed my old friend next to me and another patron, a man who had been making repairs to the building.

“I’m trying to avoid the cobbler, fantastic, but watching my weight,” laughed the veteran broadcaster.

Buckner’s food is wonderful, but the experience of the environment creates an energy worth savoring.

Chic and ultra slick Atlanta restaurants with $75 entrees and $27 cocktails are missing out. Cobbler, stewed tomatoes and fried chicken make everything better.

“We humbly say thank you,” said Drew Buckner, “we never want to lose sight of who we are, we have a servants heart, and we are the epitome of that.”

Buckner’s Family Restaurant where the 90 plus crowd eat free. 

“Yes, Ma’am, add $1.75 to my ticket. I’ll have that vanilla ice cream on my cobbler.”