Whenever I travel anywhere, I tend to seek out those small Ma & Pop family owned restaurants for getting those awesome home cooked meals I would never get from a large franchise chain restaurant.
Now don’t get me wrong, restaurants like Golden Corral, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken still top the list for convenience, consistency, and great pricing, but finding those little small diners and cafes with something new that shocks your taste buds with pleasure, are great finds.
Lake Lanier, GA has a handful of some of those restaurants. You have restaurants such as Loretta’s Country Kitchen offering some of the best buffet style homemade country cooking in the South, and one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever had, and Big D’s Bar-B-Que that has been a local favorite like forever Big D’s has gained it’s fame by serving up dry rubbed, and hickory smoked Bar-B-Que that has been smoked for around fourteen hours, and The Lighthouse grill which is located next to The Dam Store, and they cook up some delicious southern style grilled hamburgers at a economic price which you can dine on in a neat little cozy fishing village style air conditioned dining room.
There’s also Fish Tales which beyond having fantastic food with indoor air conditioned or outdoor patio style lakeside dining offers a huge kids sanded beach area created right on the patio overlooking the lake, which makes this a perfect spot for mom and dad to sit and enjoy a few drinks in a relaxing environment while the kids have their spot keeping them entertained for hours. And whatever you do when visiting, you must try Pelican Petes restaurant. Pelican Petes is not lakeside, it’s actually on the lake. This is a tiki style restaurant boasting beach style music such as Jimmy Buffet, serving up nice frozen drinks, and the highlight for the litle ones is a small play area with water spouts shooting up from the patio area for kids and adults alike to play in on a hot summers day while waiting on your meal.
These small family owned and operated Lake Lanier restaurants tend to be tucked away and almost hidden from the more commercialized areas of Lake Lanier, and it requires peeking around, exploring, and asking locals where the real restaurants at Lake Lanier are located to find them. Once you find these what I call Lake Lanier hot spots and try them, they will remain on the top of your list of places to return to every chance you get.
So get on out to Lake Lanier, do some snooping around for yourself, with close to seven hundred miles of coastline, I’m sure there’s still a handful of undiscovered prize winning restaurants to be discovered.
