Southern Image Restaurant in Richmond Hill, GA

Southern Image Restaurant

3881 US Highway 17
Richmond Hill, GA 31324-3365
(912) 756-3535 

Southern Image

Savannah Georgia is a wonderful city with many great options for the foodie in all of us. However, if you are traveling and looking to make a ‘quick stop’ for lunch or dinner; well that is almost impossible to do in this town. First of all the accessibility to the historic district of Savannah is still 10 to 20 minutes from the interstate (depending on your location). If the historic district is your plan you now have parking and usually a wait for certain places. (I have heard of people waiting up to 2 hours for one of Paula Deen’s places). Let me say this about that. P.D.’s places are great and every foodie should try it at some point. But let’s look outside of the tourist area for this review. You find yourself traveling on I-95 just south of the main exits for Savannah. To be exact, let us go to Richmond Hill Georgia at exit 87. This will put you on US 17 and surround you in truck stops, fast food drive thrus, and cheap motels. But tucked away in this community is one of my favorite buffets in the South. 

Dining Room

The Southern Image has been a location that I have personally visited for a few years. They have been opened in Richmond Hill for over a decade (so I have been told). These guys offer a fantastic southern buffet that will rival P.D.’s any day. That’s right, I said that. With all due respect to Paula Dean, The Southern Image is worth the stop. You will avoid the traffic, parking, and the hour plus wait on a sidewalk. 

Front Porch

On the afternoon that I stopped in at The Southern Image I was seeking the buffet. They do offer other items on an actual menu as well. The menu is geared towards the sandwiches, salads, and kid’s items. Knowing that I was more interested in the buffet I just barely glanced at the menu. The buffet was full of food even though it was nearing the close of the restaurant for the afternoon. The options were the standards for a southern buffet. Mac n cheese, corn, mashed potatoes, fried okra, green beans, onion pie, fried chicken, fried pork chops, sweet and sour meatballs and baked chicken. There was a weak salad bar available as well. The salad bar was some mixed greens, coleslaw, pasta salad, macaroni salad and various dressings.  

When I got back to my table my server(s) had brought me an unsweet tea and cornbread. I was off to the side of the dining area in a room that can be closed off for meetings. There was a fireplace and empty tables. Sitting in here did not bother me at all. The room was clean and I was near the buffet. The servers kept my drink filled and chatted about their day in a nearby ‘make shift’ work station. They were very nice to me and the other customers there. With that said, they were also very open to talk to each other about how they were not wanting to stay there one more minute than they had to. It was quite obvious that they did not really want to be at a job that would be paying them for their services (at least on this day). 

Pie's Buffet Choices

The kitchen staff kept the hot bar filled with the items that were featured for the day. The buffet was as good as it has always been. Except the onion pie was something that I will regret ever trying. It was something that I did not know what I was eating and was just way too strong for my liking. Maybe it is an acquired taste. The other items were that exact nourishment I was looking for. There is something that the staff does in the preparation of the fried chicken that makes it taste exactly like my grandmothers. With every bite of the chicken I am taken back to a summer day in the 70’s in Waldo, Florida. Now my disappointment in the food was not only with the onion pie. In a southern style restaurant there is no need for the sweet and sour meatballs. They just were not that good. Stick with what you know, and if you are a southern style restaurant….then leave the meatballs to another place.  As I was enjoying the food on my plate I was thinking about my girlfriend, Rhonette. For those of you that have read her profile, you know that she has gluten allergies. Well this brought to mind the question ‘What is there at The Southern Image Restaurant that she could have?’ Almost nothing from the buffet, the salad bar, or any of the desserts. Most of the items on the buffet were either fried or made with crackers. The salads were mostly pasta based. And all of the desserts were made with nilla wafers in them or were cakes. Even the chocolate and banana puddings were made with wafers crushed in them. No puddings were made without them. There could have been maybe some jello there, but no. Now as I had mentioned before, that I did not look at the menu (too much). My thoughts are along the lines of the fact that there could have been more options on the salad bar, buffet and definitely the desserts that would be more gluten free friendly. 

Southern Image

After I paid my bill I spoke with the waitress for just a few minutes. She informed me that they did not have a take out menu and that they change the buffet items daily. So I grabbed one of the business cards that they had available. Then I stepped outside to take a phone call. As I stood there I could see the rocking chairs and the wooden swing on the front porch area. Finishing my call I decided to sit in my car. While sitting there an elderly lady pulled into a parking spot. The one waitress that was very anxious to leave there stepped out and turned the sign from OPEN to CLOSE. By my dashboard clock the lady still had over 10 minutes. Some may say that it is rude to be last customer in a restaurant. Some may say that you should not even try to enter in the last 15 minutes. Whatever your beliefs are, I believe it is extremely rude to turn the closed sign around in front of a customer with 10 minutes left in the day. 

The bottom line on The Southern Image is, good food. The staff could use some coaching in what is deemed ‘SERVICE INDUSTRY’. The preparers and management should have more options for the gluten free community. I do recommend and will be back at The Southern Image.  They also have a website at www.southernimagecatering.com.  The hours (according to the sign, apparently very strict) Monday 11:00 am until 2:00 pm/Tuesday – Sunday 11:00 am until 9:00 pm

 Review by Pie, email:  pie@piesplate.com