Mary Ellen’s Southern Grill

We arrived and had to sit and wait for more than 30 minutes until we got someone to take our order… Sat all that time and she said it was past ‘breakfast’ time. Had we not waited so long to get taken care of we would have had plenty of time. Walked out. Will never return there. Too many other places to eat who would have accommodated us since it was their fault it was past 11.

Highly recommend for breakfast. Enjoyed the homemade jellies — scuppernong and strawberry rhubarb were excellent. Will visit again.

Delicious breakfast and excellent friendly efficient quick service! I’m a biscuit and gray «snob» and they have the best I’ve had anywhere! You MUST HAVE THE FRIED BISCUIT!

If you are at lake chatuge you have to stop by Mary’s. After a few minutes there the entire town will know who you are. The staff is super friendly and you will immediately know the meaning of southern charm. Trust me, I am a true southerner since I am from South America. They will call you «honey» and «sweetie» and they will always make sure you feel at home. Try to meet Mary if you can because after all, she is the god mother of lake chatuge. The biscuits are awesome and I will suggest that you always let the waitresses choose your jam flavor.

Delicious breakfast! We had biscuits and gravy that were homemade from scratch. Laura our server suggested getting the biscuits grilled. Oh soooo good!!! The short stack pancakes were on special for $.99. Great pancakes with topping options. I would highly recommend this place for a good southern breakfast!
Cash or checks only, so come prepared.

Mary Ellen’s is a decent little spot that serves hearty county fare. We tried to have brunch there, but their breakfast menu ended about 20 minutes before we arrived.
The service was on the slow side, and our waitress was clearly trying to juggle too many tables. To her credit, though, she got our order correct and the food didn’t take long to arrive.
Everything was good. Nothing really extraordinary about the preparation or presentation, but it was a hearty meal that filled us up. The ice cream and chocolate chess pie was the best part of it; it’s an easy combo to get right and they nailed it.
I have a strong aversion to restaurants that operate with a «cash only» policy. It’s 2015 and lots of people don’t carry cash regularly. I ended up having to use their privately owned ATM to withdraw money; an ATM that had a generous $ 3 fee. I know it’s a silly thing to kvetch about, but I’d feel a lot better if they’d simply take plastic and build the 3% cost into their menu.

Wow!
What a lucky find. I’m not from the area and probably will never be back but if I do I will stop here for a meal. Completely homemade menu. Lots of great fresh and local offerings. They make almost everything from scratch so you can’t go wrong. Leave here feeling satisfied.
They smoke their own sausage and bake their own biscuits. It’s southern country cooking at its best.
Open early for breakfast. Plenty of parking.

We are visiting from Orlando, Florida and wanted to eat good southern food! Thank God we found Mary’s southern grill! Excellent food, great atmosphere and outstanding good ol’ southern service!

Service was a little slow but the food was really yummy! A late breakfast definitely hit the spot. Threw me off a little that they only accept cash or check.

We went Camping with friends on Memorial Day weekend at breathtaking Lake Chatuge and our Hosts are regulars here. A very warm and friendly staff made us feel like regulars too. The food was great and very tasty. I had a grilled chicken salad which was very good and very fresh. Next time I want to go in for breakfast, it looked really good as did the Meat and three offerings.

Great service that makes you feel like you’re part of the family.
Trout served three ways.
— Grilled means flat grilled, It was fresh but boring.
Sandwiches come with choice of six different types of bread.
Onion rings were great.
Good sides
Love the funny signs and fun customers
The way everyone talks about this place I was expecting the food to blow me away
but it didn’t.
The service did though, they can handle anything.

I’m having a really hard time seeing how this place gets the great reviews it’s getting. Maybe my friends and I were there on a bad day or for a bad time of day. We went for breakfast on a Sunday morning on our way out of town. We had read the great reviews for this place all weekend when trying to find places to eat so we were excited to finally get here.
The food was extremely mediocre. I mean there was nothing special about any item we ordered. This is no knock on Waffle House but I’ve had better breakfast food there. The grits were cold and already in that solid grits blob when they arrived at the table. They were out of biscuits… yes out of biscuits! I had to get the hot chicken biscuit on toast. It wasn’t bad… but it wasn’t good either. The chicken was very dry. Thankfully I had coffee to help me eat it. The hashbrowns were overcooked to the point of being burnt in places.
We got french toast for the table as well and it was good… but no more so than most french toast… basically nothing special about it.
I can’t speak for what my friends got but none of them were impressed either. I’d love to travel back to the area again and give this place another chance. It has to be better than what we got normally to get the reviews it does.

We were camping at Vogel St Park and wanted a good local breakfast, came across Mary’s via Unilocal.Food, service, atmosphere all 5 star! We left feeling part of the family. Will definitely be back!

Good country cooking the best I found around so if you’re in Young Harris go there and you’ll enjoy

Food was great. Waitresses were attentive, friendly, and helpful. Vegetables are freshly cooked. Mashed potatoes made from scratch. Just what this country girl needed!

When for breakfast and arrived 9:45, place was pack so sign in and wait for a table. To my surprise we didn’t waited much time, about 25 minutes, not bad.
I order the western omelette with black coffee and cream. Came with spicy sauce and cream and that put a kicked on the plate, l like it.
Wife order the vegetables omelet and on the side a Blue Berry pancake with black coffee and cream. She like it.
The service was excellent.

A good country cooking place in the No GA mountains. Friendly fast service and all the regular country cooking favorites. 5 Stars for what it is.

I had the catfish and it was just ok, but the service and friendly attitude was really great.

I really wish I could give this place a higher rating.
The staff is very friendly and service is great! Food is good considering the area, but I seriously question their standards of cleanliness. On a recent trip to Hiawassee, we dined here twice– once for dinner and again for breakfast.
For dinner, I ordered the half-​chicken with creamed corn and mac and cheese. The food was pretty plain. In my mac and cheese, I found a hair, but brushed it off and didn’t think much of it. Upon our return for breakfast, my food was again pretty plain but this time more greasy. I ordered a cup of coffee and my cup arrived lined with a sticky brown substance (I am guessing honey) with lint stuck to the lip. Again, I set it aside and didn’t say anything, but I would be hesitant to visit again.

This is now our 5^th season coming to the Lake Chatuge area and we have breakfast at Mary’s EVERY morning we’re here. There is no other breakfast place in the area that compares. Our favorite dishes are the corned beef hash and the chicken, egg & cheese biscuit. Be aware: this place is cash only.