Georgia Mountain Restaurant ~ A Treasure in Hiawassee

My motorcycle — Grasshopper the Humble Ninja — takes me all up, over and around the “mountains” of North Georgia.  We hit the jackpot one sunny day when we stopped for a meal at Georgia Mountain Restaurant on Main Street in Hiawassee.

What a deal!  Hot, delicious food at an all-you-can-eat buffet that is famous among hikers who trek the nearby Appalachian Trail — and smart local folks.

There’s an old adage that you can find the best place to eat by how many cars pack the parking lot.

That was a terrific clue at Georgia Mountain Restaurant.  Lots of cars.  Lots of happy people inside … with friendly people there to help and other folks to share the tasty food.

Don’t get me wrong.  When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie try to mend their screwy relationship, they’re not going to meet at Georgia Mountain Restaurant.  It’s not fancy and snooty enough for movie stars.  For the rest of us?  Heck, yeah!  And … a little more banana pudding, please.

Sheldon and Rayette Ross have had the property in their family for a long time.  They’re locals who know their customers and they know what they’d like to eat.  Home-cooked food, with plenty of veggies, from 8 AM until 8 PM, seven days a week.

There’s a breakfast buffet, a lunch buffet and a dinner buffet.  From about 2 PM until 4:30 or so, the buffet shuts down, but you can order a delicious meal from the menu.

This is the kind of place where you go for good food with good people.  They don’t serve tiny portions of goofy goop (with gross asparagus on top) with foreign names and charge you $20 to leave hungry.

Georgia Mountain Restaurant is the kind of place that you will enjoy visiting … and returning for another helping on another day.

Yes, I intended to take an alluring photograph of my meal to tempt you to try some for yourself.  Yeah, that didn’t happen.  It was too appealing to just look at, and I was too hungry.

Please Note:  No one knew I was going to eat there.  I paid full-price for my meal and left a tip.  No one asked me to write this story.  In fact, I called and received permission to do so from Rayette Ross — a very nice lady, indeed.  I travel and I eat.  I write about my favorite places along the way.

May they always be in business and serve memorable meals to locals and stragglers on foot or motorcycles who find this treasure on Main Street in Hiawassee.

Georgia Mountain Restaurant