16 Best Southern Restaurants near Lake Mary

“Bella at Chicken Salad Chick was absolutely amazing! She was incredibly friendly, welcoming, and genuinely went above and beyond to help me. You can tell she really cares about making sure customers have a great experience, and her positive attitude made my visit that much better.

Great customer service can be hard to come by, and Bella deserves recognition for providing it. Chicken Salad Chick is lucky to have her on the team. Thank you, Bella!“

“Tired of cooking? Can't cook? Then give Kookin' with Kim a try. You will be glad that you did! Reasonably priced. Hefty sized portions.“

“I stopped by Pook Bear Country Cooking on a road trip after seeing a few locals recommend it, and I'm glad I gave it a try. I ordered the daily special, and it tasted like a home-cooked meal rather than typical restaurant food. The portions were generous, and everything arrived hot and fresh. What stood out most was how welcoming the staff were—they made me feel like a regular even though it was my first visit. If you're looking for a casual place with comforting food and a friendly atmosphere, this is definitely worth a stop.“

“Great food and service, nice clean restaurant“

“Awesome first time experience! Definitely will be going back! Coffee is delicious, food is spectacular, and how they call out your order - originality a 10!“

“If you love 5-star food in a wonderful atmosphere, this is THE place to go in Sanford! We visited for the first time on 3/13/26 and were surprised to find this level of cuisine at such an affordable price. Don’t think twice… drop in to see if a table is available or call to reserve a table in advance because you don’t want to miss out. We’ll definitely be back frequently and will let everyone know that this is the quality and style we want in Sanford. P.S. The staff was fabulous in every way too!“

“once again food was great and Taylor took care of us like family. Thank you again and keep up the outstanding customer service and reason why I will continue to cone back whenever I'm in Florida“

“The Cajun fried rice was excellent. The beignets and banana foster were superb!

It was my hubby's birthday and the server brought out beignets and sang happy birthday! That was nice.

Big complaint...the overall service dampened the whole dining experience. No silverware on the table, so the food came and we had to wait to dig in. Had to get up to request a knife and then ask a couple of times for sauce. The server was not friendly and attitude lackluster.

Service is a huge part of the dining experience, if the food wasn't excellent I would have taken off 4 stars. I'll pass on future dine in but will potentially order to go. The food was some of the best Cajun I've had in years!“

“Best boiled peanuts ever!“

“I like the nostalgia of the restaurant and store. I actually like the store better than the food!“

“My group of friends meet every Wednesday at noon. The food portions can't be topped For a small business the menu is tremendous. Pam and Kathy are the Best.“

“This is one of my favorite places to go, I have been here twice this location, the service is always perfect, this time I ordered a buffalo chicken wrap, always so much food it was literally two big raps cut in half. I think the chicken was cooked perfect the buffalo sauce was absolutely delicious it was the exact amount of heat for me allow you to taste all the flavors without overpowering. Now the ranch that deserves its own award, I honestly was taken back to when I had first started liking ranch. Picture of my leftovers excuse the bite taken out of it I had to taste it one more time.“

“Highly recommend for family gatherings! We just had our Baby Shower in their event space & we had an amazing time. All the staff was super friendly, very accommodating and easy to work with & book. The food and drinks were delicious and fast. Our host/waitress was so sweet and fun and great about interacting with everyone at the shower. The kids present were very happy to feed the gators, visit the parrots, and pretty much wander around in between the games. I cannot recommend their services enough and I am beyond happy we chose here for our baby shower.“

“1/3/25…in town for one night, never been here, never heard of this place, just decided to try it. Stopped in around 5:00. The host asked if we had a reservation, we did not. She said “I’ll work you in” and seated us immediately at the bar. The bruschetta was the bomb! The fried chicken was totally out of this world! The service was outstanding! A must go to place!“

“we had great service, the food was so good, and love all the seasonal items in the store.“

“Food is great! But please tell me how do you expect patrons to throw their trash away? This is such a huge flaw in your dinning room.“