Mary Mac's Tea Room Review: For Authentic Southern Comfort Food in Atlanta!

Mary Mac’s Tea Room is a restaurant in Atlanta that serves up “made-from-scratch”, Southern-styled comfort food. This brings to mind comfort foods such as fried chicken, fried okra, tomato pie, banana pudding, Georgia peach cobbler as well as sweet tea – aka “Table Wine of the South”. We chanced upon Mary Mac’s Tea Room after our visit to the attractions at Pemberton Place (World of Coca-Cola, Georgia Aquarium and National Center for Civil and Human Rights) and to our surprise, we found that it is the only tea room left from the hey days of 16 tea rooms in Atlanta.

Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta Review — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta Review

About Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta

Entrance of Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta — Entrance of Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta

Inside Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta — Inside Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta

More seats inside Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta — More seats inside Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta

Upon entering into Mary Mac’s Tea Room, we could feel the homely feel of the premise. While you can see that the entire restaurant has been beautifully painted and furnished, there are still many traces of its roots since its establishment in 1945. For instance, you can see many photos of both owners and patrons that have dined here before. There are also local newspapers and articles that share the experience and coverage of the excellent Southern cuisine offered here. The staff were really friendly as well and we were soon shown to our table within the restaurant (which was huge!).

Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta Menu

Mary Mac's Tea Room Menu — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Menu

Mary Mac's Tea Room Menu - Traditional Southern Specialties — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Menu – Traditional Southern Specialties

Mary Mac's Tea Room Menu - Beverages and Homemade Desserts — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Menu – Beverages and Homemade Desserts

Mary Mac's Tea Room Menu - Specialty drinks, wines and beers — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Menu – Specialty drinks, wines and beers

Mary Mac's Tea Room Menu - What We Ordered — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Menu – What We Ordered

As we analysed the menu of Mary Mac’s Tea Room, we zoomed in on the “Traditional Southern Specialties” and saw some of these delicious delicacies offered:

1. Meatload with Tomato Sauce ($15.99)
2. Fried or Grilled Pork Chops ($17.99)
3. Legendary Fried Chicken
– Four-piece Fried Chicken (breast, wing, leg and thigh – no substitutions $18.99)
– Fried Chicken (three legs or one breast – $14.99)
– Fried Chicken Wings (6 – $17.99)
4. Chicken and Dumplings ($15.99)
5. Roast Turkey with cornbread dressing and gray ($16.99)
6. Savoury Slow Cooked Beef Pot Roast ($17.99)

We also found that they have a “Southern Special” (aka “Family Style” or buffet meal) where the entire table must choose the Southern Special at $28.49 per adult (or $13.95 per child). You can

1. Choose any 3 Entrees:
Baked chicken Breast & Dressing, Meatload, Chicken and Dumplings, Fried Chicken, Roast Turkey & Dressing

2. Choose any 3 sides:
From the Mary Mac’s Fresh Vegetables and Sides List
(Excluding Baked Potatoes and Whole Sweet Potatoes)

3. Choose your dessert:
Banana Pudding, Bread Pudding with Wine Sauce, Georgia Peach Cobbler

We did toy with the idea of trying out the Southern Special but perhaps it would have been too much for the both of us. Hence, we went with

a. 4 piece fried chicken ($18.99)
For the 2 sides, we chose black-eye peas and hoppin John
b. Chicken and Dumplings ($15.99)
For the 2 sides, we chose tomato pie (but was not ready as we arrived at 4pm and this was replaced with sweet potato souffle), fried okra.
c. Georgia Peach Cobbler ($4.99)
d. Ice Tea ($2.99)

In this way, we spent less overall, didn’t overeat and still tried out the food that we really wanted to try this time. So how did they taste? Let’s find out!

What We had at Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta

Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta - 4 piece fried chicken (Legendary Fried Chicken) — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta – 4 piece fried chicken (Legendary Fried Chicken)

Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta - Sides of Fried Okra, Black Eyed Peas, Hoppin John and Sweet Potato Souffle — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta – Sides of Fried Okra, Black Eyed Peas, Hoppin John and Sweet Potato Souffle

Mary Mac's Tea Room Atlanta - Bread and Corn Bread — Mary Mac’s Tea Room Atlanta – Bread and Corn Bread

The Legendary Fried Chicken ($18.99) at Mary Mac’s Tea Room are as good as they say. The marination and batter is slightly different and we love it that it’s not too salty. The Chicken and Dumplings ($15.99) tasted good as well. However, in terms of value, we found it to be a little lacking because we had little meat with more of the dumplings (aka flour) which made the dish seems a tad more expensive. Plus, the portion as you can see, is rather small.

As for the sides, we enjoyed the sweet potato souffle, peppered with a twist of cinnamon. But as we soon learned, hoppin John came out to be black eyed peas on rice. Hence, we sorta had 2 black eyed peas though they were comforting as well. The only side that we didn’t enjoy was the fried okra, whcih was slightly over-fried and dry inside. This version pales in comparison to the fried okra we had at Gillie’s Seafood. Lastly, the sweet tea was delicious as well. Makes you want to have several rounds of it but…that may not be so good for your waistline, so do watch out on that!

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We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Mary Mac’s Tea Room. The staff was friendly and took time to explain the menu to us, seeing that we weren’t locals and had to contend with our Singlish accent. The Legendary Fried Chicken was excellent. Comforting and delicious. We wished we had tried out the Tomato Pie but since the wait was 30 minutes, we decided not to go for it, which turns out to be a regretful decision. We hope you have learnt a little more from our experience at Mary Mac’s Tea Room as a tourist in Atlanta. If you have tried out the meals at Mary Mac’s Tea Room, let us (and our readers) know more in the comments section below!

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