Georgia Reese's brunch (revisit)

For Easter Sunday, we were looking for a good brunch place for lunch with the family. I had been interested in trying Georgia Reese’s Sunday brunch anyway, just because it is so hard to find Sunday brunch places that take reservations, and in this case we had a large party. My first visit to Georgia Reese’s had its ups and downs for sure, but I am always one to give a place a second chance, especially if there is fried chicken involved. Plus, like I said, it’s good to have a handy list of brunch places.

I was worried that they might be a bit overwhelmed on Easter (again, my first visit wasn’t ideal when it came to waiting for our reservation), but was pleasantly surprised to find the place busy, but not slammed. The bar was only about ½ full and we were seated right at our reservation time.

It’s a buffet ($24.95), so you can pretty much start eating whenever you want. They also leave little sheets of paper on the table on which you can create an omelette that they will then make to order for you in the kitchen and is included as part of the buffet. They will bring you most (non alcoholic) drinks included with the price, including orange juice, coffee and sodas.

We started down the line—there’s the usual brunch buffet stuff—bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, and cream cheese stuffed French toast, but they also had biscuits and gravy, which was a welcome addition. The biscuits themselves were quite delicious. I ended up going back for another one just to eat with butter. They’re the lighter, less greasy kind of biscuits and held up well to the gravy. The gravy had nice chunks of sausage in it, although the gravy itself was kind of thin. It served its purpose, even if it wasn’t the best gravy ever.

getting ready to refill the buffet

They also had nice chafing dishes of fried catfish and fried chicken. And the chicken was constantly being refreshed. It was always hot and juicy on both visits when I refilled my plate with it. I also think they have upped their spice game since my first visit because this chicken had way more flavor than the first time I went. You could see the pepper and seasonings on the meat itself. Based on this visit, this is a place I would go just for the fried chicken now. The catfish is good, but I don’t think the turnover is as high, so it didn’t seem quite as fresh. It could also stand a little more seasoning still.  They also have a carving station of ham—I just had a bite—I am not fanatical about ham and it was okay. A little chewy. I think usually they have prime rib, and I would prefer that.

There was also some alligator/chicken/sausage gumbo—it was spicy and had some nice hunks of the different meats. Hard to tell the difference between the chicken and the alligator, but I appreciate there was something different from typical buffets.

As far as the breakfast meats, the bacon was really outstanding. I mean, I prefer it a little crispy, but the flavor of it was really salty and bacony. There is nothing worse than bacon that doesn’t taste like anything.

As far as cold items, there was a large platter of shrimp cocktail and there was also a little table with a green salad and fresh fruit. People at our table raved about how ripe and juicy the pineapple was.

I can’t say the omelette was really my thing, even though it was a nice idea to include. I had mushrooms and cheese in mine, but it was too stuffed with the ingredients. I like the extra ingredients in an omelette (besides the egg part) to be something to enhance the eggs, not the other way around. But there are lots of options here to make an omelette if you like a big fat one.

They also have a dessert table—there were some really wonderful soft, warm chocolate chip cookies out there. They were slightly addictive. They also did hot peach cobbler, which wasn’t bad, but the cobbler topping was more of a piecrust almost. It was pretty sweet. There were also some little brownie/cake bites that my kids put a hurting on, but which I couldn’t fit. If I had extra room, I was filling it with fried chicken, which I think was probably the single best thing.  Loved the biscuits and the bacon too.

It’s a nice option to know about for a Sunday brunch, particularly if you have a group and need a reservation. The food is decent buffet food and I am glad to see they have improved the chicken.

Georgia Reese’s

3454 West 86^th Street

Indy  46268

317/876-3454

www.georgiareeses.com