Granny's Kitchen

You serve yourself, which suits a hungry group coming off a trail. Visitors and local guides mention fried chicken, roast beef from a carving station, green beans, potatoes, corn and a salad section. The dinner menu rotates through the week, so the best way to know what is on is to call ahead or ask when you arrive. Breakfast is a full buffet too, and biscuits with sausage gravy are a popular choice.

Reviews are mixed, as at most buffets. Some diners praise the staff and the food, while others say certain dishes were cold or tough. Arriving early in each meal service gives you the best chance at fresh, hot trays.

The restaurant's own site lists these hours:

• Tuesday through Saturday: breakfast 7:00 to 10:30 a.m., then lunch and dinner from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Sunday: breakfast 7:00 to 10:30 a.m., then lunch and dinner from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
• Closed Mondays.

Call 828-497-5010 before holidays or off-season days, since small family restaurants adjust their schedules. More details are on the Granny's Kitchen website and on the Visit Cherokee page.

Cherokee has plenty of fast food and casino dining, but fewer places that serve homestyle country cooking. The restaurant is a TERO certified business and has been run by the same family since it opened. Eating here is a way to spend your vacation dollars with a local family operation.

The location is convenient for the national park. The Oconaluftee entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a short drive north on US-441, and the Museum of the Cherokee People and the Oconaluftee Indian Village are in town. A big breakfast before an early start on Newfound Gap Road, or a buffet dinner after the Mountain Farm Museum, fits easily into a day.

• Large groups should call ahead, since the dining room fills during peak summer weekends and the October leaf season.
• Kids are welcome, and a buffet makes it easy to feed picky eaters.
• The buffet is self-serve.

For a different kind of meal, the resort restaurants at Harrah's, such as Guy Fieri's Cherokee Kitchen + Bar and Gordon Ramsay Truffles Pub, are a short drive west. Granny's Kitchen is the pick if you want comfort food, a table of family and a plate that keeps getting refilled.