If you are one of the folks that gave this place good reviews you must have had a different experience than we did. Coffee taste of mildew. Toilet sewer smells through out restaurant. The only shining light was biscuits, but don't put gravy on it because it has a similar mildew taste as the coffee. read more

Miss Mary was a wonderful person! Mark and crew offer Great Breakfast, along with daily Lunch Buffet's. One of the BEST restaurant's in Hartwell! Highly Recommend! read more

Saw their menu online, went for lunch. The buffet they have on their menu is not what we saw in their restaurant. The food did appear to be refreshed in any way, some was not identifiable, could not see anything that appeared fresh or eatable. The desserts wrapped looked pretty good but since we wanted a decent meal decided to go elsewhere. Everything is priced separately and a sign advised their prices have gone up. Could not recommend the lunch items available considering what we saw today! read more

Fried chicken a little dry. Fried chicken livers were good. Hash brown casserole was excellent. You purchase the meat and each vegetable separately. read more

Recently moved to Hartwell and visited Mary's for first time. Service and food were very good. We had omelette and other egg dishes and both were very good! Would recommend to experience why this is such a favorite for local residents. We cannot wait to go back for the buffet of southern cooking recipes. read more

Our little group stopped here one morning after coming back through Hartwell. I wasn't really sure what to think of it exactly. It had a buffet style service with a mixture of a menu. We ended up grabbing a lot of stuff off the buffet. The line consisted of a hot bar and a small cold bar with salad type items and fruit: deviled eggs, potato salad, cantaloupe. The hot bar had a mixture of savories from potatoes, salmon patties, pork chops, chicken, and various other fried bits then a cornbread muffin or biscuit at the register. I didn't find the food particularly fresh or flavorful. It felt like an odd assortment with not a lot of rhyme or reason. The deviled egg wasn't half bad though. However, the hot bar had toasted everything to a dehydrated husk. In comparison, to other country cookeries around in the area, Mary's Kitchen, sadly, stands squarely beneath them. The feeling of going through the motions is somewhat present. The restaurant, itself, is what you might expect of an old country type of place, and was rather small. I can't recall exactly if they had a back area with more seating. When we went it wasn't so crowded. In general, Mary's isn't too bad if you're not expecting a lot and just need a quick bite, but that's about it. read more

A very unassuming building. We missed it the first time we went by. If you're looking for authentic down home Southern cooking this is the place. Everything looked amazing. I had fried chicken, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and a fantastic biscuit. My friend had bbq pork loin, fried okra, and green beans. She loved it. They also serve breakfast which I'm sure is amazing! read more

Great food. Wonderful service and really nice people. Had the 2 egg combo plate w country ham. Ham was delicious and biscuits were fresh.

Great for Sunday Lunch. Food was Southern Country Cooking. read more

Marts kitchen is great, the breakfast is my favorite time to go eat. The employees are always kind and helpful. The hashbrowns with hoop cheese is to die for, this is the only place I will eat hashbrowns. I go multiple times a week, the food is very good. Also the cakes are yummy, try the red velvet! read more

My husband and I have eaten here a couple of times, before this last experience, and was pretty happy with Mary's. It's a small Mom and Pop diner, serving breakfast and lunch. We been both times for breakfast. The waitress was very friendly, and the food pretty good. The prices are great, coffee decent, so overall it was a good experience. So we decided to bring the family out for breakfast last Sunday. Now as you all know, on Sunday, the breakfast places around the area get a little crazy. And I wasn't for sure Mary's was open on Sunday, so I called them. I spoke to a lady, I think her name was Jessica, or something similar. I asked if they are open today, and she said yes, then I asked if they are still serving breakfast. It was right at 10 am. She said, and I quote, "We serve breakfast until 11." So we make our trek out there, forgoing our normal preferred breakfast choice, The Berryman House in Bowman, because it's crazy busy on Sundays. When we get there, we walk in at five minutes after 10, and the waitress walks over and says, "Lunch isn't ready until 11." I told her about calling ahead. She walks to the back, and I assume finds whomever I spoke to, and then comes back, shaking her head. She said they stop serving breakfast at 10. And don't serve lunch until 11. So if you have the unfortunate chance of needing food between 10 and 11, then you are out of luck. Ridiculous! I can understand they may have been out of biscuits, or some other items, but they can offer toast, eggs, or even a sandwich? We all were pretty hangry. Hungry and angry. Not a good thing. I mean I called first for pete's sake. Mary's isn't exactly the most convenient restaurant to get to, it's a bit out of the way for us. I don't understand that at all. If I'm in the restaurant business, I would try to accommodate my customers. I would have offered at least a grill cheese, or hamburger, something from the grill. We ended up going to Dairy Queen in Hartwell, which was crazy busy. Took a good 40 minutes to get our food, which was understanding, as busy as it was. And it was a good breakfast there. I've been several times, and have always been happy with DQ. I've experienced this refusal of service during certain times at a few places around here. Like at Jim's in Elberton. I just think it's odd. If I had paying customers in my restaurant, I wouldn't turn them away. read more

I am a once-a-week regular for lunch at Mary's. I like the crispness and doneness of the fried chicken - great flavor - and the fried pork chop only available about once a week is really good. Sides vary and are sometimes not what I want, but if you catch them on creamed corn day, go for it with a slice of tomato. Many of the vegs are canned, but they are well prepared with additional seasoning and ingredients and not just warmed up. It's serve your own plate from a buffet, so be aware of what a serving size is or you'll get charged extra - for a double serving of creamed corn, it's worth the price. Breakfast is standard fare, and the biscuits are big and good. read more

Waited for over 30 mins for an item on the bar. The rest of the food on the bar was cold. The waitress Amela was rude and acted like she couldn't be bothered. Never saw her wash her hands after she cleaned tables, collected money and messed with food. But she had problem talking to my husband with a mouth full of food herself. Watched another person that worked there reach into the hot bar and grab a piece of food here and there to snack on. I only saw one person wash her hands each time as she went from one thing to another. The cook was cussing loudly that everyone could hear. My family and I have been coming here for years. This place keeps getting worse and worse. The same people are never there which tells me something is wrong in management for it to have a high turnover. Don't waste your time going there unless you have time to kill and want to have cold food, poor service, and uncleanliness. After what we saw today, the health department needs to close this place down. read more