southern, a gathering place kitchen & bar

"We had a tremendous dinner date Friday night. We were seated in the outside patio area, which was very nice. Starting with a bottle of wine and the crab dip was a very good beginning. I had the bone in pork chop, while my girlfriend had the blackened shrimp. Both meals were very delicious. The presentation was also very good. Although a little pricey, we enjoyed the entire experience and will look to return on special occasions."

"Stumbled on this place as mostly everywhere else remained closed after the tropical storm from the night before. The service was great! They make amazing cocktails! And the food is locally sourced. The food was overall amazing. My only complaint was the sear on my filet was done at too high of a temp and the crust was as a little over done. The inside however was a perfect medium rare. The potatoes were also very tasty. The sweet potato butter that is served with the bread needs to be packaged and sold! I also highly recommend the Linda Rita (margarita)! Really fresh and delicious! I think we lucked out getting for dinner as it is a very small setting. I would highly recommend making a reservation."

"Awesome dining experience in Southport. The setting, a converted house a few blocks from the water, was cute and inviting. Southern hospitality from all of the crew. I appreciated that they had the day's staff listed out front, made it feel like a close knit team. Amazing food and drinks as well, very well thought out dishes on a pretty small menu My only complaint was the table was quite small for a table of 4, but that's so minor that it's barely worth mentioning. Highly recommend!"

"Great food and a delicious tasting experience. The blackened shrimp with watermelon salsa had a wonderful balance of sweet, tangy, and spice. Combinations like that are hard to find, but this place nails it! Displays on the back wall show the cities in NC where the ingredients are sourced from. Come and enjoy!"

"Finally, a beautiful, farm to table, quaint restaurant in Southport! I can not say enough about our brunch. Let me start with "It's too much!" ......in a great way! Reservations are needed. The restaurant is located in a small cottage right on the main strip of downtown. The staff, from the owners, to the servers, to the bartender are friendly, accommodating, and genuinely interested in making sure your experience is great. The decor is simple, modern and fun. I love the hanging old school light bulbs in different shapes. The bar is small but beautiful. The outside seating is on a covered deck and even though we had inclement weather, we were able to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air. We started with a Southern Mary and a Kentucky Mary. We could choose how spicy we wanted it. Southern is vodka, Kentucky is bourbon. The cocktails were garnished beautifully with pickled jalapeños, pickled okra and a jalapeño stuffed olive. This attention to detail continued throughout everything brought to our table. The coffee is very good! We had Cinnamon toast, Not really a Benedict, Brunch Burger and sides of pork rinds and mac n cheese. The cinnamon toast was so unique, fried, light and served with housemade apple butter. The really not a Benedict is fantastic, allowing customers to choose what they want. I chose avocado and Heritage farm bacon. The Jalsberg cheese sauce the chef makes is absolutely outstanding, goodbye Hollandaise, there's a better sauce here! The Brunch Burger was perfectly cooked. It's an 8 oz house ground CAB with a house blend cheese, over easy local egg, avocado, Heritage Farm bacon, peppered strawberry jam and Southern mayo. A perfect combination! The sides are fresh made daily and change. We had pork rinds and Mac n cheese. Both were very good. Ashlyn was our server. It was her first day. She did great, if she didn't know, she went and asked. We already made reservations to come back for brunch and cannot wait to come for dinner!"