Cox Cafe has kept customers happy for 20 years

If you ask someone how to get to Cox Cafe in Macon, more than likely they’ll tell you to “head to the dump.” Far from a hyperbolic retort, this will actually put you on the road to one of the best kept food secrets of the area.

Hopefully its location will lower your bar of expectations for decor — Cox Cafe is not fancy. But keep your bar up for good food because you’ll find only delicious, homemade food here. Like many “meat and two” restaurants, they feature certain items per day and they always have fried chicken, all under $10 a plate.

Monday features meatloaf, beef tips and rice, and chicken liver and gizzards, with rutabagas, mashed potatoes, okra and tomatoes, squash casserole and fried okra. Tuesday brings lemon pepper chicken, pork chops or roast beef, with creamed corn, turnip greens, black eyed peas, broccoli or cabbage.

If you come on a Wednesday, you can choose from hamburger steak, salmon patties or beef liver, with stewed squash, rice or macaroni and cheese. Thursday is like Thanksgiving Day with turkey and dressing, ham, spaghetti, pork chops or beef tips and rice, with sweet potato casserole, green beans, broccoli casserole, potatoes and carrots and collard greens. Friday is for catfish, chicken and dumplings or hamburger steak, with potato salad, lima beans, french fries, English peas and cole slaw.

Desserts are particularly delicious, like the 14-layer chocolate cake and the banana pudding. They’ve got breakfast for you early birds, too, all less than $5 a plate.

While you wouldn’t go to Cox Cafe for the ambiance, the restaurant has been satisfying customers for 20 years now. Folks of every color and stripe come to enjoy plentiful Southern food in a no-frills atmosphere — and they’ll probably be doing it for another 20 years to come.

Read more reviews of local restaurants

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Cox Cafe has kept customers happy for 20 years."