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[Rail Paul]

B&J is a small restaurant on the main drag (old US 17) in small town Darien. This little town is home to many trawlers, and an active shrimp and oyster business. It's a few minutes off I-95, exit 49.

Classic dive. Probably 30 tables, grab a seat, and a server will come by to grab your order. It's open seating, so you're welcome to join others already at table.

The dinner menu includes buffet ($17), as well as a la carte items. The Wednesday night buffet was a salad bar, ribeye, boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, hush puppies, pork ribs, warm beets, carrots, and several desserts. The ribeye was tough, the shrimp was petty tasteless, the hush puppies were unremarkable. The ribs were wonderful. Wet, salty, on the bone, decent layer of meat. No bark like crust, though.

I had the fish sandwich (fried flounder) which was very good. Nice, good sized piece of fish, lightly battered, not at all greasy, served on a hamburger roll. $7. Definitely a winner.

The only beer was tap was Bud light, so Dee ordered that. The tap wasn't working, so they substituted a bottle of Bud light. I ordered the very last Bud, but the waitress spilled that. So they substituted a Landshark. $3. I've noticed that many places in FL and GA seem to be "tied houses" serving only one maker's beer. No glasses, but the server was happy to deliver one, on request.

So, the bill arrives, and it's $43. "You can pay upfront." Sounds like a lot, so I play around with the numbers, which are missing from the bill. $17 +$7 +$3 +$3 = $30. I ask the server if she would double check the bill against the menu's prices. The bill comes back in a minute or two with $32.80, including tax. "Sorry, my calculator wasn't working." I wonder how many folks pay the bill without checking?

Compared to our much more pleasant visit to the Skipper's just down the street, I can't imagine I'll be stopping by here again. With several misses on the food, a suspicious miss on the bill, and a generally dumpy atmosphere, I think the Skipper has them beat in my experience.

901 North Way Darien, GA 31305
(912) 437-2122