Local families eat their Thanksgiving Day meals at a Meridian restaurant

Some local families chose to eat their thanksgiving meal at one local restaurant, that has been serving a traditional thanksgiving dinner for more than 20 years, on the holiday.

As many restaurants close their doors on holidays, the Magnolia Restaurant at the Queen City Truck Stop, continues to serve hot meals to busy tables on Thanksgiving Day.

Some families shared, that although they’re no stranger to enjoying a meal at the Magnolia Restaurant, this is their first time coming to the restaurant for a holiday meal.

Some for a simple change of pace, and some due to COVID-19 impacting their Thanksgiving meal plans.

“We generally go to the family, but with all this stuff going around, we just said we’ll come and stay secluded in their back room,” said Robert Knight.

“We used to come here a lot though for family get togethers, little stuff like that, maybe not so much holidays, but definitely a good spot to come,” said Alex Day.

One man said that the Magnolia Restaurant is one of his family’s thanksgiving traditions, saying that each year they order traditional thanksgiving sides like dressing, cranberry sauce and gravy to-go.

“I highly encourage it, again it’s convenient, and you get a lot and its very reasonable, very reasonable, --and it’s delicious,” said Errol Springer.

Ted Burton the owner of the Magnolia Restaurant, shared why he think many families return to eat on thanksgiving each year, as a tradition.

“I think they come back just for the quality of the food, and for the togetherness that we have. One thing about ordering, you get your choice of what you want, and so that way you can make everybody happy and you don’t have a lot of expense and a lot of clean up,” said Ted Burton, owner of the Magnolia Restaurant.

The Magnolia Restaurant will also be one of the few restaurant’s that will be open the city on Christmas Day.