southern, a gathering place kitchen & bar

Everything was absolutely amazing! The food was phenomenal and everything tasted very fresh. The service was great, and the outside deck was beautiful. The drinks were great and very unique as well. Will be back!!

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!

The food is good, the service is very attentive. I had the special which was flounder set on grits along with an assortment of veggies. The veggies turned out to a slice of cucumber and a grape tomato each sliced in half. I had a side Caesar salad for $4 which turned out to be $8, server suggested anchovy unknowingly adding another $4. The flounder was good however a small portion. The bartender makes generous cocktails. The 4 stars results portion size and the acoustics, very noisy. Compared to other restaurants (my opinion) SGP is expensive. I had the flounder, my wife enjoyed a burger...add in 3 Basil Hayden, a glass of chardonnay and 2 Smithville 1792 cocktails, add in the 20% tip and it was $207 for my wife and I...I added an extra $10 for the kitchen staff. At the end of the day SGP is another nice dining option for Southport.

Had a delicious and delightful Mother’s Day brunch here! Not only was the food exceptional, the plating was just beautiful!! Our waitperson, Carl, was the icing on the proverbial cake!! Keep doing what you are doing here!! Lovely experience!!

Fantastic shrimp and grits! Amazing food, great service and beautiful restaurant. The cocktails were perfect and the crab cakes the best I've ever had. Highly recommend. Can't wait to go again!