Eating establishment recently re-opened
By Mark H. Stowers
The Bolivar Bullet
A lot of Bolivar Countians were sad when the Country Platter closed its doors in 2022 due to a lack of employees after the strain of COVID. But, those craving the delicacies of the original will be happy to hear the Country Platter Too has recently opened in the same location but with a remodeled look. General Manager William Cummings is happy to bring back the classic eating establishment.
“We purchased it along with a managing partner in December of 2022. We started renovations in February this year,” said Cummings.
With area cooks coming to the establishment, the restaurant will have about seven employees and will tentatively be open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and Sundays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
“We are serving basically the same menu they had in the original restaurant,” said Cummings. “The staple of Country Platter was fried chicken, baked chicken, pork steak in gravy with rice and they would also prepare BBQ on Fridays and fish. They also had liver on Saturdays and chitterlings sometimes. We will be serving all of these staples as well as extra options on Sunday with delicious desserts. We hope to do breakfast down the road. Right now we are trying to start out slow. The cooks are trying to get it all together and get the process in place.”
With a seating capacity of 75, Cummings has the restaurant set up “with more breathing space – post Covid” and will offer carry-out orders as well. He hopes to begin catering at some point in the future.
The Country Platter Too had a soft opening last week and the restaurant was inundated with customers.
“One of the young workers took a picture of the sign we posted on the door announcing the opening on Facebook and the rest is history,” he said. “It would be an understatement to say people wanted it. Hopefully, we’ll be consistent and maintain that and folks can enjoy the food for many years.”
Cummings said some of his favorite menu items are the pinto beans and cornbread and the fried fish and fried chicken.
“It’s all good. Yesterday the cabbages were good. I’m not saying that because I’m part of the process. I would eat here even I didn’t work here,” he said. “We are thankful that we are able to do this. We had some challenges early on in the process and we still have some challenges. But if we get support from the community, hopefully we’ll be around.”
The Country Platter Too is located on 700 Ruby Street in Cleveland. For more information, visit their Facebook page or call (662) 846-7051.