Piccadilly To Go on Candler Road is the future of meat-and-threes

Photograph by Ben Rollins

Atlantans of a certain age will remember a time when Piccadilly restaurants were plentiful. It didn’t require too far a drive to get to one of the cafeterias.

My first visit to a Piccadilly dates back to the late 1980s and Ansley Mall. As a newcomer from Los Angeles, I was unfamiliar with Southern fare or cafeteria-style dining as a hapless 20-something, stacking an incongruous assortment of dishes atop a melamine tray. Bless my heart.

Piccadilly cafeterias arrived in Atlanta in the mid-1960s. The meat-and-three menu has remained largely unchanged. Signature dishes include chopped beef, turkey and dressing, baked chicken, fried pork chop, Southern-fried fish. Among the modest, must-have sides are green beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, okra, and rice broccoli casserole. The supporting cast of carbs includes corn muffins, jalapeño corn bread, rolls, and garlic bread.

Grandmothers rejoice. Cardiologists, not so much.

There are seven Piccadilly cafeterias left in the metro Atlanta region. They include the first one, which opened in Greenbriar Mall in 1965, and the recently opened one on Candler Road in Decatur, a quick-serve model featuring the company’s first drive-through window.

A short hop off I-20, Piccadilly To Go is part of the chaotic jumble of fast-food spots, gas stations, discount stores, and other gritty staples of city life. More exactly, it’s across from South Dekalb Mall. 

Piccadilly To Go caters to the workaday crowd. It’s walk in, walk out (or drive through), not a lot of chitchat. Step in, and you walk smack up to a grab-and-go selection of desserts (cake and pie slices) and salads. From there you immediately join the cafeteria line. If it’s been a minute since you’ve done the cafeteria dance, move aside, grab a menu, and contemplate your choices before rejoining the group. The kitchen staff is patient, but patrons get antsy if you dawdle too long. Keep the peace and keep it moving.

Aside from the food, the retro vibe is not at play here. The dining area is no-frills: no vintage chandeliers, no cavernous dining rooms, no wide wooden booths, no mamaw-esque carpet underfoot. Still, there’s comfort in chopped beef over white rice, warm veggie sides, and a hunk of cornbread—a hearty meal for less than $14. That’s the price of quick nostalgia.

This article appears in our March 2026 issue.

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