A historical restaurant on a historical street in a historical neighborhood, these are the first thoughts that come to my mind when entering the establishment that has had it's doors open since 1947; Busy Bee Cafe. Upon entering the restaurant, you immediately hear the hustle and frantic movements of the service staff and kitchen; the place is jammed back with customers and those waiting for their turn to enter into nostalgia. The cash register is directly in front of the entrance with a waiting bench on the left, a sit-up bar area after the cashier area and along the wall there are banquettes and three to four tables in front of those; a small place that packs a punch. While waiting to be sat or sitting down you begin to get lost in the amount of famous people that adorn the restaurant walls everyone from Evander "Real Deal" Holyfield to James "The Godfather of Soul" Brown. Now let's get to the food and service. Busy Bee is a classic southern-soulfood restaurant with various staples of entrees like fried fish, oxtails, pork chops and chitlins a few sides namely mac n cheese, white rice with gravy and collard greens and of course various delicious, fruit desserts like banana pudding, peach and blackberry cobbler. Our server was pleasant, prompt and very engaging. I decided to order the fried whiting with mac n cheese, white rice with gravy, cornbread and the Busy Bee sweet tea. The cornbread was served first in a small muffin shape with pre-made butter similar to the ones you receive at other establishments. The cornbread had great flavor and texture but the butter was a gigantic let down. Cornbread and butter go together like ketchup and mustard but if one is of a different standard it begins to separate like oil and water. Busy Bee, whip your own butter. The entrees arrived (pictured below) and I couldn't wait to dive into my filets of whiting with a couple dashes of hot sauce. The fish filets were enveloped in a delicious flour, cornmeal breading each bite was a crunchy, delicate piece of heaven. The mac n cheese was pretty good but I was expecting much more hence a little let down; a little more creaminess and possibly a crispy breadcrumb topping would enhance the dish. The disappointment without a doubt was the white rice and a beige liquid that resembled gravy but certainly didn't taste like one; what a bland dish; please go back and tweak the recipe.

Overall, Busy Bee was a nice, nostalgic, historic restaurant that has been serving customers on MLK Blvd. for decades and doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon.

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