Walnut Hills is a family affair - a family of good cooks assisted by a personable and capable service staff - no professional staff, no graduates of the Culinary Institute of America, just good old-fashioned Southern cooks and servers who are proud to be a part of Walnut Hills' history.

The food at Walnut Hills is what most of us refer to as good ole Southern home-cooked victuals. The atmosphere is equally as homey: warm light, revolving round tables like many of us remember from visits to The Round Table in Mendenhall, cozy bar and dining areas, regular visits from owner Joyce May, chief cook Herdcine Williams, waitress Darlene Hughes, waiter Xavier Richards and other staff members making sure that your meal is "just right".

Favorite foods on the Walnut Hills menu run the gamut from the restaurant's famous fried chicken to Miss Alma's tasty coleslaw and chicken salad to the light and fluffy biscuits that Herdcine has been baking since she first came to work 20 years ago.

In addition to fried chicken and fried catfish, both of which are very popular, the cooks fix an exquisite pork loin with molasses, apple cider and sage that has become very popular. Other favorites include chicken pot pie and a chicken with Rotel peppers and tomatoes that Joyce May brought to the restaurant herself.

Vegetables include mashed potatoes, mustard greens, black-eyed peas, creamed corn, squash, glazed carrots and there is always a dish of coleslaw at every table.

Joyce May bought Walnut Hills in 1995 with Mary Ellen Flowers who soon went back to school and sold her interest to May. "It was something that I had always dreamed of," May said of owning a restaurant. "When I was a little girl, I used to play restaurant. And what cooking skills I have, I owe to my mother and grandmother, who taught me early to make molasses cookies and fantastic pies."

"It's teamwork at Walnut Hills that makes owning this restaurant fun. We are really just one big happy family, and I guess I'm the mother," May said with a smile.

Walnut Hills draws the tourist crowds also. The word about its good food and Southern ambiance has spread far and wide. Articles have appeared in Southern Living magazine, Fodors, and area newspapers, including the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, MS.