Zee Best Cafe and Carryout

The wife and I usually stop into this place after getting back from a ride on the 3 notch trail. The trail head is right at their location. We’ve been really impressed with this place. It’s where diner meets café in a really cute way. They have the most beautiful cakes for desert. Their sub rolls are awesome. The only thing that sucks is they don’t sell them separately (I’ve asked). I love how they serve their drinks in a mason jar mug. The service is friendly. They have given me a bowl of water for my dog as we ate outside. All in all, just a great local place.

Doesnt look like much from the outside but very cute atomosphere on the inside! Food is delicious! Customer service is just as good! Very attentive and friendly! Restaurant is clean too!

This is for the Hawthorne restaurant. The crabs were so delicious and good size. I highly recommend also trying to save room for their homemade cheesecake, amazing!

Pleasantly surprised. We’re from the Northern VA/​DC area and probably a tad snooty when it comes to restaurants, but we were really happy with our first visit to Zee.
We were in the Budds Creek area, wanted something decent, and the iPhone suggested Zee. Read some quick revIews on Unilocal and decided it was probably worth the 14 min. drive. Plus, I absolutely love good BBQ so I was excited about the prospect of finding barbecue Mecca in rural MD!
Like others have mentioned, Zee’s is a very unassuming place and I probably wouldn’t stop there if I hadn’t read about it on Unilocal,but this place is certainly a book that you shouldn’t judge by its cover.
Service was so-​so. Just average and about what you’d expect from a small, family owned restaurant. My first impression was that the owners hadn’t focused their resources on the building or the service, but that would be totally okay if the food turned out to be great.
And it was. My son tried the shredded pork sandwich with fries and upon stealing a bite I discovered a wonderful smoky taste in the pork. The smoke flavor was very subtle and a sign that Zee knew how to barbecue. I had the sliced beef sandwich which was also excellent, and both sandwiches used a very flavorful brioche type bun that had been buttered and grilled (awesome attention to detail). The high quality buns were a very nice touch and a welcome departure from the usual one size fits all hamburger bun that so many restaurants rely on. Also, both sandwiches came with a small cup of barbecue sauce which was also better than I expected. So many restaurants both small and large use sickly sweet generic barbecue sauce, but Zee presented us with a light brown sauce that although looked like Heinz 57, it was certainly not. It tasted homemade and was excellent on both the pork and the beef.
Fries were excellent too, and while I don’t know if they’re made in house, they certainly didn’t taste like the usual mass market Sysco crap that waaaay too many places use.
Prices were reasonable. Not cheap, but totally in line with the quality of the food.
We’ll definitely stop in whenever we’re in that neck of the woods and I encourage you to do the same. Small, independent restaurants like this one deserve attention, especially when they (Zee) have clearly made an effort to go beyond the ordinary.

Unimpressive outside, tattered awnings on white building, but I spotted the smoking egg cookers and the inside was a sunny yellow with super charming waitresses. Pulled pork with fresh cut fries was delicious. Will definitely be back.

Great food — my husband had a hot roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and hand cut gravy fries — comfort food all the way. I had a bison burger with local bison meat which was soooo tender. Place looks like a trailer on the outside but very clean, cute, and inviting inside. Waitstaff was friendly and welcoming. Just happened upon it and enjoyed our choice.

Good food, decent service, but they have to do something to speed up making it. Not sure why other people’s food arrived before ours either. We clearly ordered 5 – 10 minutes before they were seated. Orders weren’t difficult, and there were open tables so not sure what takes so long.
Been here a few times before and gave it 5 stars, this experience was disappointing hence the avg rating.

There aren’t many «mom and pop» restaurants that I frequent in/​near Mechanicsville — this is one of them.
Extremely friendly staff that greets my fiancé and I upon entering. The exterior does not give the interior décor justice. Not much to look at on the outside, but beautifully decorated to match the little diner feel.
All the food is cooked fresh. That’s right. No frozen meals reheated and served, and it reflects in the taste. I have yet to have a bad meal. The prices are also extremely affordable. In and out, two nice sized meals for $ 20.
TIP: They serve breakfast on the weekends, and it CRUSHES Cracker Barrel. Get the French toast, you won’t regret it :)

«Honey» and I have been visiting this place for the past few months for a quick bite to eat. We like it here — staff and owners are very nice as are the locals. We visit for both lunch and dinner, maybe 3xs per month. We will continue coming here.
Between Honey and I, we have tried most of the items off of the menu. From hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy to sliced beef sandwiches… from smoked chicken to reuben sandwiches, «grown up» grilled cheese, shrimp salad sandwiches and BLTs. In general, everything is good… nothing so great that it knocks your socks off, but certainly nothing is less than good.
Tonight was a little unusual from our prior visits… they were out of everything I selected off the menu. I really wanted the homemade chips with the homemade onion dip (yummy), but they were out of the dip. Then, I wanted a sliced pork sandwich, but they apparently do not make it anymore. Tough night and the waiter was a little distressed telling everyone in the place (it was a full house) that they were out of so many menu items. It is probably time to update their menus, too, as other items were crossed off. But, for me, this is forgiven as everyone can have an «off» night.
So, tonight I had onion rings as a starter and had a sliced beef sandwich and fries for dinner. The onion rings were tasty, although very greasy, and the ranch dipping sauce was good and had a little kick… the sliced beef sandwich and fries were great. It also came with cole slaw that was only OK (needs to be creamier and a tad bit sweet). Honey had the smoked chicken, which was advertised as half of a chicken but really was like ½ of a very small cornish hen. His meal came with fries and coleslaw, too. He said it was OK but he would likely not order the chicken again.
This place is very quaint, the staff is very nice and the food is perfect as a quick bite to eat and go. Not a gourmet sandwich shop, not anything fancy, but just fine.

Wow! I had a classic cheeseburger and onion rings and it was the best of both I’ve had in a while. It’s surprising, we don’t have a lot of options in the area and we happen to be close to a great little restaurant. I would go here even if we had plenty of options. Very nice staff as well :)

Fast, friendly service. Food is good, especially the BBQ. Large portions… couldn’t finish what was served and had to take the rest home for late night snack.

Very good food o went with my friend for the first time and we enjoy it very friendly and clean. I highly recommend.

Love this little local place! Just what we needed; so refreshing to have a quaint, down home place to stop in and eat without all of the hustle and bustle. The food is excellent, the staff is friendly. The atmosphere is quiet and small — so if it’s busy, you’ll wait but it’s worth it!

Great place small but accommodating. Staff is all super nice and want you to enjoy your experience. Different specials daily and what a small Resturant should be. We have been there at all times of service and enjoyed each experience.

I had the grilled chicken. It was okay. The flavor was not bad but it was kind of dry. I might try something else in the future and revisit my review.

Food was good but different every day, I would say nothing is consistent. The owners are very nice however can’t say the same for some of the help, the young ones are a lil rude. But would definitely continue to dine with them.

Cool place on side of Route 235 in St Marys County. Very clean including the Loo, staff was very nice. Food was awesome Chicken Tenders actually made with real chicken lol. Pulled pork was the best I have ever had. Fries were 100% better than McDonalds.

We order lunch here almost every day! Every meal we have had has been awesome! Good home cooking! The Bison burger is amazing.

Chicken was great with a dry rub bbq. The Cole slaw was good too. The baked beans were a little sweet for me. People were friendly.

What a great and friendly atmosphere! Breakfast was delicious, tasted and looked like a home meal. Great people, I will be back