Customers support Smyrna’s oldest restaurant during difficult times caused by construction

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Longtime customers of a beloved barbecue restaurant in Cobb County are supporting the business, which is taking a beating lately because of a road construction project on Windy Hill Road in Smyrna.

Old South Bar-B-Q dates back to 1968.

Many patrons have been eating there since the beginning and many grew up with the woman who now runs it.

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“Thank you so much for coming today,” owner Joy Llewallyn said.

Joy says it’s been her home away from home her entire life.

“My parents started it. It was their dream. My dad always called it my momma’s baby!” Joy told Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen.

Now it’s Joy’s baby. 

She’s carrying on the family tradition that is Old South Bar-B-Q. 

It’s the oldest restaurant in Smyrna, with more than 50 years in the same spot along Windy Hill Road.

Sadly, that is now part of the problem.  “Nobody wants to come around this construction area.  Nobody,”  Joy said.

A new connector is under construction a few steps away from her front door.

There are lots of barrels and barriers and U-turns.

The traffic light that used to be there is long gone.

“I saw her post where she was so sad because the restaurant was empty,” longtime customer Darrell Baxter said.

Darrell said he saw the picture Joy took, so he took to social media too.

It was a call to action for all who love to eat there.

“Everybody loves this restaurant and loves Joy,” Darrell said.  “You’re the best.  You are “the” best,” Joy told Darrell.

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It was a packed house for lunch on Thursday.

Joy is grateful, and she hopes she can hang on.

She wouldn’t want to lose her home away from home.

“When you came in here when you were little and your parents brought you in here. When you come back it’s like, whoa! This is just like I remember. It’s like going to grandma’s house. That’s how I want it to be,” Joy said.

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