Server at Atlanta‘s Mary Mac’s Tea Room shares stories of waiting on former President Jimmy Carter

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – For nearly 40 years, Marion Mims has served customers at Atlanta’s iconic Mary Mac’s Tea Room.

She has waited on a number of celebrities over the years, but none bigger than former President Jimmy Carter.

“When he came in and I waited on him, I almost started crying. I said I get a chance to wait on Jimmy Carter,” Mims said.

It’s a moment in time, Mims will not soon forget considering she waited on him many times. She remembers it like it was yesterday.

Mims said Carter would sit at a round table back in the day when it was in the middle of the Atlanta dining room next to The Carter Center mural on the wall.

“He loved it. He loved the picture,” Mims said.

Carter also loved to order the fried chicken and vegetable plate with a side of Southern hospitality.

“I put my hand on his shoulder, and I said what can I get you to drink baby. I called him baby. I call all my customer’s baby,” Mims said. “He loved that. He just smiled.”

Mims said all the servers wanted to wait on Carter when he came in and not just because he was a gentleman, but because he was a good tipper.

“I think the first time, I got $50, and the bill wasn’t that high, and I think one of the other servers got like $100 from him,” Mims said.

Perhaps the real reason Carter loved to dine at Mary Mac’s was his special recipe for “Carter Custard,” which he gave the restaurant. And in his honor, it’s back on the menu this week only.

“It’s real peanuty, really, really peanuty,” Customer Crystal King said.

And just about as unique as Carter’s custard is on the menu at Mary Mac’s Tea Room are the number of photographs of the former president on the wall. He takes up more room than any other celebrity or dignitary and in one, he left a personal note.

“Thanks for putting the custard on the menu. This will be a great boost to my campaign. Love, Jimmy” the note dated February 1976 reads.

“He was really down to Earth, he was real down to Earth,” Mims said.

The Carter legacy will live on at Mary Mac’s and Mims is just grateful to have been a part of it.

“He’s really going to be missed. He’s really going to be missed,” Mims said.

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