Bob Porter is looking for a new lunch spot. Porter — sometimes with his family, sometimes without — has been a regular at Barbara’s Home Cookin' in Grassland for years, ordering the poppyseed chicken casserole, cucumber and tomato salad, and on Fridays, fried catfish, a dish he calls the best fish he has ever eaten.
Porter, like many Williamson County residents, was sad to learn that his beloved Barbara’s plans to close at the end of the year. Located in an unassuming house on Old Hillsboro Road in Franklin, Barbara’s was a little hard to find. “I always said, ‘If you were driving down that road, you either lived there or were lost,’” Porter says. Yet people found it and were loyal to it.
Barbara’s began as a catering business in 1997 and continued to cater, providing food for weddings and other parties, in addition to its regular lunch service. The owners of Barbara’s posted the following on Facebook on Dec. 10:
To our beloved customers (our darlings, our sweethearts):
It is with deepest affection and appreciation that we announce that after nearly 30 years of serving the middle Tennessee community, Barbara’s Home Cookin’ will be permanently closing as of December 31, 2025.
Whether serving you lunch after Church [sic] on Sunday, catering your wedding or preparing your holiday feasts, we are forever grateful that we had the opportunity to play even the tiniest role in some of your life’s most precious moments with your loved ones.
We did not arrive at this decision lightly — in fact, for some of our staff, Barbara’s has been the only employment we’ve yet known in this wonderful country. Closing one chapter and beginning another can be daunting, and so we humbly ask that if you know of any employment opportunities to please think of us!
We hope to see your faces over the next few weeks — we would love to serve you up a nice home-cooked meal, and celebrate the holiday season with you one more time.
Thank you again for your continued support over the years — it has truly meant the world.
Love,
Barbara’s Home Cookin’
No one from Barbara’s returned calls from Scene sister publication the Williamson Scene, but they may be busy attending to the many loyal customers who are coming to dine one last time. Porter intended to go for lunch on Sunday but found that the restaurant was closing early due to demand. Online customers are asking for the recipe for the restaurant’s signature rolls and other dishes.
Indeed, Barbara’s large meat-and-three-style menu was one of its draws, highlighting the region’s strength in plate-lunch dining. But as compelling, Porter says, is the staff, who helped his family pull off a surprise birthday party on a Saturday, the day the restaurant is normally closed.
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Williamson Scene.
