There are many restaurants in central Baldwin County that offer good food at affordable prices and everybody seems to have a favorite.

Robertsdale’s Country Cookin’ has been on that list since Steve Brill opened the popular Highway 59 eatery in 1999, offering a buffet of hearty home-cooked meats, vegetables, salads and desserts.

Now the little restaurant, which still offers lunch and breakfast buffets, as well as many dinner specials, has a new name — Olivia’s. From time-to-time, Olivia has worked at Country Cookin’. Brill was her brother.

Despite the recent name change, Olivia Metz and her husband, Russell, aren’t new to the restaurant business or even to Country Cookin’. They have been running it for almost two years now. Olivia Metz is the original owner’s sister. Before Steve Brill’s recent death, he wanted Olivia to change the name to Olivia’s, which she did.

Although the restaurant was leased out for a while, for the past two years it has been regaining the reputation for a lot of good food for not a lot of money in a building that is centrally located. But there is an added ingredient at Olivia’s, which has always been on of the main draws for Country Cookin’ — it’s the warm and friendly atmosphere and the personal attention given to each diner.

As customers come through the door, Thetis, Lisa or even Olivia will greet the customers, often calling them by first name or asking about their families. The two waitresses said the like working at Olivia’s.

Thetis, whom Olivia called her friend and her “right arm” at the restaurant, said each day, she looks forward to seeing the regular customers. “They are nice and it’s almost like family,” she said.

Lisa agreed, saying, “I like the people I meet and I like everybody here. Olivia is great to work for,” she said.

While Lisa, Olivia and Thetis are making the customers feel comfortable, Russell Metz is behind the scenes in the kitchen.

Metz trained as a chef in New York and Pittsburgh, with Jack Braun, who was president of the Culinary Federation and chef at a five start Pittsburgh restaurant.

Olivia’s opens at 10:30 Monday and Tuesday and closes after lunch. Wednesday through Saturday, the doors open at 6:30 and a breakfast buffet is available. On Sunday, the restaurant opens for the breakfast buffet at 7:30.

On Friday nights customers can choose from a seafood buffet or order items like steak dinners from the menu. Saturdays and Sundays are “cooks choice,” and it just depends on what Metz feels like preparing.

Everything served is made from scratch — from the salads to the desserts. “We make homemade dumplings and we make our own chicken fingers and hush puppies and our dressing. It’s all homemade, even the coctail and tartar sauce,” Olivia said.

Olivia herself makes several of the most popular homemade desserts like her brownies, which are topped with her special icing; coconut and chocolate pies and on Sunday, strawberry shortcake.

One of the regulars at Olivia's is Mack Hastings of Robertsdale. “I eat here every day, have been for seven years or more,” he said, adding, “I like the personalities and the food. We used to go all over the county to eat and we came here and we stayed here,” he said, before tucking into some of Olivia’s homemade dumplings.