I’m new to the MS Coast and just had my first Ward’s experience. Here’s my review.
Well before I became the sports reporter at the Sun Herald, my wife and I took many trips through the state from Alabama into Arkansas to see family.
On one such journey, we began to notice a particular restaurant that kept popping up as we traveled through Hattiesburg and Jackson on our way north.
It was Ward’s. We had never heard of it before, but seemingly saw them everywhere as we passed through the Magnolia State. On the outside, they looked a bit old and often rundown. Like a relic from a different time.
We joked we would likely never visit and experience something that appeared to be so intrinsically tied to Mississippi.
Now, about one year after moving to Gulfport, I was compelled to visit my local Ward’s after running a poll on Twitter asking which chain in Hattiesburg people liked the most.
The leader in write-in votes on that poll was Ward’s. Folks commented and recommended the decades-old operation with promises of nostalgia and grease.
And I couldn’t resist. So I stopped by the location situated across from the railroad museum on Pass Road in Gulfport.
Here’s what I ate at Ward’s
Ward’s doesn’t pretend to be anything that it’s not, and for that I can appreciate it.
When I sat down and looked at my meal, I questioned why I wrestled mid-day traffic just to arrive at this moment.
The hot dog was pink and it sat atop a single slice of cheese with the various trimmings around it. The fries looked as if they may have been cooked yesterday and I was almost scared to unwrap my burger.
I even had to ask for the famous mug the root beer comes in.
Despite its visual shortcomings, the cafeteria-tray meal was surprisingly fulfilling. The employee working the counter told me the chili is what people liked about Ward’s and I can see why.
The hot dog served its purpose, rivaling those you’d find at your local minor league team park, and the chili-filled burger gave me some home ideas. Even the fries were better than I expected and of course the root beer had an all-time classic taste.
I certainly enjoyed my meal more than I would a trip to Wendy’s or Burger King. It featured a key tenet of food-serving absent in many pop-up fast food joints found at every interstate exit: authenticity.
The old-art posters and faded yellow seats lent to its ability to transport any customer to a different time, a time before the rapid commercialization of quick-to-serve food dampened the dominance and uniqueness of regional dining.
And more than all that, it made this Alabama kid feel a little more Mississippi.
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 2:56 PM.
