Dillard House

Dillard House is a Southern institution, and it's the best reason to point the car north out of Helen. The restaurant serves its food family-style, the way the Dillard family has since 1917, when Carrie and Arthur Dillard opened their six-room home to guests. The resort says travelers come back for "simple, honest Southern Appalachian cooking," and the Food & Drink page lists breakfast dishes like eggs, grits, biscuits and bacon with red eye gravy and country ham.

The land has an older story too: the Dillard House history page traces the property to a 1,000-acre valley land grant given to Captain John Dillard in 1794 for his Revolutionary War service.

Hours are from the resort's Food & Drink page. Prices aren't posted there, and the resort's menu is a separate document linked from the site, so ask when you book.

Dillard House is mid-makeover. Its renovation page describes a new Grand Lodge with 60 guest rooms and a resort-style pool, 75 existing rooms being refreshed in the Paddock and Valley View lodges, a spa opening in late 2026, and treehouse accommodations coming soon. Two drink venues are on the way as well: a Doghobble wine tasting room, listed as now open on the Food & Drink page, and Rabun Brewing, the only brewery in Rabun County, arriving in summer 2026. Because construction is going on, call 800-541-0671 to confirm the dining room is serving the day you plan to visit.

It's about 70 minutes each way from downtown Helen, so treat Dillard as a half-day or a stop on a longer loop rather than a quick lunch. The resort also runs a horseback riding stable and a calendar of events, and the area has hiking and whitewater rafting; the Tallulah Gorge day-trip guide is a natural pairing on the same side of the mountains.

If you'd rather eat closer to Helen, the dining overview covers the options in town.

Dillard is about 38 miles from downtown Helen, roughly 70 minutes by the fastest road route, and the resort's posted hours shape the day more than the drive does. Dinner service ends at 8 PM, so leave Helen by mid-afternoon if dinner is the plan.

Dillard House has been welcoming guests since 1917, and the resort's own history page describes a 130-plus-acre property with 156 guest rooms and 11,000 square feet of meeting space. Legacy Ventures owns and runs it today, and the renovations it describes run through early 2027. That means the dining room is the steady part of the visit while lodging, the spa and the new venues change from month to month.

The resort lists the menu as a separate document linked from its Food & Drink page, and it routes room bookings through an online system. It doesn't say whether the dining room takes reservations, so a phone call to 800-541-0671 is the quickest way to find out on a busy fall weekend.

Tallulah Gorge State Park is about half an hour from Dillard, so a gorge walk in the morning and a family-style lunch makes a full day on the Rabun County side of the mountains. Read the Tallulah Gorge guide first, since the state park has a few closures this fall. If you'd rather stay near Helen, the family dining guide and the weekend itinerary cover the town side.