Southern Rail is a southern twist on the American comfort food formula very successfully deployed at Beckett's Table. There is certainly an emphasis on quality and local produce, which is commendable. The food is good and very tasty, so that part of the SR experience will not let you down. The service is impeccable too, another hallmark of Beckett's Table. Plates are cleared promptly, none are left to linger. The wait staff seems to know exactly how present to be, neither hovering nor constantly interrupting nor absent.
However the menu is quite limited in its choices, and I found several entrees to be overpriced. I ordered the BLT Chopped Salad, being not terribly famished. For $10 it was acceptable, though I didn't quite understand the mushy cherry tomatoes. The generous portions of thick bacon added a nice flavor to it. However I was very put off by the option of adding protein to the salad for $6 to $7. Now you are talking nearly $20 for a farking salad.
My wife ordered one of the steak entrees, the blackened prime flatiron steak priced at $27. The steak itself, while a good cut of meat and very tender, was embarrassingly small. This was not made up for by the homestyle mashed potatoes and McLendon Farms vegetables that accompanied it. Our dining companions ordered the gumbo (judged excellent) and the red beans and rice (judged so-so).
For dessert, beignets (excellent) and banana pudding (divine; the wife said "I don't ever want this to leave my mouth!")
We won't mind returning to SR if asked to do so by friends; but we won't insist on going there. We'll go to Beckett's Table instead.