After months of waiting and hard work, Bully Burgers are finally back on the grill at the Dawsonville Pool Room.
The Pool Room reopened to the public on Thursday, Sept. 17, more than five months after closing its doors due to complications caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“That was the longest six months in my life,” Pool Room owner Gordon Pirkle said on Thursday afternoon.
Be local. Be informed.
We know credible local information is crucial now more than ever. Please subscribe to keep reading and to support our work.
Not ready to subscribe? DONATE.
According to Pool Room Manager Hayley Garrett, Pirkle’s daughter, this closure was the longest stretch the restaurant has ever been shuttered since it was first opened in the 1960s.
Garrett said that throughout the closure, the restaurant received an outpouring of support, interest and most of all; queries about when the iconic burger joint would be back to normal business.
“Even when we were closed, you’d have people knocking on the door, asking when we were coming back, people from out of state even,” she said on Thursday afternoon, as the first lunch rush of the reopening began to wind down.
“But we’re back, we’re really back,” she added. “It’s been good, word’s been getting out and people are excited.”
The last five months have been a real struggle for the Pool Room, Garrett said, but throughout the whole ordeal, love from the community and the “call of God” kept the restaurant’s legacy alive.
“It’s been a real struggle, but we felt God in it. And like I keep telling our people, ‘God’s got this,’” she said.
As they neared reopening, Garrett said that they were able to bring back their staff, which is really almost a family, and the staff’s hard work the reopening would not have been possible.
“That’s been the main thing,” she said. “They worked so hard to get it back to this.”
“I feel so blessed,” she added.
Now that the Pool Room has reopened, visitors can stop by for a bite to eat from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
And even though nearly six months have passed, the menu hasn’t changed a bit, Garrett said.
A grand reopening celebration for the restaurant is in the works and Garrett said that Pool Room fans should look for more information about the event on the restaurant’s Facebook page in the coming weeks.