What’s the buzz about a new takeout spot in Warner Robins?

WARNER ROBINS – Tucked away in a small space inside a convenience store in the Bonaire community of Warner Robins is a new takeaway spot that its fans are raving about on social media.

Taste Good Restaurant serves up smash burgers and wings as well as gumbo and specialty dishes made with salmon, shrimp, chicken or steak, vegetables and homemade sauces.

The new spot at the Hwy 96 Stop N Shop and Shell gas station at 198 Old Perry Road offers breakfast, too.

“Believe it or not, I actually found it from a review on TikTok, that’s how I found out about it, and a couple of days later, I was like, ‘Well, I’ll go and give it a try,’ “ said Anthony Dunn of Kathleen, who stopped in recently to pick up some wings.

“And they were actually reviewing the smash burger that I actually ended up getting when I was here last week. It was fantastic.”

Felicia Thomas of Warner Robins first heard about Taste Good Restaurant on Facebook. She’d also heard a couple of good reviews.

“I just wanted to see for myself,” said Thomas, who first tried the “very juicy, tender” smash burger and was back recently for a second visit.

This time, she ordered salmon over rice with spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes with garlic parmesan and miso sauces drizzled on top.

“10 out of 10,” Thomas said of both the smash burger and the salmon dish when contacted again later by telephone. She liked the salmon so much that she posted a photo on Facebook that went viral.

“The service was amazing,” she said. “I like how they cook everything to order so it’s fresh and just the taste and quality. Everything about it was splendid.”

Taste Good Restaurant is owned by DaLionel Lightning, who operates the spot with his girlfriend and self-taught chef Zaakiyah Abdullah; his mom, Rosie Lightning, who works there part-time; and employee Rena Jonas.

DaLionel Lightning and Abdullah have been together for about three years, and Abdullah was the one that got him interested in opening a restaurant. Lightning also owns Lightning Auto Sales and Lightning Auto Detail at 1209 South Houston Lake Road in Warner Robins.

“I have a big background of doing a lot of different things, but cooking is one of my biggest passions,” said Abdullah, who previously worked as a cook at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. “It’s one of my dreams.

“So, when he decided to open this, it was like, ‘Let’s go for it,’ because like people say, anybody can cook, but a dream is just a dream unless you bring it to life.”

Abdullah is behind the recipes for all the specialty dishes she likes to call “exquisites.”

For those dishes, customers first choose a base from yellow rice, penne pasta or a baked potato, next a protein from chicken, salmon, shrimp or steak, and then vegetables, including broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, onions, peppers and tomatoes.

For the final touch, customers choose among sauces that are drizzled on top, including Cajun (spicy), garlic parmesan, rasta (spicy), four-cheese alfredo, yum yum and miso (sweet).

“I like to call them my little secret weapon recipes when it comes to my cream sauces,” Abdullah said. “It’s just not like your regular alfredo. It’s infused with different herbs.

“All my sauces are infused with different herbs … I try to make it with love and put something in it that’s good, or I like to say exquisite. So it’s like exquisite cream sauces that I made from scratch.”

Abdullah first got interested in cooking because of her mom.

“I always wanted to learn how to cook like my mom,” she said. “I have inspiration from friends and family, of course; just cooking for people.”

As for the smash burgers and wings, Lightning came up with those.

“Our burgers are homemade with 100% beef,” Abdullah interjected. “So I feel like that’s pretty gourmet.

“You can do smash burgers inside like a regular burger. You can put mushrooms on it. You can put bacon on it. You can jazz it up to whatever you like.”

The menu also includes gumbo made with chicken and beef sausage, and salads with a choice of meat and add-ons such as tomatoes, cucumbers, boiled eggs, shredded cheese and such. Customers also may add extra meats to the dishes, such as shrimp to the gumbo, if they’d like.

For breakfast, the restaurant offers waffle sandwiches, buttermilk biscuit sandwiches, omelets, a classic breakfast with choice of meat, two eggs, hash browns or grits, and biscuit or toast. Shrimp and grits also are available.

With the success of the restaurant in just a short time since opening May 16, Lightning expects to move to a new location in a couple of months that will offer dine-in and focus on their speciality menu.

He also expects to keep the current takeout spot open but with a limited menu.

“We’re gonna do just like quick stuff like burgers and fries. But if you want more of our exquisites, you’ll have to come over to the sit-down restaurant,” he said.

If all goes according to plan, the new dine-in location will be in a suite in a nearby strip shopping center anchored by E-Z Buy convenience store and Sunoco at 200 Ga. 96 that’s kitty-corner to the current location.

The current location off Old Perry Road has one table with several chairs for customers to wait for their food that’s made-to-order. A pavilion with three picnic tables also is available for customers to eat outside.

Customers may order at the counter, call ahead or order delivery through DoorDash.

Hours are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, and 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The number is 478-318-8492.