‘Ain’t no place like this right here.’ How Donzelle’s closing will impact Conway

On a gloomy Thursday morning, tables and booths in Donzelle’s Restaurant fill with old friends, couples and travelers passing through.

Next week, on Christmas Eve, Donzelle’s will close its doors for the last time.

As the Conway institution prepares to close for good, customers aren’t ready to say goodbye.

“This is good medicine, this table right here,” said Donzelle’s regular Joe Benton, who has been meeting friends for breakfast at the restaurant most mornings for the last 16 years. “You come in feeling bad, you leave with a smile on your face.”

Donzelle’s is foundational in the Conway community. Since Donzelle and Willard Dickerson opened the restaurant 63 years ago, it’s served countless customers and garnered a devoted group of patrons.

“I’m glad that I could continue this legacy … this is what I was meant to do,” said Marley Crotts, the granddaughter of Donzelle and Willard. Crotts grew up working in Donzelle’s and now co-owns the restaurant with her father, Larry Dickerson.

“It’s a sense of belonging. It’s a sense of family. It is a sense of comfort, and it’s your second home away from home,” Crotts said. “It’s like ‘Cheers.’ Everybody knows your name, and if not, we’re going to figure it out.”

While loyal patrons praise the food, diners say the people are the key ingredient that make Donzelle’s truly special. Crotts knows all her regulars with a seemingly endless knowledge of their routines and orders. When diners miss their usual meals, the folks at Donzelle’s notice, and when regulars are sick, Crotts checks in and tries to help out.

“I’ve been coming here so long, they don’t even ask me what I want, and they just bring it out,” said longtime patron Pat Gregory, who first started dining at Donzelle’s in 1958. “Marley goes to get me the paper, and they just treat me like I’m somebody special, and they’re the ones that’s special, because they’re like family.”

But after 63 years, the Dickersons are ready to close Donzelle’s. After more than 40 years at the restaurant, Crotts’s father, Larry Dickerson is ready to retire. Crotts, who gets up at 3:30 each morning and never took a honeymoon after a decade of marriage, is also ready for a break.

“I know just about everybody that comes in and out of here, and it’s just part of a way of life that really is kind of slipping away. Everything’s going to bigger commercial stuff,” said Benton’s friend Darrell Langston, who’s eaten at Donzelle’s for 50 years. “Our number one topic of discussion for the last couple of months is where we’re going. There really ain’t no place like this right here.”

Since Donzelle and Willard opened the eatery more than six decades, not much has changed at Donzelle’s across three generations of Dickersons. “We keep things the same,” Crotts explains.

Customers love the eatery’s affordable prices, “meat and three” meals and familiar comfort food, which Gregory says tastes like her mother used to make. Simple, but delicious, customer favorites include southern classics like grits and Lowcountry specials such as chicken bog.

Looking to the future

As Crotts hustles between the phone, the kitchen and the counter plastered with family photographs and filled with receipt paper and Bibles, customers ask about her plans for the future.

Although Donzelle’s is closing its doors, Crotts plans to make her return to the Grand Strand’s food scene.

“This is just the beginning,” she said. “It’s not the end of my story.”

Looking to the future, Crotts wants to open another spot specializing in southern comfort food, “the stuff that sticks to your bones.” She’s considering incorporating Odessa, her grandmother’s middle name, as another tribute to the Donzelle’s namesake.

“The best is yet to come, and I’ve learned from the best, learned from the absolute best,” Crotts said.

This story was originally published December 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.