Sign’s up on M & J Home Cooking: ‘We will reopen mid-December.’ Follow the drama in our series of window posters below.

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Closed since midsummer, M & J Home Cooking off Shorter Avenue in West Rome is slowly making a comeback. A new sign in the middle window — the best communication device since this all began — has more news. “We will reopen mid-December.”

The popular country buffet shut down quietly but in late July or early August. The uproar has been anything but quiet ever since. Former patrons have called other locations in the M & J family, demanding answers, while others have stopped anyone found inside (if they spotted a car in the parking lot) in search of information. Two developing threads had the restaurant closes for good while the operator of a popular Cartersville buffet, John Boy’s Home Cooking Country Buffet, said he was interesting in perhaps opening there. Why all the fuss? We can say this: In nearly 12 years of serving Northwest Georgia, Hometown Headlines has received more calls, texts and emails about the fate of M & J’s than any other restaurant in the region (including Five Guys’ sudden departure).

Throughout it all, a series of signs have appeared in the above center window. They appear below, in sequence:

From early August: “We’re so sorry for the inconvenience but we are temporarily closed.” See the underlined temporarily.

From mid-September: A fan sign, “We Love M & J’s” inside a heart was first outside the middle window but later was found inside the glass.

Progress! By mid-October, a new sign was up, telling customers “We will reopen soon — around mid-November.”

What we found on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 24. “We will reopen mid-December.”

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