This is one of those places where Friday and Sunday are basically eating at two different restaurants.
Same address, completely different appetite.
At this Georgia buffet, the spread shifts depending on the day, so timing matters before you ever pick up a plate. Friday and Saturday lean harder into seafood. Sunday changes the mood and brings more country cooking into the mix.
I kind of like a buffet with a schedule.
It gives you a reason to come back without pretending every visit needs to look the same.
The restaurant has been family-run for years, and while the name changed recently, the comfort-food side of the meal is still very much part of the story.
So before you head out, check the day.
Your appetite may have picked the calendar before you did.
The Restaurant’s Current Name Arrived In 2025
Rivers Run Catfish and Seafood House did not start with that name. Ronald and Melody bought a small country buffet restaurant in Milner in 2015, operating it for years as Tim’s Lighthouse Country Cooking.
In 2025, the family changed the name to Rivers Run Catfish and Seafood House.
The change also fits the way the food evolved. The operation began as a country buffet, then added catfish, followed later by the larger seafood spreads that now define Friday and Saturday service.
oThe current name puts those two parts of the menu front and center without dropping the Southern dishes that were there first.
That history is useful when older references still use the Tim’s Lighthouse name. Both names point to the same Milner restaurant under the same family ownership, so an older mention does not necessarily mean a different place.
There is no need to turn the backstory into the main event once the plate arrives. The practical takeaway is simpler: this is a long-running local buffet whose menu expanded over time, and the 2025 name change reflects the food visitors now see during the weekend.
For a first visit, let the day matter more than the old sign. The schedule and menu give a much clearer picture of what will be waiting.
Friday And Saturday Are The Main Seafood Nights
The weekend schedule makes the rhythm easy to understand. Friday and Saturday service runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., while Sunday runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday are the two days specifically built around the larger seafood buffet.
That makes an evening visit the natural choice when seafood is the priority. Friday and Saturday bring whole catfish, catfish fillets, scallops, grilled salmon, shrimp scampi, fried shrimp, oysters, cold shrimp, and a Louisiana crawfish boil.
Other items vary by day, with Friday including lemon-pepper perch and whiting, while Saturday adds oxtails.
The country side of the buffet stays in the picture too, so choosing the seafood option does not mean giving up fried chicken, vegetables, bread, salad, or dessert. The broader selection lets one table split in several directions without everyone needing the same kind of plate.
Rivers Run Catfish and Seafood House is at 163 Main St, Milner, GA 30257. Because the public schedule is concentrated into Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, checking the day before making the drive is more useful than assuming weekday dinner hours.
If seafood is the reason for going, Friday or Saturday is the straightforward call.
Catfish Gets Its Own Place In The Buffet Lineup
Catfish is more than one item mixed into a long seafood list. Whole catfish and catfish fillets are both part of the Friday and Saturday offerings, and the restaurant separates its weekend buffet choices into country, catfish, and seafood levels.
That setup lets appetite decide how far to go. Someone interested mainly in Southern vegetables, chicken, and the country spread can stay with that portion of the buffet. A catfish-focused meal adds another direction without requiring the full seafood selection.
The seafood level opens the broadest Friday and Saturday assortment.
Some items work outside the standard buffet flow. With the seafood buffet, fried oysters, oysters Rockefeller, steamed oysters, or shrimp and grits can be requested.
Crab legs are priced separately rather than included as an unlimited buffet item, and seafood buckets are another separate option on Friday and Saturday.
Those distinctions matter when several people at one table have different plans. One diner may be happy with catfish and sides, while another wants shrimp, scallops, salmon, and oysters.
Asking which buffet level fits the plate you have in mind is easier than discovering the difference after everyone has started filling plates.
Prices can change, so the food format is more useful to remember than one exact dollar figure.
Southern Favorites Still Anchor The Meal
Seafood may get extra attention on Friday and Saturday, but the country buffet remains a large part of the restaurant’s identity. Fried chicken and baked chicken appear alongside vegetables, starches, salad, bread, and rotating meat dishes.
Friday pairs the chicken choices with either barbecue beef brisket or meatloaf, rotating between them.
The vegetable side includes oven-roasted potatoes, baked potatoes, rice, green beans, cream corn, collards, crowder peas, and grits.
Saturday changes the rotating meat to beef tips with rice or hamburger steak patties and switches the potato lineup to mashed and baked potatoes.
That is enough variation to make the day matter even before reaching the seafood. Someone who wants meatloaf cannot assume it appears every Friday, and the same applies to the other rotating dishes.
Treat the rotation as part of the buffet format rather than a guarantee that every favorite will appear on every visit.
Dessert is built into the buffet lineup as well. Chocolate delight, banana pudding, apple cobbler, peach cobbler, and blackberry cobbler appear on the Friday and Saturday menus.
Save room deliberately. A buffet makes it remarkably easy to spend all your appetite on the first plate and remember cobbler only when standing up to leave.
Sunday Changes The Menu And The Pace
Sunday is not simply a daytime copy of Friday or Saturday. Service runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the menu shifts toward a country buffet with a separate catfish choice.
The Sunday meat lineup includes baked ham, hamburger steak patties or roast beef, fried chicken, chicken livers, and baked chicken.
The vegetable selection expands across mashed potatoes, dressing, rutabagas, stewed tomatoes, sweet potatoes, macaroni and cheese, butter beans, green beans, cream corn, collards, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, boiled cabbage, salad, and bread.
Catfish works differently on Sunday. The regular country buffet does not include it, but diners can choose the catfish buffet option. With that selection, catfish is served hot at the table and is offered all you can eat.
Dessert also widens on Sunday. Dessert can include chocolate delight, banana pudding, sugar-free cheesecake, key lime cupcakes, strawberry shortcake, apple cobbler, peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler, dirt cake, and Kool-Aid pie.
So the Sunday decision is fairly clean. Go for the country spread alone, or add catfish if that is the reason you made the trip. Either way, the menu is different enough from the two seafood nights to deserve its own plan.
Seafood Buckets And Extras Sit Outside The Main Buffet
Not every seafood choice belongs to the buffet itself. Friday and Saturday also bring seafood buckets and separately priced crab legs, which gives the table another route when someone wants something more specific.
The bucket options include crab-leg buckets served with red potatoes, corn, and shrimp, along with crawfish buckets and shrimp buckets. Crab legs can also be purchased separately by the pound or half-pound.
That matters because “seafood buffet” can sound as though every seafood item in the building is automatically unlimited. It is not. The buffet has its own selection, while crab legs and the bucket choices follow separate pricing.
The same principle applies to deciding how much food the table actually needs. A seafood buffet already offers a long list of fish and shellfish.
So, adding a bucket makes more sense when the specific ingredients are the point rather than simply ordering more for the sake of quantity.
A quick look at the options before filling the first plate can prevent an overly ambitious order. Start with the buffet level that matches your appetite, then decide whether a bucket or crab legs still sound necessary.
The selection is broad enough that restraint can be a useful dining skill.
A Little Planning Makes The Visit Simpler
Rivers Run uses first-come, first-served seating for parties smaller than 15. Reservations are available for groups of 15 or more, with additional rules for larger parties and banquet-room use.
That makes group size the first practical question. A couple or small family can simply arrive during service, while a large gathering should arrange the details ahead of time.
For banquet reservations, the restaurant uses scheduled time slots and asks larger groups to coordinate through one primary contact.
Takeout is available too. Diners can fill a to-go plate and pay at the front, while phone orders are generally reserved for large trays or catering. Anyone ordering five or more whole catfish is asked to let the restaurant know so the kitchen can start a ticket.
Accessibility is another straightforward detail: the restaurant provides wheelchair-accessible entry and space, along with high chairs and boosters for families who need them. A large parking area also accommodates bigger vehicles.
The easiest first visit still comes down to the menu calendar. Pick Friday or Saturday when seafood variety is the goal. Choose Sunday for the country spread and table-served catfish option.
Then leave enough appetite for dessert, because banana pudding and cobbler are much harder decisions when the plate is already full.