Reader-Nominated Businesses Of The Year: Forsyth County's Best

CUMMING, GA — It's been a tough year for Forsyth County and Cumming businesses. The coronavirus pandemic presented enormous challenges for most, from the stay-home orders in the spring to restrictions and other hurdles from fall into winter.

To recognize all their efforts, Patch asked readers to nominate Local Businesses of the Year, whether it was the restaurant that made special accommodations for takeout, the shop that opened early, the pizzeria that went out of its way to deliver, the hardware store owner that offered invaluable advice or something else.

These nominations are not an official award, but simply recognition of a job well done.

Here are some of the nominations Patch has received in Forsyth County and Cumming, and the reason why they should be honored. Several businesses received multiple nominations, which are listed below:

• Family Haven: Batter Women Shelter advocating for victims of domestic violence. They are available 24/7 to assist those in need.
• Community Cup Coffee: Community Cup offers the best coffee in town, hands down. During the pandemic, the owner gave some of her proceeds to help another local restaurant stay open. That was pretty incredible considering she very nearly had to close her own shop. She is continually giving back to the community--her business model is built on it (a portion of proceeds are given to CURE for child cancer research). We are very lucky to have Jalynn and Community Cup in Cumming!
• Los Rios Mexican Restaurant: Los Rios, a family-run restaurant with delicious food and drinks, offered food delivery during the early part of the pandemic/shutdown. If you're a regular customer, then you probably know the entire staff by name (and vice versa). They give back to the community, and we are lucky to have them in our county!
• Sahni Ent: Great people and very understanding, Time offs, Perks, Friday lunches
• EMI Scrapbook Store: Owner goes out of her way to accommodate her customers with curbside pickup and internet sales to help home bound crafters
• Brecht Stables: Non profit to help handicapped children
• Neighbors Tree Care ,LLC: Great,knowable staff and they do a good job.
• Three Little Teepees: AMAZING alternative to celebrate your child’s birthday or outdoor event. They provide unique options including teepee sleepover parties (they deliver, setup and pickup) as well as offer a luxury Belle Tent for baby showers/weddings and bohemian style brunches and dinners! They sanitize all of their equipment after each and every party including the fabric. What better way to celebrate during these times than in the comfort of your own home or backyard?
• Peach State Party Rentals: Great Customer Service and Products. Provides tents for outdoor event areas, parties, weddings and activities along with bounce houses and outdoor games which is important during the current pandemic. 5 Star rating on Google, Facebook & Yelp
• Cherry Street Brewpub at Halcyon:
  • Amazing upscale tavern & chef inspired food, 18 house brewed beers on draft - absolutely mouth watering!, beautiful modern industrial design & warm atmosphere, very hospitable service, lots to offer - amazing outdoor beer garden, 21+ space & family dining room side.
  • Amazing Food and Beverage, Great Staff, Great Service. They really care about the details.
  • The food and beer is the best pub fare I’ve ever had! The staff are knowledgeable and friendly and the atmosphere is busy and fun!
• Marie's Italian Deli:
  • Great food and great people!!! How much could you ask for?
  • Family owned business that was very helpful during this pandemic with staying open as much as possible, offering curbside pickups and went above and beyond with donations to others!
• AMORE- European Pastry and Cake: Amazing cakes and pastries Awesome customer service. A very clean and safe place to enjoy the sweets!
• Dragon Buffet: Great service, and food! We eat there at least 3 times a week.
• Village Italian: Excellent food, taste like NY
• Thai Basil: Their food is delicious as it always has been, and they have really stepped up to the covid challenge, with an easy way to order online and great service at their curbside pickup. They've also made outdoor dining possible in cooler weather with heaters on a sheltered patio.
• Forsyth County Head Start: Opened during the summer for us to go to work
• River Mill Bakery: Wonderful baked goods, perfect coffee, and warm welcoming staff.
• Music Authority: Wonderful staff and owners. Pushed through when music lessons had to go virtual and kept all the students and bands moving forward with their music! Worked with all the conditions of Covid so the students could still perform live shows. Also kept all their instructors and staff employed.
• Tam's Backstage: always good food and great service
• Lake Burrito: They stepped up their game, adapted and improvised.
• The Burger Stop: Rex Allen is the owner & he-always makes sure you have a great dining experience!!! Plus his hamburgers are the best in Forsyth County hands down. They are made to order, his service & staff are amazing, & you will not go away hungry. Rex is a wonderful human bring likes to pick a little bluegrass, on Sunday afternoons he’s been known to invite some pickers up to the restaurant for jamming sessions a Andy Griffith style whe he had the Darlings on aka the Dillards in real life. Parking is real easy to slip In & out of a space in no time!!! He also has other items on his menu besides burgers, hot dogs , chilly cheese steak sandwiches, French fries , onion rings, even got a chili burger salad!!! I have eaten several of those & I swear they are so delicious it will help you lose weight & have a great meal too!!! So stop in at The Burger Stop & check out the menu!! It’s just too much to list!! Oh, got old timey dipped ice cream cones milk shakes & Red Velvet cookies!!! Truly a gem of a place that will take you back in time. So I vote for the Burger Stop for Restaurant / Business of the year. At least there is something still dang good in 2020!!
• Complete Water Removal and Restoration, Inc.: They’re family owned and operated and have been in business for the industry for about 8 years. They are a disaster recovery business that handles floods, mold, asbestos, plumbing issues, fire and are now getting into roofing as well. They are just a great group of people that really go out of their way to make you feel as comfortable as you can under such devastating situations. They explain every aspect of what’s going to take place and answer any questions that you may have. They can deal directly with your insurance company so that you don’t have to and get you the best outcome possible! They’ve even gone behind other restoration companies to fix things that weren’t done correctly
  to begin with! They’re all such gentlemen and work so well together and make sure your home furnishings and personal items are all taken very good care of! I know I was freaking out and didn’t know what to do so a friend of mine recommended I call Complete Water and Restoration so I googled them and was so happy to see their reviews . I then checked the BBB and there they were with an A+ rating with great reviews as well! I immediately called them (around 11:00) and was greeted by John Henderson (the owner). I was in a panic and he put me right at ease. He himself came over within about 30-45 minutes and checked out where the water was coming from (which was from behind my refrigerator). Apparently the ice maker line wasn’tworking properly and had been leaking from behind my refrigerator for quite a while but I couldn’t see it due to the location and the water had been running down into my wooden floors and spread throughout my house through the grooves in the grout and finally rose to the top. My entire flooring on my main level and enclosed basement had to be replaced. I was frantic but John went over everything that was going to have to be done to get my house back together and assured me he and his “crew” could take care of it for me that he knows to him it may come across as not such a big deal but that’s only because he’s been dealing with floods for years and he understands that it’s new to me but that if I wanted we could call my insurance company together and she would see that everything he told me would take place that my insurance company is going to tell me the exact same thing so we did and sure enough they said the exact same thing John said. I felt so relieved that I had called Complete Water Removal and not some other company that tried to upscale me or not take my freaking out into consideration and not only that but actually sit and call my insurance company with me and speak to them on my behalf because I had no idea where to start! He even got my insurance company to set me up in a house (because I have 2 dogs) similar to the one one I was one I was living in and was closer to my work! As I went to pack a few things I would need to take with me John called his crew to come over to stop the leak and start working on getting my house not only back to like it previously was but even better! I was able to pick out different flooring and cabinets due to the water reaching the wood to my cabinets causing them to be needing replaced as well. They did such a great job keeping me up to date on every step of the way from my furniture and personal items being boxed up and handled as gently as if it were their own. They got me a couple of climate controlled storage units that they moved my things into while they went straight to work on removing my flooring throughout my entire house and took out some drywall so that they could put equipment in to dry the interior walls out so that mold wouldn’t begin to grow. They informed me mold will begin to grow within 72 hours of water just sitting. I was pretty shocked that I’m that amount of time I could have had mold but fortunately they sent a sample of my flooring and drywall to be tested for mold and it came back negative thank goodness! Once the drywall & flooring was taken up and out and everything was dried out they began the rebuild. Other than having to stay somewhere else (which was actually very nice and comfortable and closer to my work) I didn’t have to do anything except pick out the flooring, cabinets and paint colors I wanted for the rebuild. The whole team was so respectful to me and my belongings and did an amazing job! I was so thankful they dealt with my insurance company and just took care of everything and made me feel so at ease and confident in the decision I had made in calling the right people for the job. By the time my house was finished (which didn’t seem to take long at all even though it was a couple of months, which was expected) I felt like I had known these guys for a long time! They were such good people with great personalities and they even had jokes! LOL!! I couldn’t come close to telling you how happy I was at the job they did. My house looked beautiful!! It almost looked like I was moving into a new home. They did superior work, kept me informed and were all complete gentlemen! Everything turned out just as John told me it would and I couldn’t be any happier!! This was also during the pandemic which made it even worse but they followed all of the strict and necessary protocols to stay safe and keep me safe as well! I would definitely use Complete Water again for any issues that arise and HIGHLY recommend this company to everyone that should need their services!! Just read their reviews and you’ll see why so many people have used them and referred them to so many other people. They’re an A+ rated BBB company, they’re on HomeAdvisor, Google and several magazines. Thank you so much Complete Water Removal and Restoration for proving to me that there still are companies out there that you can count on, trust and go way above and beyond what you’re actual job description requires that you do. I truly couldn’t be happier with your work and your genuine kindness.

You can continue to nominate any Forsyth County and Cumming business you feel should be recognized.