Thevictorians Strap on Yet Another Feedbag

Thursday, we went to a local catfish house for Val's belated Mother's Day dinner. I chose 2:00, since I figured it was an off time that wouldn't be crowded. Because, you know, who goes to a Mother's Day dinner almost two weeks after Mother's Day, and in the middle of the afternoon? Well! Apparently, a lot of people! The parking lot was almost full. The lunch special is from 11:00 to 4:00, with $3 per person cheaper than the dinner time option.

We have eaten here many times over the past 40 years. It used to be fantastic. Then a new owner took over, and it was abysmal. Then another owner, and it was okay. You never know what you're going to get. Might as well feast on a box of chocolates!

Anyhoo... I was not pleased by our table. It was in the center of the room, not along the wall. It was a basic square table. Usually, even though there are only three of us, we get a rectangular table on the wall, with plenty of room for the plates. Also, I was right under a vent. I was freezing most of the time. Which was a lot. The time.

It's not hard to order. Of course we wanted the all-you-can eat option, with shrimp, catfish, and chicken, plus as many of the designated free sides as we chose. Which were SLAW, baked beans, and sidewinder potatoes (fries). We asked for plenty of tartar sauce, and the sweet and sour chicken sauce. I had a jar of water to drink, while The Pony chose a Sprite option, and Hick had iced tea.

We waited. And waited. And waited some more. It was disheartening to see people who were there when we arrived, still without their food. I'd say it took 25 minutes before our platter came out. AND THEN the waitress noted that our table had a wobble. Indeed. It did. We were ready to dig into the food, but that gal got down on her hands and knees to inspect the table legs! THEN she went to get something to fix it. And came back to get under the table again. We didn't care. We just wanted to eat while the food was warm! She tried putting a little orange plastic wedge under two different table legs. TWICE! But that only made the wobble worse. I finally said, "I think we're good. We'll put a foot on it."

We almost forgot a picture! There's our main platter. We've already taken a helping. The Pony gave me too many of those potatoes. I have a piece of catfish, and the chicken, my favorite, which I've torn in half. There's the bowl of slaw in front of me. Not gonna lie, I told everyone I was going to eat it right out of the bowl, but with my fork, not the serving spoon. It's family style, and we're a family! Hick took a portion before I started eating it. He had the baked beans all to himself, anyway.

There's a better look of our platter. The hush puppies always come with it. I don't see the attraction in the shrimp. You can get the same thing out of the freezer case at the grocery store. The catfish IS quite tasty. On the first platter... The chicken is white meat. It used to be served in full breast pieces, but now has been cut into strips.

These days, when you ask for more, you don't get the best. You might see the edge of our second platter. We didn't ask for much. Just one piece of chicken, some catfish, and a few shrimp. You might notice that the catfish is now mostly fried skin! As Hick said, "Their fillets are getting a bit thin." Also, the chicken was really thin on the second round. I think they need to modify their descriptions on the menu. To describe how you get a serving in the beginning, and scraps if you want more. It's not like they let you take home anything left. 

Look at this! My piece of chicken was in the shape of a fish, heh, heh! Despite having thin scraps for our second helping, most of the food was quite delicious. I'm sure we will go back sometime within the year. Hopefully I will take a jacket to prevent freezing, and Hick will clamp his foot onto the table leg so the wobble won't be noticed.