After leaving Columbus, Mississippi, we traveled about an hour north to Tupelo to spend the night. We inquired of our desk clerk of any local restaurants where we could enjoy fried catfish. He suggested Cravin' Catfish which was about 10 miles away. After getting settled in our room, we set out for the short drive to Sherman, Mississippi.
Some of my restaurant review posts are a breeze to write because everything was enjoyable from service to atmosphere, to the food. This review post, unfortunately, will not be one of those. I always try to find the good in our dining experiences. I will attempt that with this post.
I was on a culinary high from our previous night's meal at The Old Hickory Steak House. So when we pulled up into Cravin' Catfish's massive parking lot, I overlooked the rustic exterior hoping we had hit the fried catfish lottery waiting for us inside the cavernous building.
Upon entering, we were immediately greeted by the cashier who informed us that we were to pay before entering the dining room. The price included the buffet, beverage, and dessert. Again, we had high hopes, so we paid. She then instructed us to go to the dining area (which was the size of two gymnasiums) and to find a table. At which time we were to sit down, wait on a server to take our drink order, and THEN we could proceed to the buffet.
So far so good? We entered the dining room and we were met with dozens of tables which had not been cleared. About the same number of tables had diners. There was not one clean table to be had. We wandered through the maze of tables until we finally located one with no plates or glasses. Sweet Harold did have to use the paper towels to clean the table because no bus boys or servers were to be found.
Our server arrived after 5 minutes or so and took our drink order and gave us yet further instructions. She pointed out a clothes pin fastened on the top of a 2-foot rod fastened to the table. If we were to need anything, we were to place the card lying on the table onto the clothes pin.
As you can see, the card has seen far better days.
At last, all the instructions had been given, and we were given permission to go to the buffet line and begin our dining experience.
So, here we go and I will certainly try to find the positives.
The plates were styrofoam and so were the salad bowls. I began with a bowl of shredded Iceberg lettuce. I didn't have a lot of time to peruse the topping selections because there was a throng of hungry diners who were ready to eat! I topped my lettuce with a little shredded cheese and then finished it with some suspiciously thin Ranch dressing. I grabbed a few boiled shrimp and a small cup of cocktail sauce. Because of the crowd, the food trays on the buffet were barely filled. I took a small serving of macaroni and cheese and a few hush puppies.
I took that plate to the table and returned to try to locate the catfish! On that trip, I saw offerings of green beans, rice, french fries, collards, cole slaw, pork loin, fried chicken, chicken fingers, whole catfish, onion rings, and probably more that I have forgotten or didn't notice.
Here's my secondary plate. I had a baked potato, shrimp scampi, blackened baked fish, fried okra, and catfish filets.
So here's MY review of MY food. I won't speak for Sweet Harold on this one.
The salad was, of course, disappointing. The boiled shrimp had absolutely no taste. No seasoning, no flavor, nothing. The hush puppies were good, but not hot. The mac and cheese was sorely overcooked as to be mushy.
The baked potato was also extremely overcooked and tough. The shrimp scampi was passable. The blackened baked fish, even though it looked seasoned, had no discernable taste. The fried okra was the pre-battered frozen variety and tasted as such.
Finally, the catfish. Well seasoned ! Crunchy cornmeal crust! Fried to perfection! Now, if I had been able to come in to this restaurant, be greeted and taken to a clean table, and order a plate of catfish, hushpuppies, and a decent salad, this would be an entirely different review.
Needless to say, we didn't go back for seconds or thirds. We also didn't attempt to even find the dessert choices.
Sweet Harold summed up our meal best: "If you want a lot of food and don't particularly care what it tastes like, this is the place for you."
Let the diner beware. I've warned you.
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