Table Talk

By Richard

October 17, 2008 3:49 PM | Link to this

Midway Meal House in Alpharetta has some great catfish. However, you can only get it on Fridays & Saturdays.

By Lynn

October 17, 2008 3:54 PM | Link to this

Six Feet Under…anything at Six Feet is tasty!

By Michael G.

October 17, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this

Cracker Barrel has decent fried catfish with all of their trimmings. Only place around that I can find it on the breakfast menu, like old No. Florida diners that served “Catfish & Yellow Grits”.

By Mike D

October 17, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this

I don’t think you can get it or its not as good in large cities. The best places are usually in smaller towns.

By Britt T.

October 17, 2008 4:24 PM | Link to this

Bowlings Landing in Tallapoosa, GA!!!! GREAT frog legs and steaks too!!!!!!!

By Barbara T

October 17, 2008 4:25 PM | Link to this

You can get great fried catfish at the Longstreet’s Restuarant in Gainesville. Their hushpuppies are good, also. They serve it only on Friday at lunch/dinner. Longstreet Restuarant is a great place to eat anyway if you enjoy good down home cooking….

By Kathy

October 17, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this

I just had excellent fried catfish at Six Feet Under on Memorial Dr., across from Oakland Cemetary. It was crunchy and not greasy.

By Creole Girl

October 17, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this

Pappadeaux Seafood on Windy Hill Rd. Everything they serve is delicious.

By Kathy

October 17, 2008 4:30 PM | Link to this

I just had excellent fried catfish at Six Feet Under on Memorial Dr., across from Oakland Cemetary. It was crunchy and not greasy.

By reservoirDAWG

October 17, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

My mom is a long time fried catfish afficinado. After a Braves game we stopped at Six Feet Under and she said it was the best she’d ever had.

By Kathy

October 17, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this

I just had excellent fried catfish at Six Feet Under on Memorial Dr., across from Oakland Cemetary. It was crunchy and not greasy.

By Because someone had to do it

October 17, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this

The best catfish at the best price is that I prepare in my own kitchen at home.

Bwa ha hahahahaha!

By Catfish Hunter

October 17, 2008 4:38 PM | Link to this

Busy Bee Cafe Carver’s Thelma’s Oakwood Cafe

By Fishy

October 17, 2008 4:48 PM | Link to this

Hendersons in Covington used to be good - is it still worth the drive?

By Paul

October 17, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this

Without a doubt the best fried catfish in the world is served @ Herb’s in Oconee GA. It might be a little rural for some of you Atlanta yankees but it is the best in the world.

By Paul

October 17, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this

Without a doubt the best fried catfish in the world is served @ Herb’s in Oconee GA. It might be a little rural for some of you Atlanta yankees but it is the best in the world.

By steve

October 17, 2008 5:04 PM | Link to this

Barbeque Street in Kennesaw has great catfish.

By John

October 17, 2008 5:12 PM | Link to this

The Lighthouse in Griffin, GA. The catfish and buffet is terrific!

By Emma

October 17, 2008 5:14 PM | Link to this

Lighthouse in Milner, Rio Vista in Jackson, Falls View in High Falls, Henderson’s in Covington, Billy’s in Covington and Chappy’s on Lake Sinclair are all good. They are all are worth the drive.

By redtop

October 17, 2008 5:16 PM | Link to this

Now I want some fried catfish!! Backstreet BBQ in Kennesaw has pretty good catfish as does The Catfish Den in Hiram (I haven’t been there recently though). My late daddy fried up the best though.

By Preston

October 17, 2008 5:17 PM | Link to this

I agree with Paul…Herb’s in Oconee is unbelievably good! I will go visit friends there and let them think that it’s all about them… but it’s not! After Herb’s you have to go to Sandersville and get a soft serve ice cream at Dairy Lane…it’s the best evah!

By Mrs. Warren

October 17, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this

Norman’s Landing in Cumming has some good catfish but not as good as Top of The River in Gadsden, AL.

By Eatin in Atl.

October 17, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this

Ann and Bill’s in Forest park has a great catfish plate and everything else there (fried chicken country, fried steak) is awesome. Great down-home southern food.

By Michael

October 17, 2008 6:30 PM | Link to this

Best fried catfish? Without a doubt, that would be Rio Vista in Jackson.

By Good Eating

October 17, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this

Big Ma’s in Uvalda, ga

By Charlie Roquemore

October 17, 2008 6:49 PM | Link to this

There are several excellent catfish restaurants on the southside. Our personal favorite is Riverbend Restaurant off of Hwy. 36 outside of Thomaston. It is a 50 minute drive from our house just south of Fayetteville, and worth every minute. The catfish, fries, slaw and hushpuppies are the greatest!! Another very good catfish restaurant is Catfish Hollow in Sharpsburg. Another is the Lighthouse, near Milner.

By Mega

October 17, 2008 7:05 PM | Link to this

“This Is It” has good whole fried catfish which I prefer over fillets. I have only been to the one off of Wesley Chapel and the one at Stonecrest Mall area. They also have sandwiches.

By Fred

October 17, 2008 7:11 PM | Link to this

I would suggest that you rarely see fried catfish on a menu because you are too busy chasing the money and “reviewing” the so called “popular” restaurants that mindless yuppies flock too to be seen at or to say they have been to rather than to restaurants that actually have good food.

You are hot to suck up to mindless Yankees by your review of this restaurant to begin with. They had money, they sent press releases, you went and ate. GOOD restaurants don’t need to send press releases and are rarely chains. They get THEIR business because the people who dine there are either too stupid to read reviews, don’t care what a paid reviewer has to say, or are not sheep who will flock to a place because it gets a “good” review. Us dumbass Southerners don’t really give a fat rats butt what Yankees call scrod. Just as those damn yankees don’t care about catfish.

I know I am WAY stupid, but I live in the south. I can’t go to a local lake and fish for scrod or cod or whatever the hell it is soI don’t care a thing about it. I am NOT moving up north and IF for some unexplainable reason I had too, I would by polite enough NOT to tell them how much better it was in the South and how we do things there. Advice I think Yankees could learn. If it’s so much better “up there” then move the hell back and leave us alone.

As for a good place to get fried catfish? Well fried catfish (catfish prepared in manner) has not been a particular favorite of mine so I am not qualified to answer that. I DO however feel I am qualified to make some suggestions on how to find some.

1). Try restaurants that DON’T issue press releases and that you DON’T get paid to eat at. (I know, don’t end a sentence with a preposition, but I’m an ignorant Southerner who speaks his Southern American as proudly, without the arrogance I might add, as a Yankee speaks that harsh sounding crap they speak.)

2). Try going AWAY from the flock. Sheep go to where they are led. A sheep with some sense of individuality who didn’t need to be told where to eat, where to go, and how to act, by definition would not be a sheep. Be bold, try places you haven’t heard of from your yuppie friends. Try places that AREN’T on the “places to be seen”. This paper lists the Atlanta Seafood Company consistently as a good seafood restaurant, but I have as yet had a decent meal there. They don’t have to serve good food because they are on the “trendy” list. Every time I have been forced to eat there, the service was mediocre at best and the food grossly over cooked. Seafood should NOT be tough and chewy. Just a note. I use that as an example, since we are addressing seafood, not as a slam on the pathetic place.

3). Fried Catfish is neither a gourmet food, not anything approaching rocket science. The basic ingredients to make it cost the same at Captain D’s as it does at some fancy Buckhead restaurant that sends you PR’s and money for a review. If you have to pay 20 bucks for some damn fried catfish I doubt it will be good. Try driving down Bankhead Highway, or Old National Highway, and look for a place that advertises fried catfish and has a full parking lot at 2 PM. I would bet my bottom dollar you will find some good catfish in short order.

4). For good “New England” style seafood, i would recommend McCormick and Schmicks (almost certainly spelled incorrectly). They serve good seafood, they might even have fried catfish on the menu. It WILL be over priced for fried catfish, but I feel confident ion saying it will be good as I have never had anything bad there (much to my surprise they do not over cook the seafood as most yankees do).

5). Personal note. I do NOT work for the above restaurant nor do I get any special considerations from there. Unlike the author of this blog, I get paid considerations from neither the blog nor from any restaurant. I also judge a place on it;s food, not on how “popular” it is or who owns it. Nor can I get “fired” if I don’t give a good rating on a restaurant. I have just gotten tired of reading restaurant reviews in the AJC, gone to the place, and found that I could have eaten the money I spent there with more pleasure than I got from eating the food from the bogus review.

By JOYCE

October 20, 2008 8:21 AM | Link to this

For the best fried catfish in middle Georgia try the Country Kitchen in Barnesville, Ga. Same family has owned this restaurant for 30 years. Old building, but clean and cozy and the seafood is fresh and wonderful. The catfish are aqua-grown and beats Lighthouse in Milner by a mile!!

By Nikki

October 20, 2008 8:24 AM | Link to this

Catfish Jim’s in Kennesaw has great fried catfish!

By chefdave

October 20, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this

i havent checked your bio. but tell me while checking out places and most likely getting FREE meals and other comps. what info besides YOUR taste buds do you use to say this or that place has the best food. im retired and spent my life in food service. and i would NEVER recomed a place only on how good the food tastes or service. if i am going to place my reputation and name on a place i MUST be able to see how there food is prepaired and stored befor i would recomend it to anybody. big deal if they have the best tasting catfish iv ever tasted if they also have nast cooks in the kistchen and a nasty kisthen. it would take me at LEAST two months working in the kitchen of that place befor i could give an honest recomendation to anyone to say if i would eat there or not. ie lets say the waitress took a plate of food out to a table and then after a while the person called her over and said hey this isent my order. so the waitress takes the plate of food back to the kitchen and says i got the wrong plate by mistake. and she grabs the plate that has been sitting under the heat lamps all this time and takes it to the table. and meanwhile the plate she returned to the kitchen is? done what with? sent back out to the table it was supposed to go to or was it thrown out and a new order cooked and sent out. hmmmmmmm MOST places will just send it back out. if its still hot theyll send it back out and if not they will either nuke it or redrop the food into the deepfrier or nuke some of it and replace some of it and redrop the fish that was cold and serve it on another plate. however i would toss out the whole plate and cook a new one. you ask why would i waste the food? well who knows what happened to the food while it was out of the kitchen.? is it flu season? did the person touch the food? and i dont care if its catfish or tenderloin. its going in the trash. and then ther is the so called 3 second rule. any cooked food that hits the floor goes in the trash. and any raw food must be washed off and checked for items suchs as hair and rocks. chicken is hard to just wash hair off of. so as you can see there is alot more then wow the food tastes good as far as saying to your friends yes go eat there its awsome. oh wow what good food as you pull a pubic hair out of your mouth from the awsome breaded shrimp. the bigest problem i faced in foodservice is people not washing there hands and teenagers using the frill picks used in sandwiches as intennas as tho they were from outerspace sticking them in there hair or hats or just plain old playing with them ie shooting them through straws like blow darts. kids just want to play and dont think about about nothing else but playing. so think about that the next time you get a blt with frill picks stuck in it. was it a dart or an antinna. retired chef

By chefdave

October 20, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

i havent checked your bio. but tell me while checking out places and most likely getting FREE meals and other comps. what info besides YOUR taste buds do you use to say this or that place has the best food. im retired and spent my life in food service. and i would NEVER recomed a place only on how good the food tastes or service. if i am going to place my reputation and name on a place i MUST be able to see how there food is prepaired and stored befor i would recomend it to anybody. big deal if they have the best tasting catfish iv ever tasted if they also have nast cooks in the kistchen and a nasty kisthen. it would take me at LEAST two months working in the kitchen of that place befor i could give an honest recomendation to anyone to say if i would eat there or not. ie lets say the waitress took a plate of food out to a table and then after a while the person called her over and said hey this isent my order. so the waitress takes the plate of food back to the kitchen and says i got the wrong plate by mistake. and she grabs the plate that has been sitting under the heat lamps all this time and takes it to the table. and meanwhile the plate she returned to the kitchen is? done what with? sent back out to the table it was supposed to go to or was it thrown out and a new order cooked and sent out. hmmmmmmm MOST places will just send it back out. if its still hot theyll send it back out and if not they will either nuke it or redrop the food into the deepfrier or nuke some of it and replace some of it and redrop the fish that was cold and serve it on another plate. however i would toss out the whole plate and cook a new one. you ask why would i waste the food? well who knows what happened to the food while it was out of the kitchen.? is it flu season? did the person touch the food? and i dont care if its catfish or tenderloin. its going in the trash. and then ther is the so called 3 second rule. any cooked food that hits the floor goes in the trash. and any raw food must be washed off and checked for items suchs as hair and rocks. chicken is hard to just wash hair off of. so as you can see there is alot more then wow the food tastes good as far as saying to your friends yes go eat there its awsome. oh wow what good food as you pull a pubic hair out of your mouth from the awsome breaded shrimp. the bigest problem i faced in foodservice is people not washing there hands and teenagers using the frill picks used in sandwiches as intennas as tho they were from outerspace sticking them in there hair or hats or just plain old playing with them ie shooting them through straws like blow darts. kids just want to play and dont think about about nothing else but playing. so think about that the next time you get a blt with frill picks stuck in it. was it a dart or an antinna. retired chef

By chefdave

October 20, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

i havent checked your bio. but tell me while checking out places and most likely getting FREE meals and other comps. what info besides YOUR taste buds do you use to say this or that place has the best food. im retired and spent my life in food service. and i would NEVER recomed a place only on how good the food tastes or service. if i am going to place my reputation and name on a place i MUST be able to see how there food is prepaired and stored befor i would recomend it to anybody. big deal if they have the best tasting catfish iv ever tasted if they also have nast cooks in the kistchen and a nasty kisthen. it would take me at LEAST two months working in the kitchen of that place befor i could give an honest recomendation to anyone to say if i would eat there or not. ie lets say the waitress took a plate of food out to a table and then after a while the person called her over and said hey this isent my order. so the waitress takes the plate of food back to the kitchen and says i got the wrong plate by mistake. and she grabs the plate that has been sitting under the heat lamps all this time and takes it to the table. and meanwhile the plate she returned to the kitchen is? done what with? sent back out to the table it was supposed to go to or was it thrown out and a new order cooked and sent out. hmmmmmmm MOST places will just send it back out. if its still hot theyll send it back out and if not they will either nuke it or redrop the food into the deepfrier or nuke some of it and replace some of it and redrop the fish that was cold and serve it on another plate. however i would toss out the whole plate and cook a new one. you ask why would i waste the food? well who knows what happened to the food while it was out of the kitchen.? is it flu season? did the person touch the food? and i dont care if its catfish or tenderloin. its going in the trash. and then ther is the so called 3 second rule. any cooked food that hits the floor goes in the trash. and any raw food must be washed off and checked for items suchs as hair and rocks. chicken is hard to just wash hair off of. so as you can see there is alot more then wow the food tastes good as far as saying to your friends yes go eat there its awsome. oh wow what good food as you pull a pubic hair out of your mouth from the awsome breaded shrimp. the bigest problem i faced in foodservice is people not washing there hands and teenagers using the frill picks used in sandwiches as intennas as tho they were from outerspace sticking them in there hair or hats or just plain old playing with them ie shooting them through straws like blow darts. kids just want to play and dont think about about nothing else but playing. so think about that the next time you get a blt with frill picks stuck in it. was it a dart or an antinna. retired chef

By chefdave

October 20, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this

i havent checked your bio. but tell me while checking out places and most likely getting FREE meals and other comps. what info besides YOUR taste buds do you use to say this or that place has the best food. im retired and spent my life in food service. and i would NEVER recomed a place only on how good the food tastes or service. if i am going to place my reputation and name on a place i MUST be able to see how there food is prepaired and stored befor i would recomend it to anybody. big deal if they have the best tasting catfish iv ever tasted if they also have nast cooks in the kistchen and a nasty kisthen. it would take me at LEAST two months working in the kitchen of that place befor i could give an honest recomendation to anyone to say if i would eat there or not. ie lets say the waitress took a plate of food out to a table and then after a while the person called her over and said hey this isent my order. so the waitress takes the plate of food back to the kitchen and says i got the wrong plate by mistake. and she grabs the plate that has been sitting under the heat lamps all this time and takes it to the table. and meanwhile the plate she returned to the kitchen is? done what with? sent back out to the table it was supposed to go to or was it thrown out and a new order cooked and sent out. hmmmmmmm MOST places will just send it back out. if its still hot theyll send it back out and if not they will either nuke it or redrop the food into the deepfrier or nuke some of it and replace some of it and redrop the fish that was cold and serve it on another plate. however i would toss out the whole plate and cook a new one. you ask why would i waste the food? well who knows what happened to the food while it was out of the kitchen.? is it flu season? did the person touch the food? and i dont care if its catfish or tenderloin. its going in the trash. and then ther is the so called 3 second rule. any cooked food that hits the floor goes in the trash. and any raw food must be washed off and checked for items suchs as hair and rocks. chicken is hard to just wash hair off of. so as you can see there is alot more then wow the food tastes good as far as saying to your friends yes go eat there its awsome. oh wow what good food as you pull a pubic hair out of your mouth from the awsome breaded shrimp. the bigest problem i faced in foodservice is people not washing there hands and teenagers using the frill picks used in sandwiches as intennas as tho they were from outerspace sticking them in there hair or hats or just plain old playing with them ie shooting them through straws like blow darts. kids just want to play and dont think about about nothing else but playing. so think about that the next time you get a blt with frill picks stuck in it. was it a dart or an antinna. retired chef

By Ron H

October 20, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

Fred, why don’t you speak your mind?

All you had to do was recommend a place to eat, not rant about Yankess this or cod that…you even brought in the poor, defenseless yuppies into the mix…

Why don’t you just sit back and relax. Be a good little Southerner and be respectful of your Northern masters. Remember, you lost the war…

Your rant did make me laugh, though. I imagine you have confederate tattoos and rebel flags in your front yard…

Good luck, brother…and get your blood pressure taken…you sound bitter and stressed out…

By Ron H

October 20, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

Fred, why don’t you speak your mind?

All you had to do was recommend a place to eat, not rant about Yankess this or cod that…you even brought in the poor, defenseless yuppies into the mix…

Why don’t you just sit back and relax. Be a good little Southerner and be respectful of your Northern masters. Remember, you lost the war…

Your rant did make me laugh, though. I imagine you have confederate tattoos and rebel flags in your front yard…

Good luck, brother…and get your blood pressure taken…you sound bitter and stressed out…

By Ron H

October 20, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this

Fred, why don’t you speak your mind?

All you had to do was recommend a place to eat, not rant about Yankess this or cod that…you even brought in the poor, defenseless yuppies into the mix…

Why don’t you just sit back and relax. Be a good little Southerner and be respectful of your Northern masters. Remember, you lost the war…

Your rant did make me laugh, though. I imagine you have confederate tattoos and rebel flags in your front yard…

Good luck, brother…and get your blood pressure taken…you sound bitter and stressed out…

By Ron H

October 20, 2008 12:15 PM | Link to this

Fred, why don’t you speak your mind?

All you had to do was recommend a place to eat, not rant about Yankess this or cod that…you even brought in the poor, defenseless yuppies into the mix…

Why don’t you just sit back and relax. Be a good little Southerner and be respectful of your Northern masters. Remember, you lost the war…

Your rant did make me laugh, though. I imagine you have confederate tattoos and rebel flags in your front yard…

Good luck, brother…and get your blood pressure taken…you sound bitter and stressed out…

By Meridith Ford

October 20, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this

Wow — you guys, uh I mean y’all — need to CHILLAX. For p’s sake — it’s CATFISH. And chefdave: do yourself a favor and check out my bio. I’m a retired chef, too.

By spell check

October 20, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this

Chefdave could also use a dixshunery, er dictionary.