Dallas Area Businesses News and Information Blog » Balch Springs Tx

Balch Springs Thrift

admin — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:29:46 +0000

Balch Springs Thrift

635 & Elam Rd

Balch Springs, TX. 75180

I shop often at this thrift store because it is so close. I have gotten some really great items at this store, including a fabulous fancy dress for $13 and a high-end purse for $4. I have gotten so many compliments on both.

The prices at this store are pretty reasonable. There are two big down-sides of this store. There are no dressing rooms. That is a huge downer. They do have a full-size mirror on each end of the store which occasionally does the trick, if you are just trying on a sweater over your clothes or something like that.

There is a plus side to this fact, though. I think the prices are a little cheaper than some others since you can’t try them on. For example, most of the pants are under $4 and most of the shirts are under $3. The other downer is that they bag too many of their books and toys. So you have to buy things you don’t want to get what you do want, and sometimes you can’t even hardly see what you are getting.

I like the employees. They are friendly and are generally as helpful and polite as they should be. As with most thrift stores, there are no returns, so think twice before you buy.

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The Home Depot

admin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:53:39 +0000

The Home Depot

12005 Elam Rd.

Balch Springs, TX. 75180

(972) 913-9491

Well, it’s that time of year again. The weather is cold and our hearts are warm. Jingle bells are jingling and nerves are jangling. So, I packed the family into our mini-van and headed out to pick up this years Christmas tree.

When I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin we would head out to a Christmas tree farm and wander around in the snow and the cold until we found a satisfactory tree. Dad would saw it down and we’d drag it back to pay for it. If we were lucky the Christmas tree farm would offer us some complimentary hot chocolate or steaming apple cider.

Weill it’s not as cold in Texas as in Wisconsin and there’s no snow. Also, I’ve noticed that a lot of the Christmas tree farms here look more like miniature amusement parks. They look like a lot of fun but we decided to go simple this year.

Instead of Santa’s Six Flags Tree Emporium we went to Home Depot. They have a variety of kinds of trees to choose from and a variety of sizes. Prices range from about twenty bucks to about one hundred dollars. We ended up picking out a six foot Douglas Fir $24.98, well actually $27.04 with tax. Actually four out of five of us picked out our Christmas tree. Our oldest son was not to thrilled with our choice. I don’t know why it’s a nice full tree with no bald spots. The size and the shape is fine. I think he just wanted to be the one calling the shots.

Anyway, the tree guy at Home Depot got our tree all ready to go by lopping an inch off the trunk (so it can soak up the water better) and a few of the lower branches so the tree would fit in our tree stand better. I had to tell him to do that last part. I hate getting a tree home and finding out I have to saw off a bunch of branches to make the darn thing fit in our tree stand. Then the guy wrapped the tree up nice and tight in that plastic mesh so that it would fit into our car better. He also gave us some extra pine boughs they had in a shopping cart off to the side. My wife likes to use these to decorate the house. She does a great job and the house smells awesome with that fresh pine scent wafting through it.

Maybe it would have been more fun to go out to a Christmas tree farm. Maybe we would have made more memories that way. But I have to say that Home Depot was much less stressful and a headache free Christmas is always a good thing. Right?Similar Posts:

Balch Springs Christian Academy

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:13:28 +0000

Balch Springs Christian Academy

1124 Seagoville Rd.

Balch Springs, TX. 75180

(972) 286-8511

Balch Springs Christian Academy is a private school in you guessed it – Balch Springs. Balch Springs is a little town in between Dallas and Mesquite. We sent our oldest son to Balch Springs Christian Academy in kindergarten and first and our middle child is currently in kindergarten there.

We have been very pleased with the kindergarten and first grade teachers. Mrs. Petrea teaches kindergarten and Mrs. Shurly teaches first grade. I have loved reading since I was a little kid and my wife and I have always tried to read a lot to our kids. So it was a big thrill to watch our oldest son as he learned to read. Now he’s in second grade and he reads all the time even when he is supposed to be sleeping sometimes. Our kindergartner is just beginning to learn to read words and its still exciting for us.

Some schools just have the word Christian in their names but there’s nothing distinctively Christian about them. But Balch Springs Christian Academy is really a Christian school. Our kids have impressed us with all of the scripture verses they have memorized. Our oldest son did a great job reciting the Christmas story from Luke chapter two at church and for our extended family. On Wednesday the kids attend a chapel service at school.

There is a dress code at the school so we’ve had to buy the special school uniform for our kids. The uniform basically consists of a blue polo shirt with the Balch Springs Christian Academy on the collar and a pair of dark blue pants with BSCA stitched on one of the back pockets. On chapel days the kids wear a white dress shirt, blue tie (velcro), and a pair of black shoes with their pants.

I don’t know how good the teachers and classes are after the first grade but we’ve been really pleased with what we’ve seen so far. In high school the kids can play on the high school football team. The team is called the Crusaders. They even have a few cheerleaders.

If you live in the Balch Springs area and are looking for a good Christian school I would recommend Balch Springs Christian Academy (especially for those who have young children who they want to learn to read well). Give them a call and find out more.Similar Posts:

Shell Station in Balch Springs

admin — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 17:43:27 +0000

Shell Station in Balch Springs
13000 Seagoville Rd.
Balch Springs, TX. 75180
((972) 286-9801
Hours: Open 24 hrs. a day

My wife and I are always looking for a good deal. That includes trying to find gas stations that have the lowest prices. I usually go to the Shell Station in Balch Springs because it is so close and also because it usually has really good prices on gas. A few days ago I was running really low on gas and I had to stop at a different gas station a couple of miles away from this one. It cost eleven cents more per gallon. That’s quite a difference.

This Shell Station is open 24 hours a day. It does cash checking. And it sells fried chicken and tacos at the Homestyle Chicken/Taco place. The only bad thing about the place is that some of the gas pumps are banged up and you can’t use your credit card on them. But usually I can find one in good working order without too much trouble or time lost. Besides it’s eleven cents cheaper than that other place.
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Woodland Park

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:40:26 +0000

Woodland Park
Horseshoe Trail and Osage Dr.
Balch Springs, TX. 75180

Dallas Texas Park

Woodland Park is a small park hidden away in the small city of Balch Springs. The park has most of the standard playground equipment – slide, fort, monkey bars, swings etc. And the playground equipment comes with the standard graffiti and curse words. If you are sensitive about that you might want to avoid that part of the park. Don’t worry, it’s not the best feature of the park anyway.

The best part of Woodland Park is the pond in the middle of it. There is a large fountain at the center of the pond and five to seven ducks which love to be fed. My boys are all nature lovers and we’ve had a great time catching creatures in and around the pond. We have caught minnows, tadpoles, crayfish, dragonflies, preying mantises, and more. One of the tadpoles we caught grew into a small bullfrog who still lives with us in one of our terrariums. There are big bullfrogs and turtles in the pond but we haven’t managed to catch any of them so far.

We have also seen some seen some interesting birds at the pond such as Great Blue Herons and White Egrets. There is a creek bed that runs alongside the pond but it is only full of water when it rains. But it is always a great place to explore and find interesting things like the claws and skeletons of crayfish.

Our oldest son recently got a fishing pole for his birthday so we decided to head down to the pond and go fishing there for the first time. We ended up catching ten sunfish. They were pretty easy to catch too. So now my sons think that fishing is fun and easy. Oh well, they’ll learn. But we will definitely try our hand at fishing there again.

Woodland Park

If you live anywhere near Balch Springs (like Mesquite or Southeast Dallas) and have a nature lover in your family, Woodland Park would be a fun spot for you to explore. It’s also a fun little place to catch few little fish.

Oh by the way. We ended up grilling those sunfish that night. They were pretty good too. There was no toxic waste in them as far as I could tell. A lot of bones though. And a couple of them had three or four eyes. But other than that they were good eating.Similar Posts:

El Jacalito Balch Springs

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:02:06 +0000

El Jacalito
4000 Pioneer RD. Suite 110
Balch Springs, TX. 75180
(972) 222-5417

I really wasn’t sure what I would think of El Jacalito. First of all its located in a little shopping strip in Balch Springs so it doesn’t exactly scream great cuisine. But we had a coupon for the place and my wife wanted to try it so I agreed to give it a shot.

Their are decent size dining rooms in El Jacalito though I have a hard time imagining they would ever fill both rooms up. Their menu is also very large. I wasn’t expecting that. My wife and I spent quite a while making our minds up. That was OK because the servers at El Jacalito kept loading us up with crispy chips and tasty salsa. With the help of our three boys we must have gone through four baskets of chips. I got a Diet Coke to help me wash down the chips. I was just going to get a water but I noticed that the soft drinks were only $0.95. I thought that was a good deal. Most places charge $1.50 – $1.99 or more for drinks. I should have known better though. They gave me only a single can of Diet Coke. No refills.

Finally my wife ordered a plate of cheesy enchiladas for our boys to share. She got the chimichanga entree. I ordered a new item on the menu – the pork tips in green sauce with rice, beans, and tortillas. Two of our boys liked their cheesy enchiladas. One did not. I think he didn’t like the cheese on top of his enchilada. I never know with our boys what will make them like one thing and not like another. My wife’s chimichanga was very good. It was crispy and delicious the way it’s supposed to be.

If you are a fan of the chimichanga, El Jacalito would be a good place to get one. My entree, like the Dallas Cowboys, had real potential but also a lot of problems. Most of the pork tips were tough and overcooked. The few tender ones were delicious and told me what this dish was capable of. The biggest problem with my meal, though, was the green sauce. There was way to much of it and it was WAY WAY too HOT.

After a few bites I had to take a break and give my taste-buds a rest. I was having trouble tasting my food. Oh yeah, I also knew it was hot because my nose began to run. That always happens when I eat super hot or spicy food. The rice, beans, and tortillas were all good. If the pork tips had all been tender and it wasn’t served in gasoline this meal would have rocked.

El Jacalito is an average quality Mexican restaurant. I recommend ordering water, loading up on chips and salsa, and ordering the chimichanga.Similar Posts:

Sonic in Balch Springs

admin — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 15:57:43 +0000

Sonic
3628 Shepherd LN.
Balch Springs, TX. 75180
(972) 286-3873

I remember driving home from the Dallas Zoo one day this summer. It was so hot and the whole family was just parched. We decided to head over to Sonic and just knock that thirst out. Any drink at Sonic is great for dealing with a serious thirst. But my preferred remedy is the Route 44 Cherry Limeade. It is awesome and can quench any thirst. I always get mine during Sonic’s happy hour (2:00pm – 4:00pm). All their drinks are half-price then.

They also have some other great deals going on at the Sonic on Shepherd LN. in Balch Springs. You can get coupons at the restaurant I think. Deals include the buy one get one free chicken sandwich, buy one get one free foot long cheese Coney, buy one get one free Sonic burger, and buy one get one free breakfast toaster sandwich. You can also get two corn dogs for $0.99 or a steak sandwich with onion rings for $3.99. These deals only apply to the Shepherd LN. location.

Deals at all locations include the half price fountain drinks at happy hour, and the lunch combo which is a Sonic burger with regular fries and a medium Coke for $3.99 (Monday thru Friday at 11:00am – 2:00pm). Tuesday nights from 5:00pm till close you can get Sonic burgers for half price.

Some other good coupons you can get at Sonic include coupons for $0.99 onion rings, $1.99 for BLT and large flavored tea, free medium tots with breakfast burrito purchase, and $1.49 for a regular size limeade chiller or java chiller.

Summers over but you can still find great deals at Sonic and that cherry limeade still tastes incredible all year round. And FYI, if you love cherry limeades like I do, check out the one they have at Picasso’s. It’s pricey but it’s so good.Similar Posts:

Pine Tree Garden

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 17:19:06 +0000

Pine Tree Garden

Chinese Restaurant

3700 Shepherd Ln.

Balch Springs, TX. 75180

(972) 286-0826

Hours: Monday thru Saturday from 11:00am till 9:00pm

The Pine Tree Garden is a Chinese Restaurant just down the street from the Balch Springs Police/Fire Department and the Balch Springs Public Library on the corner of Shepherd Lane and Elam Rd. It’s not at all a classy place. It just looks like an old family restaurant which has seen better days. But people don’t go to the Pine Tree Garden for its looks. They go their because they serve the tasty Chinese food we crave. The food isn’t out of this world or anything but it is a cut above most of the privately owned Chinese restaurants you will find in the southeast Dallas area.

Their are three ways of ordering at The Pine Tree Garden. You can zip through the drive thru which is always convenient. You can order take-out. Just call (972) 286-0826. Or you can dine-in which is what I prefer to do. The people that run the Pine Tree Garden are very nice people and the atmosphere is relaxed and homey. When you walk in just pick up one of their menus, decide what you want, and then place your order at the front counter. Then you can get your drink from the soda fountain and sit down while you wait for your meal to be brought out to your table. (The Pine Tree Garden offers Iced Tea, Coke, Diet Coke, Dr. Pepper, 7-UP, and Pink Lemonade with free refills for $1.45. You can also get hot tea (Jasmine or Green) for $1.45 but there are no refills. For $0.35 you can get a cup of ice water, a to-go cup, or a lemon for your tea).

With that in mind, here is what is on the menu and I’ll tell you about the food I like to eat there. For appetizers, the Pine Tree Garden offers chips ($0.65), one egg roll ($0.95), six fried wontons ($1.45), two Cho Cho Chicken or Beef ($2.65), six Crab Ragoon ($3.85), eight Chef’s special wings ($3.85), four BBQ ribs ($4.85), Pine Tree Combo ($5.25), eight steamed or pan fried dumplings ($5.25), ten P.T. shrimp ($4.85). I don’t usually like to order appetizers. I prefer to save room for the main entree but I will make an exception for Crab Ragoon. They are a little pricey but they are so tasty. If you are interested in the steamed or pan fried dumplings just be aware that they take fifteen minutes to make so they might turn out to be a side dish or a dessert to your entree rather than an appetizer. Unless you are an egg roll fanatic don’t bother ordering one off of the appetizer menu. You will get an egg roll with your main dish. Also the P.T. Shrimp is served medium spicy but you can request it made however you want – not spicy, mild, or extra spicy.

The Pine Tree Garden also offers five kinds of soup. Three are Chinese soups and two are more American. The Chinese soups are hot and sour soup, egg drop soup, and Won Ton soup. The small size of these soups costs $1.39, and the large size costs $2.59. The American soups are a vegetable noodle soup, and Grandma Smith’s Noodle Soup. They only have the large size available for these two soups. The vegetable noodle soup costs $5.85 and Grandma Smith’s Noodle Soup costs $6.40

In addition to the appetizers and soup, Pine Tree Garden offers their Golden Corner menu options. You can get eight golden chicken nuggets with French fries for $4.55 or fourteen golden fried shrimp with French fries for $4.85.

Ok, moving on to the main dishes. All the main dishes at the Pine Tree Garden are freshly prepared and the restaurant will also do its best to accommodate any special requests you might have. The main dishes are all served with fried rice and an egg roll. You can also add Tofu to your main dish for an extra $1.25. Here are some of the menu options: Broccoli, Moo Goo, Almond, Cashew, Pepper, Kung Pao, Szechuan, Hunan, Garlic (sweet), Sweet & Sour, Orange, and Chow Mein. You can choose to get your main dish with one of the following options: vegetables, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or a mix. Not all of the main dishes have the full range of options though: Garlic (no vegetable option), The Sweet & Sour (no vegetables or beef), and the Orange (no vegetables, pork, or shrimp). A main dish with vegetables costs $4.99, beef, chicken and pork cost $5.59, and the shrimp and mixed options cost $6.29. I really enjoy the Orange Chicken main dish at Pine Tree Garden. Well I really enjoy orange chicken in general. But, I have tried the orange chicken at several other Chinese places in the area and this one is definitely tastier.

You can also get Lo Mein (noodle) Fried Rice, and Mandarin Style Lomein (noodle) from the main dish menu. All three come are available with the full range of options: vegetables, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, or mixed. If you choose vegetables, these main dishes will cost $5.29, chicken, beef, and pork cost $5.79, and the shrimp and mixed options go for $6.29.

Finally, on the main dish menu, you can get Cantonese Style Noodle, two Egg Foo Young, or the Mongolian. The Cantonese Style Noodle and the Egg Foo Young have the full range of options available. The Mongolian, however, is not available with vegetables, shrimp, or the mixed option. It costs $5.79 for vegetables, $6.29 for chicken, beef, or pork, and $6.59 with shrimp or mixed.

The Kung Pao, Szechuan, Hunan, Garlic, Orange, and Mongolian main dishes are all served medium spicy. But again you can request to have them prepared not spicy, mild, or extra spicy at no extra charge.

Besides the main dishes listed, the Pine Tree Garden offers three Chef’s Specialty dishes. The Sesame Chicken, General Tso’s Chicken, and the new P.T. Chicken. All three of these dishes cost $6.29. I have had the Sesame Chicken a couple of different times now and will probably get it again. It is really tasty and well made. I recommend it to any Sesame Chicken lovers out there. You won’t be disappointed. All of the Chef’s Specialty dishes are prepared medium spicy so be sure to let them know when you order if you want it prepared differently.

If the main dish isn’t enough to satisfy you by itself, say you’ve been born with a hole in your stomach for example, you can choose a side order to go with it. Side Order options include: Sesame Chicken ($4.99), Sweet & Sour Chicken ($4.29), Mixed Vegetables ($3.29), Plain Lomein ($2.99), French Fries ($1.69), Plain Fried Rice ($1.59), and Steamed Rice ($1.59). This might be a good route to go if you want to split a main dish with a friend. Just get a side-order to go with it and you will both be full and happy. if you are a big fan of sauces, you can get some of Pine Tree Garden’s homemade sauces to go with your meal, to take home, or both. You can get eight ounces of brown sauce, white sauce, garlic sauce, chili sauce, or homemade mustard for $1.35.Homemade Duck Sauce is $0.35 for one ounce or $2.75 for eight ounces. Sweet and Sour sauce costs $0.35 for two ounces and $1.35 for eight ounces.

If you still have room after all that you are super-human and deserve a dessert. I am not a big fan of desserts from Chinese restaurants (or Mexican restaurants for that matter) but maybe you are. Pine Tree Garden has five dessert options, three of which are donuts oddly enough. You can get three Honey Ragoon for $1.55, five sugar donuts, five maple donuts, or five honey donuts for $1.65, or one fortune cookie for a dime. This is one thing I don’t like about the Pine Tree Garden. Charging for fortune cookies? Come on! Those things are supposed to be complimentary.

If you’ve got little kids, like I do, you will probably want to get them a child’s plate at the Pine Tree Garden. Kids can get two Cho Cho Chicken or Cho Cho Beef with fried rice for $3.15 or with French fries for $3.25. The six piece Chinese chicken nuggets cost the same. Eight fried shrimp cost $3.55 with fried rice and $3.65 with French fries. Or $2.55 they can get plain fried rice with two egg rolls. Sorry, no French fries. You’ll have to order those as a side.

I like the Pine Tree Garden. It has good, simple, quality Chinese food. Again, it’s not amazing. There is no reason to travel across town to check it out, its not that good, but if you happen to be in the area and have a hankering for some Chinese food, you could do a lot worse.Similar Posts:

Santos Tire & Auto Repair

admin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 16:58:34 +0000

Santos Tire & Auto Repair

3933 Pioneer Road

Balch Springs, TX. 75180

(972) 557-7155

Hours: Monday thru Friday - 8:00am to 7:00pm/Saturday – 8:00am to 3:00pm

I don’t know what it is but I’ve never had great luck with car tires. For some reason, I have had more than my fair share of flats. Fortunately, I’ve never been stranded in the middle of nowhere with no one to help. And the last two flats I’ve had I have discovered at home rather than having them blow out while I am driving so that is good. I noticed this latest flat tire a couple of seconds after I pulled a way from the curb. So I just parked again and went over to my kindly next door neighbors to borrow his air compressor. I got the tire aired up and I could feel the air already leaking out from some hole I couldn’t see on the side of the tire that faced away from me.

I have been in the habit of going to Leal’s Tire Shop on Buckner to get my tire problems fixed because they are quick, and good, and I like them. But I had been thinking that I really need to try to find some place a little closer to my house. I had seen Santos before while driving down Pioneer Road in Balch Springs. It’s the closest auto shop to my house so I thought I would give it a shot. I am glad I decided too because that tire was losing air pretty quickly. I probably could have gotten it all the way to Leal’s Tire Shop but it might have been a close shave.

I pulled into Santos Tire and Auto Repair and just sat there. There was no where to park and it took a few minutes before anyone even noticed I was there. Not an auspicious start, I thought. Finally, someone came out. I told him about the tire and he told me where to park and moved a big truck out of the way so I could get in there. I parked and waited. And waited. There was only one person ahead of me but they only had one guy working on tires. At last the guy came over and took a look at my tire. He thought from looking at the position of the hole in the tire that he could patch it.

It was getting hotter so I went inside the air-conditioned office to wait for my tire to get patched. I waited. And waited. Jeez after Leal’s Tire Shop I felt like I had moved from blazing high speed wireless internet back to dial-up. The guys at Leal’s are usually like a NASCAR pit crew. They can really hustle. But this guy was taking forever. The people at Santo’s were nice and helpful but I just wasn’t really happy with how long everything was taking for a simple repair.

The receptionist and I talked for a little while about our various vacation plans or where we would like to go if we had the money. Florida seemed to be the consensus. Then I stared at my shoes. I looked up at the blank screen of the plasma TV which no one had bothered to turn on. I looked over at where my tire was supposed to be getting fixed. I watched the other mechanics going about their business of changing oil filters, looking for parts etc. I gazed longingly at the donut shop across the street and wished I was over there enjoying coffee and donuts instead of stuck at Santo’s Tire and Auto Repair bored out of my mind.

Finally, I heard back from the mechanic. Apparently the tire (a used tire) already had a patch on it. The patch had come loose. Thus the leak. So he replaced it with a bigger and better patch. The repair cost ten dollars. I wasn’t shocked by the price but I know several places that will patch a tire for half that amount and in a fraction of the time. Santo’s told me that they have a week-long warranty on this kind of repair so if I had any problem I could bring it back and get it fixed for free. Yeah, well if that happens I’m definitely bringing a good book along. I got in my car and got out of there as fast as I could. I don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon unless it’s an emergency or I just really need some time to sit and think and I don’t want to be rushed by some annoying repair shop with speedy service.Similar Posts:

Paula Sue’s Diner

admin — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 14:28:42 +0000

Paula Sue’s Diner

11915 Lake June Rd.

Balch Springs, TX. 75180

(972) 329-7932

This was originally going to be a review of Pizza Inn on Elam Rd. in Balch Springs. Our boys had some coupons for a free kids’ buffet so we headed out to cash in on them. But when we arrived at about quarter to noon, we discovered that the joint was closed. The open sign was turned off. The door was locked. I got the point. What I didn’t understand was why they don’t have their hours posted on the door so we would know when and if they would open again. So instead of having the buffet at Pizza Inn we decided to eat out at Paula Sue’s Diner. My wife had a coupon for the place from the Entertainment Passport book of coupons for the Dallas area.

Paula Sue’s Diner is just what it sounds like – country to the core. Ninety percent of their clientele was over the age of fifty. I was actually encouraged to see all the elderly folks dribbling into Paula Sue’s from their various churches. I took it as a good omen that my family and I would be able to get some really good country and southern fried food. The inside of Paula Sue’s is a somewhat ramshackle affair, where you seat yourself.

The largest room, the one you enter, is the smoking section. The smaller room, the one without the TV, is the non-smoking section. Here’s a little word to the wise, though. It’s all the smoking section, because there is no place to escape the smell of it in there. At least, not on a busy Sunday afternoon. I don’t have a particularly keen sense of smell but the smell of smoke was very heavy. My wife is very sensitive to that smell and it gives her a headache. My oldest boy has asthma so I wasn’t real happy about that part of our experience. That ends my rant on that subject.

There are booths and tables and one TV in the smoking section. In the “non-smoking” section there are several long tables with red table cloths that seat six to eight people. Sorry, nothing cozy over there, if you’ve brought a date. But that’s OK, there is nothing remotely romantic about the whole place. When I took my sons to the bathroom I noticed their was a pulpit set off to one side which makes me wonder if they also use the place for a church. It wouldn’t surprise me.

Anyway, let’s talk about the food. The people around us were ordering things like pickled beets and turnip greens. The waitress said the turnip greens were really good. I passed on those and ordered one of the daily specials. No, not the spaghetti and meatballs (actually that was the other daily special). I ordered the chicken fried steak for $6.75. I also got to order three vegetables with the chicken fried steak, so I got the classic mashed potatoes side, fried okra, and fried squash. I had never had fried squash before so I was interested to see how it was. My wife got the fried catfish filets with buttered squash and fried okra. Our boys all got children’s meals for $3.99 each. The oldest got a grilled cheese sandwich with French fries. Our middle boy ordered a hamburger with French Fries. I liked the fact that the waitress asked him what he wanted on his hamburger. I would like to be asked things like that more often instead of just getting what ever they see fit to give you. Our youngest son got fish sticks with French fries. Oh, by the way, a drink is included in the price of each kids meal. The two youngest got pink lemonade, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

I had fried squash, fried okra, and chicken fried steak. But not one of these items’ breading/batter was crispy. If anything, they were a little soggy or chewy. So that was disappointing. Besides my own meal, I also tried a bite of my son’s hamburger, a couple of fries and a big piece of a filet of catfish. Oh yeah, I also had a cornbread muffin. After all of that sampling I came away with the impression that everything was OK, you know, so-so, nothing was awful, but nothing to write home about. Except for one thing. The catfish which my wife had ordered. That was excellent- crispy, fresh-tasting, quality fish. Our waitress told us it was the best thing on the menu and I whole-heartedly believe her. For $8.99 you get five filets of catfish and two sides. It would be cool if you could order another piece of catfish for a side. Make a statement you know. Give us more food like this!

We had some trouble paying our ticket. The lady told me that she had used the coupon, but she hadn’t. My wife went back and showed her the problem and they paid us back, so it was OK, but still annoying.

So, I was disappointed by our visit to Paula Sue’s Diner. I didn’t get the stellar chicken fried steak I wanted, etc. If I ever do go back, it will be alone. My wife doesn’t want to eat there again because of the smoke. And I will only order one thing off the menu – the delicious catfish. I can highly recommend that dish. So does my wife. I’ll leave it up to you if you want to give Paula Sue’s Diner a shot. Hey, if you are a smoker in your sixties and up, with no high culinary expectations, you will be in hog heaven.Similar Posts: