Catfish Hole Alma — Restaurant in Alma

The atmosphere was great in the restaurant beautifully appointed. That was it. We sat there for 30 minutes plus waiting for a food to come out when it finally came out everything was wrong they served everything like a family style and we ordered a three piece catfish plate. Everything had way too much seasoning and the butterfly shrimp that my daughter ate was so nasty fishy that it had to be very old... It is very sad because I went to the Catfish hole in Northwest Arkansas and never experienced this everything was fabulous the food, the waiters, the greeters that walked around to check on everybody. That never happened at this Catfish Hole on the contrary we could barely get anybody to ever come back to our table we never got our bill, we literally sat there after we ate and waited another 30 minutes and never received our Bill. Also the way that they're serving their customers there's no Rhyme or Reason to it everybody that was sitting there last Sunday 5/20 around lunch time, their order was either wrong or they didn't receive their order but anyways y'all get the idea the people were great the ones that were working there we were going to complain but it was just ridiculous when I did mention to the kid that was helping me that this isn't the way the Catfish hole is up in Northwest Arkansas They don't serve family style they give us each individual plates with our food on them and he goes no that's exactly how they do it. And I told him I was just there a couple weeks back so not sure what all the hype is about here the shrimp was fishy the catfish was overdone and over-seasoned and instead of bringing just butter to our table they brought us the cheap margarine spreading packages the other Catfish Hole brings out dishes with real butter in it never have I seen a pre-packaged margarine on the table but anyway just wanted to share sorry it's so bad guys but it was embarrassing because my family was here from California and I took them here and raved on how good it was but I was basing it on the one in Northwest Arkansas, I will not bring anybody back here...

Our first visit since they were closed for a long time proved to be both enjoyable and disturbing. The catfish filets were much smaller than before they closed (shrinkflation?), but just as tasty. The fries, which had been a major attraction for us before the closure, were limp, and had obviously been under a heat lamp, or some other way to keep them warm. Not at all up to the Catfish Hole's previous standards. The hush puppies, as they have always been, were delicious. Ditto for the slaw and green tomato relish. When the waitress brought our fish and fries, I told her we needed more fries, as they served the entree family-style, and the fries were not close to sufficient. While waiting on her return with the fries, we ate all the fries, hushpuppies, slaw, and green tomato relish. After not seeing our waitress for nearly a half hour, she had come around the divider that separated the booths from the larger dining area, and took the order from a couple seated in a booth behind me, and promptly bolted. After 10 minutes, another waitress saw the look on my face, and asked what we needed. We told her what was happening, and asked for more hush puppies, which she promptly brought. I asked her to put her name on the ticket, as I was not going to give the original waitress any tip, due to her rude treatment of my lady and I. She complied, and then I scribbled over the original waitresses name to ensure that the later waitress would receive the tip. I have eaten here a couple dozen times over the years, and never been treated the way we were by the first waitress. In addition to the "shrinkflation", the price on what I always get had risen a dollar. I do understand that the restaurant has to make a profit to stay in business, but being hit at both ends--higher prices for less food--is not conducive to inspiring people to make a 110 mile round trip just to eat there. Come on, Catfish Hole, return your business to what it...

I went to Arkansas for my family reunion. We went to this place to eat dinner and had 50 people in our party. We made reservations ahead of time. When we got there we had to wait for the rest of the staff that was going to serve us to get there before we could be seated. We were okay with that but you figured that they would have already been prepared for that seeing as how we did make a reservation for a particular time. Then they asked us at least eight different times if we were sure we were going to have about 50 people. Every time we said "yes. Is that going to be a problem?" Finally, the rest of the staff showed up or they took them from who was there for regular service. Once we were seated it took about 15 to 20 minutes for us to start getting all of the extras, hush puppies, pickles, coleslaw, onions, Etc. Once they started coming, the servers made a complete turnaround on what was starting to be a "not so well" experience. They were extremely friendly, social, some of them humorous, very helpful, kid-friendly, and good at their job. The only complaint that we did have is it was way too hot in there. They never turned the air conditioner on and with 50 people talking and visiting and kids jumping around, the hot food, and all of us seated so close, it felt like it was about 100° in there. Other than that, the experience was very pleasant. The food was awesome and pretty quick to come out and exactly how everybody ordered it. They did an awesome job and earned their tips. We will definitely go back there again next year for our...