Ma's Place — Restaurant in Harker Heights

I was brought to this small, hole-in-the-wall spot by a military Brother for a quick lunch and meeting before I headed out on my trip back home on the other side of Texas. Let me set you straight right out of the gate, this is NOT a fancy restaurant, where you should expect table cloths, waiters waiting on your every whim and a place for a secluded place to bring your date for a quiet meal. This is a place you go when you’re homesick for a good, home cooked meal and a true, family atmosphere! The seating is very limited and usually filled by the locals who eat there several times a day. (For that matter, when my friend brought me in, they greeted him by his first name and immediately started cutting up on him. I felt like it was an episode of the tv series “Cheers”.) Let me get to the food: There were three of us for a late lunch, one ordered a cheeseburger with homemade French fries me and the other ordered the “Day’s Special” which was an 8 ounce chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. The cheeseburger came to the table well presented with the French fries looking so good, I had to consciously restrain myself from stealing several of them. The Day’s Special also came out well presented with the right amount of gravy on both the steak and the mashed potatoes. Now here’s something that needs to be reported to the Texas Monthly, I pride myself on the ability to judge Chicken Fried Steak. My wife’s borders heavenly, my Mother’s version has a secret recipe which only I know and I haven’t even given it to my wife. The Texas Monthly once reported the Top Ten Chicken Fried Steaks in the State of Texas. I have eaten in half of those restaurants, more than once in my home city of Midland, it is my firm belief, Ma’s Chicken Fried Steak should be given a chance to compete against those other steaks! She definitely falls in my Top Ten of the Best Chicken Fried Steaks I’ve ever eaten! Overall, this restaurant is like going to your Mom’s house for dinner. It ain’t fancy but the food...

My wife wanted to eat some liver and found this place online while I was driving. We thought we would give it a try. We live in Temple and enjoyed the ride to Harker Heights. That's where it's located on Veterans down bus.190, 139 West Veterans. My wife ordered the liver with grilled onions, and I ordered the NY Steak Grilled medium well. She ordered mac and cheese and creamy peas salad for her sides. I went with coleslaw and sweet potato casserole for mine. We both got soup instead of the salad. The special was Hoppin John with black eyed peas, rice, and bits of meat and seasoning thrown in made it a flavor that we both enjoyed. We both cleaned our plates, and there's been times where my wife couldn't finish her food and she would carry it home. You couldn't tell she had mac and cheese, and there wasn't a pea left on her dish. I cleaned it up pretty good too, but it was because the food was so good? That you didn't want to stop till you were finished. Keep in mind that I wasn't really that hungry. I just wanted to take my wife out since it'd been a while since she felt good. I enjoyed the steak that was cooked as ordered. The only thing that surpassed the grilled flavor was its tenderness. The cole slaw was great and sweet potato casserole tasted so good, it was like eating my desert with my dinner. I really can't say enough about how good it was. It felt like we were at Mom's house. The volume of the conversations were as if everyone knew. Mama doesn't allow a lot of conversation at the dinner table. You better keep your volume down. You know mama. I couldn't help but notice that my wife started a new listing entitled, 'Places worth going back to. We'll be back....

Mas place was one of our favorite places to eat in the neighborhood. Last time they forgot some things and it was too late once I realized to call back so that was my fault. Today I made a fairly large order as always to feed my family of 5. I had the lady who took my order over the phone go over a second time that everything was right. When we picked it up one thing was wrong so my wife tried to inform the lady that it was wrong. The lady was rude informed her it would take a ridiculous amount of time and an upcharge . Made my wife feel like it was her fault they made the order wrong. Bc if the mess up the time before (even though I didn't fix it I had her check bc it seems as tho they have became more careless and I was right. ) However there was still something there so it wasn't even as big a deal until the employee was rude as hell. My other complaint is I order the fish every time. For me and my brother. My brother actually went out and got a whole nother meal after I spent what I spent at Mas Bc the portion on both fish plates this time was very skimpy. Again the price hasn't changed the portion did and if it's bc prices are going up then let us know bc we're expecting a certain product for a certain price as we've always gotten. As well as a certain service. Everyone can have a bad day but leave that at the door it's not my fault as a paying customer to get grief bc your bad day. I know one customer don't make much difference to y'all but it makes a difference to us. We loved eating there but we won't be...