Irondale Cafe — Restaurant in Irondale

My experience wasn't totally horrible but it was far from being a good one. First, I wanted the chicken pot pie. I was told it wasn't a good idea bc the one that was cooking was going to take 20 minutes to cook. So I had to settle for something I didn't want. Although the substituted fried chicken was fairly good, it still wasn't what I wanted. Ok, bad timing on my part I suppose. Ok. So then we get seated and a few minutes go by...then 10 minutes...then 30 minutes...until we finished our meal and left. Not one server ever waited on our table. Not one refill. I had to go to the front to exchange my own drink bc the server never checked on us. [In their defense, the manager did stop by and asked us if we enjoyed our meal but it was too late at that point] Next, my portions were extremely small. I felt like the food preparers had been reprimanded for giving portions that were too large so they had to give smaller portion sizes (I'm not saying they were actually reprimanded but it felt that way). So, I'm still hungry. And last, the apple cobbler had no apples in it. It was full of the soupy apple filling and a piece of crust, but without any apples. Then we go to check out and there is the dreaded "tip" line where we're expected to add in the tip. Now, typically I don't mind that tip line. Honestly I think I'm a fairly generous tipper. And yes, I've heard the stereotypes about black people not being good tippers (not that I'm making any of this about race), so I try to make sure I leave a good tip. But at some point you simply cannot reward bad service just bc giving a tip is expected. It's that expectation that makes people not give good service in the first place. With that said, this was my first time ever where I did not leave a tip. Should I have rewarded the young lady that didn't even take the time out to see if we needed a refill on our drinks, speak, or acknowledge us as customers? That's BIIIIIG for me not to leave a tip. But honestly, they didn't...

There are so many dishes with which people are familiar when they think of Southern cooking, and then there are others which don't really come up as much. Irondale Cafe seems to have them all, and cooks them so classically delicious that it's a one-stop primer for this regional style of cooking.

The problem with cafeteria-style service is that it's left up to me to decide how much I want to eat, and that turned out to be a problem, as my tray was quickly loaded with carrot salad, fried chicken, collard greens, mac and cheese, fried chicken livers, fried green tomatoes, and buttermilk pie. Fried was definitely a continuing theme, and all items were perfectly cooked, with little grease remaining, a flour dredge used for the chicken and tomatoes, and a slightly different crust implemented for the livers. In all, I think it was the macaroni and cheese which I found the most disappointing, but only because it's the item I've had the most around the country, and this version was pretty ordinary. I imagine "traditional" becomes "ordinary" if enough people are making it.

Of course, the restaurant has been popularized for being the inspiration for the Whistlestop Cafe in the book (and movie) Fried Green Tomatoes, as Fannie Flagg was the niece of the original owners. It's something that the Cafe is not afraid to advertise, going so far as to devote an entire wall to headshots of Kathy Bates, Mary Louise Parker, and the rest of the gang. With the movie being twenty years old, I don't know how many people are still coming here for the novelty of the movie (and really, I don't know how much I would want to be associated with a cafe that barbecued a guy and served it to their customers) - it would seem to me that Irondale should be much more popular for what's on the opposite wall of that FGT shrine - award after award after award for having some of the best food in town. And obviously, the fried green tomatoes are some of the best...

Was looking for something that wasn't fast food, and from the reviews, it seemed like another "meat and 3" type place I had been looking for. The location is very peaceful and charming right beside a railroad track. It's only open for lunch and there weren't many parking spots open. The place was packed, and I watched many people come and go, mostly of the older 70 years and up age. We had to do take-out and my husband had the filet fried catfish that he liked. My daughter had fried chicken and vegetables, and my son had fried center pork chop with vegetables. I had chicken and dumplings, cabbage, and sweet potatoes with buttermilk pie for dessert. The chicken and dumplings were ok but tasted more like they were poured out of a can and not homemade, the cabbage really had no taste and also seemed to come out of a can, the sweet potatoes were so horrible we couldn't eat them they were full of nutmeg and the consistency was like water. The fried chicken and pork chop were cooked ok, and the only thing that tasted like it was actually cooked there. The buttermilk pie was ok for someone who is maybe diabetic because it wasn't sweet and again looked and tasted like it was made at another bakery and put there. All in all, the fried meats were ok, but all of my family thought the vegetables were bland and tasted "out of a can." I had high hopes for it, but it fell short for us. However, as I said earlier, it must be great to others because it was packed...