Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Irving

Go in with the mindset that this is commercial southern food . Don't go in expecting it to be closer to your own cooking or granny's cooking. You'll be greatly disappointed. Come in with an open mind to their interpretation of southern food. Well let me say maybe it is like homecooking for some but we all felt like it was commercialized southern cooking. Let me give the run down. Got the biscuits for a cause. Way too dense. It was quite bland to me and why anyone would serve cold hard butter with a hard dense biscuit not warm enough to even melt the butter is beyond me. The blueberry jam was good though. onion rings were good. fried green tomatoes and grits were pretty good. I expected some kind of a cheesy flavor since it mentioned goat cheese but I couldn't tell. I got the sweet tea glazed chicken. It had a bit of an Asian flavor vibe to it in my opinion. It's a wet chicken. It was pretty good but for me way too much celery seed in the seasoning. I do NOT like celery seed ewwww so I can pick it out immediately. We all agreed the Mac n cheese is bland. My mother and aunt got the honey dusted chicken. They didn't like it and I tried it and it was just ok. Not sure why they say honey dusted. I guess I expected some kind of sweetness to it but no. My aunt complained about the greens and hers being better... Well of course you'd think yours is better. Lol Again, This is a chain restaurant. In my opinion that's to be expected. I tried a bite and to me it tastes like canned glory greens which is not a bad thing but no it's not like home. I got the banana pudding for dessert I really liked it however be warned it was runny. I don't know if I was just given part of a new batch that had not had a chance to set yet but you'll see in the pics it was runny. My brother got the smothered chicken and biscuit he really enjoyed it and the issue there was is that it needed more gravy which brings me to the issues of that we had with the waitress. She wasn't attentive and when we did manage to flag her down and ask for stuff it took her a bit to return with what we asked for. So the gravy took a bit to get which of course always mean the food on the table is getting cold while you wait. Mother and i both ordered our fried chicken with a waffle and they brought out pancakes. She was able to take them back and fairly quickly got the waffles out. Also for the record the waffles were ok. they are mushy pancake textured which we didn't like. We prefer a bit of crunch to our waffles. The waitresses attitude was terrible the entire time. Not welcoming or warm & friendly at all. Seemed like she wished she was anywhere but there. I don't know if she was having a bad day, spread thinnly over too many tables or new or just not a good fit for waitressing because this job ain't for everybody but she left a bad taste in all our mouths. What really took the cake was when my mother paid with cash and was expecting all of her change back ( bills and coins) so she could add it with what she was going to leave on the table for her tip, the waitress kept the coins of the change. Mom didn't like that and that broke the dam she decided to give the lady a piece of her mind. The waitress said so you wanted me to give you your seventy seven cents??? And mom said yes absolutely. It's MY money. The waitress said well most customers don't care about the coins. Mom said it would probably be best that you not bank on that for the every customer. I can't speak to what my family members tipped her but my ticket alone was $62 and I tipped her well out of pitty because my family was quite annoyed with her and they weren't very forgiving of her and her attitude and mistakes so they were a bit snippy too. At the end my aunt ask everybody if they ever return I said yes because I would like to try something different since I didn't care for the intense celery seed chicken but everyone else at the table said no. I see your score is high that's why we came but can't win...

Disappointing Experience Due to Poor Hospitality and Unsafe Seating for Babies

We visited this restaurant for brunch on February 16th at noon as a party of four plus an 8-month-old baby. Unfortunately, our experience was overshadowed by a lack of accommodation and unprofessional service from the hostess.

Upon arrival, we were seated at high-top tables, which was not suitable for a baby. When we requested a high chair, the hostess provided an attachable high chair, but she didn’t even bother assembling it correctly. Upon attempting to set it up ourselves, we realized it couldn’t be securely attached to the restaurant’s chairs, making it a serious safety hazard for an active baby like mine.

If my son had fallen due to this unsafe setup, he could have been seriously injured. This is not a minor issue—it’s a dangerous situation that the restaurant needs to address immediately.

When I raised this concern, the hostess responded rudely and dismissively, saying, "Well, that’s all we have, and you didn’t specify in your reservation that you don’t need a high table." Essentially, she was implying we should leave since we weren’t willing to risk our child’s safety.

On the positive side, our waiter was amazing. She was understanding and accommodating, going out of her way to find us a suitable table, despite the hostess claiming there were none available. Thanks to her efforts, we were able to enjoy our meal.

It’s truly disappointing because this restaurant has so much potential—the food, especially the chicken and waffles, was great, and the ambiance was enjoyable. However, the poor attitude and lack of professionalism from the hostess need to be addressed. More importantly, management must ensure that seating options for babies are safe—this is not just an inconvenience but a serious liability.

Would I return? Maybe—but only if the restaurant takes customer safety and hospitality...

UPDATE: I returned to this location after communication with the General Manager. I had the cracklin' potatoes, fried green tomatoes with grits, fried chicken (dark meat-no sauce), crispy fries, and the banana pudding. I could not finish everything in one sitting but will say all dishes were tasty and I looked forward to finishing them in the comfort of my home. I am glad that the do-over meal was satisfying and will return again. I have changed my rating to 5 stars! I have twice patronized this location, Aug. 28th and Sep. 8th. The first time I purchased the sweet and hot chicken, mac-n-cheese, and brussel sprouts. Everything was well prepared and flavorful. I ate the chicken without the sauce because it was so well seasoned.

The second purchase was the fried chicken, brussel sprouts, grits with the fried tomatoes, the broccolini, and banana pudding. The food left MUCH to be desired. The chicken was not fully cooked (see pictures) and bland. The dark areas are dried blood, it was pink when I first bit into it. All the sides are also bland except the broccolini and the banana pudding. I still have everything except the broccolini and banana pudding because I was not sure if I wanted to try to make it edible or trash it and cross this place off my list of places to eat.

I rated the food 3 stars because the first time the food was a 5, but the second time it was a 1.

VERY DISAPPOINTED...