Jimpa's Restaurant & Catering — Restaurant in Kennesaw

I ate at the old location and it was really good food at a reasonable price. So I was really looking forward to the new location opening. So last night I took my daughter for dinner.

We were both very disappointed. I know they are just getting started at the new place but the problems with the food go way beyond just being at a new location. I had the jumbo fried shrimp and I they were very bland and tasteless. Seriously there was no seasoning at all. Add to that the cornmeal batter (the owner says it is panko but it tasted like cornmeal to me, maybe they fry it with the catfish) was way to thick and was just the wrong batter to use for fried shrimp. I actually had to sprinkle salt on the shrimp just to be able to eat a few of them. Normally I can eat two dozen shrimp, but these were so bad I was only able to eat about 4 of them before I gave up.

I also had the french fries with the shrimp. How hard is it to cook a french fry? These were big thick home fries that were soggy and cold. Impossible to eat.

My daughter had the catfish. Again it was not seasoned at all and the batter was way to thick. She took two bites and said no more. She had the onion rings which were also not cooked correctly. They were very greasy and the onions were cut way to thick to have any chance of frying correctly. But at least they used the correct batter on the onion rings. If they would use that same batter on the shrimp I think it would help a lot (if that added a little spice to it).

The bill for this was over $30, which is about the same I would have paid for much better meals at the "------- ---- ------" (Name Removed since the owner does not like being compared to other places) So there is no excuse for the food to be so bad.

On top of all that the food took way to long to prepare, the service staff was still obviously new but they should be taught how to do their jobs before being let loose on the customers. Nobody every stopped by to check to see how the food was or if we needed anything (I would have at least asked for some hot fries if anybody had ever stopped by to ask how the meal was)

I really don't like writing a negative review, especially about a new restaurant that I want to succeed, but I think it is only fair to warn everyone about what they are in for if they decide to eat there.

Hopefully the owner is paying attention to the reviews and will...

Like I said, it WAS good a decade ago. The 3 times it was good allowed me to give you more tries AT THE OLD BUILDINGS. The subsequent visits SUCKED. I did not want to complain to him because he was a nice guy. I was supporting a local business.

For the 1st time at the corner location, I picked it up to go. Ordered it real-time. Fried catfish that won't break with a knife or your teeth should not be the case fresh out the grease or 2 hours later. So that's really not an excuse.

Here I am repeating myself: either people have given up on good fried catfish OR I just happened to have a really, really bad experience. If you want to "fix" it, great. I'd love to sing your praises and make sense out of your place being award winning because right now? Something is wrong and I have wasted $15-$20 on inedible food.

It's not my fault you don't get it. Here, let me make it simple for you. YOUR FOOD SUCKED. IT WAS TRASH. Yes, that's why I threw it away. NOTHING changed about my story. It was good years ago. ALL SUBSEQUENT VISITS HAVE BEEN STRAIGHT GARBAGE whether it was a while back or last week.

Let me be clear. 3 times good. All other times bad. It was bad a decade ago. It was bad last week. Your immature attack of your customer speaks volumes to what and who you are. I'm quite happy, but your food sucks. It was chewy. It was like rubber. There was more breading than fish. Pathetic. Not to mention the angry lady up front, but I digress.

Thank you for belittling me for trying your restaurant again. Your character seems to match your jacked up fried catfish. Respond to the earlier? LOL. ooook. You be right. Yes, your 1st response was quite sorry. As a matter of fact, the 2 stars was a courtesy score. It was honestly a 1 star experience. I mean think about it, IT WAS LITERALLY TRASH. ...

I have tried multiple times to give Jimpa's a chance. I enjoyed the food going back years from when the original owner was a manager at Uncle Buds in Smyrna. It just is not as good and at this point I have to accept it never will be. My latest experience was on September 30th. I ordered on line. First time, process was simple enough, curbside pick up was an option, great! I get there, call the number no answer. I called 2 more times. On the 3rd time it went to voice mail on the second ring. Now the issue is I was parked on the side and could see the horsing around going on. What is the point in offering curbside if you aren't going to follow through. I went in to pick up my food. The fish was ok, nothing horrible, nothing memorable. The fries were under cooked and overly greasy. The fried okra that I asked to be extra crispy was slimy because it was under cooked. The food is pricey for catfish, but I ordered it so have no right to complain about that. Now I do think if they would manage their supplies and staff a little better they could drop the prices. Seriously I ordered 2 3pc catfish dinners, did I really need 32 cups of tartar sauce? Only one was used. I can't condone waste and mismanagement like this. I am finally done.

Well I recieved a reply to my review above and basically got called a liar. As I said before I order the food so the price is on me. If i thought it was to much i would have went elsewhere.I was not looking to debate your prices. I have been unable to upload a photo to this review, but I do have one on the 31 remaining cups of tart sauce after we used one. It was uploaded on the webpage but was deleted. No you won't be seeing me, I will be going to the Basecamp Resturant for Friday night fish fry. (By the way, it cost more but...