DiCola's Seafood — Restaurant in Lake Township

My bf drives trucks over the road and we're from the south(meaning we take our catfish very seriously)so catfish is like our go to when in doubt of certain areas. The service was mediocre, when we walked in instead of your courteous "hello thanks for coming in" we were greeted with blank stares ...to the point I had to greet them myself, with the most southern hospitality I asked how they were doing, which some returned a reply. The setup is interesting, they have precooked food out kinda like a buffet setting, a salad/pasta bar, and the interesting part for me was seeing the selections of seafood and fish pre-breaded for you to choose by the pound and also a store setting with several seasonings,breadings and preboils. That was cool on it's on however I noticed that with all the seasonings on the shelf it appeared very little to be on the pre-breaded fish. So against my better judgement I proceeded to select two catfish steaks, two center cut, and two colossal shrimp (all pre-breaded to be fried). My bf ordered three frogs, three catfish steaks with fried okra. None of the seasonings I seen for sale at the store were used on the food. It was terribly fried.The breading was peeling and falling off the fish. It was not fried long enough and preferably too light in color. We didn't get any onions/pickles on the side like you normally do when ordering fried fish. We didn't get any condiments (hot sauce, mustard, ketchup) bc they were only for purchase. To add insult to injury the total amount for three frogs legs, seven pieces of catfish, 2 colossal shrimps, okra/fries ( that was only a half order by the size) came out to be a WHOPPING $60.57.The only thing we got we did like was Joe's lemonade. I CANNOT EXPRESS OUR DISAPPOINTMENT AND DISSATISFACTION. Once I begin to observe the customers that were coming in, I noticed a pattern of older (seniors). So that explained why the fish is fried tasteless and soft. Only go if you're a senior citizen otherwise RUN RIGHT...

I finally made it in today. It's kinda hard for me to stop in here. I frequent the area a lot but won't be driving home until running a few errands. By that time they'll be closed. Or I'll call ahead and they won't have what I want. I typically get the catfish steaks unbreaded and sometimes some perch. Anyhow, I happen to agree with many of the recent reviews that the standard of quality has fallen. One time not too long ago, they only had breaded catfish steaks. I decided to get those and fry them up myself at home. I'll never do that again. It just didn't fry up as I expected. I don't know if it would've turned out better had I let them fry it up. I can count on my hand the number of times that I let them cook the fish and it was always a great experience. I chalked it up to their breading and my fryer just didn't gel together. Myself and others would eat in the car. We never had any complaints. But this was well over 5 years ago maybe longer since we had the food freshly cooked. I remember when they didn't cook it. And I used to wish they were open on Sundays. My last issue is with the unbreaded catfish steaks. All they have is horseshoe pieces. They must be sourcing from a different vendor but I know what I used to buy. And it wasn't all horseshoe pieces and they were bigger. Now I can get the same size pieces of catfish including real catfish steaks that Dicola's is selling at Market Fisheries on 7129 S. State and for half the price of what Dicola's is charging. You pick out the whole catfish and they chop it however you want your steaks for $4.49. I had just grabbed some the other day. You can even do better going to your local Jewel Foods. I'm referring to catfish only. That's how I know corners have been cut here at Dicola's. I would gladly pay more if it's worth it. But it isn't anymore. The more I think about it, I feel like I was robbed today...

Today I was extended an invitation to grab some seafood to go from DiCola's. Unfortunately, I am sad to report that I wish I'd declined the offer. Along with a few other parked cars who waited patiently for DiCola's to open at 11am the wait was finally over. My grandmother ordered a half pound of fried large shrimp. I on the other hand was like a kid in a candy store who's eyes were bigger than their stomach. I was excited to see what appeared to be "FRESH" seafood awaiting to be prepared for consumption. Unfortunately that was not at all what I received. I ordered a pound of fried large shrimp, fried oysters, 2 pieces of fried lake perch, red beans and rice and a small order of french fries. ALL of the seafood was EXTREMELY rubbery and did NOT taste fresh! The red beans and rice had no flavor at all...The only thing I enjoyed were the french fries and that's pretty sad. My grandmother had made so many rave reviews for DiCola's that I was super excited to see what the take out restaurant had to offer. Needless to say I will NOT be going back. I wish I had read the reviews before driving over to 107th Western Avenue for HORRIBLE seafood...A true waste of time energy and most importantly $$$...buyer beware..please make sure you taste your food before driving away. Lastly my grandmother stated and I quote " this does NOT taste anything like the DiCola's I have eaten in the past. "She too was...