David Beard's Catfish King — Restaurant in Livingston

Update 1/1/25: Sorry, this is a bit of s long story here. After my mom passed in 2020, I moved away and haven't been back since... Until today. I'm so disappointed that the place has gone so far downhill in 5 years, it was a place I regularly used to go to. I went out of my way and drove 2 hours one way to get here. Here's what happened: Got here, it's almost empty. Wife and I get seated. Order water and the ayce Cajun fish and shrimp. Something floating in my water. Salad bar is like an afterthought. Beans used to be amazing, but when we got there despite only 1 other table with people, beans were almost empty and had the texture and taste of unseasoned refried beans. Fish and shrimp come barely seasoned, as if the Cajun seasoning were sprinkled on by Salt Bae. The texture of the fry and lack of oil makes me suspect they've switched to using an air fryer. Could be wrong. Just my opinion. Shrimp tasted a bit extra fishy, like they're on the edge of expiry. Fish..... That was not catfish. That was a lean, flaky fish. My wife and I immediately both thought "this is tilapia." We just mention that we didn't like it, and I say that it tastes like the recipe is different than it used to be and don't like it. Don't wanna start anything or be confrontational, we didn't even eat a single piece of fish, just a couple of bites. After having to get insistent, the mgr/owner? woman who I recognize as having been there for many years claims the recipe didn't change, and checks our food to make sure we really haven't eaten any, then still tried to charge $15 and change. I'm once again insistent until she finally relents and we leave. I don't yell or get angry, but simply stand my ground. I'm so sad and disappointed... It's one of the biggest disappointments of my life. I'm not being dramatic, this place just had emotional significance to me. I've had so many memories of going here with my late mother for delicious catfish... I actually cried once I was outside. Call me sensitive or a crybaby or whatever, but I wanted to share this precious memory with my wife for the first time, and it's forever tarnished now. I'm sure the woman I talked to just thought I was being picky or thought I was rude, but I was just legitimately distraught that one of my favorite places has fallen so far.

Original: Love this place, especially the all you can eat! Best catfish in this...

I don't know what has happened to the Catfush King. I knew David Beard and was one of the first to eat at his 1st store in Daingerfield. I have said many, many, times that I had NEVER had a bad piece of dish at ANY of the David Beard restaurant. The last 3 times I ate at the store in Lufkin, it was BAD! The fish, that has always been sweet and tender, was cottony. The last time and it WILL be the last time, they completely messed the order up, making it all cajun. They told my son he would have to wait for them to cook another batch. He parked and called to tell me it would be a while and while we were on the phone, only 3-4 minutes, they brought the order out. There is no way it was freshly cooked. The sizes were wrong and one order was still cajun. We asked for extra hushpuppies and tomatoe relish. 2 meals had NO hushpuppies and zero tomatoes. It was the worst tasting yet. We were issued a comped meal ticket by the general manager. When we went back, several weeks later, my son ordered the same thing we SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN the first time. When he picked it up at the window, he told them my name, as the gm said to do, and they got mad that he didn't tell them it was comped. He had the original receipt, that listed all the cajun mess, and was told they could ONLY give him what was on the receipt. He told them that this was the initial problem. We DID NOT want what they erroneously put on the first ticket so why would he want the same thing that they screwed up on before. The gm was pretty irate and not very civil. The fish he got was not much better than the previous meal. I don't know if they have a different fish supplier or have changed their cooking techniques. After debating on FB, about 90% of the people agreed the fish is no longer good. There were about 30 people talking about it, so the feelings of poor quality is widespread. It is a shame. I bet Mr. Beard would be disappointed at what is happening to his reputation. We typically ate there 2-3 times a month. I will never go there again. First, the hushpuppies got bad and now the fish is not...

Well, my husband really wanted to try this place out, so I reluctantly gave it a go….. Upon arriving with our 2 month old baby, hostess tried sitting us at a regular table with nowhere to put our car seat… weird… so we moved to an open booth, on our way to the booth, people at another table tells us “it ain’t gonna get any better guys……’ Should have taken that as a sign…. The waitress was very nice, so this was not on her… we ordered our food, then she runs over and tells me they’re out of chicken…l know it’s a seafood place but I just wasn’t in the mood for seafood so….out of chicken…. Red flag #3!, so my husband orders the seafood platter and my mother gets shrimp…as well as I… 30 mins go by and tables come and go and we’re like ok…. Uhhh, our food must be almost ready… Nope…. Closing in on a hour and we still don’t have our food…. Waitress brings us more drinks because ours were watered down! Keeping our cool we ask for an ETA… my husband is sitting ever so calmly but about to lose it on this nice waitress… she’s trying her best to keep us happy, we have no idea what was happening in their kitchen but clearly something is up…. We keep asking for an eta and she tells us it’s coming it’s coming, I’m so sorry…. By this point, baby was getting upset, ……an hour and a half later…. They bring out the appetizer LOL…. I mean..,,. I’m ready to go by now…. We waited for our fried food for almost 2 hours…. Manager comes by, apologizes…. We’re cool about it….. on the way out we pay, and they still charged us for basically the whole meal…. What a mess… maybe it’s not always like that but this little fam is not going back to the Catfish King…....