Pappy's Place — Restaurant in Scottsboro

3.5/5 -- very close to a 4 but just not quite there for me.

I actually came here for a late lunch after working nearby on Valentine's Day. It's sort of downtown Scottsboro, sort of not; it's down a side street so not super visible as you're driving along. Parking, for me, was pretty challenging. There are only a couple spots in front of the restaurant itself, and it wasn't clear whether it was okay to park in front of the other businesses (no spots parked with paint) and there was a decent amount of glass / other debris on the ground nearby. So I made the block and parked in a public lot a few streets away and hoofed it over there.

The interior part of the restaurant is quite small; I'd be surprised if more than 15-20 people could eat inside at a given time. They do seem to have a patio out back that I'm sure could accommodate more people. I'd probably have preferred to have eaten out there, but I didn't ask and it wasn't offered; instead, I got a two-seater booth in the back of the restaurant, which was fine. There was one other person eating and a few people came in and out for takeout, but it was mostly quiet.

Service was pleasant and efficient. Just one girl doing all the work but she managed just fine both waiting tables and taking payments. She even brought me a glass of tea to go for the road. I ordered a chicken tender lunch, which came with two sides. I ordered fries and the vegetable of the day, but they were out of that. They were also out of cornbread, which was my second choice. So I went full-fried-Monty and got fried okra. My food came out in the appropriate amount of time (especially since it was cooked fresh). One of my tenders had a tear in it and the waitress explained it was because the chef wanted to be sure they were cooked completely. I appreciated that.

The food was fine! The tenders were cooked nicely and were HUGE! The portions were quite generous and I was able to take some home. The batter had a sort of fish-fry batter flavor to it, which is fine but not my favorite on chicken. The okra was probably the best thing. Not over breaded, very crispy, still tender and green and snappy on the inside. I also enjoyed the clearly house made ranch. Perfect for tenders, fries, and even a piece of okra or two...hehe.

The biggest let down was by far the fries. They were absolutely glittering with grease, and the grease never seemed to drain off them, either. They did somehow retain some crispness -- puzzling, given the sheer quantity of grease -- but every bite was extremely oily. It's unusual for me to not finish fries, but I didn't finish these.

It sounds like from other reviews burgers and shakes are the thing to get here; I just wasn't feeling it that particular day. There's clearly great potential here so I'd be happy to return and give those a...

Pappi and his wife are awesome salt of the earth Christian's. They have a program where hungry people can come in and get free food to eat. They are passionate in helping people not only in the operation of the restaurants but they truly care about people. Pappi and his wife really put their love in their food. You can taste it! They make everything from scratch. Pappi cuts fresh potatoes into fries soon as there ordered. He blends his own gunpowder seasoning for the fries and it is great. The burgers are fresh hand patted out never frozen beef. His wife makes all the desserts and topping from scratch from ice cream to salted caramel, to waffle brownies. I have had the jalapeño burger which is really good. I have had the heart attack burger which was huge and amazing! The coleslaw was red cabbage and was the right tangy to sweet ratio. the onions were caramelized to perfection. the fried pickles were not too salty and breaded perfectly and not greasy. the best part was the pulled pork! It was the best pulled pork I have ever had and it was on a burger!! It was chopped and not pulled but it was so smoky and juicy and fall apart good. The bacon was huge pieces. The patty its self was seasoned and cooked to perfection. Pappi even toasted the bun perfectly. Over all no exaggeration it was the best burger I have ever eaten and the best pulled pork. I am a Chef my self and I am very critical of food; often, I think when I eat something that I could do that better or at least one thing could have been better. But the heart attack burger was perfectly done!! I could not have done it better. It is a monster of a burger with many complex components and all done to perfection!! The strawberry ice cream is made real strawberry’s even the cherry coke is made with coke and real cherry juice and free refills. You will not find fake flavors in this kitchen!! So Pappies is a perfect place to go for a burger or just go and get dessert. By far the best food in Scottsboro!! ...

My wife and I could not wait to try their burger so after a couple weeks of finally getting over there all the way over from Albertville (just to eat there, going by their photos) we ended up being VERY disappointed. Neither one of us thought it was a top 10 burger. And believe me we have eaten many a good burgers in the surrounding counties. We both got the burger with the bbq sauce, onion straws, bacon, etc. There were barely any onion straws on either burger and the double patties were very thin, not like the photos at all. And the taste of the meat was below average. Burger King does a much better job sadly. No seasoning!! The fries were very good. 3.29 for a Coke. You cannot get water unless you buy bottled for $3+ This after having to pay $13 for a mediocre burger. The chicken fingers and onion rings that someone else got did look good, we both wished we had got them instead but now after the burger experience and going around smelling like grease the rest of the day (more on that in a sec) we doubt that we will ever be back again. And now the grease smell. As soon as we walked in we were knocked down with that old greasy hole in the wall type smell, along with smoke to go along with it from time to time. Bad ventilation problem to say the least. Every store we went into for the rest of the day we could smell it on our clothes pretty strongly, made us pretty paranoid to other people like we only washed our clothes once a year and that we cooked in them all the time.

To sum it all up: Too expensive for small mediocre tasting burger, no free water, and greasy atmosphere.

And we also noticed that the food critics that gave this place raving reviews did so AFTER the owners knew they were coming. WELL DUH, don’t you think that they’re going to make the best and biggest burger that they’ve ever made when they know you’re going to rate it to the whole...