Sam’s Southern Eatery — Restaurant in Springfield

Sam's Southern Eatery is a great choice if you are in the mood for seafood or chicken in a simple, relaxed atmosphere.

The restaurant itself was quite clean (including the restroom). Seating was comfortable and the tables were spacious. You ordered from the posted menu and then took a seat.

The menu offered a fairly broad variety of food including burgers and sandwiches, chicken, fish, and seafood. Traditional Cajun entrees like po' boys, etoffee, and gumbo were available, as well as several types of cobbler for desert. Our food was top notch, and it was served with very little wait time.

My large gumbo was just that...large, and very good. Gumbo prepared in the South is typically pretty tasty, but this was certainly above par. It came with some fried bread which I had never had before, but I definitely will look for it now. We also had catfish fillets, fried shrimp and fried oysters... all of which were seasoned and prepared nicely. Chicken wings rounded out the meal and they too were quite good.

The side dishes warrant remarks of their own. Cole slaw and French fries were very good, but the star was the red beans and rice. Hands-down the best I have ever eaten... sadly, even better than mine.

Staff were friendly and service was prompt. Prices were a bit on the high end, but certainly not unreasonable given the quality of the food. The menu was set up nicely so you could mix up your choices a bit... 3 or 6 of this, 2 or 4 of that, etc. Lots of potential options from which to choose.

This definitely was a very good meal, and worth the effort to do again some day. There are apparently 51 locations of SSE in the U.S. (mainly in the central and southern states it appears), so if you happen upon one... go inside and enjoy a great...

To sum this place up in one word. "disgusting". I've never been here before and thought with 4.3 stars we would give it a shot. The first issue I had was how unhelpful the girl working the counter was. I asked what kind of cheese came on the cheese steak and she couldn't even tell me. Then asked me if I wanted her to ask. Well yeah... Went to get my drink and all the drinks were flat. I informed her that the carbonation was out and she just said "oh ok"made zero attempt to remedy this. I ordered the cheese steak, and it had a wierd sweet tangy taste combined with way too much pepper. After trying to eat more of this sandwich I realized what they put on it that made it taste wierd. MIRACLE WHIP! who the hell puts miracle whip on a Philly? It was absolutely disgusting. I ordered the cole slaw with it and I had to spit it out. You can tell it had been previously frozen and then thawed to room temperature. Nothing was edible. My wife had the shrimp poboy which was just as bad as the rest of the food. And the Mac and cheese tasted like it had been refrigerated and reheated in the microwave multiple times. None of the food was fresh. To top that off the restaurant was very quiet almost library like. No music on, the tv had a game on but it was frozen. So it was awkwardly quiet. Except for the cooks in the kitchen horrible singing. To top off all that there were ants crawling on the table. If I was the owner of this place I would be absolutely embarrassed and ashamed to open my doors to customers. This place needs a surprise visit from the health department. I guarantee they would fail an inspection. Never again will I eat here or recommend it to anyone. There is no place in springfield for a dump like this....

We've been curious about Sam's ever since it opened, and yesterday we had the chance to try it. It was Delicious! It was around 1:00, the lunch rush was over so we had no waiting. The menu has lots of options, and you order at the counter, then they bring it to you at your table. I ordered the burger, which comes with fries. My husband ordered the Oyster Po'boy sandwich, also with fries. The burger was big, thick, juicy, and one of the best I've had. Cheese was $.50 extra, but worth it. The bun was like a really fresh homemade bread. Tons of crispy fries. Jack's Po'boy sandwich was crammed full of nice sized, crispy friend oysters. We loved our food! It wasn't busy when we got there, but quickly filled up. Everyone seemed to be new here. We were all eyeing platters at other tables as they came out. A lady next to us had a huge pile of fried chicken livers, and she said they were the best she ever had at any restaurant! Plates full of catfish going by looked yummy and all the people were getting "Go-boxes" because all the servings, at all tables, are so huge. You can hardly eat it all. It was a great family atmosphere. People were talking to each other, showing off what they ordered, commenting on what they're going to have next time. We ALL agreed there would be a Next Time. The place was clean, the menu easy to understand. The prices were great, my burger was $6.49. I ate half. Lol! Go there. It is delicious, and maybe you'll make a new friend or two while...