The Catfish House — Restaurant in Springfield

UPDATE 08/2013

As I mentioned in previous review below, occasionally you may receive okra, beans or potato cold or soggy... well, it has gotten much worse. The fish was still hot and tasty but they have really come down several notches in other foods and customer service.

My sister & I were there in late August and it was not good. Nearly all the staff, (abt. 7 or 8), were sitting on the benches in the lobby ON THEIR CELL PHONES TEXTING.... No one bothered to greet us. After several minutes I said something and a waitress finally said she would get someone to seat us. She came out wiping her mouth and hands and then took us to the far sunny room where no one was and tried to seat us in the "hot" end of that room. We refused and she said that it was really hot in there, (something she already knew apparently.) Mind you, we were not the only customers in the house. There were some in the middle room and on the other side but, there was pleanty of seating in the middle room which is where she finally put us. From these seats we could still see all the staff on the lobby benches Texting. Which I'm sure is what she was trying to avoid in the first place.

Everything that was supposed to be hot was cold and vice versa... except the fish was still fine. The waitress was unconcerned and moved very slowly. She was trying to work both rooms, the lobby with her texting co-workers and the tables she had in our room. Their wasn't any question in which room her loyalty lie and it wasn't her customers room. She did not tend to customers like she should and we waited for replacements, things not brought during food delivery, tea, etc. She never bothered to get in any hurry concering her customers. When we finally got replacement food, it was cold and/or soggy too. We gave up as there didn't appear to be anyone in charge either.

The tables and seats were sticky and greasy and the restroom was dirty and stinky. The whole place needs a deep cleaning. And would you believe, when we left the staff was still seated on the benches in the lobby texting on their phones.

I got throw up sick shortly after eating and believe it may have either been the hot mayo slaw or the hot tarter sauce left on the table. In that kind of heat, it might be wise to refridgerate or have it on ice.

I am hopeful that the manager or owner will see this and make necessary changes to bring the Catfish House back up to standard because they truly do have the best restaurant catfish available anywhere.

ORIGIONAL REVIEW EARLY 2013 BELOW:

We've eaten at Catfish House since it opened. Springfield location is better than all other locations. Catfish is always excellent... No muddy, silver skin taste! They use really clean catfish fillet that are cleaned of fat, mud vein, silver skin and are all white meat that is very sweet. On occasion I've had to request replacement fresh fried okra because it has set and become cold and/or soggy. Baked potato is not always brand new but, they will cheerfully replace anything you request. Oh, they have a bad habit of cutting a slit down the baked potato through the alum. foil.. just request they not cut the foil on potato when you place order. White beans have great taste, both slaws, (vinegar & mayo) are really good. Great hush puppies. Love the relish and tarter sauce. Be sure to ask for blue cheese dressing to dip okra in... Absolutely fab starter, (be sure to ask for extra plates so you can easily share.) Even their sweet tea is fab. I can't say enough good things about the food! Service is usually very good. Resturant is clean but could probably use a good "spring cleaning". I'm sortof a clean freak but, if i'm eating there rest assured, it's basically clean. Restrooms are clean and well kept. Management is humble and appreciates your business. It is well worth every penny. I just can't say enough good things about the food. If you love fried catfish, (or chicken tenders), you have got to eat here. It will quickly become your...

My family has always loved this catfish house. The food is always good and the service is always excellent. That is until our last visit. We we were told it would be a 20 min wait at 5:00 in the evening. I can semi understand that there was a wait until I found out the real reason. They where only sitting 3 to 4 families for the entire building. They tried to say because of Covid they were only seating so many people. From the looks of things it appeared they where seating people 60 feet apart. The place looked empty. They had people in 4 corners of the building and that's all. After finally being seated 45 mins later. We found out our next surprise. All you get is what you pay for. It's always been you get hush puppies, white beans and okra while you wait on your food and to have with your food. Not anymore! You pay for everything!! The hush puppies are $0.25 a PC!! And to get okra for a family of 6 or 7 is the cost of a meal itself. And the final surprise is they add their own tip at the end. I believe it was 15% of the total bill. Needless to say that was the last time we will be going to that catfish house. If they'd seat more than 10 people in the building they wouldn't need to cut out the things people love and have...

We have always loved going here. They have ALWAYS been the place in Springfield to beat as far as getting a baked potato fresh and HOT!!! Over the years they have been going down hill. Our last visit had to be the worst; with the exception if our server. They never did get my wife's steak correct - kept over cooking it. So needless to say she only ate a salad. My fish was excellent - nice portion and hot. Slaw has dramatically went down hill. It tasted like cabbage with a slight hint of some sort of dressing. The last let down was when the.baked potatos were luke warm. I can see now why other locations have possibly went out of business. Especially if food quality had been this lackluster. My fear is that our location is on the verge of closing. I say this because upon arriving there were SEVERAL unbussed tables and some of the key people were waiting on tables and they weren't at all busy. I can only hope they can recover from the path they are heading. I would hate to see them close but I feel that day is coming because you use to have to wait what seemed like an eternity to eat there on a Sunday and lately you can pretty much walk in...