Big Al’s Down The Hatch — Restaurant in Waxahachie

I was in town for a visit a while ago & decided to give this place a try when we couldn't agree on another restaurant. I'm very sorry we came in. As soon as we walked in, the vibes were off. We saw some staff talking to each other & laughing with each other when we first got there, but as soon as they saw us, it was like god took an eraser to their faces & rubbed those smiles right off.

I asked a few questions, like what's good here, what do you recommend, what's popular, what's your favorite thing on the menu. They looked at me like I was the most bothersome person in the world with the audacity to ask so many questions.

We got glasses of water, which had a few fruit flies floating in them, so we didn't touch them. I ordered the artichoke spinach dip, which was gloopy & pure salt. My friend had the nachos with brisket, and the brisket was like 50% gristle. It's like they gave us all the fatty ends that nobody else wanted. We shared a burger & fries, but a partial onion ring was lodged in the fries & my friend took a bite out of it. She ran to the ladies room to vomit (she's not allergic to onions, but the texture makes her sick). We flagged down the nearest employee to bring up the onion ring issue, and the guy gave a half-hearted sorry, before disappearing into the back & never coming back out again. We didn't feel welcomed there, so we just left. Plus. Our seats were sticky & the table wasn't wiped down very good. We felt gross just being there.

They didn't do a good job cleaning the tables (and I'm assuming also the drink station), so I wonder what else isn't properly cleaned there. As soon as we got back to my friend's house, I had to put all our clothes we wore into the restaurant into the laundry & wash it right away because the smell of that place just clung to us. My friend's car smelled like that place for a week, before she did an interior deep cleaning to get rid of the oder & bad memories. NEVER AGAIN...

I do a lot of my daily business in Waxahachie and I've never tried this place. I know it exists but.... So to get straight to the 4 stars for atmosphere is one of my peves...sweeping and moping floors around my table where IM Eating. And yes this happened here. The place was literally empty at 330 pm and we decided to give it a try. As soon as we got our food, the keeper started sweeping around our area...with authority! He made sure to get every spec off the floor which causes dust to fly up in the air and around the immediate area and can fall on our food and drinks. I had to tell him to Stop, that we are eating and to finish his cleaning later. Sorry but this usually gets bad reviews by anyone. NEVER CLEAN THE FLOORS WHILE PATRONS ARE EATING. Unless it's a spill, that's understandable. But he could have started way on the other side of the restaurant but he went right around us. He apologized and it was done. So...now the 5 stars...the cheeseburger was sloppy good, not great. Meat needed the wow spices. The fries were great. My better half had the Lemmon pepper wings. She was disappointed at the first few bites....no Lemmon pepper taste. But the staff saved the day when they brought her a cup of dry rub Lemmon pepper for HER to put on her own food. But she sprinkled it in her ranch dressing, dipped her wing in the dip and MAGIC!!! She then said, "This Taste Combo is Better Than Wingst...." and she smiled. She gave this food a 👍 and said it was great!!! 😀😀I was thrilled that she was thrilled. 9th inning, bases loaded and losing......then grandslam! Way to save the day Big Al's. Would highly recommend this place. Bet this place is Booming...

I think the owner has given up, here’s my honest review. The billboards worked and we exited and drove into town and into the restaurant. The staff were amazing and helped each other out. My wife and I ordered sweet tea, it was delicious, but the billboard money must have dipped into the cup fund. I’ve only seen cups that small at a dentist, used to rinse your mouth after a deep clean. Photo attached. The ribs were promoted, so I got them- sides were macaroni and mash potatoes. I was embarrassed for them by how grainy the mash potatoes were, as if they were proud of using boxed mashed potatoes. See photo, you can see the flakes, needs more whisk, come on guys. No added heavy cream or real seasonings, it was so basic, like nobody cares back there. The mac and cheese was great, only because I actually like velveeta cheese from the box. Homemade Mac and cheese and real mashed potatoes is not hard and is expected from a restaurant that has several billboards on the highway and boasts that notable people travel to visit this establishment. I love black owned restaurants because the food has such pride, but the obvious lackadaisical shortcuts wasn’t worth the exit from the interstate. The ribs… see photo. They don’t even put the sauce on the meat, they called it BBQ ribs. The ribs were nice and tender, but it’s obvious they were frozen for a while. The bread was amazing, and my wife loved her fried chicken and fries. Overall the food was ok, we left full, but it was more like mom whipping something together last minute, not a restaurant that has passion for the product anymore. And the cups… come on. Good luck on...