There’s a southern style buffet on Arkansas Blvd. called Fish Creek. These guys won’t leave you on-the-hook when it comes to down home southern style cooking.
A couple weeks ago I met with Mr. Shon Matthews, the new general manager of Fish Creek. Shon told me that (under his management) the quality of the food has never been better! … So I say to Shon, “Put your money where your mouth is.” He grinned. I continued, “If you are so confident, I’ll come in, try you out and give you my brutally honest opinion. The kicker is, good or bad I’m going to write an article and post it on TXKtoday for EVERYBODY to read.” He proudly agreed, so we set a date.
I arrived at Fish Creek on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at about 6:15 p.m. It was raining this day and had been all day. I imagine that the rain kept people from coming out, so the there was a lot easy parking and not enough of a line to even mention.
When you walk into the building, the air is filled with a mixture of southern fried flavors. It reminded me of what my great grandmother’s house smelled like when I was a little boy. … Awesome!
Now, even with the understanding that its a “southern style” restaurant, the decor is out-dated. The next time a remodel is planned, I’d suggest brightening up the walls and update the smaller decor to be more “modern country.” I think it would make the restaurant feel more lively, and bring up the overall mood of the room. … But I wasn’t going to judge a book by its cover. I wanted at the food!
Round the corner and past a couple fish friends, we finally get to the buffet. Right before its your turn, you have a chance to hit the hand-sanitizer dispenser hanging on the wall. I thought that was a good idea, although I think it may be the only one because I did not notice one anywhere else.
As I went down the line I thought there was a nice variety to choose from. Most of the items were obvious, but there were a couple that I had to stir around a little to see what was in the container. For instance, the gumbo was seafood gumbo. I feel like this should have a label or tag because seafood allergies are fairly common and people need to know. Overall, the food looked great. I ended up getting a small sample of just about everything to try. – After all, you only live once!
Shon had made it a point to tell me that they only serve American farm raised catfish because they are the highest quality catfish. Naturally, I had to have some, but here’s a list of everything I had:
Garden Salad – The salad was fresh and nice looking. I didn’t see any brown pieces in the bowl.
Chicken & Dumplings – The flavor of the Chicken & Dumplings was excellent, but the dumplings themselves were too thick and doughy. The general manager, Shon, had just walked over as I tried them and could tell that something was off. After I told him what I thought of the Chicken & Dumplings, I felt like he really took the feedback to heart. It will be interesting to see if a change has been made to them when I do a return visit.
Seafood gumbo with rice – Excellent!!! Its not easy to make a good seafood gumbo. The recipe must be just right, and tonight it was. The flavor was great and it had plenty of nice size shrimp in it.
Country fried steak with gravy – You could tell that it was a hand battered fresh
Green Beans – I was disappointed with the green beans. I thought they were over seasoned and over cooked.
Mashed potatoes – Just like mama used to make! Dee-lish!
Spare-Ribs – Tender, flavorful, and fell off the bone. ++
Catfish – Golden color and cooked perfectly. ++
Stuffed crab – the crabs were cooked just right. I really enjoyed it. When stuffed crabs get overcooked, they get tasteless and dry. These were nicely done!
Dinner roll – Man-o-man!!! The homemade dinner rolls were killer! Hot and fresh, you could tell that these were made that day.
Cinnamon Roll – WOW! They actually melt in your mouth. Even after you are full, you’ve gotta get a bite of one of these!
Edit: They had both fried and boiled shrimp, but I didn’t have any this evening.
My overall experience at Fish Creek was really nice. I left with the opinion that they have great food and a solid staff.
Restaurant info: Fish Creek – 1514 Arkansas Blvd. 870-773-0595
If you would like to have your local restaurant reviewed, contact Andrew Ghio by email at andrew.ghio@txktoday.com to be added to the list.
