National Lampoon's Lake Sam Rayburn Vacation

I titled this post appropriately because there were times on this trip we felt like we were the Griswold family from National Lampoon's Vacation and Christmas Vacation movies.  I might be exaggerating a bit.  It wasn't all bad.  This was our view from the back of the cabin we rented.  

The first night we stopped at pretty much the only local restaurant, The Stump.  I guess there's such a demand there that no matter how bad it is people will still go there because they're the only show in town.  It was a Monday night but super crowded.  We waited almost an hour for our food, with two hungry and tired kids.  Not a good mix.  Here's my fried catfish, or more like catfish fingers because they were cut so thin.  It was $10.99 so at least it wasn't too expensive and it didn't taste too bad.  

The staff was very nice.  I heard them say they were down to one cook.  There were at least 30 people in there eating so I really do feel sorry for that cook.  People were getting so fed up with the wait they left and just paid for their drinks.  The real problem I had, and it seems to be a current trend with restaurants I go to, is the cleanliness.  I really need to start taking more pictures.  I had to take the kids to the bathroom about three times, and each time I saw something new that grossed me out.  My shoes stuck to the floor, the doors were stained, and there was dust caked on top of the stalls.  On the salad bar, the lettuce had pink on it and the plastic sneeze guard had food on it (or maybe something else I really don't want to speculate about).  

But the real Griswold moment happened when we went to the Lake Sam Rayburn Marina Resort to pick up the pontoon boat we rented for two days.  The term "resort" is a little misleading.

 A quick review of the "resort".  It is a place with little apartments, mobile homes and lake cabins for rent.  James and I stayed there a few times nearly 10 years ago for his work fishing tournament.  It is a good location and I remember the cabins being clean, but they were majorly outdated with their decor.  The inside had looked like the set of the Three's Company television show apartment from the 70's and 80's.  We didn't go inside this time, but judging from the outside there hasn't been any improvements.  

Paint is peeling off the outside.  It looked like their boat docks and fishing pier and beach were also damaged.  So I really wouldn't stay there again.  The people in the front office had zero personality and charged us $10 to park our car there for four hours.  When I initially rented the boat over the phone the man told me to pick it up at 9:00.  We got there and no one was there.  Someone from the resort hollered at a man who was fishing out on a boat (the boat we were renting).  He came up and we said we were there to rent a boat at 9:00.  He said "No, you're not. We don't open until 10:00."  I told him I had spoken to the man over the phone who told me 9:00.  Turns out the owner lives in Houston and this man runs the boat rentals for him.  Mr. Personality called the owner who said he told me 9:30.  A few words were exchanged between us and him and we finally got the boat.  It was a very nice boat and I enjoyed it.  The kids got bored the first day but perked up for the second day.  I had this vision of having so many fish we'd have a big fish fry at our cabin.  We caught two catfish, two small bass that we threw back, and Philip almost caught about a 3 pound bass but his wire snapped on his Toy Story fishing pole.  There was a catfish feeder on the property we were staying at, but it got clogged.  One of the cabin owner's neighbors came out thinking we were stealing it when James was trying to fix it.  It was good he was looking out for his neighbors.

We brought the boat back the next evening.  We thought we had rid ourselves of the boat rental people but the next morning as we were leaving we got a call from the owner.  He asked me if I had called the previous week to cancel part of my reservation.  Turns out he dialed the complete wrong number and thought he was calling someone named Judy.  I think he was a little overwhelmed.  I said "While I have you on the phone ...", and he hung up.  I was going to tell him about his unfriendly work force.  Lesson learned, I will never go back to the Sam Rayburn Marina Non-Resort or the boat rental place there.  The trip wasn't all bad because the kids got a chance to ride in the boat and fish a little.  I also ended up catching my first fish, a little 'ole catfish, which only provided us about three bites a piece, but they were tasty bites!

Catfish Kitchen

This past Sunday we went to Catfish Kitchen on College Street in Beaumont after church.  I've only been there one other time, about a year or two ago.  The only thing I remember from that restaurant was that the decor was awful and the bathroom floors were sticky.  So.....apparently nothing's changed.  I wasn't sure about ordering off the menu or getting the buffet, but it ended up cheaper to go with the buffet.  The adult buffet was $10.99 and the kid's buffet was $6.99, which I thought was a very good price.  For the four of us it was $47.55 without the tip.  The buffet had two kinds of gumbo, chicken fingers, catfish, popcorn shrimp, green beans, rice, carrots and corn, among other things.  The two dessert items were bread pudding and peach cobbler.  

First off, the roll that they are supposed to be famous for was dry and stale-tasting.  I imagine it was left from Saturday.  It's bad if I leave a roll on my plate.  I gave half to Evelyn (who didn't eat it either - another bad sign because the girl loves rolls) and I used my fork to pull out the center of the other half hoping for some moisture, but no luck.  The vegetables were good, just very basic.  I actually did like the catfish and shrimp, they were cooked well and tasted good.  The kids and James gobbled up the gumbo.  So the food gets an B+, I'd probably give it an A- if that roll was better.  BUT, the cleanliness is another issue.  The place is in DIRE need of updating.  I know part of it is because it's an older building, but seriously, they should probably call in the fire department to use their hose to get the layer of grime and stickiness off of things.  The floor was dirty, the knick knacks on the wall were outdated and dusty, and there were cracks in everything.  The true test was the bathroom.  Remember when I took a picture of the bathroom at Willie Burger?  I felt weird posting a picture of a toilet but I wanted people to see how clean it was.  Well trust me, there were plenty of dirty things in this bathroom to take pictures of, but I didn't want to gross out the few people that read this blog.  And yes, my shoes still stuck to the floor when I walked.  

I will say the people here were super friendly.  Our waitress was polite and attentive, and I assume the owner or manager walked around to each table.  She asked how the buffet was and I said good.  I really didn't want to bring up the cleanliness issue in front of everyone, but others had to notice.  I want to like this place because the owner, Mike "Tuffy" Hamilton, has always been so nice when I've spoken to him in the past.  My son loves the commercials with its catchy jingle and always asks to go.  Sadly, I'm not sure if I'd go back.  If  I did I'd be temped to ask Robert Irvine from Restaurant Impossible to join me for lunch.  If this place got some updating and cleaning, it has the potential to be the top place for seafood in Beaumont.