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  The floor was dirty, the knick knacks on the wall were outdated and dusty, and there were cracks in everything.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.