Being new to the Wichita Falls area, I was in dire need of some homestyle soul-food. After doing a quick Google search, a place caught my eye: Sam’s Southern Eatery. I headed there with a bit of skepticism because honestly, I did not think Wichita Falls was capable of producing any good soul-food.

I got there and saw about five people in the building eating, two elder Caucasian men, an Asian couple and an older black guy. I thought to myself, either this place is bad, or its very unknown.

I sat down, was given a menu and looked it at for quite some time. I saw a few attention grabbers like catfish and hot wings, and I looked at the sides and saw fried green tomatoes and red beans and rice. I wasn’t sold just yet, but I was impressed. They even had a kids section on the menu with “baby shrimp,” grilled cheese, and chicken nuggets too. I saw that each meal comes with two sides and a drink, so I went ahead and ordered the No. 14: four piece fried catfish with a lemonade. I got fries and red beans and rice as my two sides and I also ordered fried pickles as an appetizer. My friend ordered the No. 15: six piece grilled catfish with fried okra, red beans and rice, and an orange soda.

The wait for my fried pickles was about six minutes. When I saw how many pickle were in the old school red food basket with the red and white checkerboard liner paper, the foodie in me was wide awake. I tasted the pickles, I thought to myself how salty they were, so I dipped the next one in ranch. Perfect combo! Ten minutes after that, the rest of the food arrived. Oh, was I in hog heaven. The first thing I went for was the red beans and rice and it was seasoned to perfection. Next, I snagged a piece of my friend’s grilled catfish, and that was good too. I grabbed a handful of fried okra and they were crunchy on the outside, yet soft on the inside.

The fries were subpar, but I dipped them in the house tartar sauce (which was amazing) and that gave them a little boost. When I went for my main attraction; the fried catfish, I was not disappointed. It was fried just right, not too soggy, yet not too crisp and seasoned well too. I hit it with my secret hot sauce/house tartar sauce dip combo and it was over with. I think it took me less than ten minutes to eat half (including my friend’s because I kept stealing bits and pieces of his grilled catfish).

The fish filets were average size, but for the price, I could not complain. The red beans and rice were in a small Styrofoam bowl (I would have ordered a large had I known my portion would be so small).

We got our bill, and much to our surprise, we didn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for all the food we ordered. My meal cost $9.99 while his cost $12.99 and the fried pickles were $5.99.

The waitress was polite and made sure we had everything we needed so my friend tipped her and we left, full and satisfied. When we paid, I grabbed a to go menu and made a mental note to always come here for good catfish, and next n my to-do list are their chicken wings.