When you fly into Orlando International Airport, and you look down from the airplane window, what do you see? Why water of course…lots and lots of water. There are lakes everywhere in Central Florida and there is no place better to get fresh, native Florida food than at The Catfish Place on US Route 192 in Saint Cloud, Florida.
The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. When you plan your trip here, be sure and leave early or you will end up in the overflow parking lot. Because of its popularity amongst the locals, as evidenced by the menu cover, this place gets packed!
On this trip we actually had the pleasure of dining with one of the owners, Deana Taylor. (That’s her in the green) She told me that The Catfish Place has been serving up meals to locals for over 35 years. No wonder everything tastes so perfect! And the restaurant’s popularity has drawn in celebrities such as Don Johnson and Kurt Russell. They’ve been featured in Southern Living and in the best-selling book Birnbaum’s Guide to Walt Disney World.
The entire restaurant makes you feel like you’ve arrived in “the real Florida”. This is the only place where High-Power Attorneys and Spur-Wearing Cowboys sit elbow to elbow to enjoy an authentic Florida meal. The rear wall of the restaurant boasts an original mural by well-known local artist Eldon Lux. When you go, see if you can spot the 201 animals in it?
Check out the appetizers you can order before your meal. See anything unusual? Perhaps you’d like to start out with some fresh gator, turtle, or frog legs?
Not feeling that adventurous? My family loves the fried lobster and fried green tomatoes, but today we settled on some yummy fried pickle chips with made-from-scratch ranch dipping sauce. Check out the portion size! You’re not going to leave this establishment hungry.
Our second course…fresh salad and home-made cole slaw. The slaw is so good here that they sell it by the bucket. And the salad comes with home-made croutons. What could be better?
Would you like to see what fried gator looks like?
That wasn’t too scary now was it? (Gator…the other white meat) The restaurant serves up the tails and backstrap of between five and ten 10-foot gators every week. There are loads of side items to choose from. My husband opted for the fresh, not frozen, hash browns and sweet hush puppies.
I love their fried shrimp and opted for a half dozen (lunch sized portion), hush puppies and a baked potato with butter and sour cream.
Deana settled on the signature catfish (no bones) with hush puppies and grits. This fish is caught fresh from the waters of Lake Okeechobee and The Catfish Place goes through 6,000 to 8,000 pounds a week!
If you have kids with you, don’t worry, they’ve gotcha’ covered. With 12 items on the “kids menu” your little ones are sure to find something good to eat. Kids menu items range from the tame (hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken fingers) to the more exotic items available on the adult menu. My daughter loves the crab. Her meal came with french fries, hush puppies, and apple sauce.
If you’re not into the freshwater delicacies, there are tons of other items on the menu from steak, chicken, and pork chops to saltwater fish, scallops, oysters, and clams. You can even get a burger if you’d like, and I can tell you from experience that they are GOOD! If you get there between 3 and 6 pm you can order from the “Early Bird” menu and save a couple of bucks. The Catfish Place has a large selection of beer and wine and a decadent dessert menu as well.
Most days, there’s not an empty seat in the house (except for the one by the window that we just got up from)
Here on business? How about a family reunion? The Catfish Place would be a perfect spot, as they have a large, separate dining room perfect for private functions.
Be sure and pick up a World Famous “Catfish Place” T-Shirt on your way out and don’t forget to tell them Amanda sent ya!
To see all of the photos from The Catfish Place, check out my flickr stream HERE.
Until Tomorrow,
P.S. What do you think about The Catfish Place? Is this somewhere you think you would like to eat? Have you had any of these dishes before? I would love to hear from you so let me know in the comment section below.
Hush puppies? Florida-themed placemats? Grits? I can’t believe I’ve never been here…I’ve heard about it since moving to the area. Now I HAVE to go!
Seafood is my favorite kind of food, so the menu at The Catfish Place has just made me very hungry at 10:30 am. And I really like that mural.
Catfish…I loves me some catfish! There may just be a detour coming up on my next trip to WDW.
Great review…still to “chicken” to try the gator though!
I have eaten there numerous times and it doesn’t dissapoint. Good food. Friendly people. I highly recommend it. And, since I live in St. Cloud and we have friends coming in from out of town, that’s where we’ll be headed for dinner! Great article!
I can’t believe I read this now… I’m hungry and we wont eat for another hour! This place looks awesome & we’ll be trying as soon as we can!
Wow Amanda , from a good old Texas boy whos been away to long, you have just made me very hungry. If I happened by this place I would stop even if I had just left a hotel sunday brunch. Everything looks and sound deliciuous with the exception of the turtle, we have huge tortioses as pets LOL. The menu is awesome, I especially love the way they misspelled Onion Rigns. A little fancier than my favorite catfish shack on the Red River in east Texas but thats OK. I am famous for judgeing any place that serves slaw by their slaw. I would love to try it if I ever get in the area. Enjoyed seeing the “LANCE” brand cracker ( a real sign of the south ) and how cool are those granite wear salad plates ? Looking forward to seeing more reviews of other unique restaurants from you soon.
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