When you first are seated at Fried Green Tomatoes, you're given a bread basket containing some strange biscuit-like bread concoctions and a couple of yellow, tasteless, hockey pucks that are rumored to be cornbread. Thankfully, the food on the menu is better than the bread basket, but it's definitely a sign that something isn't right.
If I had to pick a phrase to describe Fried Green Tomatoes, that would be it: Something Isn't Right. The people are nice and the setting is relaxed, but it's not relaxING. The atmosphere has more in common with a Starbucks than a restaurant that serves the kind of comfort food one finds on the menu here. None of it seems to gel.
The sides are decent for the most part. The creamed corn is a bit heavier than creamed corn should be. It's like a little bowl of bechamel with some corn in it. It was also underseasoned the last time I was there. Still edible, but not ideal.
The cole slaw is chopped very finely, a bit too finely for my taste. I also prefer a bit of a kick to balance out the sweetness in my cole slaw. Unfortunately, this one is mostly just sweet with a flat finish.
No complaints about the mac and cheese or the broccoli casserole.
The fried green tomatoes are very crusty and one wonders just how they managed to make a tomato that dry. The lack of seasoning indicates that it wasn't by using salt to pull the liquid out.
The fried chicken is decent, but not the greatest I've ever had. The crust is a nice consistency, but the breast meat can be dry and it is often underseasoned throughout.
The people are all very nice and accommodating. My wife is a big fan of the deserts as well.
I can't say that I won't return, but I'm writing this review as a fair assessment of a place that was sold to me on the interwebnets as the 'best in the area' with 'the best fried chicken'. I'd recommend a little tweaking of the recipe book and maybe some seasoning lessons before folks start crowing about this place being the best of anything.
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