Well stop in for the big bday dinner for me and wife was a excellent meal The fish was great and the chicken was really good they had more the shrimp was very good little things like the bread with home made butter was amazing No way I could try every thing but all I did was fantastic we left stuffed to much but enjoy the meal in a older place but nice deck on pond Food to feed fish and ducks Service was great happy helpers read more

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Great food. Has a good buffet with lots of food. The service is good. The price is good. They give a discount for paying cash and if you are 62 or older. They are surrounded by a pond where they get the catfish from. They have a deck you can eat on and enjoy the view of the pond. read more

TLDR: Check out the annual fireworks show (and call in advance to find out when it's happening.) Lots of homestyle fried food at a great price. MENU: Fried catfish (both on the bone and boneless fillets) and fried chicken are the reason people go. They have a pretty expansive salad bar, and some cozy homestyle items like mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans, and potato salad. Each month, they post the schedule for specials of the day on their Facebook page; this includes a wide variety of treats ranging from Alaskan walleye to frog legs, and lasagna to liver and onions. FOOD QUALITY: Visiting The Catfish Place is like traveling back in time to the 1980s. If you were alive then, you remember the quality of mom and pop restaurant food. It's homestyle stuff. The kind of thing your grandparents would make on special occasions. Wholesome and tasty, but nothing too fancy. MENU FAVORITES: Fried catfish fillets. Period. Maybe a drumstick. Maybe a little potato salad or something. But it's really all about that fried fish. Have a little soft-serve ice cream to break the flavor fatigue, then go back for seconds. MENU FAILS: Comparing apples to apples, I can't say I've had anything here that I was truly disappointed in, but I would say the state of the desert section is usually a disaster, and it isn't the fault of the staff. People will drop the serving utensil directly on top of a tray of cake, spoiling the icing on several pieces. They'll use the serving utensil from one item on another, getting chocolate icing all over the blueberry cobbler, or whatever. Some people are just determined to make the world a dumpster fire. Occasionally the daily special items are frozen factory stuff. The Alaskan walleye is a good example of this; the batter is too thick, there's a stodgy layer of batter next to the meat, the meat itself is thin and mushy. They're doing the best they can to spice things up in a world where walleye isn't a widely available commodity. I get it. But skip anything of that nature and get the freshly fried catfish instead. THE FIREWORKS SHOW: Considering the size of the restaurant and the scale of the local community, the annual fireworks show at The Catfish Place is AMAZING. They generally do their show on a day prior to the fourth and it varies a little from year to year, so call ahead if you want to go - it might be on the second or the third day of the month, for example. Go have some fried food, put your picnic blanket on the grass and hang out with your family and friends until sundown, then watch the show. The best part is, you can still go see your favorite show elsewhere on the fourth itself. FRONT OF HOUSE SERVICE: The staff is very friendly and personable, and they'll do their best to make sure you have a great experience. Friendly, salt-of-the-earth folks. I'm not a local to Arbela, but if I were, I imagine this would be a Cheers type of place. KITCHEN SERVICE: Hot food, fast and fresh. Unless you show up half an hour before closing, in which case you'll be eating whatever is on the sluice table; but that's a reasonable food cost thing. One time, I saw a customer ask if they had malt vinegar and the guys in the back practically turned the kitchen upside down looking for some. COMPETITION: Steve's Family Diner used to make a mean yardbird, but they closed and moved somewhere else. Catfish Place is the only restaurant of its kind for miles in any direction. ATMOSPHERE: Cafeteria tables with a roll of paper towels for napkins. You can sit on the pondside deck and watch the ducks swim around, if you want. For a dollar or two, you can get a little bag of kibble to feed the fish/ducks. The restaurant is located on an RV camping site, so there's a playground, paddle boats, and other little amenities around as well. (I'm not certain the paddle boats are available apart from fireworks day, though.) read more

It's an old restaurant that has buffet style food, however this said everything was well cooked and delicious. To top it off there is a dessert trio offered if you've got room. Worth trying, nothing fancy but good food read more

Great Southern Fried Catfish and Chicken..deep fried Shrimp with all the sides you will want.dessert bar with ice cream. Senior specials on Wednesday. ​ read more

Attentive, friendly service--and good old fashioned down home comfort food cooking. If you are looking for sushi and upscale salad--this isn't it. Delicious chicken, shrimp, sides, etc. I didn't care for the catfish, but others in my party really liked it. To be fair, I never have liked it. You can fish here, and I believe they will cook your catch. Went with a family group, and we really enjoyed it. read more

It was pretty good. I liked the baked fish. Salad was good but you had to pick around the brown lettuce.

This place is Some.Thing.Else let me tell you what... First off, it's right next to a campground that's on a big pond. You can buy beers and containers of nondescript duck / fish food from inside the restaurant if you want to hang outside, drink feed the not-so-wild wildlife while you're waiting for a table. Next to the pond is a rickety, sketchy playground, complete with old school metal merry-go-round and metal slide that doesn't even have a seat to start on. It is nothing but treachery here and it's amazing. Get your tetanus shots, kids! They also have horseshoes and basketball, swings and such. Inside the restaurant you walk down a dark hallway, and into the haze of fryer grease and obvious hints of cigarette smoke. Everything about this is like the indoor version of a backyard cookout. It's much nicer here when the sun is out and you can eat outside on the deck. There are all kinds of salads, cookout side dishes, fried catfish, fried shrimp, etc. Everything about the dessert section is sticky. This place is a no frills, good home cooking setup with really extra nice servers and staff. read more

The food was amazing, there was so many options. It is buffet style dining. The staff was so friendly! The waitress was on it, my tea never got below half. All and all a great experience! read more

This is a wonderful hole in the wall to enjoy great food. All the food is home made fresh, and many times it gets quite busy. If you are expected any type of upscale decor and service, you will be disappointed, but if you don't mind a few idiocies like a spotless bathroom you will have a great meal. The chicken, shrimp and catfish is always amazing. So leave your attitude at the door and enjoy a great fest at a reasonable price. read more

I wasn't expecting much from this place, and that's exactly what I got. Came here on a recommendation from my dad, who really likes the catfish. When walking in, there wasn't a sign saying whether to seat yourself or wait to be seated, so we stood there and waited to be told where to go. After a minute or two with no one acknowledging us, we headed into the dining area and took a seat. Within another minute or two a waitress came up and took our drink order and we headed up to the buffet. As we approached the buffet, I watched one of the other waitresses walk behind the buffet, pause, reach into the buffet and pull out a piece of ham with her bare hands and walk to the kitchen doorway and start eating it, in full view of every diner in the restaurant. Not really appealing and incredibly unsanitary. I was very hesitant at getting anything from the buffet, especially if it is finger friendly. I got some salad, which surprisingly looked and tasted decent. The fried chicken was pretty good but slightly dry. Mashed potatoes and the mac and cheese were definitely not homemade but were adequate, in fact, the mac and cheese and salad made up the majority of my meal. Other items on the buffet included breaded shrimp, whole catfish, corn, various pasta/potato salads, and ice cream. Our waitress was very pleasant and attentive to us, once we were seated, which is the only reason I'm giving two stars instead of one. read more

It's fried catfish with all the sides served buffet style. Even includes ice cream. If your on hiway 136 between 61 and 63 your in luck. read more

If you're OK with down-home country cookin' with breaded and fried everything you'll be fine with it, but watch your wallet - surprisingly expensive for what it is. read more

The food is what I would call "horrendous school food". Bathroom was disgusting! Stay away!