Omg!!!! What a great surprise!!! Mom was raised on biscuits, gravy and sweet tea. This place took her back to great memories. She had the chicken fried steak with garlic potatoes and fried okra. The dinner took her back and she loved the gravy. Only tip is to change the okra to homemade with cornmeal coating. I had the strawberry chicken salad it was fabulous and the grilled chicken was freshly grilled, nice!!! We shared the peach cobbler. Or should I say we fought over it!!! Not too sweet just perfect! If you're down this way you must stop!!! The service was fabulous and knew how to smile, why do servers not know this simple skill? The cotton patch staff could give lessons on proper service etiquette. Great job, the owner should be very proud!!! read more

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The service wasn't the best and my beer, battered fish tasted like it was put in funnel cake batter. I only ate the fries on my plate

This was my first visit to the Cotton Patch, and I loved it. I had the buffalo chicken sandwich and hubby had the big bubba burger. No complaints from either of us. The staff was very friendly and very efficient. My only regret is that I haven't eaten there sooner. read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

Very good the has that home style favor and well prepared The service was excellent & friendly Over we will try this place again read more

Just had the worst lunch in a long time at Cotton Patch, Lufkin. Our meals were over cooked and distasteful and the worst part is no one cared. This will be my last meal there!!!! I don't recommend going here. read more

The quality of the food has really gone down hill over time. This last visit my fried mushroom looked like shriveled up fried raisins and you could tell the grease had not been changed, fried okra was soggy, broccoli cheese casserole was ver ybland with minimal cheese. Not to rant but the mash potato's weren't all that great either. I've eaten here a lot over the years and the quality and attention is a detail or lack there of is a common trend in American establishments . Also, I shouldn't have to ask for silverware for a to go order. read more

Had great Chicken fried steaks tonight at a great price(Monday night special is $9.00) and the best waitress/Alice! Great service, great food and great prices, equal a great start to the week! read more

Just went to eat here with family and had a very enjoyable and tasty meal. Food was wonderful, service was very timely, but the best part was our amazing waitress. Jasmine was so sweet, extremely efficient, friendly and fun, overall pleasant through our entire meal. If you go in, make sure to ask for jasmine, you won't regret it! Thank you for making Sunday lunch so good! read more

I'm really torn between giving Cotton Patch 2 or 3 stars. if at all possible, I would give them 2.5 stars. With that, I'll give them three stars based primarily on one thing: The food. Before I tell you about the food, let me say that the service I received was good. The waitress was attentive, not overbearing, and was prompt with fulfilling my requests. As far as the food goes, it's simply your typical Southern fried food that unfortunately, we (Americans) have grown to expect at these types of establishments. I have truly tried to stop eating so much fried food and now when I dive in thinking I want some, I end up feeling sick at my stomach from all of the grease. Keep in mind, I'm not saying that their food is overly greasy. I just can't handle fried food anymore. If you are looking for a restaurant with the typical American menu with several fried items, I think you'll enjoy this place. It's just not my cup of tea any longer. On a side note, they also have decent looking hamburgers but since I did not order one, I really can't tell you if they are any good. This review may not help you at all but if it does, let me know below. Thanks for reading. read more

Unfortunately I write this review torn between skipping another visit and nowhere else to go. I'm not sure if anyone has noticed the offerings around this area but the lack of competition is real. I can't name one place that would allow me to get a steak finger basket that doesn't taste like it came out of a freezer. Which is why I find it hard to write this review. If you look at this area you literally have no other options. I can't think of a decent chicken fried steak coming from Cracker Barrel and certainly not from Texas Roadhouse. Some of these places have other things that help them to remain relevant. Maybe a gift shop or some people dancing around the table helps to keep the tables full. I haven't had that issue at Cotton Patch and I have literally worn a hole in the corner from my numerous visits. I mean literally to the early inception of this place when you had to drive out of town to visit it because they didn't have one here. However it is with great dismay that I have to write this review because I find it as a last resort. I did reach out to the manager but no one found it fitting to contact me. I don't care about a free meal or even an acknowledgment to what happened. I just hope that we can push change so that this place gets back to a point that it once was. I can recall one of the previous managers working there and I believe his last name was Minter. This place run like a well-oiled machine. The manager would occasionally walk the dining room and touch the table. From all of those table touches I never had any issues to complain about. I would encourage everyone to look at the photo I posted and the literal scraps they placed on my plate. Through two visits I had the same server and the second time when I was served these scraps the server had a different demeanor about her. They bring the food out and they see what's on the plate. I understand during COVID they had a rocky stint with the back of the house. I could certainly tell that with the food that was coming out of the kitchen. I did stay through that process and I did not make any complaints. I will say that I did experience similar issues with this location before and I just stopped going. I'm back to that point again and It's hard for me to write this review because as I said earlier we don't have anywhere else to go. Remember the third time is a charm... read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - Scraps on the plate - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

2 hours for chicken fried chicken, other tables that came in 30-45 minutes had their orders and we're done before we got half our order. At least 30 to go orders went out the door while we waited for 2 CFC and 2 CFS! read more

I really enjoyed my visit to this Cotton Patch Cafe. It was clean, the food was very good, the waitress was so friendly and the service was fast. Next time I'm in Lufkin, I will be swinging back by the Cotton Patch. Avery was awesome! read more

well its cotton patch you get what you pay for....in my case what i got was a dawsons creek lookin fella insulting my nice dinner party slacks, the musatrd ones with the red pinstripes. i did not pay for that. read more

Fantastic food! We had it delivered and they did not disappoint. Everything was hot and correct order. We had the fried green tomatoes, chicken fried chick and steak, and burgers for our boys. We were all very pleased with our food. Will most definitely eat there again. read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - Chicken fried chicken, chicken fried steak, fried green tomatoes, burgers, and several different sides. - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

Great restaurant in Lufkin, for comfort food. Always good service. Most recent visit ordered the pork chops and they were perfect.

Cortny was fantastic. Great service, great personality food was wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!

I received a call from the manager at the restaurant and he was very warm and apologetic. He even invited my daughter and I back to give them another try! My daughter was so excited and we were both satisfied with our meal. The food was great and the service was wonderful tonight. Special thanks to the kitchen manager and our waitress for giving us stellar service. It's nice to know that keeping your customers happy is a priority. read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

My wife and I visited this establishment last Saturday afternoon. We were greeted at the door by a very friendly hostess who took us to our table. Within seconds the server was at our table and took our drink order. When she came back with our drinks, she brought with her fresh baked rolls and corn bread muffins. They were both hot and fresh. My wife ordered the chicken fried steak with potatoes and green beans and I ordered the 10 oz ribeye with grilled shrimp and a loaded baked potato. Our meals arrived much quicker than expected, within 15-20 minutes. Both perfectly portioned and cooked exactly the way we ordered it. I recommend this place if you are traveling thru Lufkin Texas read more

Always great service ! Meals are hot and fresh ! Meatloaf is awesome. Menu has variety. Delish ! read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - Meatloaf, Mac and cheese and cinnamon apples...yummm. - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

Salad was good, with a nice amount of dressing. They left the croutons on the side which I liked and didn't ask for. The macaroni was too sweet but salt and pepper fixed that. The butter cake was diabetes meets tres leches meets cheesecake, it was so delicious. read more

The wait staff at this location are too busy cleaning the legs of chairs and the feet of chairs to pay attention to their customers. They also clean the chair legs and feet first, then use the same rags to clean the table tops. Safe to say that 90% of the wait staff are completely untrained which indicates an obvious failure by management. read more

Getting five stars not because it's the best restaurant in the world, that's not how I measure stars. But for restaurants of its type, it does it very well. Good prices, fresh and tasty food, big portions, lots of options, fast service. Obviously almost everything is fried, and hence delicious lol, but they do have enough healthier options that most everyone should be able to find something. The chicken tortilla soup was literally one of the best I've had, and I've had many, and the side plate of toppings for the soup was a fantastic and appreciated addition. Won't be rushing back, only because I'll probably be full for a good long while. read more

We were passing through Lufkin on our way back to Houston and needed a place to eat on a Sunday afternoon. We searched reviews online and the consensus for the best place to eat in Lufkin seemed to be the Hole in One Cafe - this was based on Google reviews. However, when we arrived, the parking lot only had 3 cars in the lot and the parking lot at Cotton Patch Cafe (nearby) was pretty packed. We decided to trust this observation over the scant # of reviews we found online for the Lufkin area and chose the Cotton Patch Cafe instead. All in all, Cotton Patch Cafe is a pretty good place with home style cooking and friendly service. It's nothing fancy - sort of a Western feel on the inside - kind of like a Cracker Barrel minus the gift shop and smaller. My husband had the chicken fried steak. It was good, hand battered and huge. The mashed potatoes were made with red potatoes and had the skins mixed in... Really good. Only bad experience for him was that the coffee was really bad... I had the blackened talapia, which was quite tasty. There were 2 filets on my plate...way more than I could eat. It was served over seasoned rice, which was also quite flavorful. All in all, a good experience. We've posted photos of our plates when our meal was served. We hope Yelp catches on in East Texas because we know there is a problem whenever Whataburger gets the highest reviews in all of Lufkin. We would recommend the Cotton Patch Cafe if you are in the mood for home cooking. It's nothing spectacular or original but the food and service still merit a solid 4 stars. read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - Chicken fried steak. 4/5 stars - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

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Last night, I called in a simple order for one person. I walked over from my hotel, checked in and paid. I also stupidly pre-tipped. Seven people walked in and received their carry-out orders while I waited. I had no acknowledgement after my initial check in and payment. I counted 7 wait staff and a manager working tables and carry out, with about 12 tables occupied. I thought it may be the kitchen who were short-staffed, but when I looked, there appeared to be five cooks. The manager was running tables and the hostess was washing dishes when I walked in. I don't know the crux of their issues, but when the manager gave me what he THOUGHT was my order (it wasn't) he did say my wait time was "unacceptable". Luckily, I checked the order before leaving and they'd packaged the wrong thing. Despite my wait being "unacceptable", the manager did not offer to refund any of my order or my $2.00 tip I paid prior to the experience. The food was less than mediocre and I didn't receive the condiments I'd requested - not worth the $$, time, or hassle. Do yourself a favor and visit ANY other restaurant in this area. Customer service is NOT on the menu. One star is far too generous for this place. read more

Cute decor, good service, great salad. I really liked the strawberry pecan salad with chicken. The strawberry walnut vinegarette dressing was excellent. We would definitely go back to this restaurant when in Lufkin. read more

Cotton Patch Cafe - Strawberry pecan salad - American Near Me - Lufkin, Texas

I've ordered from here before and the food was decent. But I just ordered fish for the first time and it was so AWFUL. Imagine eating a spoon full of salt for each bite of their fish. Absolutely trash! read more

Excellent. Great service. Great good. Our party had chicken fried steak, salmon, chicken fried chicken and grilled chicken. Everything was tender and cooked just right. The piece of salmon, though, was very small. read more

We recently visited this restaurant while passing through Lufkin. We were greeted warmly at the door and seated immediately. Our server seemed to be fairly new and pretty shy, but she did an ok job. Our food came out as ordered and in an acceptable amount of time. Everything we ordered was yummy so we would definitely dine here again. read more

Do you like Applebees/TGI Fridays/Insert-American-Chain-Restaurant-Here? Then you'll love the Cotton Patch Cafe. It's a knock off of the same formula, without so much crap on the walls. Popular with the after-church crowd for sure, this place fills up fast after 11:30 on a Sunday. You've been warned. That being said, the management seems to have the right staff to handle the rush. For what it's worth, the chicken fried steak was tasty, and the portion was nothing to sneeze at. read more

Nice local area in lufkin. The fish and shrimp were superb. The only issue was the spinach dip, but besides that great experience. Highly recommend read more

Ok what is up with the service again. We were a party of 4. We had to ask several times for refills and extra items. We gave up and had to get our own small plates to share an appetizer on. My salad came out 1 minuet before the meal. When the meal arrived one of our party did not receive there food. When those with food were about 1/4 done the last plate arrived. The food was good but service is lacking. We asked the warier what was going on. They stayed someone else's took her order. As one point we did ask to speak to a manager. During the meal he never showed up. Time to pay and leave he shows up with our checks. Even the checks were screwed up. The manager did discount our check, but they need better service not to throw free food at people. read more

If you like fried green tomatoes, this is the place to go. I don't even like most fried green tomatoes, but my boyfriend got them and they were actually delicious. I highly recommend this restaurant. It was some of the best and most attentive service I have ever received, and they even gave us a little gift since it was the first time we had been there. Very nice place, and the waitress and manager were great, too. The waitress handled a problem we had with much grace and finesse. We will be returning. read more

We stopped here after our cruise and I'm trying to be fair here. Seated quickly. While waiting patiently for our food a elderly couple is to our left and man has nearly finished eating waitress comes over and apologizes for her food being so late and explains to her that the manager will bring her hamburger out as soon as possible. 10 minutes later the woman still has nothing and finally the manager comes over trying to be funny and said here is your avocado sandwich and her mouth open and short pause she said " I did not order that and he said he was just kidding". Not very funny at the time and She asks for a Togo box. She sits and waits on him and she is telling her husband that it's taking him a long time to bring her Togo box back. She tells him I can see him at the window and he must have forgot. I start to look and as I was about to get up she tells her husband to go get one. I told him I'd go get it. So I proceed to get the Togo for this couple and I see the manager and the waitress. She said she would take it and she did. The little lady has her husband scoop it into the Togo box and they go to pay their bill. A few min later I see the couple next to me finished and then here comes the manager telling the man he should have had a double order of fish and it was left at the window. This man is through and plates are stacked but he takes it and finished his meal. 20 min we don't have our food now and watching the poor service happening left and right of us. Our Food comes and it's pretty good, and we tried the butter cake. It's great. While our overall experience was good and we had the sweetest waitress. But I have to say my appetite was a little spoiled because the way elderly couple was treated, they were ignored by the manager and you could tell by the way he was prancing around, he did not seem to care because of their age. Go that extra mile for your elderly! More than likely that will be the only meal she has for the day. You would have had a 4 Star should this have been handled better. But because we had a sweet waitress you get a 3. read more

Great food and service, lunch specials are great bargain. Have eaten at several Cotton Patches in east Texas. They all prove worth the time! read more

This restaurant is great the food is great with a lot of home style food.... Or it seems to be home style to me.... The people that work there are great prompt and polite and very friendly... We had lunch there today (11-17-19) and very much enjoyed it. Our waitress was Yvette B and she did a wonderful job.... Would recommend this place to anyone!! read more

The food was very good. The wait staff was very nice. After we got there the restaurant experienced a rush of customers but the staff handled it with no problem. They kept apologizing but didn't need to to. We got the Cotton Patch salad and chicken fried chicken. Both were very good. We have no complaints. read more

Clean, comfortable and crowded with the church folks on a Sunday at 11:30 (sorry, Mom! We're on a road trip! We'll be in church next week. Really!), but were seated promptly and service was great. The menu is down home country cooking (chicken n dumplings, meat loaf, chicken fried steak), but also has a number of low cal heart healthy choices. We split what was supposed to be the grilled salmon and steamed veggies (317 calories) and added a Caesar salad (calorie count thankfully unknown). The salad was good and had lots of shaved Parmesan and homemade croutons - only downside: a couple of pieces of lettuce were showing their age with black edges. The grilled fish was good...but it wasn't salmon (maybe tilapia?). We enjoyed it nevertheless. As I said, we shared it and the waiter graciously had the kitchen split it for us. All in all not a bad experience. We'd go back...and insist on the salmon...and maybe try a dessert (they sounded great)? read more

GREAT FOOD!!!! Ate lunch at Cotton Patch Cafe in Lufkin today. I was very impressed with the food, ambiance, and staff. I ordered the lunch salad with chicken, fresh strawberries, pecans and blue cheese. Everything was excellent, tasty and fresh. The chicken breast was freshly roasted and still warm. My boyfriend had the chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. We also tried the blackberry cobbler with ice cream. I highly recommend eating at Cotton Patch Cafe. Since l live in Conroe, Tx, I am hoping to see one opening in the Woodlands or Conroe area soon!!!! read more

Oh my goodness, we just ate and it was the best chicken fried steak we have ever had. We are used to them being bland, need salt, pepper sauce and or jalapeños. Not these, they were absolutely delicious on their own. I am hoping they will keep the calories on the Pumpkin Crunch. If they can I need a big pan full. Cast iron skillet cornbread, WOW. Our meal included an excellent waitress, Holly I think. Holly made this awesome meal extra extra special. Do I need to say we will definitely be going back? Made for a very Blessed day. by the way, steak looked like it must have been baked as there was not any grease at all. I know it wasn't but somebody in that kitchen knows their job and how to do it well. read more

The food here is home-style comfort food and our whole family enjoys it. There is always a line on Sunday but they usually don't take very long to get you seated. They have some of the best chicken-and-dumplings you can get from a restaurant and the staff is always friendly. read more