Driving back from DFW airport on Christmas Eve to Abilene and got chicken fry sandwiches to go - the hype is real! Was tender and perfectly seasoned. I'll come back and have the whole experience soon! My boyfriend said I am not truly a Texan till I do! (Born and raised here, but somehow have missed this gem) read more

Amazing food and service! Loved the cool experience at this Texas bucket list restaurant! read more

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The reviews are true about their amazing chicken fried steak. It really is extremely good! I haven't found a better chicken fried steak anywhere else. It was so tender and flavorful that I loved every bite. I can see why this place makes their employees sign an official non-disclosure agreement, I wouldn't want anyone else recreating this awesome recipe either! I can't wait to return to this place! It has definitely become a necessary stop on my way to the other side of Texas. I have a craving for their food just thinking about it Don't even question yourself about visiting this place, just go! read more

Mary's Cafe - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

Let me preface this review by saying I drove 100 miles out of my way to eat here again. The first time I ordered a large CFS. It is made the way it was intended; pan fried sealing in the juices in a crispy golden batter. The batter captures the flavor of the oil heated in an iron skillet. Extremely good but very large portion that could easily feed three people. The gravy is smooth and flavorful and a perfect compliment to the CFS. The Texas burger is ginormous! Weighing in at 1.7 lbs. and cooked well done, one would expect it to be dry but it was quite juicy. The patty is 5 inches in diameter and two inches thick: open wide or cut it in quarters cuz either way it takes patience to eat this behemoth of a burger. Either entry will satisfy the palate craving down home comfort food. The location is out of the way for even the conventional foodie, but really worth the drive. read more

Waited 30 minutes for a table and then waited over an hour for our food. Fried green tomatoes were not good would not order again.tomato slices were too thin and the tomato tasted slimy. 1 star The calf fries were amazing! The breading they use is from broken up crackers and was just delicious . The outside of the calf fries were nice and crunchy and salty leaving the inside moist and tender. Best calf fries ever 5 stars. Chicken fried steak: lack flavor and seasoning. Breading was soggy and a little burnt 3 stars. French fries were made fresh. Absolutely awesome and cooked just right and seasoned perfectly. 5 stars The burger was huuuggggeeee . Best burger I have had in a while . The bread was toasted and held up to all the juices of the massive 2lb burger. This was one of the best seasoned and juiciest burger I have had 5 stars. Just be willing to have a long wait but if your getting the burger it is well worth the wait. read more

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Great food and wonderful service. They are known for their chicken fried steaks!! We make point of stopping anytime we are in the area!!

Mary's is a small Texas town cafe, so go with those expectations. If your expecting a Dallas dining experience stay away ( Dallas ain't Texas anyways). My wife and I had the chicken fried steak. Small for her, medium for me. We could have split the medium easily. I usually use the gone but not forgotten Massey's restaurant in Fort Worth as my go to for rating chicken fried steak. I think Mary's ranks up their with the best, at least at our visit. Skip the mashed potatoes get the baked potato. read more

Over priced. 28 dollars for a kids hamburger and fried pickles. Will not be back nor suggest this place to anyone.

The pictures don't do these meals justice. The food is delicious and the wait staff is amazing. We drove 60 miles out of our way to try this place. Totally worth it! If you like home cooking' this is your place! read more

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Overrated, I do not consider it on of the best chicken fries in the state . I did enjoy the gravy , very good more like a home style .

After almost 25 years of hearing about Mary's in Strawn we drove out there. I Was NOT impressed. It was a larger CFS but only about 1/4" thick, The staff was overloaded and the food looked poor in presentation, without character and the portions were puny compared to all the stories we had heard. I was VERY VERY disappointed. Not only for my own dream bubble of something great busted, but also for Mary's image I now had in my head! Hopefully things have improved but I left thing WHAT THA? read more

We had lunch at Mary's today. The chicken fried steak was amazing. Best homemade fries and gravy. Very good and it's worth the drive to Strawn, TX. We had the small chicken fried steak and it was huge and so flavorful. The restaurant was very clean and all the staff were so hard working and checking on us to see if we needed anything. read more

Mary's Cafe - Small chicken fried steak - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

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If you really like screaming kiddo's, chairs scooting on a concrete floor making that piercing noise and a 45 minute wait for your food to arrive then This is definitely your place! We drove an hour to dig into their chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and their cream gravy. As usual we gave this order to the waitress and she went on about her business and about 5 minutes into it the table next to us gets up and says "we've been here over an hour & we're outta here! Right then I knew we were going to have a special day. Guess what? We did! As one would expect we saw tables being served that came in way after us and they were already eating. My wife was proud of me because I didn't get mad. (I promise you I was mad on the inside) so I asked the waitress if she would please check on our order? See, the please word was used. Miraculously the waitress came right back and used the canned response, "Sir I checked on y'all's order and you have one in front of yours and yours will be next!" Again, Great timing (45 minutes after we were seated) once we got our food all was well in the world once again. I would have given a 5 Star Rating but 45 minutes to get our food? I just couldn't mislead others. Naturally we'll be back because the food is that good. read more

Been wanting to come visit this spot for a long time.... and it did not disappoint. Service was great, food came out timely and there was LOTS of it! Growing up in South West Texas, we are pretty particular about out Chicken Fried Steak. I can see why this one is voted the best in Texas in so many polls! It was outstanding ... def in my top 5 of all time, and I've been eating CFS for a LONG time. read more

Mary's Cafe - Chicken fried (Medium) - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

This cafe is the best i love the well thought out proportions. That being said come hungry and share your plate if you want to! The service at this family owned place is amazing, the staff is great and always smiling, dont be in a rush here because its not that type of place, if youre passing through or making it a destination you must visit here ps the country fried steak, chicken sandwhich and chicken livers are to die for! read more

We decided to stop at Mary's for Sunday lunch on our way home from Dallas/Fort Worth... Online there are several of the "must stop" articles that mention Mary's.. So far, I'm unimpressed... The drive from the interstate wasn't bad, just a few miles.. It is moderately busy but we were able to park right up front! We waited less than 10 minutes to be seated, just the two of us... While at the front lobby/hostess station we listened to a blue/green haired girl rant about a snoody table who apparently decided to leave... I only heard bits and pieces but she said to a coworker, it was fine because she didn't want people like that here anyway... Which, I can understand, but the hostess table isn't the place to complain... We make it back to our seat, the waitress comes in relatively quickly to take drink orders.. I ask if they serve Pepsi or Coke products, she says a mix of both.. "Great! I'll have Pepsi!" She responds, "we don't have Pepsi..." Ok, so I ask for Sprite (Coke product), they don't carry Sprite... She offers 7Up instead.. Ok.. They also don't serve sweet tea which I thought was illegal in Texas, but anyway.. haha She returns with my husband's UNsweet tea and a cup of ice and can of 7Up... Ok.. So she takes our order and my husband asks for the chicken fried steak which is "World Famous!" I order the 2 piece seafood combo.. About 45 minutes later our food arrives, mine several minutes before his, which is awkward.. Looks nice enough, large portion for my husband and large variety for me! I tried a bite of the stuffed crab, it was good, everything else was even less impressive... The shrimp cocktail was so over cooked it was like a rubber ball.. The oyster was a batter caked chewy tasteless hunk.. I stopped eating my seafood platter and went for the "salad" which was equally pitiful.. I made it to the baked potato, because you can't screw those up.. With enough butter, ranch, salt, and pepper, I at least had something edible! Haha My husbands chicken fried steak was massive, massively disappointing! It was a soggy, tastless, ball of flour, soaked in grease, and served.. He skipped it and ate just his potato as well.. Our waitress left a lot to be desired, she was definitely in the "fake it til you make it" mode.. She just wasn't that convincing at faking it.. Get the bill and learn that each "refill" otherwise known as a can of pop is $2.. Don't come here thirsty... We will pay the bill and leave without causing a scene, but wanted to post to warn others to just stay on the interstate and save yourself $45 plus tip... read more

Mary's Cafe - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

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This is the third time we have eaten at Mary's and it is definitely a five star restaurant, five star food and five star entertainment. The whole experience was amazing. If you are ever in the area, you have to stop in and give it a try. First, the Chicken Fried Steaks were amazing, the fries were plentiful and fresh along with the salad. The gravy comes in a seperate bowl to allow you either a little or a lot of gravy. Great food! Second, the entertainment is worth the drive alone.................Let me explain. If you have ever watched Seinfeld and have seen the episode of the "Soup Nazi" you will totally understand what I am talking about here. I know many reviewers complain and give this place a low rating because of the "rude" service, but that is exactly why I think it's five star. When you sit down and are ready to order, you better know EXACTLY what you want and say it with precision. Don't ask for sweet tea, ask for tea. Say exactly what size Chicken Fried Steak you want and with what sides and don't pause or try and change it. Also, if there are several in your party, you better know EXACTLY how many are in it. We watched over and over people coming in and when asked how many in their party they would say six, no eight, no seven....the waitress would pause and say, what school did you go to, don't you know how to count? Then when ordering one would say they wanted sweet tea, she would say No sweet tea, we have tea, you can sweeten it yourself. Then one would order a medium chicken fried steak with fries and a salad and the other would say they wanted the same, except they wanted a baked potato.....she would then say, well then it's NOT the same is it. We couldn't stop laughing and waiting for the next unsuspecting customer. Fyi: there is only one men's and one women's restroom (single hole) in the main dining room, but there are restrooms on the other side of the restaurant. read more

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If you look at my previous reviews, you will notice I rarely give one star. My reason for one star is because of the MANAGEMENT decisions at Mary's. Let me first say the food is OK. But-the wait staff is working their butts off! They are running around sweating - literally. That shows me they are way understaffed & overworked. I was sure one guy was probably dripping sweat into the food he was serving. Our waitress had a great attitude and was very pleasant. Since there is nothing else in this little town other than Dollar General, I am sure the employees don't have a lot of choice where they work. Another obvious poor management decision was regarding pricing. If you order a baked potato, to get cheese bacon and chives is an extra $2. Who does that? But even worse the bacon bits are fake! And the chives are dehydrated little dry things! You've got to be kidding! The chicken fried steak is decent - but not nearly as good as Lucile's or Hofbrau in Fort Worth. And they give you enough mashed potatoes for three people and enough gravy for five! If they give you normal servings they might be able to afford to give you actual real bacon bits and fresh chives for free! My other concern was the restaurant did not seem clean. There was a very small roach on the wall and the person who was cleaning the table next to ours just left all the dirty dishes in a chair right beside our table. Again - I believe this is management issues. It doesn't seem that their training is sufficient. I had been to Mary's once before and felt like it was a fun hole in the wall worth the drive from Fort Worth. But until they make some changes I will not be back. I feel like they are too concerned with just getting people in the door (which by the way desperately needs a paint job) Rather than truly providing good food in a good clean atmosphere. I hate writing negative reviews because I know that they need customers and the people that work there need jobs - but whoever Mary is, hopefully she is willing to make some much-needed changes. read more

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Another Texas must-visit country cafe, as expected packed on a Sunday afternoon. Of course you get the CFS and we alse tried Chicken Fingers. About a ten minute wait to be seated at one if the large communal tables. A bit of a wait before anyone showed up to take our order. We waited almost 45 minutes for our food after placing our order, folks at the other end of our table seated same time as us and they got their food in about 10 minutes. According to the waitress, who came by at 40 minutes after ordering, backed up in the kitchen with one deep fryer for the chicken fingers, would have helped to know that before, we easly pick something else. Guess the plan is to ask before you order what can you cook fast? The menu does say it takes extra time for baked potato and burgers, which we did not get, but this wait time is ridiculous. Bottom line, food was not unique or good enough to be worth the drive or the wait. read more

Mary's Cafe - CFS - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

Mary G said the medium chicken fried steak wasn't worth the $28.00. I guess she will never eat chicken fried steak again because nobody else has a chicken fried steak as good whatever the price!! I have never had a bad meal here ever in 50 years!!Chicken Fried Steak read more

I've seen the sign a million times coming and going to Fort Worth, so finally I stop and give it a shot. I was super excited because I love Chicken Fried steaks! So we go inside, take a seat, get some drinks (Water, and Unsweetened tea) and the water was kind of gross, it tasted like sink water. So I took small sips, didn't really even drink half the glass. Water 0/5 Stars Then we order an appetizer, nothing crazy, just Queso! Who doesn't love Queso?? Am I right! So they bring it out, and with some chips and salsa, so I'm thinking (Ohhh it's complimentary! With the Queso! Since I only ordered that!) The Queso tasted like the canned nacho cheese you get for little league baseball games.... Gross... Queso 1.5/5 (Only cause it's my sisters favorite kind of cheese) Salsa and chips 5/5 (it was actually really good) Then after an hour, not exaggerating literally an hour later, we got our entrees! (Several tables that were sat before us, got their food first, and we ordered before they even got sat) But after that long wait, I was so excited! Chicken fried steak with mash potatoes!!! Here I Come!!!!! I took the first bite, no gravy added yet, and.... it was such a let down... so bland, no flavor, just meat and crust. By this time I've just lost all faith in this place, made a detour for bland Chicken Fry. Size 5/5 Taste 1/5 (after adding gravy and salt..) So I don't finish and get a to go box. My waiter gave me my check, and it wasn't adding up... "$4.55 for small chips and salsa "$4.30 for Queso" Now I'm like "What... they're charging me for chips and salsa when I only ordered Queso??" So I go to the register, and ask the owner about it, and she said "Yes you had chips and salsa and Queso so we charged you for chips and salsa as well" I told her "I didn't ask for that, I just asked for Queso, did that not include chips?" She said "No that's why we charged you for chips and salsa" I was so shocked, like the waiter didn't even give me a warning about it, he just put it in without acknowledging me how he would do it, and I was blindsided by the check in the end. They should definitely let customers know how that works, so in the end I paid $9 for Queso, and chips and salsa (That I didn't ask for, but thought it was just given) The whole experience was a let down. So 10/10 DO NOT RECOMMEND!!! DO NOT TAKE A DETOUR FOR THIS PLACE!!! IF YOU WANT A GREAT CHICKEN FRIED STEAK THATS WORTH A DETOUR, CHECK OUT "BLUE SKIES" IN ABILENE!!! It's never let me down. Always great! Best in all of Texas (So far that I've tried, and I've tried a lot at various of places) I hope this persuade you to not waste your time! read more

Called ahead and was told 30 min wait. 45 min later we sat down. Spent 20 minutes with nobody even bringing us a menu or glass of water. Menus showed after 25 min and waiter disappeared. Still no water.... Got up and left after 30 min. HORRIBLE!! Certainly disappointed. Not sure what was going on but they must be really short staffed. Probably won't be going out of my way anytime soon read more

My wife and I ate at Mary's this past Saturday. We went to Strawn to check out the new state park, which is far from being ready to open in 2023. We've eaten there before a few years back and it was pretty good, but not this time. The CFS and CFC were hammered flat and overcooked. The sides were cold when served and the prices are out of line for a small-town cafe. Sure, she has a golden goose being the only restaurant in town, but dang, $19.00 for a small CFS and $20.00 for a hamburger? Also, we weren't the only senior couple there and they all left huge amounts of food on their plates because Mary's wants to charge you for sharing a large proportion meal. Won't be going back. read more

We drove 90 miles to have the chicken fried steak. I have never been so disappointed in life. That was NOT what a chicken fried steak is supposed to be. We got a couple of small pieces of what looked like cube steak lightly floured and fried. No beautiful breading/batter or that deep fried crisp. That being said, however, the other things we ordered (calf fries, frog legs, etc) were outstanding. We will go back, but I won't be ordering the chicken fried steak. read more

Mary's Cafe never disappoints! My son and I stopped in yesterday for our favorite chicken fried steak and it was great as always. Mary and her staff were on point as well! read more

The chicken fried steak is the best I've ever had. The Medium crosses the plate and they make gravy from scratch. Service was personable and attentive. It's best if you're not in a hurry. read more

Mary's Cafe - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

Seriously - we ordered and waited over an hour for our food. When it arrived - it was the most greasy mess I'd ever seen. I ordered chicken fried steak. I ate about 3 bites and I was done. We brought the leftovers home and the dogs didn't even want it. Nasty.. just -- nasty. If you're stuck in strawn then eat there. If not - do yourself a favor and go down the road. read more

Mary's Cafe - Disgusting pile of grease....... - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

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Found on Yelp returning from Dallas on a Sunday- CFS and burgers good but the MASHED POTATOES were out-of- this- world!! They even have cute little smiley fries for the kids... only order the half CFS- we did and we still took some home! read more

This is the best CFS in the whole state. If you like Mexican food as well you have to get the Mary's special you won't be disappointed

Great food, service and portions!! You won't find a better chicken fried steak in the country!!!

Waited an hour for a cheeseburger and let me tell you why. What they don't tell you when you order, it's a 2 lb burger!! Couldn't even eat it because the patty was way too big! And on top of it, it didn't taste good! It was a waste of money and time. Staff was rude when we asked how much longer our food would be after already waiting 50 mins. Huge let down! Only thing they could say it that it takes a while to cook the burger since it's a 2 lb patty, well had I known, I would have opted for something else! read more

Mary's Cafe - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

I have read for years that Mary's has the best chicken fried steak in Texas. Unfortunately, there was nothing special about it. It wasn't bad, but I don't feel it was worth the drive. The servers were working diligently, but we waited for well over an hour and a half, though we had 7 people at our table. If you're in the area for some reason, (like you got a flat headed to your uncle Elroy's for a family reunion) it wouldn't be a bad place to stop. But I would not drive out of my way for this experience again. We also had calf fries, and after eating them dozens of times in other places this is the first time I truly felt I was eating greasy cow testicles. In summary: mediocre food, no atmosphere, long waits, greasy balls. read more

So I have a few friends that told me about Mary's. So we went on a road trip one and half hour drive to get to Mary's. We were seated when we got there. The waitress was very nice. I ordered the World Famous Chicken Fried Steak and mashed potatoes. I don't know what world it was but it's not the one I live in. It was just ok. My mother and wife do a better job. The mashed potatoes were a little brown looking and a bad after taste. My granddaughters had the chicken strips and they didn't eat them. So I tasted one and it wasn't good. I don't know if this place at one time was good. I will not take another road trip here. read more

We tried to come here the Sunday before Independence Day, but there was a two hour wait. Luckily, we were coming back through Strawn on a Monday afternoon, and we were able to stop. This small restaurant has been raved about in a number of publications, including Texas Monthly. I knew I was having the famous chicken fried steak (CFS to Texans), which comes with mashed potatoes, toast, and a simple salad of lettuce and tomatoes. As this establishment does not serve sweet tea (crazy, but ok), I opted for a can of Diet Coke. My fiancé had the BBQ plate, which was brisket, toast, and either ranch beans or cole slaw, as well as unsweetened tea. Our server, Destiny, brought our drinks and our condiments. In the short time before our food arrived, we were able to survey the simple decor, which includes restaurant write-ups, and some humorous hunting paintings. Then the food arrived. Holy moly! Huge portions of heavenly food that explains why this place is so popular. My steak had pieces cut off of it in order to fit on the plate with the massive bowl of mashed potatoes and the salad bowl (I'm thinking those could have just not been on the plate in order to leave the steak in a single piece, but it's not my restaurant). The homemade cream gravy was in a huge bowl on the side. The steak was sitting on two corners of Texas toast. All of this for $15.50. His meal was many slices of brisket (no smoke ring, so I'm guessing slow roasted), two corners of Texas toast, a bowl of a sweet and slightly tangy BBQ sauce, and a monstrous bowl of homemade ranch beans (all for less than $12.00). We didn't speak a lot during the meal - we couldn't, as we were happily enjoying this outstandingly well prepared feast. The CFS has a light breading that stuck closely to the meat, and it was darker, which means the oil it was fried in had lots of flavor bits. The mashed potatoes had nice little chunks of potatoes that hadn't been smashed to nothingness. I didn't even make a dent in my meal, but we still opted for homemade pie (I was saving room, we'll say). He had chocolate, and I had a peach fried pie. These, too, were scratch made arts of perfection, including the crust. We cleaned our plates of those scrumptious desserts - it would have been criminal not to. The bill was less than $42 for this meal, and my leftovers will feed both of us for dinner. Oh, and this is a BYOB joint for liquor and wine, but there are some beers available. I'd say all of those periodicals were right - this cute place is the real deal of great food read more

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Seriously delicious comfort food. Best chicken fried steak I've ever had. Service was excellent. We will be going back.

We stop at Mary's fairly often. The food is always excellent. A few times the staff is a little "lost". There are plenty of wait staff, but they keep walking past. Never check to see if you've been taken care of. Once we finally asked to place an order they sent someone. She took order, dropped off food and Never saw her again. We got our own to go boxes. Today was not the best and they weren't busy when we arrived. When we left another table of four still sat there waiting for someone, anyone to notice they were there and willing to pay for their dinner! Again, the food is always excellent and that's the reason we keep going back. read more

I read this place cooked the best chicken fried steak in Texas. That's a heck of statement if you live in Texas. I have to say it is very, very good. I had the medium CFS platter, it covered the plate but was different. First thing you notice is it's flat, because they pan fry it instead of deep frying it. The next thing is the taste. Hands down the best tasting beef and breading I've ever tasted. I only used the gravy for dipping twice, otherwise it was just the steak bite by bite. Fries were hand cut and superb, mash potatoes were rustic and slightly under seasoned. The gravy was very good but I really didn't need it. Nice little salad comes with the platter. Overall, the 1.5 hour drive was worth it. read more

Easily the WORST meal I have ever eaten. ~Bland/Soggy/Thin Cafeteria Style CFS ~Flavorless Flour Textured Gravy ~Instant Style Mashed Potatoes *Decent Fried Okra There was a wait time of "one hour" that turned into 2 1/2 grueling hours. As Chicken Fried Steak connoisseurs, my Fiancé and I decided to wait it out, since, we had heard such wonderful things about Mary's Cafe. There was a huge up-charge that was not reflected on the paper menu, but rather, posted in the restroom. Very Odd. The establishment itself could use a deep clean and a bit of love, overall. If you live in or are ever near the Fort Worth area - the absolute BEST Chicken Fried Steak I have found to date is in the Stockyards at Horseshoe Hill Cafe. Happy Eating! read more

We stopped here tonight on our way to west Texas from Fort Worth. We had the large chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, fried okra, fried green tomatoes and bottle caps. Everything was excellent. The chicken fry was huge!!! It could have fed 5 people. Super tender and we loved the breading. The mashed potatoes and gravy were perfect sides. We loved our first experience at Mary's and plan to go back. Even on a busy Valentine's Day our waiter was very attentive and provided excellent service. read more

Mary's Cafe - Fried green tomatoes and bottle caps - American Near Me - Strawn, Texas

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This is the best meal you will ever eat! The chicken fried steak is worth me driving 2 1/2 hours a few times a year to eat here!!! My service has always been top notch everytime I have been. read more