Springhill Catfish Restaurant – First & Second Pass Review
Restaurant name: Springhill Restaurant (or “Springhill Catfish” as I’ve always known it)
Phone: (512) 391-1500
Location: East Pecan (FM 1825), Pflugerville, Texas
Cost: Cheap to Average – (no website to reference menu!)
Service date: Monday, 1 June 2009 at about 12:00 PM.
Service: Good
Comments (PRO):
(Full disclosure– I used to live in Pflugerville and visited this place often– but I don’t know anyone associated with the restaurant personally).
Very friendly and accommodating. Springhill has a waitstaff that is relatively permanent. If you visited Springhill just once a year, more than likely you’ll see the same or nearly the same folks waiting tables as on your previous visit (in my opinion/observation). All of my encounters at Springhill in Pflugerville have never met with any serious issues.
Comments (CON): My only issue is that when it’s very busy, you may have to wait for your tea to be refilled. However, if you flag any one of the waitstaff, they’ll take care of you.
Food Quality: Good
Appetizer: I like the green fried tomatoes. Nothing super special about them other than you can’t really find ‘em anywhere else.
Meal: All-You-Can-Eat Buffet (includes anything on the buffet table, salad and buffet desert plus a drink). The buffet, which is available daily from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., always has Catfish, plus a second main course, which they change around every day.
- Sunday, steak fingers & King Ranch Chicken
- Monday, steak fingers
- Tuesday, chicken strips
- Wednesday, (I’ll have to update later)
- Thursday, (I’ll have to update later)
- Friday, (I’ll have to update later)
- Saturday, (I’ll have to update later)
The tea is descent (thought the cups are small– 20 ounces). The Catfish is very good. I don’t think I’ve ever had it taste fishy. The direct competition for Springhill, in my opinion, is Catfish Parlor, for the catfish, but that’s another review
Cost for the buffet? $10.99 + tip (and remember, it includes a drink!).
Besides the catfish, I think Springhill has one of the best chicken fried steak meals around, for the cost. It looks like it’s double-washed and then fried, and tastes great! Huge is another word. It comes with a salad and two sides, but alas the drink is separate. I don’t recall the price, but I believe it is $8.99 for the meal, then add drink and tip.
Atmosphere: Very laid back, typical country style restaurant. Oddities and local Texas artifacts hang on the walls, and most of the folks there speak with an nice Southern accent.
Family friendliness:
Lunch: Yes.
Dinner: Ditto. Not a pick-up joint.
Austin Weird (scale 0 to 10): 4 This restaurant is an Austin-area staple, but not in the Austin Weird sense. This restaurant started when Pflugerville was still considered somewhat rural, and still displays that atmosphere.
Summary: Upscale, it’s not. Tasty it is. Not quite the ‘hole-in-the-wall’, but home-spun enough to know that it’s definitely local– there’s no taste of franchise here. Tea is good stuff, I just wish their cups came in a 32 ounce variety. Expect about $10/head if you go here. You can go cheaper with the small catfish plate and a drink (or cheaper if you go for water)– I’m guessing at about $7 or so.
The AFR Score: I like Springhill Restaurant. It’s a local joint, no smell of franchise here. Good down-home cooking, with a focus on fried catfish and the foods the complement it (and the Texas staple of chicken fried steak). For a purely subjective Austin Food Review Score on a scale of one to ten, I would rate Springhill food at about a six to six and a half.
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