Some Fishy Business
You know what sounds good? A SEAFOOD BURGER! Like if you made a fried salmon patty a burger.. how could that be bad? And I was really excited to have that. There's only one problem. The ampersand... That ampersand is tiny and hard to see driving 70+ mph on I-30, ok??
Yesterday I went to Ciro's Seafood in Caddo Mills Texas. I've driven by this place a lot. I see the billboards constantly off of I-30, advertising in huge bold letters "SEAFOOD BURGERS". I always thought that sounded really good and I need to go try that. My friend burst my bubble one day and told me there's actually an '&' between the Seafood and the Burgers. They sell Seafood AND Burgers. I remember that day well. My disappointment was immeasurable and my day was ruined. But after several people encouraging me to not be disheartened and to go try it because it's good, I pressed on and decided to try it out because I'm a professional (I'm not).
Walking into this place, it's very bright and nautical feeling. A very family casual atmosphere. It's hot. And you can feel the grease in the air. But that suits me fine because it's got a groove and it's got a meaning. Grease is the way I was feeling. This is one of those places where you order at the counter. They have a menu on a television at the counter. The prices are really good and everything on the menu sounds pretty good. I decided to get the combo platter with catfish and fried oysters with fries, and I also ordered a burger on the recommendation of a few people. My father was with me and he ordered the chicken tendies.
While we waited I checked out the toilet. It was clean and in keeping with the nautical theme. This toilet would be right at home on the Strand in Galveston. The entire restaurant seems clean and nice. The music is fantastic! They played the Four Tops, The Foundations, the really good classic stuff. The customer service.. I'll be honest it isn't the greatest. I mean, you have a bunch of high school kids working here who look like they'd rather be literally anywhere else. Look how that kid is looking at me! That's all their faces all the time. Every one of them had RBF. But good food will forgive many sins so let's move on!
The food came out promptly and you can tell immediately that every single thing is made fresh. First off, the fish and the oysters are both OUTSTANDING. Some of the best ever. The fries are fine. They remind me of the french fries my parents used to make at home when I was a kid. Greasy and kind of floppy, but they brought back memories for me so I'm biased. The burger is very good. It's not the best burger I've had, it didn't blow my mind. It's a very good burger. I would not be mad at this burger. The chicken tendies were really good, way tastier than Cane's, which is overrated. Yeah I said it. Wanna fight about it?? There's no excuse for that line at Cane's. At all.
One thing that we didn’t really understand, the chicken was really good but they don’t have gravy or dipping sauce for the chicken tendies. If you serve chicken tendies you need to offer gravy or dipping sauce. It’s such an easy thing to do and it makes a huge difference. I got a water to drink, it wasn’t great. Had that tap water taste. Order a drink or bring your own when you come here. Also my order came with coleslaw and I do not eat coleslaw. I hate it. My father said their coleslaw is the worst, and kept trying to get me to try it. But I don’t like GOOD coleslaw so there would be no point. Lastly the hush puppies and small but also outstanding. Really tasty.
So the food was great overall. Again, the fish was OUTSTANDING. The atmosphere was really nice. It's too hot in there, but the fryers and everything are right at the front so not sure what could be done about that. I really enjoyed everything though. Except the water. And I don't eat coleslaw. But the main takeaway for me, other than really enjoying the food, they need to add a gravy or dipping sauce for their chicken tendies. It's important. Don't make me look like the weird one for going on about it. It's important ok? I'm doing important work here. 🏃💨
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