11 Best And 5 Worst Things To Order From Paula Deen's Family Kitchen

Paula Deen's Family Kitchen offers a family-style dining experience where each person gets two to four Down Home Dishes (entrées) and four sides to share with the table. Everyone also gets cheddar biscuits and a dessert. Since you're getting to choose from such a wide range of menu items, it's important to start with a plan. It can be tricky knowing what to order at any restaurant, but we have compiled a list of the best and worst menu items at Paula Deen's Family Kitchen to give you a head start. The food there is good, but some menu items are definitely better than others. Once you know what you should and shouldn't order, you're likely to have a better overall experience.

We've looked at hundreds of customer reviews from Paula Deen's family restaurant to find out exactly which menu items will make your mouth happy and which you're more likely to wish you had skipped. Armed with our list of worst and best menu items, you'll be able to make a more informed choice and leave happier next time you visit.

We think that part of what makes people not like the Beef Pot Roast is their expectation for pot roast to have potatoes and carrots rather than just roasted beef and gravy over white rice. However, the menu is clear about what you're getting. Unfortunately, there are plenty of other problems with this dish as well. Nearly half of the customers who have tried it have nothing good to say about it.

Some of the complaints are that the rice is hard or that it's too salty. The texture isn't always the greatest, with it sometimes being overly stringy or too chewy to easily swallow. Paula Deen's recipe for Southern-style pot roast calls for Chardonnay, which gives it a flavor some people aren't expecting. One person even complained about it smelling like dog food. Since it needs a little work to be a real winner, you might be better off skipping it for something else.

Paula Deen's Ooey Gooey Butter Cake is a Southern dessert usually known as chess cake or chess bars. It's a gooey, custardy cake that transforms a regular box of yellow cake mix into something divine with the addition of eggs, butter, cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar. If you're wondering which dessert you should get and haven't tried chess cake before, you're in for a treat. Occasionally, you'll find a chocolate version of the cake on the menu as well.

One Google reviewer says, "The ooey gooey cake was very good and buttery. It was crisp on the outside and rich and moist on the inside similar to the texture of a brownie but it's a buttery vanilla cake." Just be aware that you're getting a sweet dessert that has tons of powdered sugar mixed into the top layer, and you'll be fine. While you can pick up a boxed mix of Ooey Gooey Butter Cake Mix from the Paula Deen Store, you'd do just as well to make it at home with a regular box of butter or yellow cake mix (which is far cheaper).

Corn casserole is a comfort-food favorite in some areas of the South. Unfortunately, Paula Deen's corn casserole just isn't cutting it for most customers. In fact, it has the lowest ratings of any menu item on our list. When most people think of corn casserole, they envision something that's moist and like a casserole as its name suggests. However, the version that Paula Deen's Family Kitchen serves is dry and more like cornbread.

Paula Deen's recipe for it contains both whole-kernel and cream-style corn, sour cream, butter, cheddar cheese, and corn muffin mix. One Google reviewer said, "The corn casserole was dry and pasty but the flavor was good." Another complained there weren't many corn kernels in the casserole. So, maybe the ingredient proportions are just off. The restaurant's menu changes occasionally, and we're not seeing corn casserole in the current iteration. We're hoping it's just being reworked and will return better than ever.

A Southern meal isn't complete without a basket of biscuits. So, you'll find a basket of Cheddar Biscuits on your table every time you visit Paula Deen's Family Kitchen. One Google reviewer says that Paula Deen's "cheddar biscuits put Red Lobster to shame" (referring to Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits). They're one of the best things you can eat in the restaurant, and they're complimentary. So, it's definitely a win. You won't want to leave the table without giving them a try.

One Google reviewer described them as being "topped with a butter and what I think was basil, because it was reminiscent of pesto." If they're anything like the recipe on her website, it's probably garlic butter and parsley on top. You can also buy a mix for them in her store. It's called the Famous Original Recipes Mix, and you can use it to make biscuits, pancakes, or cobbler, depending on what you add to it.

When Paula Deen is eating at her restaurant, this is the dish she's most likely to choose. So, you know it's good. However, Chicken Fried Pork Chops is another example of needing to know what to expect before you order it. Anything that's "chicken fried" in the South comes smothered in gravy, so, you should expect the crust to be moist rather than crisp. These also come topped with sautéed onions and bell peppers. If you're expecting smothered pork chops (which would probably be a better name for it), you're probably going to like it.

Like Deen, many people find the pork chop dish to be one of the best entrée options. They have a homemade flavor that people from the South might recognize. Some customers have complained about it being overly salty or about them being soggy. So, if you're looking for a crisp fried option, you might be better off with the fried chicken.

Southerners love their catfish, and no Southern restaurant menu wouldn't be complete without it. Georgia Fried Catfish is the third-best entrée you can order at Paula Deen's Family Kitchen. If you are a catfish fan, you're likely going to be happy ordering it. It comes with tartar sauce on the side for dipping.

One customer says it tastes like clouds. Another customer left a Google review saying, "The star of the proteins is the Catfish, it is so perfect it's crazy! A big fat fillet, with no fishy flavor and a great breading." It comes hot, but it's not Southern fried, meaning that the flour and cornmeal coating is light and doesn't produce a crust that is necessarily super crispy. If you end up really liking the catfish, you can get Paula Deen's Famous Fish Fry Breading Mix from her store. Even if you're not a fan of frying, you can use it for baking fish, too.

Mac and cheese is nearly always tempting when it's on the menu at a Southern restaurant. It also tends to be a favorite of children and vegetarians. But you might want to skip the macaroni and cheese at Paula Deen's Family Kitchen. Unfortunately, it has the second lowest rating of the sides.

For some reason, the mac and cheese that the restaurant serves tends to be grainy, and many customers complain about it being separated or watery. One Google reviewer says the "[t]exture was gritty and not really cheesy and the noodles a bit soft." It seems to be bland and not good overall. Another Google reviewer went as far as to say that you "would never even consider serving that at a southern gathering unless you want to be made fun of." However the restaurant is making this dish, it just isn't working for most customers. We would love to see the chain rework it since it's one that so many people order by default.

Okra made its way to the U.S. South through enslaved people from West Africa between the 1500s and 1800s. It has since become popular in soul cooking and Southern cuisine. If you're a fan of fried okra, you're not likely to be disappointed ordering it as one of your side items since it's among the best sides the restaurant serves. Paula Deen's recipe for fried okra uses buttermilk, flour, and cornmeal to make a delightfully thick coating.

The okra tastes fresh, and customers love it. One Google reviewer said, "The fried okra was truly the best I have ever had," and "When I come back, it will be for the Fried Okra and Broccoli Casserole." That's a pretty strong recommendation for a fried vegetable side. Some find it a little too salty, but you can always brush off the salt if the cook accidentally stumps their toe when salting your okra.