Hyde's Fish Farm

In years past, I loved going to Hyde's.  But in the last 5 years that has changed.  The last few times I went, the service was terrible, it is overpriced, the fish was overcooked, the hush puppies were burnt, the parking stinks.

The last time I went we kept having to ask our waitress multiple times for the same thing like ketchup, napkins, silverware.  

When we left someone had parked behind us blocking us in.  We went in to ask about having the car moved and they blew us off and told us there was nothing they could do about it.  Turns out it was the cooks girlfriend who just came by to visit him while he was working.  She just parked her car behind 3 other cars.

The good: Hyde's has the BEST catfish around. My husband and I try to go at least once anytime we visit my mom in Missouri. You can easily go home from Hyde's more stuffed than you've ever been, because it's all you can eat! Everything they offer is fantastic, and it's great for everyone in the family.

The bad: it's hard to find. There's limited parking. And it get's REALLY busy on Sunday's and some holidays (like Mother's Day).

In the end, this place is a gem. The food and relaxed atmosphere make up for it's few flaws.

If, for some strange reason, you enter the twilight zone and end up in a quaint town called Poplar Bluff, Missouri (technically a stone's throw away-Broseley), GO TO HYDE'S FISH HOUSE!
Seriously.  This place is amazing.  It's a fish farm/restaurant, where you go to eat all-you-can-eat catfish.  Included in your (if not under ten dollars, then close) dinner is unlimited hush puppies, fried okra, and various other goodies.
It's in an amazing rural setting, complete with a huge catfish pond (which you can walk to and feed the fish).  To call the building rudimentary is not fair, but I will say that it does have an untouched rustic charm.  The walls are decorated with the Coors Cowboy ads of decades ago and the chairs and tables very functional.  They have large bowls of peanuts, the shells of which you just throw on the floor (which drives me crazy, but I went along).  They have a short beer list, which will certainly do the trick, and Pepsi products.   The waitress did her best for a very busy crowd and served it up with the perfunctory side of sass.  This place is amazingly awesome.  It's like you stepped into rural 1983  (a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind ).