Petty's Steak & Catfish

We stopped and found this place based on reviews. We were not impressed. No RV/truck parking FYI. The place has been redone apparently, it's not dumpy. Just average casual. Servers hand you menus, you seat yourself.
Sodas were too carbonated. Seltzery.
Salads were great, rolls incredible.
We had:
Burgers, that was the best thing there. Offered spicy or regular fries, one is just orange but not spicy.
Blackened tilapia, one son loved it but said he wouldn't eat it regularly bc it was too expensive and the other son hated it. I thought they were very small.
Chicken fried chicken, pretty good, not huge or anything.
Fried fish filets, crunchy but zero flavor batter and it had a chalky texture. Hush puppies were too hard to even bite. Mashed potatoes nothing special.
Onion rings, same chalky texture batter, but fresh.
Overall: Order a burger and onion rings to be safe. It wasn't worth the $80 we spent.

We tried this little Mom and Pop diner last Friday nite for the catfish special and we were completely wowed by some of the crispiest, mildest tasting catfish we've ever eaten.  The special is $11.99 on Friday and Saturday night and includes 4 huge catfish filets, choice of vegetable and a trip to the salad bar.  The catfish comes out sizzling hot and super crispy without being the least bit greasy.  Unless you are a really big eater, you might want to get one of these and split it with someone.  Hubby and I both ended up taking half of our catfish home.  The salad bar is adequate and we tried some of the pickled, BBQ sausage chunks that would have been pretty good by themselves with a couple of slices of Wonder Bread.  Speaking of bread, they bring out hot mini-loaves of bread with a generous supply of butter ahead of the meal and we devoured this before we realized the whopping portion of catfish that was about to be laid before us.  The ambience is definitely down home with friendly staff and a "seat yourself" atmosphere.  We got there about 4:30 and were lucky to snatch up the last booth.  We noticed a lot of folks ordering the burgers and onion rings and they looked amazing as did everything else we saw coming out of the kitchen.  If you are looking for good, solid homecooking at a reasonable price, this is your best bet in Lindale.

Ever wonder what it's like to be Guy Fieri when he finds great food?  Well, I had one of those moments.  This is your typical hometown small restaurant (Dive or Diner).  You might get slightly concerned as you walk into the badly outdated interior.  However, the super friendly staff and the great food make it all worth it.  Did I also mention that the prices are like from 90's?  

This place doesn't look like much, but I'm glad it was suggested to me by a town local.