Southern Table Bar and Grill

We stopped in for Lunch on a saturday afternoon.  My friends live in Town and had heard that Southern Table had opened not too long ago so we gave it a try.  I had a spicy chicken sandwhich that was very good.  It was pretty spicy and some people might not like it, but I thought it was awesome.

I checked in with yelp and there was a special for a free appetizer.  We had the fried pickles and they were some of the best I've ever had.  My Wife and I get fried pickles a lot since it's one of her favorites and these were very good.

We'll have to stop back in for diner sometime.  It's a little on the pricey side, but you pay for quality sometimes.

Wednesday, March 6...My wife and I made the short trip from our home to downtown Shelbyville so she could see firsthand what was left of our favorite Shelbyville restaurant that had succumbed to fire a few hours before. After viewing the carnage, we were hungry and decided to try Southern Table for the first time. We had eaten several times at the previous restaurant at the same location (Bistro 535) and was looking forward to having another place where we could get finer dining close to home. We read the articles in the local paper a few months back about the owners and what they were going to do and were highly encouraged. Unfortunately, our experience was not the best and for the price we paid, it may be our last. There were more misses than hits, but there was at least one very good part of the meal that just might get us back.

The restaurant was nicely decorated but was a bit chilly. It was a bit early in the evening (4:30-5:00 pm) and they had just opened the doors, so we assumed it just had not got up to temp yet. Not a big deal, but worth mentioning to anybody who is very temperature sensitive. The wait staff was nice and attentive, albeit a bit unsure of themselves at times. However, we had been told up front that this was their first night at Southern Table. Not a big deal to us.

My wife is not very adventurous when it comes to food, so she decided to stick to the basics...steak (sirloin), mac 'n cheese, and fries. They did not offer French dressing for the salad, so she opted for what the waiter called was a combination Ranch / Italian which was their version of French. Being a bit skeptical, she asked for it on the side. A wise choice. For me, I'm the adventurous one when it comes to food. If it sounds funky, I will try it (usually). I had read in the previously mentioned articles that S.T. was going to offer chicken and waffles which I had never had the opportunity to try before, so I went for it. Chicken and waffles served with honey cumin bacon and  honey bourbon maple syrup. For my salad, I ordered the sun dried tomato which was very good but my wife was not impressed with the "faux French" dressing but it was okay so she ate it. They also had fried pickles on the appetizer menu so I ordered those as well.

The appetizer was the hit of the dinner! Kosher pickle slices in a light crispy batter with cajun remoulade sauce to dip. Very tasty! My wife even tried them and like them which was unusual, so this was a definite "I'll be back for more" appetizer.

Unfortunately for my wife, her dinner was not so good. She ordered the sirloin medium-plus which she explained to the waiter was a little pink in the middle but not medium. What she got was well done. Also, the texture in the middle of the steak was very mealy, much like that of a frozen steak. She was not impressed, but ate most of it. The "mac n cheese" was bow tie pasta with cheddar which she didn't care much for either. She later told me the fries were the best thing on her plate but were nothing special. For my wife, this was a 1 star meal at best.

For my meal, it looked promising when it came to the table but I was disappointed in the waffles. The chicken was flavorful but could have used a bit more seasoning (salt). The meal came with 3 pieces of chicken...a leg quarter with the leg separated from the rest and a wing. The leg and wing came to the table with the waffles and bacon, but the rest of the quarter didn't come till a few minutes later. Not a big deal to me since I did have some food to eat, but if you're not a leg and wing person it would be an issue. The waffles were not cooked properly unfortunately. Although light and fluffly, they were a bit underdone which made them very unstable sponges. The plate was served with syrup already on the bottom of the plate which the bottom waffle immediately soaked right up. I don't like a lot of syrup so I poured a small amount on the top waffle which immediately disappeared into the waffle. The waffle tasted good, so it was more of a texture thing for me. I wanted to get a taste of chicken and waffle and bacon in every bite, but the waffle would disintegrate when I tried to insert my fork which made it difficult to eat. Unfortunately, the syrup completely drowned the taste of the bacon so I can only comment on the texture which was a bit chewy.

All in all, I think S.T. has the potential to be a very good restaurant. They've only been open a few weeks so I want to come back in a few months and see if they improved on their execution, which I believe was their biggest problem. I will definitely want more of those pickles. My biggest critique...if you're going to charge $17+ for a sirloin steak, it better knock my socks off...and this one did not. Learn how to properly cook a steak and use top quality meat, never frozen!

Great little place in Shelbyville!  Stopped in for a quick business lunch, and was very impressed.  I had a shrimp salad sandwich that was quite good, my guest had a reuben and he was quite happy.  The fries were a touch underdone, but that was the only complaint we could come up with.  The service was spot on and quite rapid.  The price was lower than comparable places in Louisville or Lexington, and the quality was just as high, in my opinion.  It's a new spot, so I'm not surprised to see a few complaints, but I'll definitely be stopping by on my next trip through.  I'm just very happy to have a different option for a good, slightly upscale lunch or dinner in the area.  Hopefully on my next trip I'll be able to grab dinner (lunch anywhere tops out at 4 stars in my book) and check out their little bar in the back for a bourbon or two!