Back Roads Dining Opportunity…

Another early spring day… Laurie, Dawn Marie and I were out exploring Meigs County Tennessee.  Dawn Marie used her fancy Samsung Galaxy 3 smart phone to plot out all 38 of the county’s sites that are listed in Wikipedia as being included on the National Register of Historic Places.   We treated the experience much like a scavenger hunt!  How many listed places could we find and 'count coup' on…?

I’ll be blogging more about our search and our historic ‘finds’ in future blogs.  The key fact for this particular blog is that sometime around 2 pm, we found ourselves in Decatur Tennessee. (Decatur is the Meigs County Seat)  We were hungry and we started searching for a place to eat.  I hadn’t found any places in town that were recommended in Trip Advisor so we cruised up and down through town for a promising looking restaurant…

 

We settled on this restaurant, the Shoreline Café.  It looked nice on the outside and it was obviously really well built.  It’s just south of downtown Decatur on Tennessee Highway 58.

By the way, I define the term ‘back roads’ as anywhere more than a couple of miles from an expressway or a large city. (i.e. on roads less traveled)

 

It’s a 2-story restaurant…as shown above...with a balcony area above the entrance and in the back.  The main seating area is open to the 2^nd story ceiling.  The waiter told us that the building had served as apartments, an ice cream shop, a restaurant, etc. before the current operator took over…

 

 

Chalk boards both outside and inside, plus posted signs listed a number of specials.  I particularly liked the specials shown above.  I should have asked about the “Catch Your Limit” sign while we were there…but I figured it out after re-examining the menu.  The terms “Large Mouth” and “Small Mouth”, refer to the sizes of Shoreline Café’s hamburgers.  The smaller burgers/’small mouth’ are only $2.99 each and the French fries are $1.49 each. The deal offered is a $2.41 discount vs. individual pricing for the burgers and fries…

I do know that $10.99 for all of the Fried Fish you can eat…with French fries, hush puppies, white beans and cole slaw…is a good deal! 

 

Dawn Marie first ordered a burger…but after learning that ‘medium well’ was her best option…she prefers her burgers and beef no more than medium rare…she went with the Meat Loaf Sandwich on Texas Toast with Mayonnaise…plus cole slaw, ($3.99), and a side of Shoreline Signature Battered Fries. ($1.99) The meat loaf sandwich was just fine and the fries were OK… (I tried them and really liked them)

 

 

Laurie ordered the Catfish Platter, (fried), with cole slaw, battered fries and hush puppies. ($7.99) This was quite a bit of food for the money…and Laurie liked it all…even the hushpuppies! (Hushpuppies generally aren’t her favorite)

The prices at the Shoreline Café are very reasonable.  Other entrée options included a Gulf Shrimp Platter ($8.99), Chicken Your Way ($7.99), and a Hamburger Steak and Baked Potato ($7.99). There were no individual items on the menu, whether it is a sandwich, salad or entrée that cost more than $8.99!

 

There are 5 “Meal Platters” on the menu.  This is the Southern Fried Chicken version… Other choices are Pork Chops, Chicken Fried Steak, Hamburger Steak and Meatloaf.  All of these sizable meals are priced at $6.99.  These entrees include your choice of meat, 2 sides and a dinner roll or corn bread.  I chose the corn bread (ok), mashed potatoes with white gravy (nice), green beans (also nice) and a fried double boneless chicken breast.  The chicken breast was very nice indeed!

OK…This isn’t fancy food, but it is solid satisfying fare at very reasonable prices!  We enjoyed our meals…and service was friendly and helpful.  If we’re in the area again during the meal hour, we will stop by again. 

Shoreline Café is located at 18194 Highway 58 North in Decatur Tennessee.  Phone: 423-334-2361.  I couldn’t find a website but for those of you that are on Facebook, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/ShorelineCafe for more information.

Just click on any of the food photos to share lunch with us…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave