Claudia Sanders

I'll post one last dining experience had while my family was in from out of town. It was last Sunday, Tim was jonesin' for some good fried chicken after we had been driving all around the Shelbyville/Frankfort area. He asked about Claudia Sanders since it was kind of a landmark restaurant and neither he nor his wife had ever eaten there. I drew a blank for other restaurants in the area with fried chicken so to Claudia Sanders we went.

First let me say the service was very good. We really liked our server as well as the several other folks that regularly dropped by the table to make sure all was going well. All were nice, friendly and sincerely wanted us to have a good time. As far as the food goes, well it was good comfort food. We dined from the buffet line which was enormous containing everything you think of when you think of comfort food - stewed tomatoes, corn soufflé, mashed potatoes with 2 kinds of gravy, some really good baked beans, carved roast beef, pulled pork BBQ , and about a 1/2 dozen other items I've forgotten. And yes, big ol' pieces of very good fried chicken. All this with a large salad bar and dessert table.

How was the food? It was good. Nothing groundbreaking or innovative or cutting edge, just simple comfort food. And to give them a bit of extra credit I'll say none of it suffered from "buffet line over heating" or drying out. Will I ever go back? Nope. Not on a bet. Never. Why? Because of the way the owners have set up the dining room. It was one, large room full of round, 8-tops, one right after the other. Just a vast sea of maybe 40 or 50 tables with little else to break up the room. Rather like dining in a high school cafeteria. It was obvious the room was designed to cram in as many people as possible in order to get them fed and moved out. Like a dining room for cattle. The mind set was simply fuel 'um up, turn the table. Mind you, the servers did nothing to rush us or make us feel that way, it was simply the obvious way the dining room was laid out. Even though it was a Sunday evening when we were there, only about 1/3 to 1/2 of the dining room was filled. I wondered how many times a year would they need so many tables? Mother's Day maybe? Christmas time? (BTW there is another dining room on the other side of the building.) I would strongly suggest removing about 25% of the tables, spacing them out, add some decor or lamps or something to break the room up and make it more of homey dining experience. Isn't that the image they want? If not, if all they really want is a way to feed the masses at $16 a pop well, it's just not for me. Life is too short to eat in yet another cafeteria/fueling station.

Tragically this is what came about after the fire that destroyed the restaurant. Now they are a stop on the tour bus trail. We've driven by when they had 3 or 4 greyhound size tour busses in the lot. We've been to eat there once since the fire and we drew the same conclusions as you, Carla. We haven't been back since. At one time they made the best chicken liver and sides dinner on the planet. "Sigh"

Now they are a stop on the tour bus trail. We've driven by when they had 3 or 4 greyhound size tour busses in the lot.

Great. That explains the seating. So I guess a landmark restaurant that was home to (or very nearly home to) a culinary phenomenon that changed the face of family dining for not only the US but around the world is now basically a Pilot truck stop with curtains.

I swear.....

Tragically this is what came about after the fire that destroyed the restaurant. Now they are a stop on the tour bus trail. We've driven by when they had 3 or 4 greyhound size tour busses in the lot. We've been to eat there once since the fire and we drew the same conclusions as you, Carla. We haven't been back since. At one time they made the best chicken liver and sides dinner on the planet. "Sigh"

Was the fire before or after the staph a. or e. coli ?

Tragically this is what came about after the fire that destroyed the restaurant. Now they are a stop on the tour bus trail. We've driven by when they had 3 or 4 greyhound size tour busses in the lot. We've been to eat there once since the fire and we drew the same conclusions as you, Carla. We haven't been back since. At one time they made the best chicken liver and sides dinner on the planet. "Sigh"

Was the fire before or after the e. coli?

Before

Tragically this is what came about after the fire that destroyed the restaurant. Now they are a stop on the tour bus trail. We've driven by when they had 3 or 4 greyhound size tour busses in the lot. We've been to eat there once since the fire and we drew the same conclusions as you, Carla. We haven't been back since. At one time they made the best chicken liver and sides dinner on the planet. "Sigh"

Was the fire before or after the staph a. or e. coli ?

I'd forgotten about that David.

We were forced to go there Mother's Day 2009 and it was HORRIBLE. If you think it's packed on a normal weekend you can only imagine Mother's Day. Not only is it a never ending sea of round tops, but they also cram in another 40 long rectangular tables. We received one glass of tea/water and never ever saw the waitress again. Also, we were seated 1.5 hrs after our reservation time. I didn't thin the food was spectacular, though I'm sure it's just because they were cooking to accommodate all of 3 counties. I swore that i would rather cook my own meal on Mother's Day than ever go back there again.

I love it for comfort food but I always ask to sit in one of the dining rooms and not the buffet room. I also just order off the menu. It's better, imo.

Is that right, $16.99 There is a buffet restaurant in Bardstown called the Stephen Foster which "serves up" a much similar spread starting early at breakfast, morphing into brunch then dinner. The down home atmosphere is fun and they don't pretend to be fancy. It was $7.99 per person, less for kids and seniors. Some things were bland, but others quite good. Sure was a good bargain though.

Tragically this is what came about after the fire that destroyed the restaurant. Now they are a stop on the tour bus trail. We've driven by when they had 3 or 4 greyhound size tour busses in the lot. We've been to eat there once since the fire and we drew the same conclusions as you, Carla. We haven't been back since. At one time they made the best chicken liver and sides dinner on the planet. "Sigh"

I suspect that most locals are aware of what Claudia Sanders has devolved into, while many tourists continue to view it as an authentic sampling of Kentucky cuisine....maybe once, but no longer.

I don't mind Claudia Sanders at all, but the best fried chicken in Shelbyville can be found at Science Hill.

Honestly, I believe this place is just a shadow of what it once was before the fire. The last few times I went there the food was completely mediocre, and I once considered it good. I had the hot brown last time and it tasted like it had cheeze whiz sauce. The funny thing is that I have the Claudia Sanders cookbook and have made the hot brown from the book. I cannot emphasize enough how much better the one I made using the recipe from the book was compared to the post fire one that I had. Before the food tasted like it was home cooked, now it seems like it was made on an assembly line. I have decided I will never return given my recent experiences there.

Amen, brother Will!

i agree. not what is was from years ago.
what i want to know, why is it that the food is mediocre these days.
what can they be possibly be doing that changes the taste from great to so so?
honestly the last 2 times i went i was disappointed.

Judging from Will's experience (supra) it sounds as though they may be deviating from the original "Claudia Sander's Dinner House" recipes...using lower-quality ingredients in an attempt to lower food costs (??)

The first time ate at Claudia Sanders was in the 70s. I remember being let down that the fried chicken didn't taste like KFC....my my how times and tastes change. My most recent experience was a couple of years ago...not bad, not great...Cracker Barrel like.