We don't have a shortage of great places to eat in the area and my favorite one just depends on what I'm in the mood for at the moment. Right now I am sorta craving some catfish which means Newbern's is my favorite. They consistently have the best catfish that I have had anywhere, I would bet I have eaten there a couple hundred times or more over the years and I could count on one hand the times that I was disappointed with the fish. They have better fries than anyone else too, their hushpuppies are sort of a hit & miss thing between the best ones I have ever eaten and mediocre.
My favorite's for just "multi purpose" dining when I am not craving anything in particular and going somewhere that everyone will be satisfied with are: Logan's as they have all around decent food and usually the best service of anywhere in the area, Cracker Barrell as they have a wide variety of food and they are great for breakfast, and Chili's. For Chinese I like Rice Box and Papa Wok or for a buffet the China House. For Italian I like Ricatoni's, I don;t care much for Frank's but that's just mho. If you want Mexican there is no comparison to La Hacienda, they are the best in the area. For a burger I prefer Stagg's but Five Guys is pretty good too, the best place for chicken tenders is Curbside Grill and their fries are pretty good too. Best Pizza in the area is Primo's on Cloverdale road, it's **** good and everyone should try it. Stephano's deserves a mention on best pizza too, Primo's has them beat by a little (lot) on the pizza but it is still way above average not to mention that Stephano's makes a great sandwich and their chicken Parmesan is awesome. For a breakfast buffet, The Rocking Chair in Tuscumbia has a good one on Saturday mornings and even have country ham on it, the only down side there is that the buffet is small and they seem to have some difficulty keeping it stocked. For a steak, if I don't feel like making my own I like Dale's but I do tell them to go light on the Dale's Sauce. I have never tried George's but intend to at some point, I always' liked Oh' Bryans! steak but I have not tried them since they opened the new place in Tuscumbia however I will visit them soon.
The type of places we seem to lack are really good BBQ and a really good seafood joint. For good BBQ I just make my own but it can be difficult to find the time to tend to a boston butt so that is a rare treat. Rick's BBQ is decent but nothing special, it is consistently decent though so sometimes I get takeout from there. For seafood I occasionally go to Red Lobster but it ain't all that great but a little garlic butter can do wonders for some so-so seafood, of course as I mentioned above, Newbern's can fry up some mean catfish, and for other fried seafood I enjoy Cajun's.
I used to say that Ruby Tuesday had a great salad bar and was an almost close second to Logan's on my all around faves but I ate there the other day and instead of diced ham on the salad bar, I am pretty sure it was bologna which was highly disappointing. Another good place for Asian food is Ichiban in Tuscumbia (or is that Sheffield?), it seems a little more authentic than most of the other places and a lot of the Japanese students at UNA go there fairly often. I like the place when the mood strikes but most of the time I do prefer my Asian food to be a little more Americanized .
If it's a chili dog you want, go to the little cafe at Sam's (no I am not kidding) they have the best one I have tried around here.