REVIEW: Southern Attitude

Mmmm steaks. Nice ring, mysterious menu holder.

On a particularly warm Saturday night, we decided to go down to Southern Attitude on Oxford Street for dinner. Southern Attitude is fairly new, opening in 2014. The restaurant is the north of the border sister to the Mexican restaurant next door, La Quinta. We've been to La Quinta many times and always had good experiences, except for once when we made a booking and yet didn't get a table. At the time, I remember being reminded of a Seinfeld episode - "You know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to hold the reservation. And that's really the most important part of the reservation".

Delicious apple pie cocktail. Get in my mouth!

Fortunately that didn't happen when we visited, although our request for an outside table went unfulfilled. We were seated at a booth inside and it was warm, but seemed bearable. The ordering system is the same as at La Quinta, you place a small flag atop your table number to get attention and it works really well. We ordered a few drinks, some soft drinks, a Pabst Blue Ribbon, of course and Sweet Apple Pie cocktail which was tequila, butterscotch schnapps, apple cider, lemon juice and cinnamon sugar for $13. The Sweet Apple Pie was delicious. Could easily have had a few more.


Wings are always a good idea.

After drinks, we ordered starters to share. First up we got a serving of 8 wings in Original with Blue Cheese Dip and Celery ($18). These were pretty good, and I liked the full wing being served. The flavour was good with a tasty mix of spices, and so was the texture. Often wings are drowned in sauce and they lose the crispiness of the fried batter but this was not the case with these wings.


Oh crab cakes. What would Mr. Krab say?

Next we got a serve of Crab Cakes ($9). There was a definite taste of crab in the crab cakes but the size was a little disappointing. They were okay. Finally, we got the Baked Chili Cheese Fries for $10, which was a generous serving of chips with beef chili, sour cream and shallots. Personally, I wasn't a huge fan of these fries - they were very meaty, which for most people would be a good thing but I'm a bit meh about these kind of chips. They're too much! But they all got eaten, and they're very much up Mr. Cakes' ally.

They look good. And they were good, for those who like them. Totally making perfect sense.

The mains came out before we'd finished the entrees. There was a slight feeling of being rushed, the restaurant by this time was getting busier and maybe it was because of the bodies in the room or the hot food in front of us but I was starting to feel the heat now. We made room on the table for the mains. First, there was the Kentucky Pulled Pork Sliders served with Rocket, Apple Cider Slaw and Chipotle Aioli for $14 with a serve of Blackened Corn for an extra $4. The sliders tasted really good and the meat wasn't fatty. The bread wasn't the greatest and I didn't think the corn was worth the extra $4, it looked a bit sad.


Mmm less than impressive. That little sauce drip is though.

Next were two Smoked Double Bacon Cheeseburgers ($14), each with a Wagyu Patty, Smoked Bacon, Cheese, Pickles, BBQ Sauce and Ranch dressing with Onion Rings and Fries ($4 each). The burger was good, the meat had a bit of a taco seasoning flavour to it, which was a little odd but not horrible. The chips were a lot better without the chili on top but the onion rings weren't cut up properly so some bits of onion were a bit thick.


So much fried goodness.

Finally, for my main, I ordered the Chicken Fried Chicken which was Southern Fried Breaded Chicken Breast with SA Seasoning, Fried and Served with Maple and Mustard White Gravy. It came with two sides, I choose Coleslaw and Sweet Potato chips. What came out was not what I expected. Instead of a whole bit of chicken breast, a flattened, breaded schnitzel type chicken breast was served. It wasn't terrible, but with the thoughts of my mothers southern fried chicken in my mind, I can't say that I wasn't a little disappointed. However, the chicken was good and the sweet potato chips were really good.


See what I mean about the chicken? It was good! Just not what I expected.

By this time though, it was sweltering. I literally had sweat dripping down my legs. I wolfed down my meal and escaped to the night outside, leaving Mr. Cakes to settle the bill with our dining companions.

PBR. Of course.

Southern Attitude was okay, I didn't hate it but I don't think I'll be rushing back. Southern Attitude do have a take away option so I think if I do eat there again, I will be eating it at home in the comfort of my air conditioning and with puppycakes at my feet.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 2/5
Atmosphere: 2/5