This past weekend found us on our way to Mitchell, Indiana for the Persimmon festival, and I was bound and determined to find a good tenderloin down that way. I remember passing the Golden Gables restaurant on our way to Orleans, Indiana for a performance at the Dogwood Festival, and I had wondered if it was any good or not.
The first thing I noticed upon walking in was just how smoky the restaurant was…as a working musician, I’ve played in my share of smoky bars,and th is was just as smoky…if not more…than the worst of them. However, we had already been seated and had our drinks, so we decided to tough it out.
They had giant breaded tenderloin on the menu, and I asked the waitress if it was good, and she assured me that it was big. That should have been my first warning, but since it was listed as a breaded tenderloin…and they also offered a grilled tenderloin on the menu, I took a chance.
As you can see, this is no tenderloin. It was a straight out of the box pork fritter, passed off as a breaded tenderloin…a huge no-no in my book. Yes, it was edible, but that’s about all I can say about it. Since it technically was edible, I’ll give it a 1 out of 5.
Wendi ordered the catfish and it was….well, she described it as tasting “muddy”. Holly chose the baked boneless, skinless chicken breast with dressing…a nice healthy choice, however, it was slathered in some kind of gravy. All of it..the chicken, the dressing,everything. It would’ve been nice to have stated that on the menu,for those who were looking for a bit of a healthier choice.
The service turn sour very quickly. The server was right there to take our order, but pretty quickly forgot all about us. Holly was brought the wrong salad dressing, however, to ask for it to be exchanged for what she requested seemed like it would have been a major issue, so she chose just to leave it as it was.
But, perhaps all was not lost! We were told that this place had the best pie in the state, and on their sign they proudly proclaimed “Persimmon Pudding”!! Maybe we could salvage this meal after all! So we waited for our waitress to return so we could order some of that famous pie. And persimmon pudding. And we waited. And waited, And waited, to no avail, so we paid our check and left.
All said, this was one of the most disappointing dining experiences we’ve ever had. Poor food and poor service all wrapped in one package.
I gave the sandwich a 1….I’ll give the overall experience a 0 out of 5. We certainly won’t return.
We did figure out where the name “Golden Gables” came from though….all the nicotine stains in the ceiling.
Golden Gables is located at the intersection of US 37 and US 50, just south of Bedford, Indiana
All tenderloins, all the time. 
I don’t know if I would have listed an address if the food and service was that bad.
Eh, to each his/her own. It was really busy, hardly an empty seat in the whole place!
I go to Gables on a daily basis, The waitresses are great, well most of them..Recently I have noticed cockroaches running around the diningroom.. When the owner was told she said oh well, it cost to much money to get it fumigated…One dishwasher doesn’t even wear a bra to work..If you deal witht the public dress appropriately ..
OMG!!!!! I work at Gables and NO NO WAY!!!! Would the boss ever blow off the cockroach “problem” LMAO!! She has a company come in all the time to spray… I know for a FACT!!! She takes roaches a serious thing… Robin i have to say you are wrong on this.. I have worked there for many years so i know my boss would never say that!!!